Behavioral and Physiological Responses of Trap-Induced Stress in European Badgers
Behavioral and Physiological Responses of Trap-Induced Stress in European Badgers
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欧洲獾陷阱诱发应激的行为和生理反应
DOI：
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发表时间：
2006
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
T. Mörner
中科院分区：
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作者：
K. Schütz;E. Ågren;M. Amundin;B. Röken;R. Palme;T. Mörner
诱捕哺乳动物的原因包括出于种群管理、科学目的、病虫害防治目的以及出于经济目的获取毛皮、皮肤或肉类。所使用的陷阱类型对捕获动物的反应有很大影响(Kreeger等人。1990 a，White et al.1991年)。对捕获的红狐(秃鹫)的研究表明，与盒子陷阱相比，立足点陷阱造成的创伤更大，即使陷阱有衬垫的下巴(即，动物没有经历任何明显的身体伤害，Kreeger等人)。1990a)。此外，已证明化学固定等程序会影响山地山羊的生活史(Oreamnos americanus；Cote等人)。驼鹿(Alces alces；Ballard和Tobey 1981)和北极熊(Ursus maritimus；Ramsay和Stirling 1986)。因此，诱捕不仅会导致肢体、组织或牙齿损伤等身体创伤，而且整体反应可能会受到动物对情况的看法的影响。怀特等人。(1991)在用盒子诱捕的赤狐身上表现出比未被诱捕的个体更高的病理反应，这表明即使像盒子或笼子陷阱一样可能将身体伤害降至最低的陷阱也可能对动物产生负面影响。应激性体温升高被证明与下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴和交感-肾上腺髓质系统的激活密切相关，例如在狐狸身上(MoE 1996)，从而导致心率、体温和皮质醇水平增加。皮质醇水平已被用作野生动物物种限制期间应激的指标(Morton等人。但是，尽管生理反应通常可以作为应激的有用指标(Broom和Johnson 1993)，但不适合单独使用它们作为应激指标(Rushen1991)，因为在非应激情况下也可以观察到类似的反应(Kreeger等人)。1989、1990 b)。众所周知，心理因素可能会引起或增加动物的应激反应。如果一个人处于危险的环境中，并且不能应对这种情况，即使没有任何身体伤害，他也很可能受到压力(Jensen和Toates 1993，Toates 1995，Jensen 1996)。动物预测或控制其情况的能力极大地影响了反应，应激水平随着预测或控制情况的能力的增强而降低(Weiss 1972，Jensen 1996)。因此，除了潜在的身体创伤外，被捕获的动物还可能因为无法逃脱陷阱而经历缺乏控制的心理压力。此外，在长时间的诱捕过程中，由于破坏或未能执行摄食等自然行为，也存在压力水平增加的风险。外部因素，如圈闭类型、圈闭持续时间和一天中的时间，最有可能影响应激反应。此外，物种特有的因素，如昼夜节律、一般活动水平和社会性，可能会影响动物对这种情况的反应。欧洲獾(Meles Meles)是一种夜间活动物种，生活在大小不等的社会群体中(Rogers等人)。1997年)。一个群体使用一个或几个集合的共享领土，但个体通常相互独立地进食(Kruuk 1978a)。在瑞典，獾被用来训练地球犬(即狩猎时进入赛特犬的狗[例如，狐狸和獾])，我们的研究是瑞典农业、食品和消费者事务部委托调查此类獾压力应对的项目的一部分。我们的目的是检测半角欧洲獾的一些行为和生理反应(心率、体温和粪便皮质醇)对笼式捕获器在白天和夜间的短期和长期限制的反应。我们还研究了连续3个晚上在束缚后(即治疗后)的行为，并将行为与未受干扰的情况进行了比较。我们预测，在心率、体温和粪便皮质醇代谢物(FCM)水平以及行为的更长期变化方面，较长的诱捕时间会比较短的诱捕时间对獾的影响更大。我们还预测，在獾正常活动的黑暗时间诱捕会比白天更有压力。
Reasons for mammal trapping include removal of individuals for population management purposes, scientific purposes, pest control, and obtaining fur, skin, or meat for economic purposes. The type of trap used highly affects the responses of captured animals (Kreeger et al. 1990a, White et al. 1991). Research on captured red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) has shown that foothold traps inflict greater trauma compared with box traps even when the traps had padded jaws (i.e., the animal does not experience any obvious physical damage, Kreeger et al. 1990a). Also procedures, such as chemical immobilization, have been shown to affect the life history of mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus; Cote et al. 1998), moose (Alces alces; Ballard and Tobey 1981), and polar bears (Ursus maritimus; Ramsay and Stirling 1986). Thus, not only can entrapment cause physical trauma, such as limb, tissue, or tooth damage, but the overall response is likely to be affected by how the animal perceives the situation. White et al. (1991) demonstrated higher pathological responses in red foxes captured in box traps compared with untrapped individuals, which shows that even traps like box or cage traps that are likely to minimize physical injuries can have negative effects on animals. Stress-induced hyperthermia has been shown to be closely associated with activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic-adrenalmedullary system, for example, in foxes (Moe 1996), thus, resulting in increased heart rate, body temperature, and cortisol levels. Cortisol levels have been used as indicators of stress during restraint of wildlife species (Morton et al. 1995), but although physiological responses often can be useful indicators of stress (Broom and Johnson 1993), it is not suitable to use them alone as stress indicators (Rushen 1991) because similar reactions can also be observed during nonstress situations (Kreeger et al. 1989, 1990b). It is well-known that psychological factors may cause or increase stress responses in animals. If an individual is in a threatening environment and is not able to cope with the situation it is likely to be stressed even without any physical injury (Jensen and Toates 1993, Toates 1995, Jensen 1996). An animal’s ability to predict or control its situation highly influences the response, with stress levels decreasing with increased ability to predict or control the situation (Weiss 1972, Jensen 1996). Therefore, besides potential physical trauma, a captured animal might also be exposed to psychological stress by experiencing lack of control because it is unable to escape from the trap. Furthermore, during long entrapment times there is also a risk of enhanced stress levels due to disruption of, or failure to perform, natural behaviors such as feeding. External factors, such as type of trap, entrapment duration, and time of day, most likely affect the stress response. Also species-specific factors, such as diurnal rhythms, general activity levels, and sociality, are likely to have an influence on how the animal responds to the situation. The European badger (Meles meles) is a nocturnal species that lives in social groups varying in size from 2–30 individuals (Rogers et al. 1997). A group uses a shared territory with one or several setts, but the individuals commonly feed independently from each other (Kruuk 1978a). Badgers are used in Sweden to train earth dogs (i.e., dogs that enter the sett when hunting [e.g., foxes and badgers]), and our study was a part of a project investigating stress coping in such badgers on commission of the Swedish Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Consumer Affairs. Our aim was to examine some behavioral and physiological (heart rate, body temperature, and fecal cortisol) responses of semitame European badgers to restraint in cage traps for short and long capture periods during day and night time. We also studied behavior during 3 consecutive nights postrestraint (i.e., after the treatment period) and compared behavior to undisturbed conditions. We predicted that longer entrapment would affect the badgers more than short entrapment periods in terms of higher heart rate, body temperature, and fecal cortisol metabolites (FCM) levels and in terms of more long-term changes in behavior. We also predicted that entrapment during dark hours when badgers normally are active would be more stressful than during daylight.