Adrenal activity and anxiety-like behavior in fur-chewing chinchillas

MARINA PONZIO; STEVEN L. MONFORT; JUAN MANUEL BUSSO; VALERIA PAOLA CARLINI; RUBEN DANIEL RUIZ; MARTA FIOL DE CUNEO

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Año: 2012 vol. 61 p. 758 - 758

font size="1" face="AdvTT5235d5a9"> Due to its complexity, in combination with a lack of scientific reports, fur-chewing became one of the most challenging behavioral problems common to captive chinchillas. In the last years, the hypothesis that furchewing is an abnormal repetitive behavior and that stress plays a role in its development and performance has arisen. Here, we investigated whether a relationship existed between the expression and intensity of fur-chewing behavior, elevated urinary cortisol excretion and anxiety-related behaviors. Specifically, we evaluated the following parameters in behaviorally normal and fur-chewing animals of both sexes: 1) mean concentrations of urinary cortisol metabolites and 2) anxiety-like behavior in an elevated plus-maze test. Urinary cortisol metabolites were higher only in females that expressed the most severe form of the fur-chewing behavio