Minimally invasive health monitoring of wildlife

Investigations of free-living wild animals often involve capture, restraint or other forms of manipulation. Theta is a need, on both scientific and welfare grounds, to develop and to use less invasive techniques, especially for the assessment of health. Already some such procedures exist, ranging from observation of clinical signs to the laboratory examination and analysis of faeces and other naturally voided samples. Minimally invasive and non-invasive health monitoring of vertebrate animals is outlined and examples are given of samples from mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish that can provide useful information.