Grantees: Lauren A. Harrington, Maria Diez Leon

Institutions: Oxford University, United Kingdom

Grant amount: $162,257

Grant type: Challenge grants

Focal species: American mink (Neovison vison), Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra)

Conservation status: Near threatened

Disciplines: Animal welfare science, community ecology, wildlife management

Research location: United Kingdom

Project summary

This project seeks to determine whether the welfare of American mink (Neovison vison) is negatively impacted in the presence of high densities of Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra), whether both species’ welfare is compromised at relatively higher densities of conspecifics, and whether there is a seasonality to welfare impacts. The project will also assess whether behavioral time budget shifts in mink are associated with higher chronic stress levels, as a proxy for negative impact on mink welfare. These questions will be addressed by measuring welfare through several different domains, including behavioral (exploratory behavior, vocalizations), physical (body condition, ectoparasite load), and physiological (telomere length, fecal glucocorticoid metabolites and hair cortisol) metrics. 

Why we funded this project

This project has the potential to contribute significant information to the understanding of intra-specific density-dependent welfare and to the understanding of network effects among predator-prey and competitor interactions of wild animals. Its unusually diverse set of welfare metrics will allow for cross-validation, strengthening both this project and other projects applying the same metrics. The investigators each have a strong background in animal welfare and have made efforts to better align their work with  Wild Animal Initiative’s priorities for wild animal welfare, which makes them good candidates to carry forward the validation of these welfare indicators (particularly telomere attrition, which is still relatively immature in its use as a welfare indicator).

Find Maria’s other project, studying European minks, here.

Photos