圈养黄颊长臂猿粪便皮质醇代谢分析

Fecal Cortisol Metabolism of Captive Yellow-cheeked Gibbons

粪便皮质醇可以较好地衡量动物的应激程度,常被作为一种分析圈养动物生存压力与评估动物福利的指标。为探讨圈养黄颊长臂猿(Nomascus gabriellae)的生存压力,以1对来源于成都动物园的黄颊长臂猿为研究对象,于2016年4月—2017年4月,持续监测2只黄颊长臂猿粪便皮质醇水平,分析皮质醇代谢与游客干扰、季节和动物发情等因素的关系。结果显示:(1)雌性与雄性黄颊长臂猿的皮质醇水平在节假日与非节假日均不存在显著差异(p=0.061,0.057),但在节假日期间雌性皮质醇水平明显高于雄性(p<0.001);(2)粪便皮质醇代谢存在季节性差异,雌性与雄性均表现出冬季皮质醇水平明显高于春季(p<0.01)、夏季(p<0.05)和秋季(p<0.01);(3)雌性皮质醇与雌激素呈现显著正相关(r=0.790,p=0.011),而雄性皮质醇与雌激素不存在相关性(r=0.027,p=0.944)。研究表明,2只黄颊长臂猿对游客干扰产生的应激表现不明显,但雌性比雄性表现出更高敏感性。黄颊长臂猿皮质醇代谢受季节调控,冬季显著升高可能与机体能量代谢和免疫有关;在发情期皮质醇还可能与繁殖生理需求有关,存在一定程度的性别差异。

Fecal cortisol,which can measure the stress level of animals,is a good indicator to analyze stress responses and to assess captive animals’welfare.In order to investigate the stress response of yellow-cheeked gibbons(Nomascus gabriellae)at Chengdu Zoo,we measured fecal cortisol of two gibbons from April 2016 to April 2017,and emphasized on the relationship between cortisol and tourist disturbance,season and estrus.The results showed that there was no signifi⁃cant difference in cortisol levels between holidays and non-holidays in both the female and male gibbon(p=0.061,0.057),and female cortisol was significantly higher than male cortisol during holidays(p<0.001).In addition,fecal cortisol level in both genders were the highest in winter compared to spring(p<0.01),summer(p<0.05)and autumn(p<0.01).There was a significant positive correlation between cortisol and estrogen for the female(r=0.790,p=0.011),but no such correlation for the male(r=0.027,p=0.944).Our findings suggested that stress response of the two yellow-cheeked gibbons to tourist disturbance was small,but the female showed higher sensitivity to the disturbance than the male.Moreover,for captive yellow-cheeked gibbons,cortisol level is seasonally regulated,and its significant increase in winter may be related to en⁃ergy metabolism and immunity.Additionally,cortisol may also be associated with reproductive and physiological needs dur⁃ing breeding season,and therefore a gender difference may exist.