stress levels of animals in the wild

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Joseph S.
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stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Joseph S. »

Any data on this from stressful events? Lots of data support stress induced by capture and captivity....what about all the supposed stress from being in the wilD?
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Kelly Mc
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Kelly Mc »

Stressors in the wild are the constant ladder by which almost every evolutionary adaptation for survival is hanging to fuel benefit of fitness.
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mfb
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by mfb »

There are plenty of studies of stress in the wild. Here is one example: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.3075

Is there something specific you are interested in?

Mike
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Joseph S.
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Joseph S. »

Many assert that captivity is invariably more stressful than the wild. Are their any cases that suggest otherwise?
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Soopaman
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Soopaman »

Joseph S. wrote:Many assert that captivity is invariably more stressful than the wild. Are their any cases that suggest otherwise?
The ongoing success of many thousands of thriving captive animals that continue to live longer, healthier lives than their wild brethren.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Kelly Mc »

What is the basis of the belief/perception of Thriving? in the on going success?

Breeding, and not dying for a long time?

I think if health were evaluated scientifically there would be a different scale.

Dietary excesses, chronic low to severe grade renal & hepatic issues, inertia and malaise.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Kelly Mc »

Realizing the word "Stress" is used speciously and incorrectly in the singular when discussing it in its biological context would help you understand it better.

Even after much discussion it seems people are still slightly brainwashed by its usage in pop psychology.
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mfb
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by mfb »

I agree with Kelly - how do you define stress? Ability to reproduce? Longevity? Metabolism? The study I linked to used corticosterone as a metric of stress.

There is a lot of ongoing research in the zoo world on health of animals, particularly primates. One of the major issue is that many of them are overweight and exhibit behaviors at frequencies much different from the wild (coprophagy). Part of this comes from their diet and limited exercise. Are these animals under stress?

Seems like an animal that has normal proportions, lives long, and reproduces in captivity wouldn't be under great stress.

My colleague Ron Oldfield had an interesting paper on captive fish and their welfare a few years ago: http://filer.case.edu/rgo/InTheMedia.html

Also need to be clear about how you define "captivity". Do you mean with the average person keeping an animal? Or how much stress an animal would be in captivity with an experienced keeper? My guess is that the average pet anole is under a lot of stress due to inexperienced keepers not giving them the right conditions.

Best wishes, Mike
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Kelly Mc
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Kelly Mc »

mfb wrote:I agree with Kelly - how do you define stress? Ability to reproduce? Longevity? Metabolism? The study I linked to used corticosterone as a metric of stress.

There is a lot of ongoing research in the zoo world on health of animals, particularly primates. One of the major issue is that many of them are overweight and exhibit behaviors at frequencies much different from the wild (coprophagy). Part of this comes from their diet and limited exercise. Are these animals under stress?

Seems like an animal that has normal proportions, lives long, and reproduces in captivity wouldn't be under great stress.

My colleague Ron Oldfield had an interesting paper on captive fish and their welfare a few years ago: http://filer.case.edu/rgo/InTheMedia.html

Also need to be clear about how you define "captivity". Do you mean with the average person keeping an animal? Or how much stress an animal would be in captivity with an experienced keeper? My guess is that the average pet anole is under a lot of stress due to inexperienced keepers not giving them the right conditions.

Best wishes, Mike

Excellent points. Studies on fish are a valuable litmus as well.
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

Gorden Shuett has done some cool stuff with stress hormones in snakes.
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Joseph S.
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Joseph S. »

The aquarium article is interesting. I bet youd get a different picture with other species. For example...I would bet with some species which live in thick cover tank size is not going to be as noticeable a factor. Size of an enclosure alone does not dictate that needed resources will be provided.



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cbernz
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by cbernz »

You might want to read some Robert Sapolsky. He did a lot of studies of stress hormones in wild baboon populations. Very interesting research. I don't know much about stress in wild herps, though.
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Joseph S.
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Joseph S. »

Robert Sapolsky's research is very interesting...i am unsure how much this applies to nonsocial animals who likely do not suffer the misfortune of being the subordinate.
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by AndyO'Connor »

Let's not forget that it's nearly impossible for us to monitor or measure stresses in wild or captive animals without some type of interaction, which could ruin the control, if you are trying to measure the stress as it pertains to human interaction. There is no way to know that an animal that has been observed acts the same or differently (or stresses more or less) than an animal that we have no observation or interaction with. This is not much different of a devil's advocate than the observer effect in physics.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: stress levels of animals in the wild

Post by Kelly Mc »

I think what you say Andy is a challenge, but not an obstacle. What you have described has been factored in, in some investigation models and I see every potential for innovation in regards to it increasing.

Besides Stressors and effects, neural investigation is expanding per new technologies with perhaps interesting surprises ahead.
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