Endocrine Monitoring of Reproduction and Stress

Most wild mammals kept in captivity are managed intensively. Under such conditions, the ability to monitor reproductive status can greatly facilitate attempts to enhance breeding success for many species. More specifi cally, objective and reliable methods for monitoring key reproductive events, such as ovulation and pregnancy, not only fi nd widespread application in the management of natural breeding, but also provide the basis for eff orts designed to accelerate reproduction by assisted/artifi cial means. Animal welfare is also a key management issue when maintaining wild mammals in a captive situation (see Kagan and Veasey, chap. , this volume). Avoidance of stress (and of situations and procedures likely to cause it) is therefore a very important aspect of the overall zoo management paradigm, but until recently, physiological measures by which stress in zoo animals can be assessed were diffi cult to obtain. This chapter provides an overview of the available endocrinebased methodologies for monitoring reproduction and stress in captive wild mammals. Although coverage includes measurement of hormones in blood, we emphasize methods based on noninvasive sample collection. Th us, we provide a bibliography of selected studies describing the use of urinary and fecal hormone analysis for determination of reproductive status and stress in males and females across the main mammalian taxa. Th e database for this derives predominantly from studies carried out since the original edition of this volume was published in .