Vitamin A storage in the liver of certain African wild ruminants and elephant

Abstract

The levels of vitamin A were determined in liver samples from 40 animals including ruminant species feeding on grass (4 buffalo, 6 blue wildebeest, 5 gemsbok) or mainly on plant material other than grass (10 impala, 3 springbok, 7 kudu and 5 elephants). The mean values obtained for the ruminant species ranged from 212 to 1217 I.U. vitamin A/g liver fresh weight mass and showed no relationship to the percentage of grass in rumen contents. An unusually low level of 67 I.U. was found in elephant.