Experimentally reducing corticosterone mitigates rapid captivity effects on behavior, but not body composition, in a wild bird.

ABSTRACT: Wild animals and captives display physiological and behavioral differences, and it has been hypothesized, but rarely tested, that these differences are caused by sustained elevation of the hormone corticosterone. We used repeated computed tomography (CT) imaging to examine body composition changes in breeding male and female wild house sparrows (Passer domesticus; n=20) in response to two weeks of captivity, and assessed behavioral changes using video recordings. Half of the birds received the drug mitotane, which significantly decreased stress-induced corticosterone titers compared to controls. Based on the CT images, fat volumes increased, and pectoralis muscle density and heart and testes volumes decreased, over the two weeks of captivity in both groups of birds. However, beak-wiping, a

SUBMITTER: Lattin CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5359069 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature