A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy.
Johannesburg 2017 / The translocation of rhinoceroses is extremely stressful to the animal and this may strongly affect the success of translocation. The objectives of this study in white rhinoceroses were to (i) validate a non-invasive assay using faecal metabolites to assess the stress response in the white rhinoceros, (ii) to assess the stress response in the white rhinoceros associated with capture, handling, transportation and confinement, to be able to predict at capture which animals will adapt to confinement, and (iii) to investigate the use of the acute phase proteins (APP), serum amyloid A (SAA) and haptoglobin (Hp) as indicators of stress associated with capture and confinement. To achieve these objectives blood and faecal samples were collected from each rhinoceros at capture, and whenever possible, during confinement. To assess the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) response of white rhinoceroses an ACTH challenge was performed and plasma cortisol and faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) were measured with a commercially available 125I RIA kit and a 125I corticosterone RIA kit, respectively. Gastrointestinal transit time was estimated with the use of an inert marker. Results showed a 4-to 8-fold increase in plasma cortisol within 15 to 20 minutes and a 3-fold increase in FGM concentration 60 to 90 hours later. Although this FGM measurement is non-invasive, relevant and robust, the time required to complete the extraction and assay could take several days. This measurement can be advantageous to monitor the stress of animals in confinement but has no application where animals are captured and immediately translocated. Measurement of plasma cortisol and FGM was also used to assess stress in rhinoceroses following transportation and in confinement. The results show that rhinoceroses have variable individual responses to capture and confinement and although there was evidence of behavioural habituation, HPA activity showed that there was no physiological habituation. We could not establish any predictor of success of habituation in the boma environment. The APP results showed that Hp is more likely to be an indicator of metabolic stress; rather than physical and psychological stress; while SAA responds rapidly to physical and psychological stress in the rhinoceros. It was also found that plasma cortisol was positively
associated with SAA concentration when the animal is transferred to the boma, and that SAA may be a potential plasma biomarker to identify animals which could be at risk of failing to habituate to confinement. / MT 2018
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/24028 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Kruger, Marius |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (xiii, 93 leaves), application/pdf |
Page generated in 0.0504 seconds