Feather Corticosterone Measurements of Greater Flamingos Living under Different Forms of Flight Restraint.

Animals 2020,10: 605-619. doi:10.3390/ani10040605. www.mdpi.com/journal/animalsArticle

Simple Summary:

Greater Flamingos are commonly kept under flight restraint in zoos. Some are pinioned, others only featherclipped,  and some remain physically intact but live in aviaries that are often not  large  enough  to  fly. In  this  study,  we  compared  these  three  groups  by  measuring corticosterone (a hormone associated with stress) in their feathers in order to find out which of the restraining methods  is  most  compatible  with  animal  welfare. Additionally,  we  carried  out behavioral observations on all groups to detect potential stressors other than the status of flight itself. We  expected  to  find  differences  in  CORTf  between  deflighted  and airworthy flamingos. However, no  significant  differences  in feather corticosterone were  measured between  the  three groups and the hypothesis was rejected. The most important factor for the level of corticosterone was found to be the zoological institution itself, reflecting the housing conditions. We hypothesize that the method by which a Greater Flamingo is hindered from flying does not have measurable effect on the corticosterone concentration in its feathers. Although these findings suggest that all methods are equally impacting animal welfare, we highlight the need for further improved studies based on this model.

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