Changes in body temperature are significant physiological consequences of stressful stimuli in mammals and
birds. Pigeons (Columba livia) prosper in (potentially) stressful urban environments and are common subjects
in neurobehavioral studies; however, the thermal responses to stress stimuli by pigeons are poorly known.
Here, we describe acute changes in the telemetrically recorded celomatic (core) temperature (Tc) in pigeons
given a variety of potentially stressful stimuli, including transfer to a novel cage (ExC) leading to visual isolation
from conspecifics, the presence of the experimenter (ExpR), gentle handling (H), sham intracelomatic injections
(SI), and the induction of the tonic immobility (TI) response. Transfer to the ExC cage provoked short-lived
hyperthermia (10–20 min) followed by a long-lasting and substantial decrease in Tc, which returned to baseline
levels 2 h after the start of the test. After a 2-hour stay in the ExC, the other potentially stressful stimuli evoked
only weak, marginally significant hyperthermic (ExpR, IT) or hypothermic (SI) responses. Stimuli delivered
26 h after transfer to the ExC induced definite and intense increases in Tc (ExpR, H) or hypothermic responses
(SI). These Tc changes appear to be unrelated to modifications in general activity (as measured via telemetrically
recorded actimetric data). Repeated testing failed to affect the hypothermic responses to the transference to the
ExC, even after nine trials and at 1- or 8-day intervals, suggesting that the social (visual) isolation from conspecifics
may be a strong and poorly controllable stimulus in this species. The present data indicated that stressinduced
changes in Tc may be a consistent and reliable physiological parameter of stress but that they may
also show stressor type-, direction- and species-specific attributes