Welfare impacts associated with using aversive geofencing devices on captive Asian elephants
Animal-borne aversive geofencing devices (AGDs, or satellite-linked shock collars) are commercially available and used on livestock to restrict their movement within a virtual boundary. This technology has potential application as a human-wildlife conflict mitigation tool, where problem animals might be conditioned to avoid human-dominated habitats by associating an audio warning with a subsequent electric shock, […]
Personality differences are related to long-term stress reactivity in a population of wild eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus
Consistent individual behavioural differences in exploration, docility and boldness are often correlated and are associated with differences in short-term neurophysiological responses to environmental perturbations in many animal species. These physiological mechanisms are much less studied over longer periods in wild populations. Here we report the relationships among exploration, docility measured in open-field tests and trappability, […]
A preliminary approach on the stress assessment through harmless procedures in farmed seabream (Sparus aurata)
Fish welfare is a key factor in ensuring successful cultures. Farmed fish that are stressed have been shown to be susceptible to pathologies and present lower growth rates. The present work seeks to check the efficacy of faecal cortisol as a non-invasive method of assessing acute stress in a commercial cultured fish, the gilthead seabream […]