Seasonal dynamics of parasitism and stress physiology in wild giant pandas

Zhou, Wenliang; Gao, Kai; Ma, Yingjie; Wang, Le; Wang, Meng; Wei, Fuwen; Nie, Yonggang

doi:10.1093/conphys/coaa085

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…This study confirms that higher parasite loads in the giant pandas increase their FGM level. Meanwhile, sex and reproductive season have no significant correlation with cortisol level of the studied giant pandas (Zhou et al, 2020).…”

Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 80%

“…The study aims to study the effect of sex, age, reproductive season and seasonal food availability on the parasitism and the level of stress of wild giant pandas. FGM analysis through RIA shows that parasite prevalence increased during bamboo shoot Zhou et. al., (2020) The study was conducted to monitor the FGM level between parturient and non-parturient female panda that lives in Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Zoo Atlanta through EIA.…”

Section: Melursus Ursinusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Study of FGM level in giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) FGM has also been used in studying the effect of sex, age, reproductive season, and seasonal food availability on the parasitism and stress physiology in wild giant pandas by Zhou et al (2020). In their study, FGM was used to measure physiological stress in pandas.…”

Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Study of Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolite in Bears: A Review

Zoumin

Mawah

Wai

et al. 2023

MJS

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Fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) analysis is a non-invasive method to monitor animals' welfare in captivity and wild environments. Glucocorticoid also known as cortisol is a hormone that indicates the level of stress in animals and humans. This paper reviews the use of FGM analysis on bears and the methodologies used to study this hormone in every species of bear. The review method used was descriptive review. The bears that were included in this review are the brown bear (Ursus arctos), Polar bear (Ursus maritimus), Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), American black bear (Ursus americanus), Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), Andean spectacled bear (Tremactos ornatus), and giant panda (Ailuropodia melanoleuca). Studies of FGM on polar bears showed that zoo-to-zoo transportation could cause an increase in FGM level during transportation and FGM is not suitable to be used to differentiate between pseudo-pregnancy and true pregnancy. In Malayan sun bear, FGM level is high in female bears that show agonistic behavior and is associated with low progesterone levels. In addition, studies on Malayan sun bear show that not only FGM can be analyzed from fecal samples, but also the reproductive hormones of estrogen and progesterone. In Asiatic black bears, FGM is higher in bears that live in a bile farm than forage outside the forest reserve. High parasite load in giant pandas is associated with a high level of FGM since parasite infection is considered a stressor that can elicit a stress response. Also both male and female panda have high FGM during the breeding season to increase metabolism to generate energy required for reproductive activities. The Alopecia syndrome in Andean spectacled bear has no significant relation to FGM level. Brown bears with several types of food in their diet have lower FGM than those with only one type of food. There is no specific study of FGM that focused on sloth bear and American black bear, but there were several studies on glucocorticoid in black bears that are not extracted from fecal samples. FGM can be analyzed using both enzyme-immunoassay (EIA) and radioimmunoassay (RIA) but, EIA is preferable due to safety reasons.

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Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Melursus Ursinusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Study of Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolite in Bears: A Review

Zoumin

Mawah

Wai

et al. 2023

MJS

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“…Developing non-invasive tools to monitor giant panda sex steroids and how these interact with the stress-related hormone cortisol is important not only for breeding programs and the welfare of captive giant pandas ( Yu et al. , 2011 ) but also as a means to assess the performance of strategies designed to reduce disturbances in wild panda populations ( Zhou et al. , 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of stress levels and reproductive condition in giant pandas: insights from hair, faecal and saliva samples

Yan,

Liu,

Liu

et al. 2024

Conservation Physiology

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Concerted conservation efforts have brought the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) back from the brink of extinction, but pandas continue to face anthropogenic threats in the wild and breeding success in captivity remains low. Because stress can have detrimental impacts on reproduction, monitoring stress- and sex-steroid levels would help assess the effectiveness of conservation mitigation measures in panda populations as well as monitor the welfare and reproductive health of captive animals. In this proof-of-concept study, we used faecal sex steroid and cortisol concentrations (n = 867 samples collected from five males and five females at Beijing Zoo every 4 days over the course of 12 months) as a reference to investigate if testosterone, estradiol, progesterone and cortisol can be meaningfully measured in panda hair (n = 10) using radio-immuno-assays. Additionally, we calculated the ratio of testosterone to cortisol (T:C ratio) for each male, which can provide a biomarker of stress and physical performance. Our findings revealed distinct monthly variations in faecal sex-steroid and cortisol concentrations, reflecting reproductive seasonality and visitor-related stress among individual pandas. Notably, the oldest male had a significantly lower T:C ratio than other males. Our results confirm that the level of sex steroids and cortisol can be assayed by panda hair, and the hair cortisol concentrations correlate significantly with that in faeces with one month lag behind (r = 0.68, P = 0.03). However, the concentrations of hormones detected in saliva are lower than those in faeces by two orders of magnitude, making it difficult to ensure accuracy. By assessing the applicability of hair, faecal and salivary sampling, we can infer their utility in monitoring the reproductive status and acute and chronic stress levels of giant pandas, thereby providing a means to gauge the success of ongoing habitat restoration efforts and to discuss the feasibility of sample collection from wild populations.

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“…This could explain why cats with high stress scores are more likely to develop upper respiratory infection [17,19,20], which is highly prevalent in shelter cats [21]. The correlation between stress physiology and parasite infection has been widely reported in wildlife [22,23] and it has been suggested that the persistence of parasites in the host without inducing chronic stress responses supports the hypothesis that the hosts are tolerant to their parasites [24]. However, a study on dogs housed in an animal shelter revealed that, although it was suspected that shedding parasite ova would be impacted by the stressors associated with shelter housing, the plasma cortisol concentration decreased with time, whereas parasite shedding was unaffected by the duration of the shelter stay [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intestinal Parasites and Fecal Cortisol Metabolites in Multi-Unowned-Cat Environments: The Impact of Housing Conditions

Blasco

Manteca

López‐Béjar

et al. 2021

Animals

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Housing conditions were assessed in different unowned multi-cat management models in order to evaluate their impact on the occurrence of intestinal parasites and fecal cortisol metabolite (FCM) levels. Fresh stool fecal samples were collected from rescue shelters, catteries and feline colonies for coprological analyses in order to detect intestinal parasite patency and fecal cortisol metabolites. A questionnaire provided information about the facilities, management and housing conditions of cats, including information about dog exposure, enclosure size, environment enrichment and changes to group composition. Overall, intestinal parasite infection was detected in 58.2% of fecal samples collected. The occurrence of intestinal parasites detected in free-roaming cats was 82.2%, mainly due to helminth infection. The parasite infection rate was 57.3% in rescue shelters and 34.6% in catteries. In confined cats, protozoa infection was more likely detected in rescue shelters than in catteries (RR = 2.02 (1.30–3.14), p = 0.0012). Although the FCM values were very variable between cats, the enclosure size and parasite infection were correlated with the average FCM. A small enclosure size was correlated with high fecal cortisol metabolites (p = 0.016). Protozoa-positive samples showed higher FCM levels than negative samples (p = 0.0150). High dog exposure was statistically associated with protozoa infection (p = 0.0006). The results indicated that improving housing, especially in terms of floor space and avoiding dog exposure, reduces stress and can thus be applied to make control strategies in multi-unowned-cat environments more efficient, especially when cats are confined.

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Seasonal dynamics of parasitism and stress physiology in wild giant pandas

Cited by 5 publications

References 55 publications

Study of Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolite in Bears: A Review

Study of Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolite in Bears: A Review

Assessment of stress levels and reproductive condition in giant pandas: insights from hair, faecal and saliva samples

Intestinal Parasites and Fecal Cortisol Metabolites in Multi-Unowned-Cat Environments: The Impact of Housing Conditions

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