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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
A Simplified Method For Monitoring Progestagens In African Elephants Under Field Conditions, Bruce A. Schulte, Elizaeth Freeman, F. Nicole Abbondanza, Jordana Meyer, Janine Brown
A Simplified Method For Monitoring Progestagens In African Elephants Under Field Conditions, Bruce A. Schulte, Elizaeth Freeman, F. Nicole Abbondanza, Jordana Meyer, Janine Brown
Biology Faculty Publications
Summary: 1. Hormone analyses are frequently used to support management of wildlife; however, current techniques are not very field-friendly. In situ hormone monitoring is often expensive, time consuming and logistically difficult. Thus, a new method for assessing ovarian cycle activity non-invasively in free-ranging African elephants was developed. 2. The technique involves handshaking faecal samples in common organic solvents, use of environmentally stable antibody-coated microtitre plates and assessment of progestagen concentrations based on a visual colour change. 3. Studies using ex situ African elephants determined that handshaking faeces in a solution of isopropyl alcohol was effective for extracting the faecal progestagens …