Using faecal glucocorticoid metabolite analyses to elucidate stressors of African wild dogs Lycaon pictus from South Africa
There are few stressful factors which have been investigated to affect adrenocortical function in the African wild dog (AWD) Lycaon pictus. Understanding what animals perceive as stressors is important for not only the implementation of management practices promoting general animal welfare in captivity, but also because a prolonged stress perception is known to disrupt reproduction, […]
Body Condition Scores (BCS) in European zoo elephants’ (Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus) lifetimes – a longitudinal analysis
In further improving zoo elephant welfare, the diet and feeding regime are key factors. Together with the encouragement of physical activity, they may support the management and prevention of overweight and obesity, which are considered a common concern in zoo elephants. Besides weight monitoring, visual body condition scoring (BCS) has proven a practical tool for […]
Body condition score as an indicator of ewe survival under extensive conditions
Survival and mortality of extensive hill ewes are important commercial factors and valuable indicators of welfare, but difficult to study. Body condition scoring is a tried-and-tested management and monitoring tool which has been defined as a good predictor of fitness in ewes and is easily measured under hill farm conditions. This paper presents the results […]