Behavioural and physiological stress responses to handling in wild guanacos

TARABORELLI, PAULA; OVEJERO, RAMIRO; SCHROEDER, NATALIA; MORENO, PABLO; GREGORIO, PABLO; CARMANCHAHI, PABLO

JOURNAL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION

ELSEVIER GMBH

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2011 vol. 19 p. 356 - 362

1617-1381

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:ES-MX; mso-fareast-language:ES-MX;} span.MsoCommentReference {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-ansi-font-size:8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Ethology together with physiology can give an explanation about conditions of animals during handling. Lama guanicoe (guanaco) is the major large herbivore inhabiting arid zones in Argentina. Since 2005, the Payún Matrú Cooperative formed by local people has developed capture for shearing activities of wild guanacos in Payunia Reserve (Mendoza Province, Argentina) to marketing of fibber and products. The aim of this study was determine behavioural and physiological stress responses to handling in wild guanacos. Stress condition in guanacos would be indicated mostly through high agonistic behaviour in the corrals and through high vocalization rates during handling. Crowding caused increasing agonistic behaviour; which could be related to dominance conflicts between males. The optimal number of guanacos per corral is 40 individuals in a corral of 30 m2. The most stressful stages of handling were shearing and veterinary procedures, because they elicited high rates of agonistic behaviour and vocalizations. There was a negative relationship between rate of behavioural stress and cortisol levels in males that could be due to fatigue or that displacement activity like stress behaviour response are a strategy to reduce the stress physiological response. Incorporating the results of this study into animal welfare practices could help reduce stress condition in wild guanacos. Our results suggest that both behavioural and physiological traits can be used to measure stress responses, and behavioural stress responses cannot be used as a simple surrogate for glucocorticoid levels.