Social, Reproductive and Contextual Influences on Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites in Captive Yangtze Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) and Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Although the use of fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGCM) measurements as non-invasive biomarkers for the stress response in mammals has increased, few studies have been conducted in odontocetes. We investigated if animal sex, age, pregnancy or contextual variations (season, sampling time, enrichment, social separation and presence of visitors) influenced the FGCM concentrations in presumably healthy, captive and endangered Yangtze finless porpoises (YFPs, N = 4) and bottlenose dolphins (BDs, N = 3). For YFPs, the FGCM concentrations were influenced by season (p = 0.01), diurnal variation (p = 0.01) and pregnancy (p = 0.005). Contextual variables that were associated with increases in FGCM concentrations included social separations (p = 0.003) and numbers of visitors (p = 0.0002). Concentrations of FGCMs were lower (p = 0.001) after exposure to environmental enrichment. For BDs, enrichment was associated with reduced concentrations of FGCMs (p < 0.0001). The presence of visitors also influenced this species’ FGCM concentrations (p = 0.006). These results demonstrate that changes in the FGCM concentrations in YFPs and BDs may occur in response to contextual and social changes. In combination with other behavioral and physiological assessments, measurements of FGCMs may be a useful tool for monitoring cetacean welfare. Such monitoring may help researchers identify and better understand situations that may be stressful for animals and, therefore, improve management and husbandry. Furthermore, results from our study and inferences of the FGCM concentrations in cetaceans, and their potential relationship to stress, may be extrapolated to studies of free-ranging animals, which may help detect possible environmental or anthropogenic stressors that could be affecting these populations.

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Effects of active and passive enrichment regimes on fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels in captive Indian leopards (Panthera pardus fusca)

10.1101/2021.12.13.472403 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nirali Panchal ◽

Chena Desai ◽

Ratna Ghosal

Keyword(s):

Environmental Enrichment ◽

Medium Size ◽

Type I ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Cage Size ◽

Zoo Animals ◽

Invasive Method ◽

Free Ranging ◽

Fecal Glucocorticoid

Environmental enrichment improves health and wellbeing of zoo animals. To test this hypothesis, we used Indian leopards, one of the popular zoo animals, as a model system to understand effects of active (interacting) and passive (noninteracting) enrichment elements on stress hormone levels of captive individuals. We included three enrichment categories, category ‘A’ (having both active: large size cage, and passive: controlled temperature, playback of forest sounds and sound proof glasses to filter visitors’ noise, enrichment elements), category ‘B’ (active enrichment type I, small size cage with air coolers), and category C (active enrichment type II, medium size cage without air coolers) for the leopards (n=14) housed in two Indian zoos. We standardized a non-invasive method to measure fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) levels in captive leopards. The standardized fGCM assay was further validated by analysing samples from free-ranging leopards, as well. The fGCM levels (Mean±SE) were 10.45±2.01 and 0.95±0.003μg/g dry wt of feces in captive and free-ranging leopards, respectively. Our results demonstrated that fGCM levels of leopards in categories B and C were significantly (P<0.05) different from each other, thus, indicating cage size (an active enrichment element) as an important factor in influencing the physiology of the sampled animals. Overall, the findings of the study will contribute towards informing policies for management of the Indian leopards.

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Body Contacts and Social Interactions in Captive Odontocetes Are Influenced by the Context: An Implication for Welfare Assessment

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10060924 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 924

Author(s):

Agathe Serres ◽

Yujiang Hao ◽

Ding Wang

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Emotional State ◽

Bottlenose Dolphins ◽

Social Behaviors ◽

Species Group ◽

Agonistic Interactions ◽

The Social ◽

Human Care ◽

Neophocaena Asiaeorientalis Asiaeorientalis ◽

Social Separation

Research on the welfare of captive odontocetes has increased in recent years, but has been mostly focused on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Few studies investigated potential welfare indicators using quantitative data linked to a range of conditions or stimuli that are thought to impact the animals’ emotional state. Since odontocetes are social animals that engage in various social interactions, these interactions might inform us on their welfare state. We investigated pectoral contact laterality and the effect of the context on several social behaviors in three groups of captive odontocetes (Yangtze finless porpoises, YFPs: Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis; East-Asian finless porpoises, EAFPs: N. a. sunameri, and bottlenose dolphins, BDs). Animals exhibited patterns depending on the time of the day for most of the social behaviors we analyzed; social separation was associated with lower rates of social behaviors for the two analyzed groups (YFPs and BDs), the accessibility to several pools was associated with higher rates of social behaviors for BDs. The effect of enrichment, disturbances and public presence was less clear and strongly depended on the group, the type of enrichment and disturbance. Our results confirm that captive odontocetes’ social behaviors are influenced by the context, and that, depending on the group, some of them, such as pectoral contacts, other body contacts, agonistic interactions or social play exhibit consistent patterns across contexts. Monitoring these behaviors might be useful to adapt the captive management to each species and group. The different responses among the three studied groups confirm that species and groups react differently to a stimulus and therefore, management decisions should be species/group specific. We recommend that more studies should be conducted to validate our findings in other groups of odontocetes under human care.

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Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies

Polar Biology ◽

10.1007/s00300-021-02917-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Malin Larm ◽

Anne Lene Hovland ◽

Rupert Palme ◽

Anne-Mathilde Thierry ◽

Andrea L. Miller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Negative Relationship ◽

Time Lags ◽

Vulpes Lagopus ◽

Adrenocortical Activity ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites ◽

Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites ◽

Arctic Foxes ◽

In The Wild ◽

Fecal Glucocorticoid

AbstractMeasuring fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) is a widely used, non-invasive method for studies of stress in vertebrates. To study physiological responses in wild Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) to perceived stressors such as fluctuating food availability, occurrence of competitors and predators and disturbance from human activities, a species-specific physiological validation of a method to evaluate adrenocortical activity is needed. Here we used 15 captive Arctic foxes (both males and females and juveniles and adults) to investigate fGCM concentrations following ACTH injection (physiological validation), or handling alone and compared them with their respective baseline concentrations prior to the treatments. A 5α-pregnane-3ß,11ß,21-triol-20-one enzyme immunoassay measured significant fGCM increases following both treatments. The time lags to reach peak fGCM values were 9.3 ± 1.3 h and 12.8 ± 1.7 h for ACTH and handling treatment, respectively. Concentrations of fGCMs varied a lot between individuals, but not attributed to sex nor age of the foxes. However, we found a negative relationship between boldness and fGCM concentrations. Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites concentrations did not change significantly over a period of 48 h in samples kept at temperatures reflecting winter and summer means. This would allow the collection of samples up to two days old in the wild regardless of the season. We conclude that our successfully validated method for measuring fGCMs can be used as a non-invasive tool for studies exploring various stressors both in wild and captive Arctic foxes.

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