Life Sciences Commons^™

Laterality Enhances Cognition In Australian Parrots, Maria Magat, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Cerebral lateralization refers to the division of information processing in either hemisphere of the brain and is a ubiquitous trait among vertebrates and invertebrates. Given its widespread occurrence, it is likely that cerebral lateralization confers a fitness advantage. It has been hypothesized that this advantage takes the form of enhanced cognitive function, potentially via a dual processing mechanism whereby each hemisphere can be used to process specific types of information without contralateral interference. Here, we examined the influence of lateralization on problem solving by Australian parrots. The first task, a pebble-seed discrimination test, was designed for small parrot species that …

Bringing Toxicology Into The 21st Century: A Global Call To Action, Troy Seidle, Martin Stephens

Experimentation Collection

Conventional toxicological testing methods are often decades old, costly and low-throughput, with questionable relevance to the human condition. Several of these factors have contributed to a backlog of chemicals that have been inadequately assessed for toxicity. Some authorities have responded to this challenge by implementing large-scale testing programmes. Others have concluded that a paradigm shift in toxicology is warranted. One such call came in 2007 from the United States National Research Council (NRC), which articulated a vision of ‘‘21st century toxicology” based predominantly on non-animal techniques. Potential advantages of such an approach include the capacity to examine a far greater …

Scientific Autonomy And The 3rs, Bernard E. Rollin

Experimentation Collection

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Van Gogh-Like 2 Mrna Regulation And Localisation In Response To Nociception In The Brain Of Adult Common Carp (Cyprinus Carpio), Siobhan C. Reilly, Anja Kipar, David J. Hughes, John P. Quinn, Andrew R. Cossins, Lynne U. Sneddon

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

The Van Gogh-like 2 (vangl2) gene is typically associated with planar cell polarity pathways, which is essential for correct orientation of epithelial cells during development. The encoded protein of this gene is a transmembrane protein and is highly conserved through evolution. Van Gogh-like 2 was selected for further study on the basis of consistent regulation after a nociceptive stimulus in adult common carp and rainbow trout in a microarray study. An in situ hybridisation was conducted in the brain of mature common carp (Cyprinus carpio), 1.5 and 3 h after a nociceptive stimulus comprising of an acetic acid injection to …

Cow Preference And Usage Of Free Stalls Compared With An Open Pack Area, J. A. Fregonesi, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk, D. M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Free-stall housing systems are designed to provide a comfortable and hygienic lying area, but some aspects of stall design may restrict usage by cows. The aim of this study was to compare free-stall housing with a comparable lying area (open pack) without stall partitions. We predicted that cows would spend more time lying down and standing in the bedded area when provided access to an open pack than when in free stalls. We also predicted that cows would spend less time standing outside of the lying area and less time perching with the front 2 hooves in the lying area …

Prevalence And Risk Factors For Skin Lesions On Legs Of Dairy Cattle Housed In Freestalls In Norway, C. Kielland, L. E. Ruud, A. J. Zanella, O. Østerås

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Appropriate indoor housing facilities for dairy cattle promote improved animal welfare. Skin alterations are an indicator of dysfunctional housing. The purpose was to determine the relationship between different housing design and skin lesions, hence providing farmers more insight into how to reduce the occurrence of lesions. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2,335 animals in 232 Norwegian freestall-housed dairy cattle from September 2006 to June 2007. A model was established to investigate risk factors related to the presence of lesions including hair loss, swelling, and wounds on the legs of dairy cattle. Separate models were developed to investigate risk factors …

Assessing Animal Welfare: Different Philosophies, Different Scientific Approaches, David Fraser

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Attempts to improve animal welfare have commonly centered around three broad objectives: (1) to ensure good physical health and functioning of animals, (2) to minimize unpleasant ‘‘affective states’’ (pain, fear, etc.) and to allow animals normal pleasures, and (3) to allow animals to develop and live in ways that are natural for the species. Each of these objectives has given rise to scientific approaches for assessing animal welfare. An emphasis on health and functioning has led to assessment methods based on rates of disease, injury, mortality, and reproductive success. An emphasis on affective states has led to assessment methods based …

Pain Perception In Fish: Indicators And Endpoints, Lynne U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

Recent evidence has shown that fish display aversive behavioral and physiological reactions and a suspension of normal behavior in response to noxious stimuli that cause pain in other animals and humans. In addition to these behavioral responses, scientists have identified a peripheral nociceptive system and recorded specific changes in the brain activity of fish during noxious stimulation. As a result of these observations teleost fish are now considered capable of nociception and, in some opinions, pain perception. From both an experimental and an ethical perspective, it is important that scientists be able to assess possible pain and minimize discomfort that …

Octopus Insularis (Octopodidae), Evidences Of A Specialized Predator And A Time-Minimizing Hunter, Tatiana S. Leite, Manuel Haimovici, Jennifer A. Mather

Sentience Collection

Shallow-water octopuses have been reported as major predators of motile species in benthonic marine communities, capturing their prey by different foraging techniques. This study assessed for the first time the feeding ecology, foraging behavior, and defensive strategy during foraging, including the use of body patterns, to construct a general octopus foraging strategy in a shallow water-reef system. Octopus insularis was studied in situ using visual observations and video recordings. The diet included at least 55 species of crustaceans (70%), bivalves (17.5%), and gastropods (12.5%); however, only four species accounted for half of the occurrences: the small crabs Pitho sp. (26.8%) …

Lying Behavior: Assessing Within- And Betweenherd Variation In Free-Stall-Housed Dairy Cows, K. Ito, D. M. Weary, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

One of the most important design criteria for dairy cow housing is access to a comfortable lying area. Behaviors such as the time cows spend lying down and how often they lie down can be used to evaluate the quality of stalls; however, assessing lying behavior on farms can be challenging. Indices such as the cow comfort index (CCI) and stall use index (SUI) have been widely used in on-farm assessments. The aims were to establish reliable sampling and recording methods for measuring lying behavior, to evaluate the adequacy of the CCI and SUI as estimates of lying behavior, and …

An Examination Of Chimpanzee Use In Human Cancer Research, Jarrod Bailey

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Advocates of chimpanzee research claim the genetic similarity of humans and chimpanzees make them an indispensable research tool to combat human diseases. Given that cancer is a leading cause of human death worldwide, one might expect that if chimpanzees were needed for, or were productive in, cancer research, then they would have been widely used. This comprehensive literature analysis reveals that chimpanzees have scarcely been used in any form of cancer research, and that chimpanzee tumours are extremely rare and biologically different from human cancers. Often, chimpanzee citations described peripheral use of chimpanzee cells and genetic material in predominantly human …

Response To Displaced Neighbours In A Territorial Songbird With A Large Repertoire, Elodie F. Briefer, Thierry Aubin, Fanny Rybak

Ethology Collection

Neighbour recognition allows territory owners to modulate their territorial response according to the threat posed by each neighbour and thus to reduce the costs associated with territorial defence. Individual acoustic recognition of neighbours has been shown in numerous bird species, but few of them had a large repertoire. Here, we tested individual vocal recognition in a songbird with a large repertoire, the skylark Alauda arvensis. We first examined the physical basis for recognition in the song, and we then experimentally tested recognition by playing back songs of adjacent neighbours and strangers. Males showed a lower territorial response to adjacent neighbours …

Automatic Recognition Of Frog Calls Using A Multi-Stage Average Spectrum, Wen-Ping Chen, Song-Shyong Chen, Chun-Cheng Lin, Ya-Zhung Chen, Wen-Chih Lin

Bioacoustics Collection

The automatic recognition of animal sounds is one of the powerful techniques for replacing the traditional ecological survey method that mainly depends on manpower, which is hence both costly and time consuming. This study developed an automatic frog call recognition system based on the combination of a pre-classification method of the syllable lengths and a multi-stage average spectrum (MSAS) method. In this system, the input frog syllables are first classified into one of the four groups determined by the pre-classification method according to syllable length. Then the proposed MSAS method is used to extract the standard feature template to analyze …

The Scher Report On Non-Human Primate Research — Biased And Deeply Flawed, Jarrod Bailey, Katy Taylor

Experimentation Collection

The European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) recently issued an Opinion on the need for non-human primate (NHP) use in biomedical research, and the possibilities of replacing NHP use with alternatives, as part of the Directive 86/609/EEC revision process. Here, we summarise our recent complaint to the European Ombudsman about SCHER’s Opinion and the entire consultation process. It is our opinion that the Working Group almost entirely failed to address its remit, and that the Group was unbalanced and contained insufficient expertise. The Opinion presumed the validity of NHP research with inadequate supporting evidence, and ignored …

Preference And Usage Of Pasture Versus Free-Stall Housing By Lactating Dairy Cattle, A. L. Legrand, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk, D. M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

The aim of the current study was to assess if cows preferred pasture or indoor housing, and how diurnal and environmental factors affected this preference. Lactating dairy cows (n = 5 groups, each containing 5 cows) were sequentially housed either in a free-stall barn on pasture, or given the choice between the 2 environments. Each group was tested 3 times under each condition, for a total of 21 d, to assess the effects of varying climatic conditions (outdoor temperature ranged from 9.9 to 28.2°C and daily rainfall from 0 to 65 mm/d over the course of the experiment). When provided …

Preference For Pasture Versus Freestall Housing By Dairy Cattle When Stall Availability Indoors Is Reduced, A. C. Falk, D. M. Weary, C. Winckler, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Providing cattle with access to pasture has been shown to yield benefits, including access to more space, fewer agonistic interactions, better air quality, and the ability to perform a greater range of normal behaviors. Preference for pasture appears to depend on several parameters, including weather conditions and availability of shade. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the preference for pasture versus inside a freestall barn with variable stocking densities at the stalls. We also investigated the effect of temperature-humidity index (THI) and precipitation on this preference. Overall, cows spent on average 13.7 ± 2.6 h/d (mean ± …

Effects Of Selection For Cooperation And Attention In Dogs, Márta Gácsi, Paul Mcgreevy, Edina Kara, Ádám Miklósi

Cooperative Behavior Collection

Background: It has been suggested that the functional similarities in the socio-cognitive behaviour of dogs and humans emerged as a consequence of comparable environmental selection pressures. Here we use a novel approach to account for the facilitating effect of domestication in dogs and reveal that selection for two factors under genetic influence (visual cooperation and focused attention) may have led independently to increased comprehension of human communicational cues.

Method: In Study 1, we observed the performance of three groups of dogs in utilizing the human pointing gesture in a two-way object choice test. We compared breeds selected to work while …

The Stall-Design Paradox: Neck Rails Increase Lameness But Improve Udder And Stall Hygiene, F. Bernardi, J. A. Fregonesi, C. Winckler, D. M. Veira, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk, D. M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Housing conditions for dairy cows are thought to af-fect lameness, but almost no experimental work has addressed this link. The aim was to assess the effect of one feature of free-stall design, the position of the neck rail, testing the prediction that cows will be more likely to become lame if using pens with the neck rail positioned such that it prevents standing fully inside the stall. Cows (n = 32) were housed in 8 pens. Treat-ments were tested using a crossover design; treatments were allocated alternately to pens at the beginning of the experiment and switched halfway through the …

Fallow Bucks Get Hoarse: Vocal Fatigue As A Possible Signal To Conspecifics, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Many studies of sexually selected vocal communication assume that calls remain stable throughout the breeding season. However, during this period, physiological and social factors change and these can have strong effects on the structure of calls and calling rates. During the rut, fallow bucks, Dama dama, reduce their feeding and increase the time and energy spent on vocalizing and fighting to gain matings, and consequently their body condition declines greatly. The availability of matings and intensity of competition between males also change. Therefore, we predicted that male vocal signalling would vary over time in response to the changing intersexual and …

Loss Of Shoaling Preference For Familiar Individuals In Captive-Reared Crimson Spotted Rainbowfish Melanotaenia Duboulayi, Erin Kydd, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Captive-reared rainbowfish Melanotonia duboulayi showed no preference for familiar individuals in an experiment examining shoaling preferences. Fortnightly re-examination of the shoaling preferences of the captive-reared population showed that the lack of preference for familiar individuals did not alter over an 8 week period. The same experiment performed on laboratory-reared offspring raised in isolated groups for 8 months since hatching also showed no preference for shoals consisting of familiar individuals. In contrast, trials performed on a wild population of M. duboulayi found a strong preference for familiar shoalmates, a result that is consistent with previous studies. The lack of shoaling preferences …

Animal Behaviour, Animal Welfare And The Scientific Study Of Affect, David Fraser

Emotion Collection

Many questions about animal welfare involve the affective states of animals (pain, fear, distress) and people look to science to clarify these issues as a basis for practices, policies and standards. However, the science of the mid twentieth century tended to be silent on matters of animal affect for both philosophical and methodological reasons. Philosophically, under the influence of Positivism many scientists considered that the affective states of animals fall outside the scope of science. Certain methodological features of the research also favoured explanations that did not involve affect. The features included the tendency to rely on abstract, quantitative measures …

Interests And Harms In Primate Research, Nathan Nobis

Experimentation Collection

The article discusses the moral issues on primate research in reference to the moral defenses by Sughrue and colleagues. It states that Sughrue and colleagues have claimed to provide equal examination of the primate stroke research's ethics. It mentions that the promise to straighten out a number of ethical arguments in favor and against primate research was not fulfilled. Several moral arguments are presented in response to Sughrue and colleagues' moral defense for animal experimentation.

Animal Pleasure And Its Moral Significance, Jonathan Balcombe

Sentience Collection

This paper presents arguments for, and evidence in support of, the important role of pleasure in animals’ lives, and outlines its considerable significance to humankind’s relationship to other animals. In the realms of animal sentience, almost all scholarly discussion revolves around its negative aspects: pain, stress, distress, and suffering. By contrast, the positive aspects of sentience – rewards and pleasures – have been rarely broached by scientists. Yet, evolutionary principles predict that animals, like humans, are motivated to seek rewards, and not merely to avoid pain and suffering. Natural selection favours behaviours that enhance survival and procreation. In the conscious, …

Assessing Lameness In Cows Kept In Tie-Stalls, K. A. Leach, S. Dippel, J. Huber, S. March, C. Winckler, H. R. Whay

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Identifying lame cows and quantifying the prevalence of lameness are important elements of cattle welfare assessment that are generally achieved by methods involving observations of each animal walking. There is no published method for assessing lameness in cows confined in tie-stalls. The objective of this study (carried out within the European Commission’s Welfare Quality® project) was to develop a suitable method and validate it for lameness detection against a published locomotion score. A series of indicators of lameness visible in tied cows was formalized into a stall assessment protocol. This was validated against a traditional locomotion score and tested for …

Wild Justice - Honor And Fairness Among Beasts At Play, Marc Bekoff, Jessica Pierce

Social Cognition Collection

This essay challenges science’s traditional taboo against anthropomorphizing animals or considering their behavior as indicative of feelings similar to human emotions. In their new book Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, the authors argue that anthropomorphism is alive and well, as it should be. Here they describe some activities of animals, particularly animals at play, as clear signs that they have recognizable emotions and moral intelligence. Based on years of behavioral and cognitive research, the authors discuss in their book that animals exhibit a broad repertoire of moral behaviors, including empathy and cooperation, but here they concentrate on the …

Adult-Young Ratio, A Major Factor Regulating Social Behaviour Of Young: A Horse Study, Alice De Boyer Des Roches, Martine Hausberger

Social Behavior Collection

Background: Adults play an important role in regulating the social behaviour of young individuals. However, a few pioneer studies suggest that, more than the mere presence of adults, their proportions in social groups affect the social development of young. Here, we hypothesized that aggression rates and social cohesion were correlated to adult-young ratios. Our biological model was naturally-formed groups of Przewalski horses, Equus f. przewalskii, varying in composition.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated the social interactions and spatial relationships of 12 one- and two-yearold Przewalski horses belonging to five families with adult-young ratios (AYR) ranging from 0.67 to 1.33. We found …

Effect Of Noxious Stimulation Upon Antipredator Responses And Dominance Status In Rainbow Trout, Paul J. Ashley, Sian Ringrose, Katie L. Edwards, Emma Wallington, Catherine R. Mccrohan, Lynne U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

A potentially painful experience may modify normal behavioural responses. To gauge the importance of pain relative to predation or social status, we presented competing stimuli, a predator cue or an unfamiliar social group, to two groups of noxiously treated rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. In the predator cue experiment, fish were classified as bold or shy. Noxiously stimulated fish did not show antipredator responses, suggesting that pain is the imperative. In the social status experiment, noxiously stimulated fish held individually and undisturbed showed an increase in respiration rate and plasma cortisol. As a comparison, we used the dominant or subordinate fish …

From Traumatic Brain Injury To Posttraumatic Epilepsy: What Animal Models Tell Us About The Process And Treatment Options, Asla Pitkänen, Riikka J. Immonen, Olli H.J. Gröhn, Irina Kharatishvili

Biomedicine and Animal Models in Research Collection

A large number of animal models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are already available for studies on mechanisms and experimental treatments of TBI. Immediate and early seizures have been described in many of these models with focal or mixed type (both gray and white matter damage) injury. Recent long-term video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring studies have demonstrated that TBI produced by lateral fluid-percussion injury in rats results in the development of late seizures, that is, epilepsy. These animals develop hippocampal alterations that are well described in status epilepticus–induced spontaneous seizure models and human posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE). In addition, these rats have damage …

Human Predators Outpace Other Agents Of Trait Change In The Wild, Chris T. Darimont, Stephanie M. Carlson, Michael T. Kinnison, Paul C. Paquet, Thomas E. Reimchen, Christopher C. Wilmers

Nonindigenous Pests and Biological Invasions Collection

The observable traits of wild populations are continually shaped and reshaped by the environment and numerous agents of natural selection, including predators. In stark contrast with most predators, humans now typically exploit high proportions of prey populations and target large, reproductive-aged adults. Consequently, organisms subject to consistent and strong ‘harvest selection’ by fishers, hunters, and plant harvesters may be expected to show particularly rapid and dramatic changes in phenotype. However, a comparison of the rate at which phenotypic changes in exploited taxa occurs relative to other systems has never been undertaken. Here, we show that average phenotypic changes in 40 …

The Effects Of The Acetic Acid “Pain” Test On Feeding, Swimming, And Respiratory Responses Of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss): A Critique On Newby And Stevens (2008), Lynne U. Sneddon

Experimentation Collection

Newby and Stevens’ (2008) paper ‘‘The effects of the acetic acid ‘pain’ test on feeding, swimming, and respiratory responses of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)’’ examines the effects of a noxious stimulus on the behaviour of trout in an attempt to replicate research conducted in my laboratory (Sneddon, 2003a; Sneddon, 2007; Sneddon et al., 2003a,b; Reilly et al., 2008). However, the authors used a different protocol to the one already published and I would like to respond to some of their points of discussion to provide scientific explanations for their results using data from my laboratory. The authors show that swimming …