Animal Sciences Commons^™

Stress And Parity Among Female Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus Pygerythrus) At Two Sites In South Africa, Jo Gansemer

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the hypothesis that in both Soetdoring and !Gariep populations, a femaleSouth African vervet's parity status (nulliparous or parous) affects her physiological stress levels. Vervet monkey ecology and life history are examined to contextualize the relationship between stress and parity. The testing of this hypothesis involves the analysis of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) of samples from nulliparous and multiparous adult females of the two different South African sites. The HCC was statistically analyzed to look for correlations between stress, parity status, and site. No significant relationship between stress and parity status was found. However, significant relationships were found …

The Effects Of Prescribed Burning And Microhabitat Type On Ant (Formicidae) Functional Groups And A Survey Of Ants In The Dr. Howard Reynolds Nature Area (A Mixed Grass Prairie), Ashley N. Durr

Master's Theses

This project sought to understand how prescribed burning and microhabitat type impacts Kansas ant functional groups and also whether prescribed burning in different microhabitat types altered the burn’s impact on those functional groups. The Dr. Howard Reynolds Nature Trail, located in Hays, Kansas, was burned in the spring of 2019. The area consists of 2 distinct habitat types: a dry, mixed-grass dominated uphill area and a moist, densely vegetated downhill area. Pitfall trapping was conducted during the summers of the year prior to the burn (2018) and the year following the burn (2019). 15 pitfall traps were spread across each …

Stress And Body Composition Of Juvenile Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys Temminckii), Brandon Scott Tappmeyer

MSU Graduate Theses

The alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii), is a species of conservation concern that is the subject of multiple head-start and reintroduction efforts across its range. In captive propagation programs, producing offspring that are in optimal physiological condition maximizes the likelihood of success after release. The purpose of my study was to compare stress and body composition between one free-ranging reintroduced population and two captive populations. The two captive populations were both housed in southern Oklahoma, but one group was reared indoors whereas the other inhabited outdoor ponds at a national fish hatchery. I used circulating glucocorticoid (corticosterone) concentrations as an …

Botswana’S Elephant-Back Safari Industry – Stress-Response In Working African Elephants And Analysis Of Their Post-Release Movements, Tanya Lama

Masters Theses

Understanding how African elephants (Loxodonta africana) respond to human interactions in ecotourism operations is critical to safeguarding animal and human welfare and sustaining wildlife ecotourism activities. We investigated the stress response of elephants to a variety of tourist activities over a 15-month period at Abu Camp in northern Botswana. We compared fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations across three elephant groups, including: eight elephants in an elephant-tourism operation (Abu herd), three elephants previously reintroduced back into the wild from the Abu herd, and wild elephants. There were no differences in FGM concentrations between the three groups of elephants. The highest observed …

Integrated Stress And Community Perceptions: Toward An Understanding Of Human-Cougar Tolerance, Lara Brenner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Evidence suggests that cougars (Puma concolor) are beginning to recolonize their traditional range in the Midwestern and Eastern US, returning to a landscape and a social environment that have changed drastically in a century of absence. Any hope of the cougar’s persistence depends on both human tolerance of their presence and on cougar tolerance of disrupted habitat. In this thesis, we took advantage of diverse cougar policy in place in the Western US to explore variation in human attitudes and acceptability of cougars and in the cougar stress response. We validated a process to identify and extract cortisol …

The Social Behavior Of Rehabilitated Spider Monkeys (Ateles Geoffroyi), Anthony Denice

All Master's Theses

The welfare of captive primates in laboratories, sanctuaries, and zoos is affected by various aspects of their environments. Although space restrictions increase aggression and stress-related behaviors in most captive animals, primates show diverse mechanisms for displacing stress and mitigating conflict. Many primates, including wild spider monkeys (genus Ateles), use these mechanisms flexibly to cope with social and environmental stressors. I investigated whether or not captive black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) use behavioral strategies to cope with potential stressors in captivity. In particular, I tested whether an affiliative or avoidant strategy was used in response to changes in …

Central Administration Of Neuropeptide Y (Npy) And Vasotocin 4 Receptor (Vt4r/V1ar) Antagonists On Food Intake And A Stress Response In Chicks, Megan Ann Hancock

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to determine the central effect of the VT4R antagonists (SR-49059 and H-5350 (Manning compound)) on corticosterone (CORT) levels during stress and food intake. A 22-gauge stainless steel guide cannula was surgically implanted into the lateral ventricle of the birds. A preliminary study was done to test the antagonists and their role on food intake. Birds were injected with saline, NPY (4µg), NPY (4µg)+SR-49059 (250ng), or NPY (4µg)+Manning compound (250ng). Birds injected with saline had the lowest 1h food intake (17.7g1.6). Birds injected with NPY+saline had a significantly higher intake (27.1g 1.0), which was enhanced …

The General Adaptation Syndrome In Gerbillus, Bridget L. Moore

McCabe Thesis Collection

The General Adaptation Syndrome or the G.A.S. is the term applied to collective responses to physiological stress. It is initiated by any disturbance in the normal balance of the body functions. These responses affect humans, monkeys, and other animals. The three main physiological changes which occur as a result of stress are enlarged adrenals, shrunken lymphatic organs, and bleeding gastrointestinal ulcers. There are also concomitant changes in the hematocrit and the formed elements of blood. In particular, there is usually a decrease in lymphocytes and eosinophils accompanied by the increase in neutrophils and platelets.

Stress is defined as pressure, or …