About the Authors

Adrian S. W. Tordiffe

adrian.tordiffe@up.ac.za

Affiliations Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa, Department of Research and Scientific Services, National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, Centre for Human Metabonomics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Bettina Wachter

Affiliation Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany

Sonja K. Heinrich

Affiliation Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany

Fred Reyers

Affiliation Idexx Laboratories (Pty) Ltd, Woodmead Willow Office Park, Johannesburg, South Africa

Lodewyk J. Mienie

Affiliation Centre for Human Metabonomics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Competing Interests

One of the authors (FR) is currently employed by Idexx Laboratories (Pty) Ltd, a commercial veterinary laboratory. Besides providing support in the form a salary, Idexx Laboratories played no role in any aspect of this study and this does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The authors furthermore declare that no competing interest exist.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: ASWT LJM FR. Formal analysis: ASWT BW. Funding acquisition: ASWT BW LJM. Investigation: ASWT SKH BW LJM. Methodology: ASWT LJM. Project administration: ASWT. Resources: ASWT SKH BW LJM. Supervision: LJM FR. Writing – original draft: ASWT. Writing – review & editing: BW FR SKH.