PROCEEDINGS of the 7th ISWE CONFERENCE 13-16 October 2019 – Kruger National Park, South Africa Hosted by the Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria and South African National Parks Welcome to the 7th Conference of the International Society of Wildlife Endocrinology! Hello (English); Sanibonani (isiZulu); Molo (isiXhosa); Hallo (Afrikaans); Thobela (Sepedi); Dumela (Setswana); Lumela (Sesotho); Abusheni (Xitsonga); Sanibona (SiSwati); Avuwani (Tshivenda); Salibonani (isiNdebele) and welcome to the 7th Conference of the International Society of Wildlife Endocrinology, held this year for the first time on African soil at Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre, Skukuza - Kruger National Park, South Africa from 13-16 October, 2019. We have had a productive and partly challenging time since our last conference and were working hard to improve our role as a supportive communication platform for wildlife endocrinologist worldwide; thereby trying to upscale the perception and public image of our Society. Our endeavours included the successful resurrection of our continuously updated website (www.ISWE-endo.org), an increased presence on social media platforms, and the establishment of an ISWE Newsletter amongst others. We would like to thank our former board members Mandi Schook, Ned Place, David Kersey, Elizabeth Freeman, Marina Ponzio, and Gaby Mastromonaco for all the hard and productive work during their term, you really set a high standard. Consequently, we welcomed Katie Edwards, Annie Newell-Fugate, Grace Fuller, Diana Koester, and Jocelyn Bryant, as our new members on the board, and I must admit that they just continuing to strive towards excellence. This year, 103 colleagues from 18 different countries registered for our conference, resulting in a total of 39 accepted oral and 46 poster presentations, and we would like to thank the 27 colleagues reviewing abstracts this year. Our intended first ever trainee-mentor luncheon attracted 32 trainees, and we received 33 very competitive submissions for student travel awards. We were able to award two travel scholarships to assist student researchers with expenses for attending the conference and we would like to use the opportunity to thank conference sponsors Arbor Assays for putting forward US$1000 and Enzo Life Sciences for sponsoring US$2500. Further we would like to thank the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, for supporting our conference with a respective grant of US$6600. We are very excited to have our two keynote speakers, Prof Nigel Bennett from the University of Pretoria, elaborating on the endocrine correlates of socially-induced infertility in eusocial mole- rats; and Prof Ann MacLarnon from Durham University, recapturing the explanatory power of wildlife endocrinology to inform from mechanism to even evolutionary constructs. Further we are delighted that Prof Rupert Palme from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna agreed to lead a workshop around the advances and problems related to the non-invasive measurement of glucocorticoids. Finally, we thank all the presenters, for sharing new techniques and approaches and providing new insight into the exciting field of wildlife endocrinology. A very special thanks goes to our Conference Host, SAN Parks, for allowing us to have our conference in such a unique setting and for participating in the development of the additional activities program, which will hopefully help to make this event a very special one. Further we would like to give a big hand of applause to Jackey Deacon from Mpumalanga Promotion Events, Karin Fischer from the Mammal Research Institute, and our Conference Chair, Diana Koester, who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for many months to organize what we hope will be a productive and entertaining conference for all and an experience of a lifetime for at least some. Finally, we thank you all for attending the conference. It is through these conferences that we learn how to better study and protect our wildlife. We are a hugely collaborative group, and thus we encourage you all to engage in stimulating discussions during the conference and welcome new members into our unique scientific family. We hope you all enjoy your stay in South Africa. Andre Ganswindt, ISWE Chair ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We express our sincere thanks to the following colleagues for reviewing abstracts: Janine Brown Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA Martin Dehnhard Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany Elizabeth Freeman New Century College, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA Andre Ganswindt University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa Katarina Jewgenow Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany Rachel Santymire Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA Karen Steinman SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Reprod. Research Ctr, San Diego, CA, USA Mandi Wilder Schook Disney’s Animals, Walt Disney World, FL, USA Anneke Moresco Denver Zoo, Denver, CO, USA Natalia Prado-Oviedo Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA Grace Fuller Detroit Zoological Society, Royal Oak, MI, USA Ashley Franklin Saint Louis Zoo, St. Louis, MO, USA Katie Edwards Chester Zoo, Chester, UK Franz Schwarzenberger Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, Univ. Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria Carrie Vance Mississippi State University, MS, USA Juan Manuel Busso Institute of Biological and Technological Research, Cordoba, Argentina Marina Ponzio National University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina Annie Newell-Fugate Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA Jocelyn Bryant Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL, USA Lara Metrione South-East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction & Conservation, FL, USA Nei Moreira Federal of Parana University (UFPR), Parana, Brazil Jella Wauters University of Ghent, Belgium Ratna Ghosal Ahmedabad University, India Sanjeeta Pokharel Centre for Ecological Science, Indian Institute of Science, India Michael Heistermann Leibniz Institute of Primate Research, Germany Megan Brown Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA Tamara Keeley University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia Our Conference Planning Subcommittee Andre Ganswindt (Host) Diana Koester (Conference Chair) Marina Ponzio Lara Metrione Jocelyn Bryant Grace Fuller Shana Lavin Katie L Edwards Breanne Murray Mandi Schook Jella Wauters We warmly thank our invited speakers for contributing keynote lectures: Professor Ann MacLarnon - Department of Anthropology, Durham University, United Kingdom. FROM MECHANISM TO EVOLUTION: THE EXPLANATORY POWER OF WILDLIFE ENDOCRINOLOGY. Professor Nigel Bennett - Professor of Zoology, University of Pretoria, South Africa. TEASING APART SOCIALLY-INDUCED INFERTILITY IN NON-REPRODUCTIVE FEMALE AND MALE EUSOCIAL MOLE-RATS IN HARSH ARID ENVIRONMENTS. WE THANK OUR SPONSORS: (in alphabetical order) ARBOR ASSAYS www.arborassays.com ENZO LIFE SCIENCES www.enzolifesciences.com ISWE www.iswe-endo.org NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION www.nrf.ac.za PLENARY SPEAKER: PROFESSOR ANN MACLARNON Ann MacLarnon is a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University, United Kingdom. Professor MacLarnon has worked on a broad range of areas in evolutionary anthropology, including comparative studies of life histories, spinal cord, brain size and gut size, and the evolution of human speech and breathing control. In recent years, her main focus has been on ecological physiology. Professor MacLarnon has directed a non-invasive hormone lab for fifteen years, which she recently moved to Durham. She has collaborated with many behavioral ecologists working on primates and other mammals to investigate together questions of reproductive, stress, and energetic ecology combining physiological and behavioral measures. PLENARY SPEAKER: PROFESSOR NIGEL C. BENNETT Nigel C. Bennett is a Professor of Zoology at the University of Pretoria (UP) and occupies the Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation (NRF) Research Chair in the field of Mammalian Behavioural Ecology and Physiology and the UP Austin Roberts Chair of African Mammalogy. Professor Bennett’s research focus is on ecology, animal physiology and behavior using the African mole-rat as his model animal. He and his colleagues have investigated the ecological and physiological factors that affect the control of reproduction and the evolution of sociality. Professor Bennett’s research has set the benchmark for our understanding of phylogenetic and ecological constraints regulating reproductive success and social evolution in mammalian species. 7th Conference of the International Society of Wildlife Endocrinology 13-16 October 2019, Skukuza, Kruger National Park, South Africa WORKSHOP: DR. RUPERT PALME NON-INVASIVE MEASUREMENT OF GLUCOCORTICOIDS: ADVANCES AND PROBLEMS. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are a central component of the neuroendocrine stress response and their measurement is frequently used to evaluate the impact of potentially challenging situations. Their faecal metabolites are often measured as a non-invasive evaluation of adrenocortical activity in wildlife species. When applied properly, such methods are a powerful tool to a variety of disciplines. However, appropriate study design, methodology, validations, and interpretation are all key to obtaining meaningful data. This interactive workshop will address some pitfalls and potentially confounding factors, and provide an insight into the steps researchers should take before embarking on