ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Behavior and Welfare
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Animal Welfare Assessment: From Biomarkers to Smart Monitoring TechnologiesView all articles
Use of thermal imaging to collect fresh faeces for non-invasive evaluation of stress levels in the European hare (Lepus europaeus)
Provisionally accepted
Vlastimil Skoták1
Jan Cukor1,2*
Marek Sedláček1
Richard Ševčík1Rostislav Linda1Kateřina Brynychová1Matěj Kostka1Sabine Macho-Maschleran3
Jan Husek1,4
Rupert Palme3- 1Vyzkumny ustav lesniho hospodarstvi a myslivosti, Prague, Czechia
- 2Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czechia
- 3Veterinarmedizinische Universitat Wien, Vienna, Austria
- 4Univerzita Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czechia
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Assessing long-term stress in wild animal populations is extremely complicated and, in some species, practically impossible due to the complexity of sampling. Here, we tested and verified unique non-invasive method for collecting fresh faecal samples located using thermal imaging cameras from a model species, the European hare. Subsequent analysis of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) allows for the determination of stress levels without capture of individuals in hare populations. fGCM values ranged from 1.8 to 65.8 ng/g. While the average value across locations in winter was 15.6 ng/g ± 9.9 SD, values in spring (April/March) were significantly higher (18.2 ng/g ± 11.2 SD; p < 0.05). These higher values coincided with the peak in European hare reproduction in spring. Significantly higher values were also confirmed in urban environments, indicating increased stress levels compared to natural environments, despite hares appearing to have adapted to the urban landscape. Higher values were also found in more heterogeneous landscapes than rich agroecosystems. Having proved the usefulness of thermal imaging cameras for collecting large numbers of fresh droppings for the non-invasive evaluation of stress in wild hare sub-populations, we suggest the method could be applied to other species where capture and handling exert stress, injury or mortality.
Keywords: Animal Welfare, biodiversity conservation, cortisol, intrapopulation stress, non-invasive monitoring, wildlife monitoring
Received: 08 Aug 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Skoták, Cukor, Sedláček, Ševčík, Linda, Brynychová, Kostka, Macho-Maschleran, Husek and Palme. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jan Cukor, cukor@fld.czu.cz
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