Heavily Hunted Wolves Have Higher Stress and Reproductive Steroids Than Wolves With Lower Hunting Pressure

November 2014 in “ Functional Ecology ”

Heather M. Bryan, Judit E. G. Smits, Lee Koren, Paul C. Paquet, Katherine E. Wynne‐Edwards, Marco Musiani

progesterone testosterone cortisol reproductive hormones stress hormones

Studysummary This study found that wolves in heavily hunted areas of Canada's tundra–taiga exhibited higher levels of stress and reproductive hormones, indicating social instability and increased reproductive effort due to human-caused mortality.

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The study compared hormone levels in 152 wolves from northern Canada and found that those under higher hunting pressures in the tundra–taiga region had elevated stress (cortisol) and reproductive hormones (testosterone and progesterone) compared to wolves in the boreal forest with lower hunting pressures. This indicated that heavy hunting led to increased stress and reproductive efforts, likely due to social instability caused by human activities. The age structure of the heavily hunted population was skewed towards younger wolves, with an average age of 2 years and only 11% older than 5 years. The findings suggested that hunting pressure significantly impacted the physiological state of wolves, and further research was recommended to understand the effects of different hunting practices.

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