Meet our grantees
Wild Animal Initiative funds academic research on high-priority questions in wild animal welfare.
The goal of our grants program is to fund research that deepens scientific knowledge of the welfare of wild animals in order to better understand how to improve the welfare of as many wild animals as possible, regardless of what causes the threats to their well-being.
We showcase our grantees and their projects here and will be adding more in the coming weeks and months.
Raman spectroscopy as a novel non-invasive technique to assess wildlife welfare
Grantee: Teresa Romero
Institutions: University of Lincoln, University of Portsmouth
Project summary
Analysis of hormones accumulated in the hair has emerged as a non-invasive tool for measuring chronic stress in wildlife, but hair analyses are currently limited by variation in cortisol concentrations. This project will test whether Raman spectroscopy, which is suitable for the field and does not require sample pre-treatment, is a better way to use hair samples to assess steroid hormones. The planned methodology will make use of samples of mammalian hair with a known cortisol content using a control technique — liquid chromatography mass spectrometry — for comparison. The samples will be subjected to analysis by Raman to validate the technique and establish a robust analytical methodology for the non-invasive analysis of welfare biomarkers in wildlife.
Grantee: Teresa Romero
Institution: University of Lincoln, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $19,100
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Tufted capuchin monkey (Cebus apella)
Conservation status: Critically endangered
Disciplines: Physiology, animal welfare science
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
Steroid hormones are routinely used as biomarkers of stress and can be measured in different biological matrices, such as serum, saliva, feces, and urine. However, commonly used collection methods in wildlife are challenging; the stress they induce in the animals may affect hormone levels and also presents ethical issues. More recently, analysis of hormones accumulated in the hair has emerged as a non-invasive tool for measuring chronic stress in wildlife, but current limitations of hair analyses include variation in cortisol concentrations depending on sample preparation and the amount of hair required for cortisol extraction. This project will test whether Raman spectroscopy, which is suitable for the field and does not require sample pre-treatment, is a better way to use hair samples to assess steroid hormones. The planned methodology will make use of samples of mammalian hair with a known cortisol content using a control technique — liquid chromatography mass spectrometry — for comparison. The samples will be subjected to analysis by Raman to validate the technique and establish a robust analytical methodology for the non-invasive analysis of welfare biomarkers in wildlife.
Why we funded this project
Although this project is focused on development of chemical methods, we expect that the method, if validated, could make glucocorticoid assessment in the hair of wild animals much easier, increasing the future quantity and quality of that type of data. Hair is an especially interesting medium for glucocorticoid analysis because it integrates glucocorticoid levels in the body over time, causing the measurements to be more stable over time and potentially more indicative of baseline welfare, since the values are less sensitive to an animal’s most recent activities.
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Paying to play? Social time allocation, emotional contagion, and social attention as assays of welfare in wild animals
Grantee: Patrick Tkaczynski
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University
Project summary
Play and grooming have a number of facets that could be potential indicators of positive welfare in group-living vertebrates, but analysis of such behaviors are yet to be put into a formal framework for monitoring wild animal populations. This pilot project will focus on six different wild Barbary macaque groups of variable sizes and facing varying degrees of human exposure, which is typically associated with poor health outcomes in wild animals. It will use play and grooming behavior to quantify social time allocation, emotional contagion/synchronization, and social attention as potential assays of positive welfare. Once validated, these assays can be applied to examine how positive welfare varies across different gradients, such as climate change or variation in predator pressure.
Grantee: Patrick Tkaczynski
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $29,323
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus)
Conservation status: Endangered
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, animal behavior
Research location: Morocco, United Kingdom
Project summary
For group-living vertebrates, play and grooming have a number of facets that could be potential indicators of positive welfare, but analysis of such behaviors are yet to be put into a formal framework for monitoring wild animal populations. The Middle Atlas region of Morocco hosts one of the largest populations of wild Barbary macaques, an endangered primate species. These animals face a number of environmental challenges that may disrupt positive social experiences, including anthropogenic disturbance, threats from natural and introduced predators, and an extreme climate. Focusing on six different macaque groups with variable group sizes and facing varying degrees of human exposure, this pilot project will use play and grooming behavior to quantify social time allocation, emotional contagion/synchronization, and social attention as potential assays of positive welfare. As human exposure is typically associated with poor health outcomes in wild animals, this pilot project will focus on this specific environmental challenge to help validate our assays, which can later be applied to examine how positive welfare varies across different gradients, such as climate change or variation in predator pressure.
Why we funded this project
Most animal welfare research is focused on minimizing suffering, but it’s also vital to maximize positive experiences. The links between positive welfare and evolutionary fitness are also less obvious than for negative welfare, where factors like poor health seem to be associated with both poor welfare and low evolutionary fitness. Because more research focuses on fitness than welfare, the unclear relationship between fitness and positive welfare has contributed to the neglectedness of indicators of positive welfare. This project was one of the few we received that addressed the theme of positive welfare, and we hope that this pilot in primates will provide information to support similar studies in other social species.
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Novel epigenetic approaches to measure wild animal welfare and stress
Grantee: Dave Daversa
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Project summary
A challenge in wild animal welfare science is developing composite assays that consider the full breadth of factors collectively shaping subjective experiences. This project will demonstrate proof of concept for a DNA methylation (DNAm)-based model of wild animal welfare, characterizing DNAm in western toads. It will test the influence of infection with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) on DNAm and its covariance with demographic factors such as age, sex, and body condition. Captive-reared toads will be sampled to characterize DNAm under controlled conditions, providing a standardized profile of DNAm rates over toad life stages. The researchers will then sample toads from wild populations experiencing starkly different levels of Bd infection, with accelerated biological aging signaling elevated stress and impaired welfare.
Grantee: Dave Daversa
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles, United States
Grant amount: $30,000
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Western toad (Anaxyrus boreas)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, herpetology, animal welfare science, population ecology, genetics/genomics
Research location: United States
Project summary
A major challenge in wild animal welfare science lies in developing composite assays that consider the full breadth of factors collectively shaping the subjective experiences of animals. This project will apply epigenetic tools to develop minimally invasive and aggregate measures of wild animal welfare. Specifically, the researchers aim to demonstrate proof of concept for a DNA methylation (DNAm)-based model of wild animal welfare. DNAm joins other measurements such as telomere attrition as a biomarker of biological aging, because DNA becomes methylated as a function of both chronological age (time) and accumulated stress. This project will characterize DNAm in western toads (Anaxyrus boreas) from wild populations in southern California, testing the influence of infection with the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) on DNAm, and its covariance with demographic factors such as age and sex, as well as with body condition, a common metric of physical health in wild animals. Captive-reared toads representing all life stages will be sampled to characterize DNAm under controlled conditions, providing a standardized profile of DNAm rates over toad life stages. The researchers will then sample toads from wild populations experiencing starkly different levels of environmental stress (Bd infection), with accelerated biological aging signaling elevated stress and impaired welfare.
Project objectives
Objective 1: Determine the relationship between DNAm and basic risk factors linked to welfare: chronological age, sex, weight, and infection status.
Objective 2: Determine the effect of environmental stressors on epigenetic age.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because we are interested in the potential for biological aging biomarkers to be used as very long-term, integrative metrics of animals’ lifetime welfare. DNAm is one such potential biomarker that has received relatively little attention in a welfare context. However, DNAm may potentially be easier to measure than more commonly discussed measures of biological age — or at least, be more familiar for mainstream ecological genetics researchers — because DNA methylation is already of interest for other reasons in biological science. We were particularly enthusiastic about this project because it focuses on a species belonging to a large species complex of amphibians, including both common and threatened species, offering broad transferability and potential impact. Amphibians are also relatively neglected in terms of welfare research. We appreciate that this project aims to establish baseline age-specific differences in biological aging rate in order to then assess age-specific differences attributable to different exposures (i.e., age-specific differences in welfare), which connects to the concept of “welfare expectancy” developed by Wild Animal Initiative researcher Luke Hecht.
Find Dave’s other project, studying western fence lizards, here.
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Developing an approach for assessing the welfare of wild birds through the use of bioacoustics analysis
Grantee: Luiza Figueiredo Passos
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University
Project summary
Vocalization analysis has been used to monitor the welfare of farmed animals and animals in laboratories, but lacks validation for wild animals. This project will use passive acoustic monitoring to record wild bird calls throughout the UK. It will identify vocal patterns and chorus characteristics related to various environmental risks that can be used to infer the welfare status of local bird populations across multiple environments. The focal species will be house sparrows, who have undergone a massive population decline and may be facing welfare challenges. Validating acoustic monitoring as a tool for non-invasive welfare monitoring in the wild for the first time will provide a method that could be used to monitor the welfare of wild birds globally.
Grantees: Luiza Figueiredo Passos
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $29,060
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, ornithology, population ecology, animal behavior
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
Vocalisations carry emotional, physiological, and individual information, suggesting that they can serve as potentially useful non-invasive indicators for inferring wild animal welfare. Communication of affective states via vocalization is due to changes in emotions leading to deviations in the nervous system, causing physiological changes within the vocal production systems. Modern sound analysis techniques have provided tools to discriminate, analyze, and classify specific vocalizations, permitting them to be used for monitoring welfare of different farm and laboratory animals. However, this approach lacks validation for wild individuals. This proposal aims to use passive acoustic monitoring to record wild bird calls at different locations in urban, rural, and conservation-managed areas in the UK. This project will follow a comparative approach to identify vocal patterns and chorus characteristics related to different environmental risks (starvation risk, predation risk, human disturbance, etc.) so that these vocal signatures can be used to infer the welfare status of local bird populations across different environments. The focal species will be one of Europe’s most common species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus). House sparrows provide an ideal first validation as the species has undergone a massive population decline in many parts of its range over the past 50 years, suggesting that its local populations are facing significant welfare challenges. Validating acoustic monitoring as a tool for non-invasive welfare monitoring in the wild for the first time will provide the basis for future application to birds in general, providing a method that could be used to monitor welfare and changes in welfare of wild birds at any location globally.
Project objectives
Objective 1: Evaluate how changes in sparrow welfare driven by changes in risk of starvation can be indicated by changes in the vocal signatures of local populations.
Objective 2: Understand relationship between predation risk driven changes in sparrows’ welfare and the vocal signatures of local populations.
Objective 3: Impact of human disturbance on sparrows’ welfare.
Why we funded this project
This project is very similar to projects by Claudia Wascher and Sam Reynolds. As stated, bioacoustic monitoring is an extremely promising approach because it is minimally invasive and inexpensive. However, it still needs to be validated, and given its potential future value, we felt that it would be best for it to be validated by at least two independent studies. This project was especially appealing because it focuses on such a ubiquitous species (the house sparrow) and is led by a researcher with a strong record in bioacoustics and an understanding of animal welfare science.
Find Luiza’s other project, studying wild newts, here.
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Assessing animal welfare from bioacoustic monitoring in red-billed choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
Grantee: Claudia Wascher
Institution: Anglia Ruskin University
Project summary
Bioacoustic monitoring is a well established method of measuring welfare in captive animals, but has not been used in wild animals. This project will assess and validate the use of passive bioacoustic monitoring to assess welfare in a reintroduced population of red-billed choughs. The researchers will conduct a combination of automatic acoustic monitoring using “passive” acoustic recorders and direct observations (recording behavior via videos and monitoring activity during the night with night vision scopes) and “active” acoustic monitoring, using a high-quality directional microphone and parabolic dish. Their approach will allow them to record vocalizations and behavior during natural events expected to influence welfare, such as anthropogenic noise, predation events, intraspecific aggression, resting, or affiliative behaviors.
Grantees: Claudia Wascher
Institution: Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $18,679
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, ornithology, population ecology, animal behavior
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
In principle, animal vocalizations can be used to identify both positive and negative experiences. Specific vocal characteristics (e.g., mean fundamental frequency) and the rate of occurrence of certain call types can help to quantify animal welfare and are well-established in farm animals such as pigs, horses, cows, and chickens. But although bioacoustic monitoring is a well-established method in captive animals, the method has not been used in wild animals to assess positive and negative emotional states. This project will assess and validate the use of passive bioacoustic monitoring to assess welfare in a reintroduced population of red-billed choughs. The researchers will conduct a combination of automatic acoustic monitoring using “passive” acoustic recorders and direct observations (recording behavior via videos, monitoring activity during the night with night vision scopes, and “active” acoustic monitoring using high-quality directional microphone and parabolic dish). Their approach will allow them to record vocalizations and behavior during natural events expected to influence welfare, such as anthropogenic noise, predation events, intraspecific aggression, resting, or affiliative behaviors.
Why we funded this project
This project will help to validate the use of passive acoustic monitoring to assess welfare states from variation in vocal behavior, which presents a non-invasive, cost-effective tool to assess the impact of positive and negative events on animal welfare. In theory, acoustic monitoring could be used to assess the welfare of a large number of individuals at a time, making it a particularly promising method to investigate.
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A bird’s eye view to the five domains of welfare: a quantitative framework and proof-of-concept evaluation in a cetacean, Orcinus orca
Grantees: Saana Isojunno, Eve Jourdain
Institutions: University of St. Andrews, Norwegian Orca Survey
Project summary
This project will carry out body condition and welfare assessments for inshore-foraging killer whales in the northeast Atlantic. The researchers will use the Five Domains model to categorize likely factors influencing killer whale welfare and quantify some of those factors using aerial photography from drones. They will gather data on foraging time and feeding rates, group composition and surface behavior, body shape as a proxy for body condition and blubber reserves, and reproductive success. The researchers will then develop a proof-of-concept statistical model to infer latent motivational states beneath the observable data. The project will also utilize data from known cases of poor welfare to help define their welfare scale.
Grantees: Saana Isojunno and Eve Jourdain
Institutions: University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and Norwegian Orca Survey, Norway
Grant amount: $28,707
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Orca (Orcinus orca)
Conservation status: Data deficient
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, bio/eco-informatics, physiology, animal behavior, marine biology
Research location: Scotland, Norway
Project summary
This project will carry out body condition and welfare assessment for inshore-foraging killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the northeast Atlantic as an extension to ongoing research in Scotland and Norway. The researchers will use the Five Domains model to categorize likely factors influencing killer whale welfare, and then quantify some of those factors using aerial photography from drones. Specifically, the researchers intend to gather data on foraging time and feeding rates (nutrition), group composition and surface behavior (behavior), and body shape as a proxy for body condition and blubber reserves (health). Data will also be collected on reproductive success (e.g., calf loss). The researchers will then develop a proof-of-concept statistical model to infer latent motivational states (i.e., “true” welfare as a psychological state) beneath the observable data. The project will also utilize data from known cases of poor welfare (where individual social and nutritional needs are not met) to help define their welfare scale.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because we see hidden state models as promising statistical tools for representing the relationship between disparate data types and welfare, and would like to see this project provide a proof of the concept. This project will also implement a cost-effective and non-invasive approach method based on photogrammetry to assess cetacean health and behavior. Finally, we wanted to fund this project because it spans multiple universities and a citizen science community, creating significant networking opportunities to promote welfare biology.
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Mapping welfare for conservation management
Grantee: Lisa Olivier
Institution: Game Rangers International
Project summary
This project will monitor behavioral and physiological parameters in African elephants over one year to map their perception of their environment. The aim is to test this approach’s potential as a leading indicator that is easy to measure, responds quickly to ecosystem changes, and highlights potential detrimental impacts. These measures will be aggregated to define a scale representing the animals’ perceptions of threat that can be estimated for a given time and place. The researchers will then project this data onto maps to identify areas of high and low welfare. The project will help conservation practitioners create management plans to protect wild animals by providing a head start in assessing changes in their surroundings.
Grantee: Lisa Olivier
Institutions: Game Rangers International, Zambia
Grant amount: $29,791
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: African elephant (Loxodonta)
Conservation status: Endangered
Disciplines: Animal behavior, animal welfare science, wildlife management
Research location: Zambia
Project summary
To effectively steward wild animal welfare, leading indicators are needed that predict the future rather than summarizing the past. These must be easy to measure, respond quickly to ecosystem changes and highlight potential detrimental impacts that need addressing, including anthropogenic activities. This project aims to test the approach of mapping wild animals’ perception of their environment by monitoring an array of behavioral and physiological parameters in African elephants over a year as they navigate the landscape. These measures will be aggregated to define a scale representing the animals’ perceptions of threat that can be estimated for a given time and place. The researchers will then project these data onto maps to identify areas of high and low welfare, where animals may be feeling alternatively secure or fearful. The researchers intend for the project to help conservation practitioners create better management plans to protect wild animal populations by providing a head start in assessing changes in their surroundings.
Why we funded this project
We are excited by this project’s analysis of a long-term longitudinal dataset because of the importance of understanding how wild animals’ welfare varies with demographic factors such as age and sex, as these groups often face different challenges and have different ecological and behavioral requirements, and negative welfare impacts that fall on young individuals may also have ripple effects throughout their lives. We also appreciate this project’s holistic approach. The long-term monitoring means it is possible to consider not only the usual downstream welfare indicators based on health and behavior, but also upstream factors that might influence them, such as social interactions and exposure to predators.
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Every breath you take, I‘ll be watching you: Automated measurement of breath rate from mobile phone videos as a severity assessment parameter in wild great tits
Grantee: Caroline Deimel
Institution: Max Planck Institute
Project summary
This project aims to provide a validated reference tool for standardizing breath rate (BR) measurements following capture and physical sampling protocols in wild birds. The researchers will use computer vision capabilities and other recently developed software improvements to estimate BR metrics from mobile phone videos, enabling the collection of objective, reproducible, and comparable data, and providing institutions tasked to oversee animal welfare with objective and feasible monitoring requirements. The project will also evaluate BR as a welfare indicator in great tits by analyzing an existing five-year dataset to test whether BR corresponds to simultaneous glucocorticoid measurements from free-living great tits. This data will provide reliable baselines and ranges for glucocorticoids and BR, and benchmarks for video recording lengths.
Grantee: Caroline Deimel
Institutions: Max Planck Institute, Germany
Grant amount: $19,200
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Great tits (Parus major)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal behavior, animal welfare science, physiology
Research location: Germany
Project summary
Breath rate (BR) is increasingly used as a non-invasive proxy of stress that is fast, cheap, and field-friendly. However, BR has not been evaluated in a bird welfare context, and it is unclear how it relates to established physiological proxies of stress, like glucocorticoid measurements in blood. Also, the currently used protocols to measure BR lack standardization, scalability, and validation. This project aims to provide a validated, non-invasive reference tool for standardizing BR measurements following capture and physical sampling protocols in wild birds by implementing computer vision capabilities and other improvements in software the researchers have recently developed to estimate BR metrics from mobile phone videos. This will allow the research community to gather objective, reproducible, and comparable data, and provide institutions tasked to oversee animal welfare with objective and feasible monitoring requirements. The project will also evaluate BR as a welfare indicator in great tits (Parus major), a songbird extensively used in wild animal research across Europe, by analyzing an existing, five-year dataset to test whether BR corresponds to simultaneous glucocorticoid measurements from free-living great tits. These data will provide reliable baselines and ranges for glucocorticoids and BR, and benchmarks for video recording lengths.
Why we funded this project
We are generally interested in developing non-invasive ways of measuring indicators of wild animal welfare. One of the key advantages to non-invasive measurement, besides the obvious of not causing unnecessary fear or pain to animals, is that stress induced by the measurement process can obscure the animal’s baseline stress levels if the method is too invasive or not carried out properly. We also tentatively believe that instilling a norm of minimizing animal harm within welfare biology research will increase the likelihood that researchers act as scientist-advocates for implementation of wild animal welfare interventions. This project’s focus on making breath rate easy and inexpensive to measure in a consistent way also fits well with our desire for a greater volume and accessibility of welfare data collection.
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City living – assessing the welfare costs of urban living in spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta)
Grantee: Emma Stone
Institutions: Carnivore Research Malawi, University of the West of England
Project summary
Networks of green spaces and river corridors support a population of urban spotted hyenas in Lilongwe City, Malawi. However, human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is frequent. Using non-invasive techniques, this project will measure and compare the fecal and hair cortisol levels, mean body condition, tooth ware, hematological parameters, and disease in urban and rural populations of spotted hyenas. Behavioral experiments (exposure to novel objects and threatening scents) will also be used to assess individual boldness in urban and rural populations as a risk factor, which may increase propensity for HWC and therefore mortality and stress. Results will be used to inform policies to reduce HWC and implement welfare considerations as part of the population’s conservation management plan.
Grantee: Emma Stone
Institutions: Carnivore Research Malawi and University of the West of England, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $30,000
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Human-wildlife conflict, physiology, animal welfare science, animal behavior, infections disease
Research location: Malawi
Project summary
Lilongwe City (the capital of Malawi, central Africa) has a good network of green spaces and river corridors, supporting a population of urban spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). However, human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is frequent, often resulting in persecution of these animals. Using non-invasive techniques, this project will measure and compare the fecal and hair cortisol levels (as a proxy of stress), mean body condition, tooth ware, hematological parameters, and disease (toxoplasmosis and rabies) in spotted hyena between urban (Lilongwe district) and rural (Kasungu National Park) populations. Behavioral experiments (exposure to novel objects and threatening scents) will also be used to assess individual boldness in urban and rural populations as a risk factor, which may increase propensity for HWC and therefore mortality and stress. Results will be used to inform policies to reduce HWC and implement welfare considerations as part of the population’s conservation management plan.
Why we funded this project
Interactions between people and wildlife are increasing as urban areas expand. This is of particular concern with carnivores, as even small species can be perceived as threatening. Despite the fact that the developing world has the highest rate of urbanization, urban carnivore studies have generally focused on European and Asian cities, with research on African cities being relatively neglected. Although HWC is a traditional issue in conservation, we have encountered few projects that effectively address the more neglected question of how HWC interacts with non-anthropogenic welfare impacts. By considering a variety of welfare indicators/factors, including disease transmission and social dynamics, this project will help us understand that interaction, producing results that can be translated into more abundant urban species. Additionally, by funding at least some projects on endangered species, we increase the likelihood of our welfare-focused message reaching conservation practitioners, potentially leading to a greater emphasis on and interest in welfare within that community.
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From rehabilitation centers to the wild: Evaluating brown bear stress using blood and scat parameters
Grantee: Morteza Naderi
Institution: Koç University
Project summary
Brown bears play a prominent role in the ecosystems of northern and eastern Turkey. However, there are serious long-term threats to their welfare and viability that are common to other large omnivores, such as habitat fragmentation and increasing contact with humans. For example, open garbage dumps are located across the bear’s distribution and affect behavioral patterns in bears, including seasonal migration habits, whereby the bears would normally move into different areas to exploit seasonal resources. This project will involve a collaboration with KuzeyDoga, one of the only nature conservation NGOs in Turkey, to monitor the behavior and stress physiology of individual free-living bears using GPS collars, camera traps, and blood and fecal glucocorticoids (GCs).
Grantee: Morteza Naderi
Institution: Koç University, Turkey
Grant amount: $29,955
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Brown bear (Ursus arctos)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Population ecology, animal welfare science, human-wildlife conflict
Research location: Turkey
Project summary
Brown bears play a prominent role in the ecosystems of northern and eastern Turkey. However, there are serious long-term threats to their welfare and viability that are common to other large omnivores, such as habitat fragmentation and increasing contact with humans. For example, open garbage dumps are located across the bear’s distribution and affect behavioral patterns in bears, including seasonal migration habits, whereby the bears would normally move into different areas to exploit seasonal resources. This project will involve a collaboration with KuzeyDoga, one of the only nature conservation NGOs in Turkey, to monitor the behavior and stress physiology of individual free-living bears using GPS collars, camera traps, and blood and fecal glucocorticoids (GCs). The location and behavior data will allow them to document what stimuli individual bears have been exposed to (e.g. use of garbage dumps, proximity to roads), and when. This information can then be paired with the GC results to better understand the welfare implications of those exposures. The study of wild bears will also be complemented by the same physiological measurements on bears residing at a rehabilitation center in the region, which come from a similar genetic and early-life background to the free-living bears.
Why we funded this project
This project addresses our objective of validating non-invasive physiological welfare indicators (e.g. fecal GCs) against behavior and known environmental stressors. The pairing of wild and captive (rescued/rehabilitated) individuals is also notable because the captive individuals can serve as a sort of control group due to their controlled environment at the rehabilitation center. Although brown bears in Turkey are not as numerous as some other species we tend to prioritize research on, they and the threats they face are ecologically similar to those faced by most bears worldwide, especially North American black bears, who number many hundreds of thousands. Therefore, we expect the findings of this project to be at least partially generalizable to more than one million potentially long-lived individuals.
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