Die wissenschaftliche Erforschung des Haushundes (Canis lupus forma familiaris) mit Fokus auf seine sozialen Eigenschaften hat große Relevanz in Anbetracht seiner zunehmenden Bedeutung im Zusammenleben mit dem Menschen als Familienmitglied und Arbeitstier. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, die Relevanz von Dominanz in den Beziehungen von Gruppenmitgliedern einer Meute Englischer Foxhounds darzustellen sowie ihre Auswirkung auf die Sozialstruktur der Hunde. Weitergehend sollte die Analyse von aggressionsanzeigendem Verhalten und sozialen Strategien Aufschluss über Regelungsmechanismen im Zusammenleben der Hunde geben. Speichelcortisolanalysen sollten Einblick über die Stressexposition der Hunde in diesem Zusammenleben geben. Das Neutrophilen/ Lymphozyten Verhältnis im Blut sollte darüber hinaus mögliche Auswirkungen der Cortisolproduktion auf das Immunsystem aufzeigen. Für die Datenerhebung wurden 16 Englische Foxhounds einer Meute von 72 Hunden berücksichtigt. Je 4 Hündinnen und 4 Rüden wurden einer von 2 Gruppen zugeteilt. Über einen Zeitraum von 10 Monaten erfolgten Verhaltensbeobachtungen an jedem Individuum mittels der Methode Focal Animal Sampling. Von Hunden aus Gruppe 1 wurden 17,5 Stunden Beobachtungsmaterial und aus Gruppe 2 17,0 Stunden gesammelt. Die Speichelproben wurden mit der Salivette® der Firma SARSTEDT (Nümbrecht- Rommelsdorf) entnommen und mittels eines speziell für die Speichelcortisol- Analyse entwickelten Immunoassays (double- antibody biotin- linked enzyme immunoassay) analysiert. Ergebnisse: Die als möglicherweise dominanzanzeigend eingestuften Indikatoren, nämlich die Körperhaltung High Posture und die Durchsetzungskraft als Eigenschaft eines Hundes, konnten als solche nicht bestätigt werden. Es konnte keine dominanzbasierte Hierarchie ermittelt werden. Auch konnten von 82 Dyaden nur in 5 eine Dominanz- Subordinanz- Beziehung ermittelt werden, was kein aussagekräftiges Ergebnis darstellt. Aggressive Handlungen wurden in beiden Gruppen pro Stunde durchschnittlich jeweils 12 Mal beobachtet, jedoch meist in der Intensität 1 - 2 (von 5- stufiger Skala). Sie wurden hochsignifikant häufiger unter Rüden als unter Hündinnen beobachtet (p= 0,002). Berechnungen der Aggressionskoeffizienten belegten deutliche Unterschiede in den individuellen Aggressionsniveaus. Die Analyse ausgetragener Konflikte auf Taktiken und Strategien lieferte jedoch keine signifikanten Ergebnisse. Die Foxhounds reagierten situativ und selten gegner- und nie kontextabhängig. Die Speichelcortisolanalysen belegten vielfach höhere Basal- Mittelwerte der Foxhounds verglichen mit Analysen von Hunden anderer Studien. Eine Reduktion des Cortisolwerts erfolgte bei 14 von 16 Hunden nach 20- minütigem Einzelspaziergang mit Menschenkontakt. Allerdings konnte keine Verbindung zwischen dem Speichelcortisolwert und dem soziometrisch errechneten Rangplatz in der Gruppe ermittelt werden. Ebenso bestand keine Korrelation zwischen dem Speichelcortisolwert und Immunstatus sowie Aggressionspotential. Schlussfolgerungen: Dominanz spielte keine erkennbare Rolle in den sozialen Interaktionen und Beziehungen der Hunde. Die Ergebnisse lassen die Schlussfolgerung auf eine egalitäre Sozialstruktur der Foxhounds zu statt einer dominanzabhängigen, was auch durch die situativ geregelten Begegnungen unterstützt wird. Aggressives Verhalten als häufig repräsentiertes Kommunikationselement wurde bei den einzelnen Hunden unterschiedlich oft beobachtet, was auf die Verschiedenheit der Charaktere und ihre Motivationen, Konflikte einzugehen, hindeutet. Die häufiger unter Rüden beobachtete Aggression kann auf ein erhöhtes Konkurrenzpotential hindeuten. Die im Speichel der Foxhounds gemessenen Cortisolwerte lassen die Vermutung auf eine durch das Gruppenleben bedingte Erhöhung des Basalwerts zu, ohne Konsequenzen auf den Immunstatus. Die fehlenden Korrelationen zu den individuellen Rangplätzen und Aggression unterstützt die Vermutung eines lockeren bzw. egalitären Sozialgefüges.

A Brucella canis é a espécie de Brucella que acomete os cães, acarretando problemas reprodutivos e prejuízos econômicos aos proprietários de canis comericias, além do risco que representa para os manipuladores e os proprietários dos cães, os quais podem adquirir a infecção pelo contato com os animais infectados e/ou materiais contaminados por B. canis. Vários métodos de diagnósticos foram desenvolvidos com o intuito de diagnosticar a brucelose nos cães, no entanto cada teste apresenta um desempenho diferente em relação à sensibilidade, especificidade, rapidez e praticidade na identificação dos cães acometidos. Estudos indicam que a PCR em tempo real tende a apresentar maior sensibilidade e especificidade, além da rapidez na execução. Diante disso o objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver, padronizar e validar a reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR) em tempo real para diagnóstico da brucelose canina causada por B. canis utilizando amostras de sangue total de cães. Um total de 56 cães de canis comercias e animais domiciliados, foram submetidos à hemocultura, sorodiagnóstico, PCR convencional (PCRc) e PCR em tempo real (PCRtr) e posteriormente os resultados obtidos em cada teste foram comparados por meio do coeficiente Kappa. Na padronização das reações de PCRtr foram testados três conjuntos de primers e sondas (PCRtr-A, B e C), utilizando-se diferentes temperaturas de annealing e concentrações de primers. A PCRtr-B teve melhor desempenho sob temperatura de annealing de 59° C, utilizando 900 nM de primers tendo detectado um maior número de cães positivos em relação à hemocultura e PCRc. Porém o teste não se apresentou confiável, uma vez que ocorreram reações inespecíficas em amostras provenientes de cães não infectados, sugerindo uma baixa especificidade do teste. Portanto, as técnicas de hemocultura e PCRc apresentaram melhor desempenho do que a PCRtr avaliada para o diagnóstico de B. canis. / Brucella canis is the species that affects dogs, causing reproductive problems and economic losses mainly for the owners of commercial kennels, besides the risk that it represents for the manipulators and the owners of dogs that can acquire the infection by the contact with infected animals or contaminated materials. Several diagnostic methods have been developed for the diagnosis of the infection in dogs. However, the performance of the tests vary regarding sensitivity, specificity, speed and practicality for the identification of infected dogs. Studies indicated that the real-time PCR (rtPCR) might show higher sensitivity and specificity, as well as speed of execution. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop, standardize and validate a rtPCR assay for the diagnosis of canine brucellosis caused by B. canis using whole blood samples from dogs. A total of 56 dogs from commercial kennels and domiciled animals were tested through blood culturing, serological test, conventional PCR (cPCR) and rtPCR, and subsequently the results obtained in each test were compared using the Kappa coefficient. During the standardization of the rtPCR, three sets of primers and probes (rtPCR-A, B and C) were tested using different annealing temperatures and primer concentrations. rtPCR-B showed better performance under the annealing temperature of 59° C and using 900 nM of primers having detected a higher number of positive dogs when compared to blood culturing and PCRc. However, the test was considered not reliable to be used in canine brucellosis diagnosis, since non-specific reactions occurred in samples from uninfected dogs, suggesting a low specificity of the test. Therefore, the blood culturing and cPCR techniques showed a better performance than the developed rtPCR assay to be used in the diagnosis of B. canis infection in dogs.

A Brucella canis é a espécie de Brucella que acomete os cães, acarretando problemas reprodutivos e prejuízos econômicos aos proprietários de canis comericias, além do risco que representa para os manipuladores e os proprietários dos cães, os quais podem adquirir a infecção pelo contato com os animais infectados e/ou materiais contaminados por B. canis. Vários métodos de diagnósticos foram desenvolvidos com o intuito de diagnosticar a brucelose nos cães, no entanto cada teste apresenta um desempenho diferente em relação à sensibilidade, especificidade, rapidez e praticidade na identificação dos cães acometidos. Estudos indicam que a PCR em tempo real tende a apresentar maior sensibilidade e especificidade, além da rapidez na execução. Diante disso o objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver, padronizar e validar a reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR) em tempo real para diagnóstico da brucelose canina causada por B. canis utilizando amostras de sangue total de cães. Um total de 56 cães de canis comercias e animais domiciliados, foram submetidos à hemocultura, sorodiagnóstico, PCR convencional (PCRc) e PCR em tempo real (PCRtr) e posteriormente os resultados obtidos em cada teste foram comparados por meio do coeficiente Kappa. Na padronização das reações de PCRtr foram testados três conjuntos de primers e sondas (PCRtr-A, B e C), utilizando-se diferentes temperaturas de annealing e concentrações de primers. A PCRtr-B teve melhor desempenho sob temperatura de annealing de 59° C, utilizando 900 nM de primers tendo detectado um maior número de cães positivos em relação à hemocultura e PCRc. Porém o teste não se apresentou confiável, uma vez que ocorreram reações inespecíficas em amostras provenientes de cães não infectados, sugerindo uma baixa especificidade do teste. Portanto, as técnicas de hemocultura e PCRc apresentaram melhor desempenho do que a PCRtr avaliada para o diagnóstico de B. canis. / Brucella canis is the species that affects dogs, causing reproductive problems and economic losses mainly for the owners of commercial kennels, besides the risk that it represents for the manipulators and the owners of dogs that can acquire the infection by the contact with infected animals or contaminated materials. Several diagnostic methods have been developed for the diagnosis of the infection in dogs. However, the performance of the tests vary regarding sensitivity, specificity, speed and practicality for the identification of infected dogs. Studies indicated that the real-time PCR (rtPCR) might show higher sensitivity and specificity, as well as speed of execution. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop, standardize and validate a rtPCR assay for the diagnosis of canine brucellosis caused by B. canis using whole blood samples from dogs. A total of 56 dogs from commercial kennels and domiciled animals were tested through blood culturing, serological test, conventional PCR (cPCR) and rtPCR, and subsequently the results obtained in each test were compared using the Kappa coefficient. During the standardization of the rtPCR, three sets of primers and probes (rtPCR-A, B and C) were tested using different annealing temperatures and primer concentrations. rtPCR-B showed better performance under the annealing temperature of 59° C and using 900 nM of primers having detected a higher number of positive dogs when compared to blood culturing and PCRc. However, the test was considered not reliable to be used in canine brucellosis diagnosis, since non-specific reactions occurred in samples from uninfected dogs, suggesting a low specificity of the test. Therefore, the blood culturing and cPCR techniques showed a better performance than the developed rtPCR assay to be used in the diagnosis of B. canis infection in dogs.

Die wissenschaftliche Erforschung des Haushundes (Canis lupus forma familiaris) mit Fokus auf seine sozialen Eigenschaften hat große Relevanz in Anbetracht seiner zunehmenden Bedeutung im Zusammenleben mit dem Menschen als Familienmitglied und Arbeitstier. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, die Relevanz von Dominanz in den Beziehungen von Gruppenmitgliedern einer Meute Englischer Foxhounds darzustellen sowie ihre Auswirkung auf die Sozialstruktur der Hunde. Weitergehend sollte die Analyse von aggressionsanzeigendem Verhalten und sozialen Strategien Aufschluss über Regelungsmechanismen im Zusammenleben der Hunde geben. Speichelcortisolanalysen sollten Einblick über die Stressexposition der Hunde in diesem Zusammenleben geben. Das Neutrophilen/ Lymphozyten Verhältnis im Blut sollte darüber hinaus mögliche Auswirkungen der Cortisolproduktion auf das Immunsystem aufzeigen. Für die Datenerhebung wurden 16 Englische Foxhounds einer Meute von 72 Hunden berücksichtigt. Je 4 Hündinnen und 4 Rüden wurden einer von 2 Gruppen zugeteilt. Über einen Zeitraum von 10 Monaten erfolgten Verhaltensbeobachtungen an jedem Individuum mittels der Methode Focal Animal Sampling. Von Hunden aus Gruppe 1 wurden 17,5 Stunden Beobachtungsmaterial und aus Gruppe 2 17,0 Stunden gesammelt. Die Speichelproben wurden mit der Salivette® der Firma SARSTEDT (Nümbrecht- Rommelsdorf) entnommen und mittels eines speziell für die Speichelcortisol- Analyse entwickelten Immunoassays (double- antibody biotin- linked enzyme immunoassay) analysiert. Ergebnisse: Die als möglicherweise dominanzanzeigend eingestuften Indikatoren, nämlich die Körperhaltung High Posture und die Durchsetzungskraft als Eigenschaft eines Hundes, konnten als solche nicht bestätigt werden. Es konnte keine dominanzbasierte Hierarchie ermittelt werden. Auch konnten von 82 Dyaden nur in 5 eine Dominanz- Subordinanz- Beziehung ermittelt werden, was kein aussagekräftiges Ergebnis darstellt. Aggressive Handlungen wurden in beiden Gruppen pro Stunde durchschnittlich jeweils 12 Mal beobachtet, jedoch meist in der Intensität 1 - 2 (von 5- stufiger Skala). Sie wurden hochsignifikant häufiger unter Rüden als unter Hündinnen beobachtet (p= 0,002). Berechnungen der Aggressionskoeffizienten belegten deutliche Unterschiede in den individuellen Aggressionsniveaus. Die Analyse ausgetragener Konflikte auf Taktiken und Strategien lieferte jedoch keine signifikanten Ergebnisse. Die Foxhounds reagierten situativ und selten gegner- und nie kontextabhängig. Die Speichelcortisolanalysen belegten vielfach höhere Basal- Mittelwerte der Foxhounds verglichen mit Analysen von Hunden anderer Studien. Eine Reduktion des Cortisolwerts erfolgte bei 14 von 16 Hunden nach 20- minütigem Einzelspaziergang mit Menschenkontakt. Allerdings konnte keine Verbindung zwischen dem Speichelcortisolwert und dem soziometrisch errechneten Rangplatz in der Gruppe ermittelt werden. Ebenso bestand keine Korrelation zwischen dem Speichelcortisolwert und Immunstatus sowie Aggressionspotential. Schlussfolgerungen: Dominanz spielte keine erkennbare Rolle in den sozialen Interaktionen und Beziehungen der Hunde. Die Ergebnisse lassen die Schlussfolgerung auf eine egalitäre Sozialstruktur der Foxhounds zu statt einer dominanzabhängigen, was auch durch die situativ geregelten Begegnungen unterstützt wird. Aggressives Verhalten als häufig repräsentiertes Kommunikationselement wurde bei den einzelnen Hunden unterschiedlich oft beobachtet, was auf die Verschiedenheit der Charaktere und ihre Motivationen, Konflikte einzugehen, hindeutet. Die häufiger unter Rüden beobachtete Aggression kann auf ein erhöhtes Konkurrenzpotential hindeuten. Die im Speichel der Foxhounds gemessenen Cortisolwerte lassen die Vermutung auf eine durch das Gruppenleben bedingte Erhöhung des Basalwerts zu, ohne Konsequenzen auf den Immunstatus. Die fehlenden Korrelationen zu den individuellen Rangplätzen und Aggression unterstützt die Vermutung eines lockeren bzw. egalitären Sozialgefüges.

The purpose of this diploma thesis is to evaluate legal protection of grey wolf in the Czech Republic based on comparison carried out with legal codes of our neighbours and international law environment in order to offer a solution for revealed deficiencies, since, as the thesis describes, the number of wolfs dwelling in the wild areas of the country has been gradually growing. It is the question of direct protection and wolf's legal status, which is examined, as well as related administrative obstacles, and conditions or means of hunting, respectively. The thesis also deals with the issue of legal status of "wolf-dog" hybrids. Furthermore, currently pressing matter of compensating damage caused by wolfs is examined. Finally, attention is devoted to the protection provided to wolfs within the field of pet breeding and animal trade.

Wild Canis species possess a unique suite of reproductive traits including social monogamy, copulatory lock/tie, and biparental care. Females are seasonally monestrous and experience an obligatory pseudopregnancy after spontaneous ovulation. While these characteristics have been ascribed to coyotes, an integrated profile of behavior and physiology has not yet been described. In this study, temporal correlations between steroid hormone levels and socio-sexual mating behaviors were documented, as were changes in vaginal epithelium. Pseudopregnancy was compared to pregnancy by contrasting hormone (progesterone, estradiol, prolactin and relaxin) profiles of unmated females to patterns obtained in alternate years when they bred. Meanwhile, social interactions between pseudopregnant females and their mates appeared similar to pregnant coyotes, suggesting a proximate role of pseudopregnancy in pair-bond enforcement. Finally, out-of-season stimulation of ovarian hormones and estrous behaviors suggested that reproductive seasonality of the coyote may possess some degree of plasticity, providing an adaptive response mechanism to environmental change.

<p>The genetic basis for behavioural traits is largely unknown. The overall aim of this thesis was to find genes with importance for behavioural traits related to fear and anxiety. Microarray analysis was used to screen expression profiles of brain regions important for emotional behaviour in dogs, wolves, foxes and mice. In a first experiment, dogs and their wild ancestors the wolves were compared. Our results suggested that directed selection for behaviour might have resulted in expression changes in few genes acting on several brain functions, possibly affecting behaviour. However, the observed expressional differences were confounded with environmental effects. This was addressed in a second study on domesticated silver foxes. By correlating behaviour and brain gene expression in foxes selected for tameness to non-selected foxes raised in the same environment, we found large behavioural differences but only few genes with differential expression in the brain. Fifteen of the 40 genes showing evidence of expression difference were related to haem or haemoglobins. Further studies showed an additive genetic effect on brain gene expression, similar to the additive genetic inheritance of behaviour, indicating an involvement in domestication. Transcriptional profiling was also used for finding genes involved with the sleep disorder narcolepsy. Narcoleptic Doberman pinschers homozygous for the canarc-1 mutation were compared to their unaffected heterozygots revealing reduced expression of three genes, TAC1, PENK and SOCS2, with relevance to the narcoleptic phenotype. Finally gene expression was investigated in relation to anxiety-related traits in a mouse model. Surprisingly, as in the fox study, genes coding for haemoglobins indicated differential expression in the brain between animals with different anxiety levels. Our combined results suggest that genes like haemoglobins, best known for their function in oxygen transport in blood, may also participate in brain functions related to decreased anxiety in domestic animals. </p>

The genetic basis for behavioural traits is largely unknown. The overall aim of this thesis was to find genes with importance for behavioural traits related to fear and anxiety. Microarray analysis was used to screen expression profiles of brain regions important for emotional behaviour in dogs, wolves, foxes and mice. In a first experiment, dogs and their wild ancestors the wolves were compared. Our results suggested that directed selection for behaviour might have resulted in expression changes in few genes acting on several brain functions, possibly affecting behaviour. However, the observed expressional differences were confounded with environmental effects. This was addressed in a second study on domesticated silver foxes. By correlating behaviour and brain gene expression in foxes selected for tameness to non-selected foxes raised in the same environment, we found large behavioural differences but only few genes with differential expression in the brain. Fifteen of the 40 genes showing evidence of expression difference were related to haem or haemoglobins. Further studies showed an additive genetic effect on brain gene expression, similar to the additive genetic inheritance of behaviour, indicating an involvement in domestication. Transcriptional profiling was also used for finding genes involved with the sleep disorder narcolepsy. Narcoleptic Doberman pinschers homozygous for the canarc-1 mutation were compared to their unaffected heterozygots revealing reduced expression of three genes, TAC1, PENK and SOCS2, with relevance to the narcoleptic phenotype. Finally gene expression was investigated in relation to anxiety-related traits in a mouse model. Surprisingly, as in the fox study, genes coding for haemoglobins indicated differential expression in the brain between animals with different anxiety levels. Our combined results suggest that genes like haemoglobins, best known for their function in oxygen transport in blood, may also participate in brain functions related to decreased anxiety in domestic animals.

Studying the reintroduction of hand-raised wolves may embrace several interests such as deepening knowledge on wolf biology and allowing a controlled release in isolated populations in need of genetic influx. Studies on hand-raised wild animals, showing successful reintroduction, suggested that young released wolves might be able to survive in the wild without previous fastidious training. Most of their survival behaviours would be instinctive. In this study, nine young wolves were reintroduced in Tver region (Russia) and followed in order to evaluate their fear of humans, their movement patterns, thanks to GPS-Argos collars fitted to three of the animals, and assess their diet via four methods of scats analysis. We analyzed 46 wolf scats collected from August 2010 to January 2011. We determined the frequency of occurrences of items per scats and per items, and used the Relative Estimated Bulk to estimate the biomass of prey species consumed. Statistics were conducted to test for significance of method comparisons. The results showed that half of the wolves remained near the enclosure weeks to months after release, occasionally leaving the vicinity. The individual wolves behaved differently, they adopted various movement patterns and had diverse home ranges (from 15 km2 to 40 km2). Released wolves preyed more on ungulates, especially moose and on other wild mammals such as mountain hare. They also sporadically hunted domestic animals and regularly consumed vegetal matter along with smaller animals as alternative prey. Finally, all scat-analysis methods significantly assessed (p &lt; 0.01) the relative importance of the main food types.

Widely applicable, quantitative field methods are needed to gather wildlife data for conservation and management initiatives in Turkey. In order to evaluate the use of camera traps in forest habitats of Turkey, we conducted a 5 phase camera trap survey by using 16 passive infrared-triggered cameras with a total sampling effort of 1200 camera trap days in Yaylacik Research Forest, a 50 km2 forest patch of Yenice Forest in Karab&uuml / k during January-May 2006. The camera trap survey confirmed the presence of grey wolf (Canis lupus), brown bear (Ursus arctos), wildcat (Felis silvestris), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), badger (Meles meles), pine marten (Martes martes), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) in the study area. The camera trap survey also revealed the presence of jackal (Canis aureus) and brown hare (Lepus europaeus), whose presence were not known by people living and working in the area. Contrary to the local belief, neither camera trapping survey nor ground survey confirmed the presence of lynx (Lynx lynx) in Yaylacik Research Forest. The wolf was observed to be crepuscular and the wildcat showed a diurnal activity pattern. Wildcat seemed to avoid other carnivores spatially and temporally. Simulation studies suggested that camera trap surveys should last 14 days for wolf, 13 days for wildcat, 10 days for pine marten, and 11 days for roe deer, while it is advisable to conduct longer surveys, probably 15-20 days, for wild boar, red fox and brown bears. The estimated population size for wildcat was 9 (SE=2.28227) with 95% confidence interval of 9 to 25 in the study area. A minimum of 6 brown bears were present in the study area. Our study indicated that the local knowledge about the presence of wildlife should be considered by researchers, but it cannot replace scientific surveys conducted by field biologists. This study was the first attempt to assess the presence, relative abundance, activity patterns and diversity of multiple mammal species by the use of camera trapping methodology in Turkey. The results suggest that camera trap surveys have the potential for gathering wildlife data at larger scales in Turkey, where information gap on large mammals is an obstacle for effective management and conservation of mammals.