Alopecia Scoring: The Quantitative Assessment of Hair Loss in Captive Macaques

Abstract

Many captive animals show forms of pelage loss that are absent in wild or free-living con-specifics, which result from grooming or plucking behaviours directed at themselves or at other individuals. For instance, dorsal hair loss in primates such as rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta) in research facilities, results from excessive hair-pulling or over-grooming by cage-mates. This behaviour appears to be associated with stress, and is controllable to some extent with environmental enrichment. Quantifying alopecia in primates (as in many species) is therefore potentially useful for welfare assessment. A simple system for scoring alopecia was developed and its reliability was tested. Study 1 showed high interobserver reliability between two independent scorers in assessing the state of monkeys’ coats from photographs. Study 2 showed that there were no significant differences between the scores derived from photographs and from direct observations. Thus, where hair loss due to hair pulling exists in captive primates, this scoring system provides an easy, rapid, and validated quantitative method, for use in assessing the success of attempts to reduce it via improved husbandry. In the future, such scoring systems might also prove useful for quantifying barbering in laboratory rodents.

A Comparison of Body Size, Coat Condition and Endoparasite Diversity of Wild Barbary Macaques Exposed to Different Levels of Tourism

“…It is possible that for tourist group males, increased stress levels linked to the occurrence of aggressive interactions with tourists (Maréchal et al 2011) may have played a role in their poorer coat condition, since physiological stress inhibits hair growth (Arck et al 2003). Additionally, such aggression may result in stress-related over-grooming, causing increased alopecia (Honess et al 2005). Females may be less affected in this way, due to their less frequent aggressive interactions with tourists (L. Maréchal, personal communication).…”

Assessing the validity of current mouse genetic models of obsessive–compulsive disorder

“…Behavior-associated hair loss has been described in many species including nonhuman primates, sheep, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and laboratory rats and mice (Bresnahan et al , 1983; Honess et al , 2005; Reinhardt, 2005). This behavior has been considered abnormal because it is observed almost exclusively in confined animals.…”

Hair coat condition: A valid and reliable indicator for on-farm welfare assessment in adult dairy goats

“…Berg et al (2009) underline that recording the hair coat condition may play an important role in welfare assessment, as early detection of health problems, even when no pathology is expected to occur. On captive primates, different point scales have been suggested for evaluating the quality of fur (Berg et al, 2009;Wolfensohn and Lloyd, 2003) and the presence/absence of hair loss has been used to assess animal welfare in several studies (Honess et al, 2005;Reinhardt et al, 1986;Steinmetz et al, 2006). On farm animals, a study performed by Pritchard et al (2005) in working horses, donkeys and mules found that 8% of the observed animals showed an inadequate hair coat condition, described as matted, dry, and uneven hair.…”