Do tourists stress out safari animals? We tested their dung to find out

via The Conversation U.S. (@TheConversationUS@newsie.social): Attached: 1 image

Researchers collected more than 500 dung samples from impala, zebra, wildebeest, and giraffe at a South African reserve to measure stress hormones against daily tourist counts. It’s a clever, low-tech way to answer a question that otherwise relies on guessing from animal behavior — and it matters, since tourism dollars are what fund the conservation in the first place.

Do tourists stress out safari animals? We tested their dung to find out