Monitoring steroid hormone patterns via excreted metabolites is an effective, non-invasive method for assessing physiological states in wild animals. This method allows for the monitoring of individuals or social groups with minimal disturbance. Here we aimed at elucidating the measurable glucocorticoids and androgens in excreta, for monitoring stress and reproductive hormones in the common waxbill ( Estrilda astrild ), a small estrildid finch. We measured the excreted metabolites in response to physiologically induced stress and reproductive challenges, both in males and females. For this, we challenged 12 captive common waxbills with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and another 12 with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH). Steroid concentrations in droppings were analyzed using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) before and up to six hours after each challenge. We found that enzymatic hydrolysis prior to LC-MS increased the recovery of steroid metabolites from common waxbills excreta. The ACTH challenge resulted in a significant increase of excreted glucocorticoids with a cortisone standard within 2-3 hours, suggesting that metabolites with a cortisone-similar structure are a reliable measure for monitoring physiological stress in this species. Although the LHRH challenge was inconclusive for androgens, our results provide useful technical details for measuring glucocorticoid metabolites in common waxbill excreta. This enables future studies of behavior in this bird species with minimum disturbance or handling bias and ensuring animal welfare requirements.
Trigo et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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