Life Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Early-Life Behavior To Predict Mothering Ability In Swine Utilizing Nutrack System, Savannah Millburn

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Early recognition of indicator traits for swine reproduction and longevity supports economical selection decision making. Gilt activity is a key variable impacting a sow’s herd life and productivity. The purpose of this study was to examine early- life behaviors contributing to farrowing traits including gestation length (GL), number born alive (NBA), number weaned (NW), and herd life (HL). Herd life was a binary trait representing if a gilt was culled after one parity. Beginning at approximately 20 weeks of age, video recordings were taken on 480 gilts for 7 consecutive days and processed using the NUtrack system. Activity traits include …

Quantifying Equine Behavior Utilizing Gps, Vanessa M. Cote

Honors College

GPS tracking systems have been around for many years and are used to track, map, determine precise locations, navigate, and get precise time measurements on a number of different animals, devices, vehicles, and much more. The use of GPS tracking systems on animals has been a huge breakthrough in the cattle industry since this means farmers no longer have to monitor their cattle manually, but can do remotely. The research that has previously been done on cattle tracking can now be applied to horses, although as horses are used in a much different manner than cattle the data will go …

Alleviating Human-Elephant Conflict Through Deterrent Fences And Environmental Monitoring In Southern Kenya, Sophia Carmen Corde

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Human-wildlife conflict is present across the world. In areas where human settlements overlap with elephant habitats, human-elephant conflict can result from crop raiding events, compromising farmers’ food and economic security, and putting humans and elephants in danger through farmer retaliation. Elephants raid crops primarily at night, when detection by humans is lowest, and during the dry season, as crops are developing towards harvest and natural forage quality drops. People living in these areas facing HEC have developed mitigation strategies to lessen the impacts and move towards coexistence. As a team member on the Elephants and Sustainable Agriculture in Kenya project, …

High-Frequency Accelerometer Recording Of Key Predatory Behaviors In Vipers: Validation And Case Study With Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus), Morgan L. Thompson, Richard H. Adams, Anna Tipton, Dominic L. Desantis

Graduate Research Showcase

High-frequency accelerometer recording of key predatory behaviors in vipers: validation and case study with Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus)

Morgan Thompson, Richard H. Adams, Anna F. Tipton, and Dominic L. DeSantis

Tri-axial accelerometers (ACTs) are becoming increasingly common in studies of animal behavior wherein direct observation of subjects in nature is constrained or impossible. ACTs are small (< 1 g) piezo-electric (spring-like) sensors that measure three-dimensional acceleration (upward, downward, and side-to-side) derived from subject motion. When leveraged with advanced machine learning techniques, these data can enable precise automated classification of a wide range of movement-mediated behaviors. Until recently, ACTs were largely reserved for larger-bodied organisms or those most amenable to the temporary external attachment of devices. Ongoing ACT miniaturization has now expanded the breadth of organisms amenable to these methods. This project aims to expand on a recently developed framework for ACT monitoring in wild-ranging snakes, a group that has been mostly overlooked in biologging applications. We are currently conducting extensive captive validation trials for robust model training and testing to enable classification of predatory behaviors, including striking and ingestion of prey items, in Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). Following captive validation, we will translate this method to the field with a population of C. horridus in the lower Piedmont of middle Georgia to evaluate the efficacy of externally attached ACTs for remote and continuous monitoring of …

Vigilance Of Nesting Whooping Cranes In Juneau County, Wisconsin, Nicole M. Gordon, Darby P. Bolt, Hillary L. Thompson

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Vigilance plays an important role in the detection of possible threats and reducing the risk of predation, including during the incubation period. We examined the visual vigilance of incubating whooping cranes (Grus americana) in Juneau County, Wisconsin, during the 2019 nesting season. We deployed 9 trail cameras and tagged crane presence and behavior in 32,801 photos which were used in our analysis. We assessed individual nest and environmental variables and their effects on vigilant behavior of incubating cranes using linear mixed-models. Vigilant behavior was defined by a posture in which the crane’s head was up, neck was erect, …

Effects Of Release Techniques On Parent-Reared Whooping Cranes In The Eastern Migratory Population, Hillary L. Thompson, M. Susanna Glass, Marianne M. Wellington, Kim H. Boardman, Glenn H. Olsen

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Reintroduction of an Eastern Migratory Population (EMP) of whooping cranes (Grus americana) in the United States by release of captive-reared individuals began in 2001. As of 2020, the EMP has approximately 21 breeding pairs and has had limited recruitment of wild-hatched individuals, thus captive-reared juveniles continue to be released into breeding areas in Wisconsin to maintain the population. We investigated the effects of release techniques on survival, behavior, site fidelity, and conspecific associations of 42 captive-parent-reared whooping cranes released during 2013-2019 into the EMP. Individuals were monitored intensively post-release, then as a part of a long-term monitoring program, …