Pre-orbital gland opening in farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) during stressful handling

BARTOŠOVÁ, Jitka, BARTOŠ, Luděk, KOTRBA, Radim a CEACERO, Francisco. Pre-orbital gland opening in farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) during stressful handling. Journal of Animal Science, 2012, 90, 3200-3206. ISSN 0021-8812.
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Abstrakt

Stressful manipulation by humans has been previously shown to result in opening the pre-orbital gland of the newborn red deer. We hypothesized that exposure of red deer to stressful handling would result in opening the pre-orbital gland. Further, we tested the potential factors associated with pre-orbital opening, including season, sex, age and struggling behavior. Pre-orbital gland status was observed in 76 red deer (48 males, 28 females) during 281 handling events with the animal isolated and fixed in a mechanical restraint cradle (crush) within 3 consecutive years. The proportion of handling events with an open gland was considerably greater during than before handling (27.76 vs. 0%, respectively, P < 0.001). The deer that struggled or stiffened revealed 2-fold greater incidence of pre-orbital opening (P < 0.01), regardless of sex. Thus, pre-orbital opening seemed to accompany the behaviors that have been found to be related to acute stress. The probability that the animal opens its pre-orbitals during handling sharply increased at the beginning of the rut (mating season, P < 0.01). Deer that threatened the handler (10% out of 215 observations) opened their pre-orbitals 30 times more often than nonthreatening ones. These effects indicate that other motivations are likely involved in the opening of pre-orbitals, in addition to the perception of a stressful event. Incidence of pre-orbital opening decreased with age in both sexes (P < 0.05) across 3 consecutive yr of observations, which suggests habituation to repeated handling.

ProjektBehaviorální funkce rozevírání pre-orbitální žlázy u jelena evropského a daňka, Udržitelný rozvoj chovu hospodářských zvířat v evropském modelu multifunkčního zemědělství
OdděleníEtologie