Evaluation of serum concentration of cortisol, and the effects of age, sex and season in dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius)

In this study the effects of season, sex and age on serum concentration of cortisol, and its correlation with age in 180 clinically healthy dromedary camels (146 males and 34 females) were evaluated. Serum concentration of cortisol had no significant difference between two sexes, and had also no significant correlation with the age. There was a marginally significant difference between summer and winter seasons in serum cortisol (p=0.06). In male camels, there was a significant relationship between serum cortisol and the age (r=– 0.146, p=0.08). No significant differences were detected for the serum cortisol between different age groups of camels. In camels up to 5 years of age, the serum cortisol showed a significant difference between summer and winter seasons(p=0.044). The current study showed that season, sex and age may affect the changes of serum cortisol in dromedary camels, and can be proposed as the probable cause of controversial findings regarding serum cortisol in previous studies.