Visual Obstruction has No Effect on Post Capture Corticosterone Levels of Juvenile American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)

Finger, John W.; Kelley, Meghan D.; Elsey, Ruth M.; Mendonça, Mary T.

Visual Obstruction has No Effect on Post Capture Corticosterone Levels of Juvenile American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)

2018

Finger, John W. | Kelley, Meghan D. | Elsey, Ruth M. | Mendonça, Mary T.

Anecdotal observations suggest that visual obstruction after capture will calm crocodilians, leading many to hypothesize that eye covering reduces physiological stress. However, this has yet to be tested empirically. To investigate this, we randomly divided 20 juvenile American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) into two treatments (visual obstruction [VO] and no obstruction [NO]) and took blood samples immediately after capture (baseline) and 30 min after treatment to determine the effects of visual obstruction on alligator corticosterone (CORT) levels. We found that baseline and post treatment CORT levels were similar between both NO-treated and VO-treated alligators; however, CORT levels were significantly elevated 30 min after capture relative to baseline in both NO and VO alligators. Our results indicate that visual obstruction does not prevent or reduce handling stress after capture in crocodilians and that any observed behavioral alterations are independent of changes in CORT levels.

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