Comportamento da paca (Cuniculus paca) em criação comercial intensiva determinado por imagens de circuito fechado de TV e perfil de metabólitos de glicocorticóides fecais

• Ano de defesa: 2018
• Autor(a) principal: Fábio Morais Hosken
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; UFMG
• Palavras-chave em Português: Etograma; Enriquecimento Ambiental; Animais Silvestres; Bem-Estar Animal; Paca; Produção animal; Paca Criação; Paca Comportamento; Glicocorticóides
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/BUOS-BC2GU6

The agouti paca (Cuniculus paca) is little researched considering ethology and production. The objective of this study was to describe the main behaviors classified in groups as they happen in captivity by image analysis from eight cameras in closed circuit televion (CCTV). A total of 1440 hours of video were observed during 12 months with the software Cowlog. Twenty four adult animals were distributed in eight groups, each composed by two females and one male and housed in identical exhibits, in a commercial breeder in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The ethogram was developed and 21 behaviors were observed, described and nominated as: Resting, feeding , drinking , moving, gnawing , inside the pool , in the pool border,unidirectional aggression,bidirectional aggression, heat, copula, dirt box , urinating , defecating , rubbing , self grooming , allogrooming , marking enclosure, straw, manila and nestbox.The behaviors were were gouped into 5 groups nominated as maintenance (G1), movement (G2), co-specific and agonistic (G3), reproductive (G4) e environmental enrichment (G5) and were identified respectively nine (42,86%), two (9,52%), three (14,30%), two (9,52%) and five (23,80%) behaviors per group. Frequency and duration of each group and each behavior per group were determined (chi square and ANOVA), the effect of variables as period of the day, season of the year and sex were also evaluated. The frequency of groups 2, 3 and 4 was higher at night. Frequency of group 1 and 4 was higher in the dry season, while groups 1 and 5 were higher in females. Group 1 presented lower duration during the day and longer in the dry season (p0,05). Behaviors duration of groups 3 and 4 were higher in males. Frequency observed for behaviors in group 3 and 4 were higher at night. In group 01, nestbox ,resting, drinking and urinating were more frequent in the dry season and feeding, rubbing , in the pool border and self grooming in the rain season. In group 3, frequency of agressions were higher in the rain season and allogrooming in the dry season. Considering group 4, frequency for cio was higher in the rain season and copula in the dry season. All behaviors in group 1 occurred longer during the day, expect for nestbox (p0,05). Groups 2, 3 and 4 also occurred longer during the night. Fecal glucocorticoids metabolites (FGM) concentration was determined as an indicator for animal welfare. Fecal samples (n=135) were collected for 12 months, each sample was composed of feces of all three animals in the enclosure (pool). Dosage of FGM was realized by chemiluminescence. Average concentration of FGM per enclosure was 185ng/g (ng of FGM per gram of humid feces). There was no influence of the season of the year. The average FGM per month was 192.1ng/g and statistical difference was observed during the year. By regression it was determined that group 1 and 5 the behaviors resting, rubbing and self grooming showed significative correlation with the levels of FGM. These results are important information for an adequate captive husbandry of C. paca aiming production of this exotic species.