Environmental Effects on Stress Levels Within Babydoll Southdown Sheep (Ovis aries aries southdown)
Date
2019-04-23
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Abstract
Maintaining high standards of animal welfare and a positive public opinion are some of the main priorities of zoos. Zoos also serve as important educational facilities which encourage beneficial research and strive to improve conservation. One way to ensure high-quality animal welfare is to monitor any possible environmental factors which may be stressful for the animals. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively and qualitatively determine if Babydoll Southdown sheep (Ovis aries aries southdown) show significantly different levels of stress during different seasons. The study was conducted at the Buffalo Zoo in Buffalo, New York where changing seasons impose various environmental conditions on the sheep. The changing conditions include the number of visitors attending the zoo and changes in the weather from the summer (August of 2018) to the winter (December of 2018-Janurary of 2019). Observation was completed to qualitatively determine if the sheep were exhibiting undesirable behaviors, such as head butting, pushing, head tossing, foot stomping, or nose blowing, which can be induced by stress. Fecal samples were analyzed for cortisol levels using Arbor Assay’s DetectX® Cortisol Enzyme Immunoassay Kit to quantitatively measure the sheeps’ stress levels. A regression showed that there was no significant difference between the average cortisol levels between seasons (P=0.083) or between average cortisol levels and temperature (P=0.225). A negative, significant relationship was shown between the average cortisol levels and the number of visitors (P=0.01). Instances of aggressive behaviors were slightly greater in the summer months (1.20/hr) than the winter months (0.29 /hr), but there was not a significant relationship between fecal cortisol level and the number of aggressive behaviors shown (P=0.305). This suggests these behaviors occurred naturally and were not due to increased cortisol levels.
Description
Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Alfred University Honors Program.
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Thesis
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Keywords
Honors thesis, Animals, Sheep, Stress