Sample collection

From May 2018 to September 2019, 244 samples (20–30 g each) were collected from Beijing zoo (38), Dalian tiger zoo (38), Fujian Meihuashan South China tiger Breeding Research Institute (10), Harbin zoo (56) and Harbin tiger zoo (102) of China (Fig. 1). The zoos selection criterion was the abundance of feline species in zoos, zoos with high number of feline species were included in the study. All the collected 244 samples were from the apparently healthy hosts of Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) (146), African lion (Panthera leo) (8), Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) (8), Caracal (Caracal caracal) (18), Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) (16), Jaguar (Panthera onca ) (11), Lynx (Lynx canadensis) (5), White lion (Panthera leo) (13), White tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) (8) and African serval (Leptailurus serval) (11). Estimated relative abundance of the sampled species was 60%. We observed maximum individual animals at different sites available within zoos for defection and collected freshly deposited fecal samples from the ground of the cages (fecal samples were collected within half hour after deposition). Fecal samples were mixed with 5% freshly prepared solution of potassium dichromate (Sigma–Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) in 1:3 mass to volume ratio and stored at 4 °C.