We used a standard handling protocol to examine the stress response of captive young western screech-owls during their active (nighttime) and inactive (daytime) periods and to compare the stress responses of captive and free-living owls. Circulating corticosterone levels were significantly higher during the inactive period than in the active period in this nocturnal species. This suggests that ...

The prevalence of cryptosporidial infection among captive wild animals and birds in Sanda Kyarimi Park, Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria, was evaluated by faecal examination for oocysts using three different staining techniques: the modified Ziehl-Neelsen, Giemsa, and Safranin-methylene blue. A total of 66 captive wild animals and birds were examined based on age and sex differences. Fifteen (2...

Antibodies to West Nile virus were detected in 94 of 1,784 Illinois birds during 2002. Captive and urban birds had higher seropositivity than did birds from natural areas, and northern and central Illinois birds' seropositivity was greater than that from birds from the southern sites. Adult and hatch-year exposure rates did not differ significantly.

background and aims: influenza a virus infects birds and some mammalian including human. h1 and h3 subtypes are circulated in both human and birds’ population. to determine the prevalence of the mentioned subtypes in birds, different captive bird species in tehran zoo, and affiliated centers in tehran were investigated for virus infection. methods: in this study, between november 2008 and febru...

The majority of bird taxa perform water bathing, but little is known about the adaptive value of this behaviour. If bathing is important for feather maintenance then birds that have not bathed should have poorer feather condition, compromised escape ability and therefore increased responsiveness to cues of predation. We conducted two experiments examining the behaviour of captive starlings resp...

Avian bornavirus (ABV) has been identified as the cause of proventricular dilatation disease in birds, but the virus is also found in healthy birds. Most studies of ABV have focused on captive birds. We investigated 86 free-ranging psittacine birds in Brazil and found evidence for natural, long-term ABV infection.

Pending changes in European legislation ban the use of wild-caught animals in research. This change is partly justified on the assumption that captive-breeding (or hand-rearing) increases welfare of captive animals because these practices result in animals with reduced fear of humans. However, there are few actual data on the long-term behavioural effects of captive-breeding in non-domestic spe...

A captive adult common mynah (Acridotheres tristis) died shortly after a course of seizure and opisthotonous with an illness characterized by severe lethargy, depression, loss of appetite, polyurate, and urate discoloration. Abdominal distention and hepatomegly, visible over the abdominal skin, were noticed clinically. At necropsy, severe enlargement of liver with general discoloration was obvi...

Despite the importance of behaviour in conservation biology, there have been few studies that address behaviour in areas such as invasion ecology. There is an urgent need to identify specific traits that facilitate the establishment and spread of alien species to prevent biological invasions and their impact on biodiversity. Changes in antipredatory behaviour in captivity have been proposed to ...

I N the past several years I have kept eight Sparrow Hawks (F&o sparverius) in captivity for use in experiments in prey selection and the motivation for predatory behavior. Four of the birds were taken from nests at approximately two to three weeks of age and were hand-reared in my laboratory and four were trapped as free-flying birds. All birds were handled frequently and became quite tame. Th...