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Wildlife Biology - 2024 - Pedersen - Hunting method affects cortisol levels in harvested mountain hares Lepus timidus564.68 kB
Published Version (Advanced Access)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Hunting method affects cortisol levels in harvested mountain hares (Lepus timidus)
Wildlife Biology, Vol.Advanced access
2024
Abstract
The direct effects of hunting on hunted individuals and populations have been well known for a long time. However, recently there has also been an increased focus on the indirect, non-lethal effects of hunting. When approached by a possible threat such as a predator, the prey releases various stress hormones into the bloodstream. Cortisol is one of these hormones and the blood concentration is an indicator of stress levels in mammals. Here we report on a study on the effects of using hunting dogs versus walk-up shooting on mountain hare blood cortisol levels. We sampled 20 hares hunted using dogs and 32 control hares hunted without using dogs. On average the cortisol level in hares hunted using dogs was 44.6 ng/ml, while in hares harvested without being chased by dogs it was 6.8 ng/ml. Based on the blood hormone levels of this study we cannot conclude if the elevated cortisol levels we see in the hares hunted using dogs was harmful to the hares had they not been shot. However, given what is known about the effects of chronic stress, we would caution against repeated chases of individual hares. The cumulative effect of stressors including hunting is likely crucial for any effects on reproduction and survival. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the long-term effects of hunting chases and other human activities on mountain hare stress hormone levels, and to investigate the long-term effect on hare behavior, space use, survival, reproduction and recruitment.
Details
- Title
- Hunting method affects cortisol levels in harvested mountain hares (Lepus timidus)
- Authors
- Simen Pedersen (Corresponding Author) - University of Inland NorwayTomasz M. Ciesielski - Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyClare Stawski - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringNeil Reid - Queen's University BelfastShannen T. L. Sait - Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyHans C. Pedersen - Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
- Publication details
- Wildlife Biology, Vol.Advanced access
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- DOI
- 10.1002/wlb3.01366
- ISSN
- 1903-220X; 0909-6396
- Copyright note
- © 2024 The Author(s). Wildlife Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Data Availability
- Data are available from the DataverseNO Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.18710/7PFTWY (Pedersen et al. 2024).
- Grant note
- SP, TMC and STLS were funded by the Norwegian Environmental Agency (project no. 2020/1121) and the Trygve Gotaas Fund.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991089698002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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