Retrospective analysis of the lifetime endocrine response of southern right whale calves to gull wounding and harassment: A baleen hormone approach.

General and Comparative Endocrinology
Alejandro Fernández AjóC Loren Buck

Abstract

Physiological measurements are informative in assessing the relative importance of stressors that potentially impact the health of wildlife. Kelp Gulls, Larus dominicanus (KG), resident to the region of Península Valdés, Argentina, have developed a unique behavior of landing on the backs of southern right whale adults and calves, Eubalaena australis (SRW), where they feed on their skin and blubber. This parasitic behavior results in large open wounds on the dorsal surface of the whale. Coincidently, the SRW population off the coast of Península Valdés has experienced elevated calf mortality. We quantified levels of glucocorticoids and thyroid hormone extracted from baleen of dead calves to evaluate, retrospectively, the endocrine response of whale calves to gull wounding and harassment. Baleen accumulates hormones as it grows, allowing evaluation of long-term trends in physiological condition. While glucocorticoids (GCs) are known to increase in response to stressors such as disturbance, the metabolic hormone triiodothyronine (T3) has been shown to decrease under sustained food deprivation but is largely unaffected by disturbance stress. We quantified lifetime patterns of GCs and T3 in baleen recovered at necropsy from 36 south...Continue Reading

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