Abstract
Blood sampling is a common method in biological research of domestic animals for studying hormone mechanisms. However, this approach can be stressful for wild species, and compromise research concerning animal welfare. The crab-eating fox (Cerdocyoun thous) is a medium-sized canid found in South America and a popular zoo species in that region. However, almost nothing is known of their biology or what factors impact captive welfare. Thus, a non-invasive method to measure adrenal activity and stress was developed for quantifying fecal glucocorticoids non-invasively in this species. The physiological relevance of the cortisol immunoassay was demonstrated by injection of exogenous ACTH into two males and one female, which led to a significant increase in fecal glucocorticoid metabolites within 24-48 h. From these findings we conclude that fecal samples can be used for the non-invasive assessment of adrenocortical status in crab-eating fox.
Highlights
The crab-eating fox (Cerdocyoun thous) is a medium-sized canid found in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guyana, Surinam, eastern Peru, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Northern Argentina and in most of Brazil outside the lowlands of the Amazon basin [1]
Administration of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) resulted in a 10 to 45-fold increase in fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in all animals, which peaked within a day of injection (Figure 1, Table 1)
Following the ACTH injection, fecal metabolite concentrations peaked after 24-48 h and returned to baseline within 24 h of the peak
Summary
The crab-eating fox (Cerdocyoun thous) is a medium-sized canid found in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guyana, Surinam, eastern Peru, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Northern Argentina and in most of Brazil outside the lowlands of the Amazon basin [1]. Their range includes subtropical and tropical savannas as well as riperian forest areas. The diet includes crabs caught on muddy floodplains during the wet season, as well as insects, rodents and birds when available, and fruits, and the species plays an important role as seed dispersers and controlling rodent populations [3,4,5,6]. The fox is perceived as a pest of poultry throughout much of its range (and in Uruguay as a predator of lambs), and they are shot, trapped, and poisoned indiscriminately
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