TLDR Heavily hunted wolves have higher stress and reproductive hormone levels.
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.
78 citations
,
November 2014 in “Functional Ecology” Heavily hunted wolves have higher stress and reproductive hormone levels.
501 citations
,
October 2008 in “Psychoneuroendocrinology” Hair cortisol levels can show increased stress during late pregnancy but only for up to six months.
567 citations
,
October 2007 in “Clinical and investigative medicine” Hair cortisol can be used to measure long-term stress exposure.
199 citations
,
July 2007 in “General and Comparative Endocrinology” Hair cortisol can reliably indicate chronic stress in cats and dogs.
489 citations
,
June 2005 in “The FASEB Journal” Human hair follicles can produce cortisol like the body's stress response system.
44 citations
,
November 2018 in “Journal of applied ecology” Hair analysis for stress and reproductive hormones in wildlife needs more research for accuracy across species.
Wildebeest stress and hormone levels are influenced by food availability, human presence, and reproductive cycles.
7 citations
,
November 2022 in “Toxics” The method accurately measures 19 steroid hormones in human blood and urine using a small sample and is suitable for large-scale monitoring.
4 citations
,
January 2018 in “Elsevier eBooks” Hormones are crucial for regulating body functions and imbalances can lead to health issues.
33 citations
,
January 2017 in “Conservation physiology” Measuring reproductive hormones in brown bear hair could help identify their sex and reproductive state, but better collection methods or lab techniques are needed.
