Biology of Stress
Cortisol is a hormone associated with they body’s response to stressful situations.
Researcher Dario Maestripieri at the University of Chicago is involved in research to determine how breastfeeding and having offspring affect the body’s stress response by measuring cortisol.
His research uses rhesus monkeys that are relatively genetically similar to humans and also demonstrate similar behavioral characteristics. Separating a free ranging monkey from its group is stressful for monkeys, so the researchers capturing free-ranging monkeys and took blood samples to measure hormone levels at different time periods and then analyzed the samples according to reproductive status - lactating, pregnant, neither pregnant nor lactating, while controlling for other variables such as age and rank.
The paper states “This analysis represents the first direct comparison of cortisol responses to stress in lactating and nonlactating females in nonhuman primates. We found no evidence of hyporesponsiveness to stress among lactating females. Rather, plasma cortisol levels were significantly higher in lactating than in nonlactating females, both shortly after capture and the morning after.” Also, “Concerns over risk to their infants may explain why lactating females exhibited higher cortisol responses to trapping and individual housing and why these responses did not vary significantly across the 6 lactation months.”
This research is really important and interesting because stress can affect health and parenting behavior, so understanding the biological response to and natural causes of stress and is essential.
Filed under New Research | Comment (0)Endangered species news
Another example of the ripple effect crises can have on a society - Endangered species are being hunted to supplement food supplies for refugees fleeing the violence in Kenya.
Problems supplying fresh meat to refugees and the costs associated with aid are creating a situation that gives refugees mostly vegetarian food rations that they supplement with wild meat.
This graphic slide-show on MSNBC.com has some interesting information and pictures about bushmeat.
Africa is the only place to find some of these endangered species living in their natural habitats, and it is very unfortunate that although there are many African people committed to protecting these species, these humanitarian crises make the situation very complicated and tragic.
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