Platzer JoAnna M, Gunter Lisa M, Feuerbacher Erica N
School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Oct 4;13(19):3095. doi: 10.3390/ani13193095.
Previous research has found connections between pigmentation, behavior, and the physiological stress response in both wild and domestic animals; however, to date, no extensive research has been devoted to answering these questions in domestic dogs. Modern dogs are exposed to a variety of stressors; one well-studied stressor is residing in an animal shelter. To explore the possible relationships between dogs' responses to stress and their pigmentation, we conducted statistical analyses of the cortisol:creatinine ratios of 208 American shelter dogs as a function of their coat color/pattern, eumelanin pigmentation, or white spotting. These dogs had been enrolled in previous welfare studies investigating the effect of interventions during which they left the animal shelter and spent time with humans. In the current investigation, we visually phenotype dogs based on photographs in order to classify their pigmentation and then conduct post hoc analyses to examine whether they differentially experience stress as a function of pigmentation. We found that the dogs did not differ significantly in their urinary cortisol:creatinine ratios based on coat color/pattern, eumelanin pigmentation, or white spotting, either while they were residing in the animal shelter or during the human interaction intervention. These preliminary data suggest that pigmentation alone does not predict the stress responses of shelter dogs; however, due to the small sample size and retrospective nature of the study, more research is needed.
先前的研究已经发现，在野生动物和家畜中，色素沉着、行为与生理应激反应之间存在关联；然而，迄今为止，尚未有广泛的研究致力于解答家犬的这些问题。现代家犬会面临各种各样的应激源；其中一个经过充分研究的应激源是生活在动物收容所。为了探究犬类对压力的反应与其色素沉着之间可能存在的关系，我们对208只美国收容所犬的皮质醇与肌酐比值进行了统计分析，该比值是其毛色/花纹、真黑素色素沉着或白色斑点的函数。这些犬只曾参与过先前的福利研究，该研究调查了犬只离开动物收容所并与人类相处期间干预措施的效果。在当前的调查中，我们根据照片对犬只进行视觉表型分析，以便对它们的色素沉着进行分类，然后进行事后分析，以检验它们是否因色素沉着的不同而经历不同程度的压力。我们发现，无论是在动物收容所生活期间还是在与人类互动干预期间，这些犬只基于毛色/花纹、真黑素色素沉着或白色斑点的尿皮质醇与肌酐比值均无显著差异。这些初步数据表明，仅色素沉着并不能预测收容所犬只的应激反应；然而，由于样本量较小且研究具有回顾性，因此还需要更多的研究。
