Animal Stress

Book excerpt: Based on a recent symposium that brought together experts in behavior, nutrition, physiology, immunology, and human and animal medicine, this volume presents an up-to-date discussion of the problems and methods of studying animal stress today. Section one reviews the evolutionary and ontogenetic determinants of animal suffering and the assessment of well-being. The second section examines biological responses to stress and methods of monitoring stress in animals. Section three shows how stress can threaten animal health, disrupt normal reproduction, and influence growth and metabolism. The final section relates the importance of animal stress to developing guidelines on the use of animals in scientific research. This is an invaluable reference for exploring these complex responses