Appeasing Pheromones for the Management of Stress and Aggression during Conservation of Wild Canids: Could the Solution Be Right under Our Nose?

Thirty-six species of canid exist globally, two are classified as critically endangered, three and five near threatened. Human expansion the coinciding habitat fragmentation necessitate conservation interventions to mitigate concurrent population deterioration. The current management wild canids includes animal translocation artificial pack formation. These actions often cause chronic stress, leading increased aggression suppression immune reproductive systems. Castration pharmaceutical treatments currently used reduce stress in domestic captive canids. undesirable side effects make such inadvisable during Pheromones naturally occurring chemical messages that modulate behaviour between conspecifics; such, they offer a natural alternative for modification. Animals able distinguish pheromones closely related through small compositional differences but more likely have greater responses from individuals same species. Appeasing been found stress- aggression-related behaviours species, including dogs. Preliminary evidence suggests dog appeasing (DAP) may be effective However, identification testing species-specific derivatives could produce pronounced beneficial behavioural physiological changes target In turn, this provide valuable tool improve many endangered