NEW DELHI: Stress is a common reaction among humans, but animals in captivity away from their natural habitat may also be living a stressful life.
The authorities at National Zoological Park have decided to conduct a stress assessment of animals staying away from their natural habitat. A memorandum of understanding has been signed with Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University in Jabalpur for it. The researchers will study the cortisol hormone levels in the faeces of the animals.
According to an official, factors like temperature, food and space in enclosure play an important role to make animals comfortable.
Ramesh Pandey, director, National Zoological Park, said that the zoo makes enrichment plans to make animals active and reduce their stress levels. “There are two ways to check the impact of enrichment on the animals. Firstly, estimating the time budget of an animal, like how much time an animal spends on walking, sitting, pairing, eating and how much area it occupies. The time budget of an animal helps in understanding if it is active or not,” he said.
“The second method is evaluation of stress levels. The study of faeces helps in determining the cortisol hormone level of animals, which helps in detecting the stress levels. Only a few zoos have done this study,” said Pandey.
In the first phase, only a few major species, like elephants, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and hyenas will be checked for stress levels. A zoo official said the staff will collect the faeces of these species and send it to researchers in Jabalpur for the study. “After the report is out, we will intensify the enrichment exercises. After a gap of some months, we will again check the cortisol levels to see if our efforts are making any difference,” said Pandey.
TOI had earlier reported that zoo authorities have taken many steps to keep animals active and engaged. The diet of animals has been updated considering the change in weather.
