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Article
Investigation of techniques to measure cortisol and testosterone concentrations in coyote hair
Zoo Biology
  • Julie K. Young, Utah State University
  • Christopher J. Schell
  • Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf
  • Jill M. Mateo
  • Rachel M. Santymire
Document Type
Article
Publisher
Wiley
Publication Date
1-1-2017
Disciplines
Abstract

Long-term noninvasive sampling for endangered or elusive species is particularly difficult due to the challenge of collecting fecal samples before hormone metabolite desiccation, as well as the difficulty in collecting a large enough sample size from all individuals. Hair samples may provide an environmentally stable alternative that provides a long-term assessment of stress and reproductive hormone profiles for captive, zoo, and wild mammals. Here, we extracted and analyzed both cortisol and testosterone in coyote (Canis latrans) hair for the first time. We collected samples from 5-week old coyote pups (six female, six male) housed at the USDA-NWRC Predator Research Facility in Millville, UT. Each individual pup was shaved in six different locations to assess variation in concentrations by body region. We found that pup hair cortisol (F5,57.1 = 0.47, p = 0.80) and testosterone concentrations (F5,60 = 1.03, p = 0.41) did not differ as a function of body region. Male pups generally had higher cortisol concentrations than females (males = 17.71 ± 0.85 ng/g, females = 15.48 ± 0.24 ng/g; F1,57.0 = 5.06, p = 0.028). Comparatively, we did not find any differences between male and female testosterone concentrations (males = 2.86 ± 0.17 ng/g, females = 3.12 ± 0.21 ng/g; F1,60 = 1.42, p = 0.24). These techniques represent an attractive method in describing long-term stress and reproductive profiles of captive, zoo-housed, and wild mammal populations.

Citation Information
Julie K. Young, Christopher J. Schell, Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf, Jill M. Mateo, et al.. "Investigation of techniques to measure cortisol and testosterone concentrations in coyote hair" Zoo Biology Vol. 36 Iss. 3 (2017) p. 220 - 225
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/julie_young1/227/