Abstract
Non‐invasive techniques for the monitoring of animal well‐being, such as faecal hormone analysis, are increasingly becoming some of the most desirable methods for addressing practical conservation questions. Despite the widespread use of faecal hormone measurements for monitoring responses to stressors and its known applicability to African wild dogs Lycaon pictus, the potential influence of time of collection post‐defaecation on stress‐steroid concentrations in faecal matter has not yet been investigated. In the present study, we determined the rate at which African wild dog faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations change over a 16‐day period post‐defaecation, in order to provide recommendations for best sampling practice. No significant changes in fGCM concentrations were found for the first 48 h post‐defaecation. However, an approximately 30% increase in fGCM concentrations were already noted between day 1 and day 2, followed by a significant 150% increase at 96 h post‐defaecation. We therefore suggest that respective faecal material should be collected within the first 24 h post‐defaecation to ensure the reliability of fGCM analysis. In addition, we collected baseline data denoting the fGCM concentrations of captive African wild dogs sampled across three South African captive sites. Determined baseline fGCM concentrations differed between African wild dogs at the sites sampled. These data could be used in future studies aimed at identifying the key stressor complexes perceived by captive African wild dogs in order to improve management strategies.
Highlights
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While respective faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations did not change significantly for the first 48 h, an overall increase of approximately 30% was observed in fGCM concentrations between day 1 and day 2 (Fig. 2)
Respective steroid concentrations from National Zoological Gardens (NZG) Pta were significantly lower compared to fGCM concentrations of African wild dogs from Jhb Zoo (p = 0.001) and HESC site 1 (p = 0.01) (Fig. 3)
Summary
BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. The use of faecal steroid analysis allows for the assessment of a more cumulative hormone signal than other matrices (Hulsman et al 2011) This is largely due to the fact that faecal hormone metabolite (fGCM) concentrations represent an accumulation of the fluctuating secretions and eliminations of hormones circulating in the blood (Möstl et al 2005, Touma and Palme 2005). Standardized collection procedures, usually involving the freezing of faecal material directly post-defaecation, have been developed to ensure the comparability of determined faecal steroid concentrations (Hulsman et al 2011). This is achieved through the removal of moisture from the faeces (for example by freezing), thereby halting the action of bacterial enzymes in the faeces which alter assay-sensitive steroid metabolite concentrations post-defaecation(Washburn and Millspaugh 2002). Under field conditions where the collection of samples directly after defaecation is either not possible or the freezing of collected samples is delayed, this approach becomes more challenging
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