摘要
High stress response is an important factor impeding the breeding of wild animals in captivity. Experimental fawn manipulation is considered a suitable approach to reduce the negative effects of behavioral and physiological stress. The forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) is classified as “endangered” by the IUCN Red List due to over-exploitation for musk production. Musk is highly valued for its cosmetic and alleged pharmaceutical properties and has stimulated the enthusiasm of captive musk deer breeding in recent years. This study attempts to reduce behavioral and physiological stress responses in juvenile musk deer using experimental fawn manipulation. Habituation started 5 days after birth and lasted until weaning age (90 days). We determined the behavioral stress response at the age of 30, 60, 90, 150, and 360 days by measuring acceptance or rejection of three treatment intensities (i.e., stroking, embracement) and quantified behavioral responses (urination, approaching the investigator). At the same time, physiological stress parameters were established, measuring the fecal glucocorticosteroid metabolite (FGM) concentration. Our results indicate that fawn manipulation initially reduced the behavioral stress, but after termination of treatments, stress symptoms reoccurred. We detected no difference in the FGM concentrations between treatment and control groups, suggesting that the experimental fawn manipulation did not decrease the physiological stress response. This implies that behavioral stress reduction cannot be sustained if the physiological stress remains unaltered. We argue that the socio-positive reactions of musk deer fawns to humans could be phenotypic and that the physiological stress response rather reflects their intrinsic characteristics than a successful manipulation. KeywordsCaptive breeding Stress reduction Caressing Stress hormones Endangered species
摘要译文
高应激反应是阻碍野生动物繁殖的重要因素实验性小鹿操作被认为是减少行为和生理压力的负面影响的合适方法森林麝香（Moschus berezovskii）由于过度开发麝香生产而被归类为“自然保护联盟红色名录”麝香是高度重视其化妆品和所谓的药物性质，并激发了近年来ive er养殖的积极性本研究尝试使用实验性小鹿操作来减少青少年麝鼠鹿的行为和生理应激反应生育后5天开始持续至断奶年龄（90天） 我们在30，60，90，150岁时确定行为压力反应，通过测量接受或拒绝三种治疗强度（i竐 抚摸，包容）和量化的行为反应（排尿，接近研究者）360天同时建立生理应激参数，测定粪便糖皮质激素代谢物（FGM）浓度我们的研究结果表明，小鹿操作最初减轻了行为压力，但治疗终止后，压力症状复发我们检测到治疗组和对照组之间的FGM浓度没有差异，表明实验小鹿操作没有降低生理应激反应这意味着如果生理压力保持不变，行为压力降低是不能持续的麝香鹿小鹿对人类的社会积极反应可能是表型的，生理压力反应反映了它们的内在特征，而不是成功的操纵关键词适应性繁殖胁迫降低应激激素濒危物种
Wenxia Wang[1];Lan He[2];Shuqiang Liu[1]. Behavioral and physiological responses of forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) to experimental fawn manipulation[J]. Acta ethologica, 2016,19(2): 133–141