Poo’s potential – can we link different land use practices to stress-related hormone levels in leopards (Panthera pardus)?

Abstract

The leopard’s versatility as a generalist predator facilitates occupation of a wide range of habitats. Although protected areas are important for the conservation of this species, the majority of suitable leopard habitat lies beyond protected area boundaries. Leopards utilizing areas under different anthropogenic influences may therefore be exposed to different environmental, physiological, and psychosocial stressors. This study aims to examine the suitability of enzymeimmunoassays for monitoring adrenocortical function in the leopard based on faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) analysis by performing an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) challenge test. Subsequently the study will investigate variations in fGCM concentrations of animals under different anthropogenic influences to identify the potential extrinsic and intrinsic stressors linked to different land use types. The ACTH challenge will be performed on one adult male and one adult female housed at Predator World in the Northwest Province. In addition, gastrointestinal transit time will be determined in 10 animals housed at different captive facilities in the North West, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng Provinces. A potential aging effect of the hormone matrix will be investigated by determining the rate of metabolism of fGCMs post-defaecation. Finally, faecal samples from free-ranging leopards in protected and unprotected areas of Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces including the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, Guernsey, the Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate and surrounds, will be collected over a period of 6 months. The ability to reliably assess adrenocortical function in leopards will provide a solid foundation from which to further examine endocrine responses to recognised stressors in this iconic African species. Specifically, our study will help to untangle some of the wildlife management, conservation, and human-predator conflict mitigation challenges faced by free-raging leopards at the human-domestic-wildlife interface.