Taking a Bite Out of your FAQ’s: Nutrition under Human Care for Rhino Health

Get all of your nutrition questions answered by Dr. Katie Sullivan! Who is Dr. Katie Sullivan you ask? Dr. Kathleen (Katie) Sullivan serves as Nutrition Advisor for Rhinos for the Rhino Research Council to the AZA and Rhino TAG.  As part of that role, she offers free consultation on rhino diet and nutrition questions.  She is the honored recipient of IRF grants investigating nutritional impacts to aid rhinos under human care, including one ongoing multi-institutional project.  Her doctoral work, completed at University of Florida and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, was primarily focused on nutrition and iron overload disorder in black rhinos.  Katie’s enthusiasm for vitamins and minerals (and nutrition as a whole) extends across many species beyond rhinos, including (but not limited to) giraffe, pigs, stingrays, frogs and dolphins. She has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and books across species, and serves on the board of directors for the Comparative Nutrition Society and steering committee of the Nutrition Advisory Group for the AZA.  She currently works at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as their nutrition laboratory specialist, leading practical initiatives to optimize nutrition for animal wellness. These consider nutrient impacts on health parameters across multiple species, as well as quality control, data and hypothesis driven analysis.  She also serves as co-coordinator of the Center for the Study of Iron in Rhinos (CSI-R), who aim to aid the RRC and Rhino TAG in that evolving focus.  However, clinical nutrition with rhinoceros, and advancing our collective knowledge to help them thrive is Katie’s favorite challenge. So bring your thoughts, your questions, and a snack (low protein please) as we discuss everything nutrition.