Comparison of Corticosterone Concentrations in Dermal Secretions and Urine in Free-Ranging Marine Toads (Rhinella marina) in Human Care

Table 1

A comparison of the mean concentration of corticosterone in both male and female marine toads (Rhinella marina) from urine and dermal secretions sampled at capture, immediately following a 16-hour transport from Miami FL to Asheboro, NC and 4 time points over 60 days in human care at the North Carolina Zoo.

Day of sampling	Urine corticosterone (ng/mL)				Dermal secretion corticosterone (ng/mL)
	N	Mean ± SEM	Median	(Min, max)	N	Mean ± SEM	Median	(Min, max)
Capture day		N/A	N/A	N/A	61	0.64 ± 0.03^a	0.62	(0.31, 1.78)
Arrival day		N/A	N/A	N/A	56	0.67 ± 0.03^a	0.62	(0.22, 1.31)
Day 9	14	0.45 ± 0.07^a,ψ	0.47	(0.04, 0.87)	13	0.51 ± 0.05^a,b,ψ	0.49	(0.25, 0.98)
Day 15	11	0.37 ± 0.07^a,b,ψ	0.41	(0.03, 0.70)	14	0.47 ± 0.03^b,ψ	0.45	(0.28, 0.74)
Day 32	12	0.21 ± 0.06^b,ψ	0.13	(0.03, 0.78)	14	0.52 ± 0.04^a,b,Φ	0.50	(0.28, 0.89)
Day 62	11	0.31 ± 0.07^a,b,ψ	0.25	(0.10, 0.93)	14	0.54 ± 0.04^a,b,ψ	0.50	(0.23, 0.85)

N/A = not available. ^a,bWithin a column, differing superscripts indicate urine or dermal corticosterone differences by date ( < 0.05). ^ψ,ΦWithin a row, differing superscripts indicate urine vs dermal corticosterone differences on the same date ( < 0.05).