Effects of conditioning on the welfare of jaguars (Panthera onca) in captivity
The jaguar is the largest feline in the Americas and in the face of the threat of extinction and the reduction of natural areas, keeping the species in captivity may be important for its conservation. This condition can lead to a reduction in well-being, especially due to spatial limitation and lack of environmental stimulus. In […]
Adolescent oxytocin response to stress and its behavioral and endocrine correlates
Oxytocin (OXT) shows anxiolytic and stress-reducing effects, but salivary OXT response to laboratory-induced stress has only been assessed in one study in healthy adults. The present study aimed at extending these findings by assessing salivary OXT stress reactivity in healthy adolescents (aged 11–18) compared to a control condition. A higher salivary OXT response to stress […]
Effects of parity and litter size on cortisol measures in commercially housed sows and their offspring
Breeding sows are regularly exposed to on-farm stressors throughout the duration of their production period. The impact of such stressors may differ for primi- and multiparous sows, as sows could learn to cope with stressors as they gain experience with them. If parity affects stress in sows, it may also impact their prenatal offspring through […]
Relationship between resilience and stress: Perceived stress, stressful life events, HPA axis response during a stressful task and hair cortisol
Background There is no consensus about how resilience is related to the different types of stress such as daily or chronic stress and psychopathology. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between resilience and the different measures of stress such as perceived stress, chronic stress, life events, HPA axis response during […]
Zylkéne to load? The effects of alpha-casozepine on compliance and coping in horses during loading
Horses are routinely transported for access to safe off-road riding, veterinary care, breeding, sale, or moving to a new home environment. However, transport is a known stressor in horses. For this reason, problem behavior when loading is a commonly reported issue, which presents risks to handlers and horse welfare. Existing literature and manufacturers’ recommendations suggests […]
Assessing salivary cortisol in large-scale, epidemiological research
Salivary cortisol measures are increasingly being incorporated into large-scale, population-based, or epidemiological research, in which participants are selected to be representative of particular communities or populations of interest, and sample sizes are in the order of hundreds to tens of thousands of participants. These approaches to studying salivary cortisol provide important advantages but pose a […]
Comparison of salivary cortisol concentrations in Jaguars kept in captivity with diff exposures to public
For the most part, jaguars kept in captivity are used for educational and recreational purposes and it hasn’t been determined the different impacts that public exposure would have on these animals. In this study, we compared the salivary cortisol, one of the stress indicator hormones, in seven captive jaguars exposed to the high and low […]
Endocrine response of gilts to various common stressors: A comparison of indicators and methods of analysis
The first aim of the present study was to determine whether various common events encountered by pigs in commercial farms or experimental units induce activation of the sympathetic and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes. The second aim was to compare the efficiency of various indicators and methods of analysis to detect the occurrence of a stress reaction. […]
Influence of acute stress on spatial tasks in humans
Few studies have investigated the relationship between stress and spatial performance in humans. In this study, participants were exposed to an acute laboratory stressor (Star Mirror Tracing Task) or a control condition (watching a nature video) and then performed two spatial tasks. In the first task, participants navigated through a virtual reality (VR) environment and […]
Human interaction and cortisol: Can human contact reduce stress for shelter dogs?
Animal shelters are an extremely stressful environment for a dog, most specifically due to social isolation and novel surroundings. The stress response of dogs housed in this environment may be alleviated through human interaction shortly after arrival. During their second day in a public animal shelter, adult stray dogs were either engaged in a human […]