Quantification of steroid hormones in free-ranging Apennine wolf Canis lupus italicus hair samples collected post-mortem

After decades of dramatic reductions in their populations, Italian wolves have begun recolonizing parts of their historic range. This growth in populations can lead to potential conflicts with human activities, which remain the main cause of wolf mortality. With the aim of examining animal welfare and their health status, a hormonal dosage on hair was conducted on 20 wolf carcasses originating from the Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna regions. The concentrations of cortisol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), progesterone, and oestradiol (E2) were measured using radioimmunoassay (RIA). Our results, listed as mean +/- SD, were cortisol 1.81 +/- 1.17, testosterone 2.74 +/- 1.6, DHEA 62.92 +/- 24.99, P4 53.22 +/- 32.8 and E2 0.46 +/- 0.23 pg/mg. The study employed a novel approach to analyse hormone levels in this species, but its opportunistic nature resulted in uneven data distribution across sex and age groups. Consequently, comparisons of hormone levels by these categories did not yield relevant differences. Further studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to analyse hormone trends throughout the year and explore differences based on factors such as sex, age, and causes of death.