Non-Invasive Assessment of the Seasonal Stress Response to Veterinary Procedures and Transportation of Zoo-Housed Lesser Anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla).

ABSTRACT: Management procedures affect behavioural and physiological stress responses of wild mammals under human care. According to the Reactive Scope Model, normal values are presumed to exist within predictive and reactive ranges. First, stress parameters of zoo-housed adult Tamandua tetradactyla were evaluated in winter and summer (29 days each), determining the level of behaviour and/or physiological parameters needed to respond to predictable environmental changes. Secondly, the effects of veterinary procedures and transportation were studied in both seasons. Non-invasive methods were applied, assessing behaviour through videos and adrenocortical activity by faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs). Lesser anteaters exhibited seasonality (summer > winter) in some behavioural parameters, such a

SUBMITTER: Eguizabal GV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8744720 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature