INVESTIGADORES
SCHROEDER Natalia Mariel
artículos
Título:
Behavioural and physiological stress responses to handling in wild guanacos
Autor/es:
TARABORELLI, PAULA; OVEJERO, RAMIRO; SCHROEDER, NATALIA; MORENO, PABLO; GREGORIO, PABLO; CARMANCHAHI, PABLO
Revista:
JOURNAL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION
Editorial:
ELSEVIER GMBH
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2011 vol. 19 p. 356 - 362
ISSN:
1617-1381
Resumen:
Both ethology and physiology can provide insights about stress conditions in wild animals during handling.
Lama guanicoe (guanaco) is the major large herbivore inhabiting arid zones in Argentina. Since
2005, the Payún Matrú Cooperative, a business established and run by native people, has captures and
handled guanacos for shearing at Payunia Reserve, Mendoza Province, Argentina, to market the species
fibre for clothing and other products. The aim of our study was to evaluate the behavioural and physiological
stress responses to handling of wild guanacos during these shearing activities. We evaluated
stress conditions in guanacos by monitoring the frequency of agonistic behaviour in the holding corrals,
following capture, the rate of vocalization and agonistic behaviour during handling, and by estimating
cortisol levels in handled animals. Crowding increased agonistic behaviour; this appeared to be related to
dominance conflicts between males in the corrals. Time of corralling increased rate of agonistic behaviour
and vocalizations during handling. The rate of behavioural stress responses was a negatively related to
cortisol levels in males; which may be due to animal fatigue or because behavioural stress responses
may help mitigate physiological stress responses. Incorporating our results into animal welfare practices
could help reduce stress conditions in wild guanacos. Our results suggest that both behavioural and
physiological responses are important measures of stress in handled animals, and that behavioural stress responses cannot be used as a simple surrogate for glucocorticoid levels.