Welfare assessment of slow loris (Nycticebus spp.) at an Indonesian primate rehabilitation center: Development and validation of body condition score
Abstract Body condition scoring (BCS) assessment can reflect animal welfare status and help the veterinarian to make a quick health management decision, including for confiscated slow loris (Nycticebus spp.). The confiscated slow loris should be rehabilitated in a rehabilitation center before being released. It is essential to monitor the welfare of slow loris to ensure […]
Pupil size variation as a response to stress in European catfish and its application for social stress detection in albino conspecifics
Hormonal changes such as increased cortisol level in blood plasma in response to stress and social environmental stimuli are common among vertebrates including humans and typically accompanied by other physiological processes, such as changes in body pigmentation and/or pupil dilatation. The role of pupil size variation (PSV) as a response to stress have yet to […]
State-dependent decisions in long-term fasting king penguins, Aptenodytes patagonicus, during courtship and incubation
Using an automatic identification and weighing system, we investigated changes in adult body mass in relation to reproductive behaviour during courtship and incubation in free-living king penguins. Despite stressful nutritional conditions and variability of fast length, the majority of pairs incubated successfully by accumulating large body reserves before fasting, which provided flexibility in fasting strategies. […]
Development of guidelines for assessing obesity in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.20122.abs Many captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are subjectively considered to be overweight or obese. However, discussions of obesity in chimpanzees are rare in the literature, despite the acknowledged problem. No study to date has systematically examined obesity in captive chimpanzees. This project develops guidelines for defining obesity in captive chimpanzees through the examination of […]
Food consumption and growth of a female dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus)
Abstract 10.1002/1098-2361(2000)19:23.3.CO;2-P Food consumption, body measurements, weight changes, and body temperatures of a female dusky dolphin are presented for the 13 years that she was at Sea World, Durban. Her annual food consumption increased from 1,870 kg at the age of 3 years to 2,170 kg when she was 5 years old. During her sixth […]
Annual rhythm of body weight in Prezwalski horses
The live-weight of female Przewalski horses in a semi-natural reserve has been recorded continuously over 6 years by means of an automatic weighing machine and automatic identification. Data were tested for cyclic as well as for linear trend effects and a mathematical model was developed. A clear annual rhythm of live-weight with the maximum in […]
Behavioral and physiological characterization of male mice under chronic psychosocial stress
Social stress is a major factor in the etiology of several psychopathologies, with individuals greatly differing in vulnerability. The development of appropriate animal models of social stress is, thus, a major challenge of modern bio-medical research. Adult male mice were subjected to a new model of chronic psychosocial stress in which resident/intruder dyads live chronically […]
Effect of a cage divider permitting social stimuli on stress and food intake in rats
The need to obtain data from individual laboratory animals has forced many researchers to singly-house small animals. This is costly to the researcher and isolation can adversely affect animal physiology and behavior which in turn may threaten the validity and generalization of experiment results to humans. We assessed the practical use of a housing device […]
Body weight change as a measure of stress: a practical test
We report on the efficacy of body weight change as a measure of trapping and handling stress in two species of wild small mammal: bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). We tested two hypotheses: (1) that weight change after capture and handling is related to the intensity of the trapping and handling […]
Hypertension Increases With Aging and Obesity in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Cardiovascular disease is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in captive chimpanzees. Four years of blood pressure (BP) data were analyzed from a captive former laboratory population of 201 healthy adult chimpanzees with assessment of age and obesity on elevated BP. Five different measures of obesity were compared: abdominal girth, basal metabolic rate, body-mass […]