Digestive Physiology of Crocodilians: Towards an Improved Diet and Feeding Regime for Use by the Farming Industry

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Crocodile farming promotes the sustainable production and consumption of crocodile products without harming natural populations. The industry grosses over $15 million per year in Australia and $200 million worldwide. Costs associated with transporting and storing food are the single largest expense that crocodile farms have. Increases in the efficiency of converting food into growth will have positive economic benefits to the industry. Efficiencies can be produced by (1) increasing food absorption, (2) decreasing the energetic costs of digestion, and (3) producing a new food that is less expensive to ship and store. This project will directly address the first two of these and will lay the foundation for the development of the third.