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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Pilot Study: Effects Of Whole Body Vibrational Therapy On Equine Epaxial Muscle Soreness, Riley Leibeck
Pilot Study: Effects Of Whole Body Vibrational Therapy On Equine Epaxial Muscle Soreness, Riley Leibeck
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Whole body vibrational therapy (WBV) is well-studied in people, but there is a paucity of research of its effect on horses. It is suggested that WBV use in horses increases performance, aids in recovery, and stimulates nerves, bones, and muscles in ways that normal exercise does not. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if frequent WBV therapy sessions affect back soreness in horses using pressure algometry. Most sporthorses will experience back soreness in their careers, and it is regarded as one of the most common causes of poor performance in equine athletes. Five horses were measured for …
Implementation Of Seasonal Diets Through Seasonal Diet Surveys In Sloth Bears (Melursus Ursinus): A Case Study At Idaho Falls Zoo, Noah Clever
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Wild sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) display seasonal diet preferences for insects and fruit during the dry and monsoon season respectively. To potentially utilize as a method for reducing abnormal behaviors and improving animal welfare, the purpose of the study is to survey zoos with captive sloth bears and determine if zoo-housed individuals display seasonal diet preferences. From May 18th, 2022 to March 2nd, 2023 data was collected on Priya, a sloth bear from Idaho Falls Zoo, and her preference for fruit and insects. Temperature, season, fruit choice based on sugar levels, and insect choice based on texture of …
Effects Of Temperature And Plant And Animal Diets On Metabolic Rate In The Juvenile Red Eared Slider (Trachemys Scripta Elegans), Taylor Macdonald, Sarah Bouchard
Effects Of Temperature And Plant And Animal Diets On Metabolic Rate In The Juvenile Red Eared Slider (Trachemys Scripta Elegans), Taylor Macdonald, Sarah Bouchard
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Specific dynamic action (SDA) is the energy expended during ingestion, digestion, absorption, and assimilation of a meal, and is influenced by meal (type, size, composition, and temperature) and environmental temperature. Understanding the effect of meal type and environmental temperature on SDA in turtles is important in describing how T. s. elegans may acclimate with changing environmental temperatures. In this study, we conducted feeding trials in which we fed juvenile T. s. elegans duckweed and mealworm diets at 25°C and 30°C. We measured the rate of oxygen consumption as a proxy for metabolic rate after feeding for four 30 minute consecutive …
Emotional Support Animals For College Students: Do The Benefits Outweigh The Costs?, Sidney Street
Emotional Support Animals For College Students: Do The Benefits Outweigh The Costs?, Sidney Street
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Mental health problems have been drastically increasing in recent years among college students. Alongside the rising prevalence of psychological distress, universities have also experienced an increase in requests to have Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) live on campus. To date however, data are scarce on students’ experiences living with and around ESAs. The present study aims to investigate attitudes and perceptions about ESAs, in both owners of ESAs as well as students who do not own an ESA but have interacted with one. Specifically, owners were interviewed to find whether the perceived benefits of owning an ESA outweigh the associated costs …
Equine Massage Following Intense Work: Effects On Plasma Creatine Kinase, Brittany Pilat
Equine Massage Following Intense Work: Effects On Plasma Creatine Kinase, Brittany Pilat
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Horses are elite athletes, and many of them receive specialized care to keep them operating at their highest potential. Alternative modalities of healing- such as equine massage- have begun to grow in the equine world due to many perceived benefits. Equine massage is thought to decrease inflammation and reduce muscle tension and soreness. The aim of this study was to observe the effect of equine massage on creatine kinase (CK) levels in the blood following intense work. A total of 12 horses were randomly assigned to either the control group (n=6) or the test group (n=6). All horses were exercised …
Impact Of Animal Programming On Human Attitudes Of Local Wildlife, Ashton Jerger
Impact Of Animal Programming On Human Attitudes Of Local Wildlife, Ashton Jerger
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Attitudes towards wildlife can have direct implications on peoples’ interest in conserving local habitats and their overall ecological choices. Attitudes are formed by multiple components of an individual’s life history. However, through interactive, educational experiences, there is a potential to change current attitudes. Animal programs are an example of interactive, educational experiences that provide individuals the opportunity to get up-close to animal ambassadors and participate in engaging conversations about them. An animal program assessment was conducted with the 2019 summer camps at the Ohio Wildlife Center to quantify the changes in peoples’ affiliation for local wildlife and their willingness to …
Environmental Factors' Effects On Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) Infant Populations And Health, Jenny Mcfarland
Environmental Factors' Effects On Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) Infant Populations And Health, Jenny Mcfarland
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Ecosystem factors, both biotic and abiotic, impact all animal species. Temperature, rainfall, daylight, windspeed, mast production, competition and predation are integral to the ecosystem and thus affect the survival and overall wellbeing of the population. Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) infant intakes at Ohio Wildlife Center followed a pattern of more infants in the fall than in the spring, differing from the usual observation that more infants are born in the spring. Ecosystem factors were compared to monthly and annual intakes to see what influenced intake date, admittance condition and survivability rate of the Eastern gray squirrel infants. The results …
The Effect Of Slow-Feeding Hay Nets On Post-Prandial Equine Salivary Cortisol Levels, Grace Simpson
The Effect Of Slow-Feeding Hay Nets On Post-Prandial Equine Salivary Cortisol Levels, Grace Simpson
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Throughout its evolution, the Equus caballus, or horse, developed a physiological response to environmental alterations involving the synthesis and release of cortisol from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, to regulate blood glucose levels, vascular tone and hormone release throughout the body (Ambrojo et al., 2018). With a hypothesis that changing a horse’s feeding method can alter salivary cortisol levels, the aim of this research project was to determine if feeding forage to horses in slow-feeding haynets would significantly reduce acute cortisol salivary level fluctuations, which would be valuable to minimize horses’ stress and increase overall welfare. Two feeding methods …
Morphological And Color Variation In Poicephalus Parrots, Eileen Connon
Morphological And Color Variation In Poicephalus Parrots, Eileen Connon
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Though describing and delimiting species is one of the principle aspects of many disciplines within biology, there is often debate about which methods and concepts should be used to make such decisions. The Tobias criteria for quantitative species delimitation represent one attempt to create a standard method of delimiting species based on the morphological species concept. However, previous examples of using these criteria have not always been completely quantitative. This study uses quantitative morphological and color data of three Poicephalusparrots as a case study for the effectiveness of the Tobias criteria. The results show varying levels of support for …
The Relationship Between Coat Color And Dominance In Female Sable Antelope Over Time, Taylor Wilson
The Relationship Between Coat Color And Dominance In Female Sable Antelope Over Time, Taylor Wilson
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Sable antelope (Hippotragus niger)exhibit sexual dimorphism, where males and females look different from each other in color and size. Within this difference between the sexes, there are a wide spectrum in coat colors among females, ranging from light tan to dark brown. The variations seen in female coat color in other species are known to be hormonally caused by testosterone. Testosterone levels are also related to dominance within the herd in other species. The first objective of this study is to determine if the variations in coat color are associated with the dominance hierarchy among female sable …
Assessment Of Wildlife Rehabilitation Trends: Domestic Dog And Cat Attacks, Rachel Wilson
Assessment Of Wildlife Rehabilitation Trends: Domestic Dog And Cat Attacks, Rachel Wilson
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Human-wildlife conflict is a growing concern, and domestic cat predation is estimated to be responsible for billions of wildlife deaths every year in the Unites States. Domestic dog predation has been less well studied, but as dogs are the second most numerous pet in the U.S. after cats, their impact on native wildlife should also be assessed. One method to assess domestic animal predation is to examine trends in wildlife rehabilitation records. Using the online database WILD-ONe, I analyzed over 31,000 wildlife hospital records in the United States from 2011-2016. During this time span, data showed over 14,000 domestic dog …
A Comparative Study Of Equine Gut Microbiomes Using 16s And 18s Rrna Sequencing, Jillian Jorgenson
A Comparative Study Of Equine Gut Microbiomes Using 16s And 18s Rrna Sequencing, Jillian Jorgenson
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
The gut microbiome of domestic horses (Equus ferus caballus) can be broken down into two primary divisions of interest: (1) prokaryotic composition, consisting of bacteria and archaea and (2) fungal composition. Within the gut, there are also eukaryotic parasite communities that may interact with the microbiome. While each has been the subject of various scientific explorations, in this study we analyze the potential interconnectedness of these categories. To determine the extent to which each component of the gut microbiome/parasitic communities influences the other, DNA was extracted and amplified from the fecal samples of eight horses. A combination of …
Prediction Factors For Release Of Wildlife At A Midwestern Rehabilitation Facility, Abigail E. Smith
Prediction Factors For Release Of Wildlife At A Midwestern Rehabilitation Facility, Abigail E. Smith
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Wildlife rehabilitation is a large and internationally known field with thousands of rehabilitators around the world. Resources, such as time and money, are extremely limited in rehabilitation facilities and not all animals are candidates for release due to injuries or illnesses that make them unlikely to survive in the wild. Understanding what factors predict release would be useful in focusing limited resources, but there has been little investigation previously. The purpose of this study is to determine what factors affect the survival of mammals and birds at an American Midwest wildlife rehabilitation center. It was found that animals admitted with …
Sibling Rivalry: A Comparison Of Giant Panda (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca) Twin Behavior, Taryn Chudo
Sibling Rivalry: A Comparison Of Giant Panda (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca) Twin Behavior, Taryn Chudo
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Expanded knowledge on an animal’s individual behavior would be useful in reintroduction programs for endangered species around the globe. Currently, reintroduction program criteria focus primarily on physical characteristics such as age, sex, and overall health for the selection of candidates. However, behavioral deficiencies have been found in captive populations, producing adverse effects on reintroduction program success. The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a species that would benefit from understanding the impact of behavior on reintroduction success. This study focused on the relationship of behavior with kinship, birth weight and age. No significant correlation was found between birth weight …
Iron Metabolism Genes In Browsing And Grazing Rhinoceroses: Implications For Iron Overload Disorder, Lorien Salyer
Iron Metabolism Genes In Browsing And Grazing Rhinoceroses: Implications For Iron Overload Disorder, Lorien Salyer
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Iron overload disorder is a serious condition that affects many animals of conservation interest, including rhinoceroses. Iron overload disorder is only found in browsing rhinos (African black, Diceros bicornis, and Sumatran, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) but not in grazing species (African white, Ceratotherium simum, and greater one-horned, Rhinoceros unicornis). Iron overload is connected with many of the other health issues seen in captive browsing rhinoceroses, so it is vitally important that the iron metabolism process is studied to improve the existing husbandry procedures of these critically endangered animals. The objective of this study was to characterize genes related to …
A Retrospective Analysis Of Trends In Central Ohio Wildlife Health Using Records From A Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility, Rachel B. Dalton
A Retrospective Analysis Of Trends In Central Ohio Wildlife Health Using Records From A Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility, Rachel B. Dalton
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
The analysis of records from wildlife rehabilitation facilities has shown great potential as a technique for monitoring health trends in local wildlife populations. We examined 45,668 records of animals admitted to a wildlife rehabilitation facility located in Ohio over a 10 year period (2005-2014). The objective was to examine how causes of admission for commonly admitted species may change over time and co-vary with seasonal patterns, with the goal of using fluctuations in wildlife admissions as a monitoring technique for population and ecosystem health. We assigned causes of admission to broad categories, such as “Collision with Non-Moving Object”, and a …
Cross-Sectional Analysis Of Salivary Cortisol And Cyathostome Infestation In Horses, Danielle L. Keating
Cross-Sectional Analysis Of Salivary Cortisol And Cyathostome Infestation In Horses, Danielle L. Keating
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
With an increase in anthelmintic resistance and decreased efficacy of many commercial dewormers, understanding factors that contribute to parasite infestations in horses is integral to their management. The goal of this study was to look at the potential relationship between parasites and stress response by evaluating salivary cortisol levels and cyathostome egg shedding levels. Using a sample size of n = 200 horses from the state of Ohio, fecal and saliva samples were collected from each horse. Fecal egg counts were performed for each horse with a modified Stoll method, and saliva samples were tested with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay …
A Comparison Of The Genetic Diversity Of The Class Ii Major Histocompatibility Complex In Ex Situ And In Situ Populations Of African Penguins (Spheniscus Demersus), Emily Willmer
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
As an endangered species, the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is at risk of becoming extinct in the wild due to destruction of their coastal habitat and reduction in food availability. The development of a genetically diverse and healthy captive population is important in helping to conserve the species. The goal of this project was to determine the genetic diversity of the class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of a wild population of African penguins and compare it to the diversity of the captive population at Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut that has previously been studied. We found that …