Meeting Abstract

125.2  Monday, Jan. 7  Immune defenses of captive and wild spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta): a comparative analysis FLIES, AS*; HOLEKAMP, KE; GRANT, CK; MANSFIELD, LS; Michigan State University; Michigan State University; Custom Monoclonals International; Michigan State University fliesand@msu.edu

Evolutionary processes have shaped the vertebrate immune system over time, but proximate mechanisms control activation, duration, and intensity of an immune response. Ecological and demographic factors such as sex and pathogen pressure can influence immune function. Conventional immunology relies primarily on laboratory-reared animals, which introduces the possibility of altered developmental trajectories of the immune system as compared to animals in their natural habitat. Here we assessed differences in immune function between wild spotted hyenas that inhabit a pathogen-rich environment and captive hyenas that inhabit a more hygienic environment. We used the immune defense component model framework to characterize immune defenses along two continuums: constitutive to induced and non-specific to specific. Our results show that wild hyenas have significantly greater concentrations of total IgG, total IgM, natural anti-KLH IgG, and a trend for increased natural anti-KLH IgM. We observed no difference in bacterial killing ability between the wild and captive populations. This has important implications for serological monitoring of disease in wildlife. Furthermore, there is little evidence of disease-induced mortality in the wild hyena population, indicating that immune defenses are robust in this population. This leaves open the possibility that pathogen exposure is important for proper development and maintenance of the immune system, as suggested by the hygiene hypothesis.