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Serum cortisol in California sea lion pups (Zalophus californianus californianus)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

C Pedernera-Romano ,
D Aurioles-Gamboa ,
RA Valdez ,
DM Brousset ,
MC Romano  and
F Galindo
C Pedernera-Romano*
Affiliation:
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Edifici V, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, (Cerdanyola), Barcelona, Spain Departamento de Etología, Fauna Silvestre y Animales de Laboratorio, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cd Universitaria, DF 04510, México
D Aurioles-Gamboa
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Ecologia de Pinnipedos, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Av Instituto Politécnico Nacional s/n, Colonia Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, Baja California, México
RA Valdez
Affiliation:
Dpto de Fisiología, Biofísica y Neurociencias, CINVESTAV, Apdo postal 14-740, 07360 México DF
DM Brousset
Affiliation:
Departamento de Etología, Fauna Silvestre y Animales de Laboratorio, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cd Universitaria, DF 04510, México
MC Romano
Affiliation:
Dpto de Fisiología, Biofísica y Neurociencias, CINVESTAV, Apdo postal 14-740, 07360 México DF
F Galindo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Etología, Fauna Silvestre y Animales de Laboratorio, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cd Universitaria, DF 04510, México
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Marine ecosystems are exposed to a wide variety of factors that may produce disturbances in their structure and functioning. The Gulf of California supports fisheries, tourism, intensive agriculture, mining, and more recently, shrimp aquaculture. Under such conditions, animals are forced to cope with several changes in their environment that can contribute to animal welfare problems. Serum cortisol level analysis may be a particularly useful means of assessing the physiological status of mammals potentially affected by increasing human activity in the Gulf of California, such as the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus californianus). In this study, we report for the first time the serum cortisol concentration of free-living, wild California sea lion pups. The analysis was performed in eleven rookeries along the Gulf of California. Two consecutive blood samples (S1 and S2) were obtained from 56 sea lion pups following a capture, handling and anaesthesia regime, and cortisol was measured by radioimmunoassay. Female pups showed higher serum cortisol than males in the first sample. In males, the second sample was significantly higher than the first. Cortisol levels in the two samples of both sexes combined differed between the Southern and Midriff-region rookeries. This information could be useful to assess welfare in wild populations of sea lions and to determine anthropogenic factors in the Gulf of California that may contribute to stress and reduced welfare.

Keywords

animal welfareCalifornia sea lionscortisolGulf of Californiapupsstress
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , August 2010 , pp. 275 - 280
Copyright
© 2010 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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