BACKGROUND Alopecia in captive non-human primates is often presented as a welfare issue. However, it is a complex condition with a number of possible causes. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of pregnancy and hair cortisol concentrations on alopecia in rhesus macaques. METHODS Subjects were 113 socially housed adult female rhesus macaques (27 pregnant, 35 nursing infants, 51 controls). During routine physicals, photographs were taken for alopecia assessment and hair samples were collected for cortisol assay. RESULTS Alopecia was more prevalent in pregnant than in control females, but there was no association between alopecia and hair cortisol. However, there was a significant effect of pregnancy on hair cortisol. Nursing females had higher hair cortisol levels than pregnant females, which had higher levels than control females. CONCLUSIONS Although alopecia does not appear to be associated with hair cortisol, both alopecia and hair cortisol were associated with pregnancy.

中文翻译：

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猕猴（猕猴）的脱发：与妊娠和慢性应激有关。

背景技术圈养的非人类灵长类动物中的脱发通常被认为是一种福利问题。但是，这是一个复杂的情况，有许多可能的原因。这项研究的目的是评估妊娠和毛发皮质醇浓度对猕猴秃发的影响。方法受试者为113具社会收容的成年雌性猕猴（怀孕27例，护理婴儿35例，对照组51例）。在常规身体检查中，拍摄照片以评估脱发症，并收集头发样本进行皮质醇测定。结果妊娠脱发比对照组女性更普遍，但脱发与头发皮质醇之间没有关联。但是，怀孕对头发的皮质醇有明显的影响。哺乳期女性的皮质醇水平高于怀孕期女性，后者高于对照女性。