Life Sciences Commons^™

Farrowing Behaviour And Stillbirth In Two Environments: An Evaluation Of The Restraint-Stillbirth Hypothesis, D. Fraser, P. A. Phillips, B. K. Thompson

Reproductive Behavior Collection

A total of 59 farrowings were studied in either a conventional, narrow farrowing crate (0.43 m wide) or a much wider alternative design with sides spaced 1.2 m apart at the sow’s standing height but narrowing near the floor to limit the sow’s lying area. Using video recording, we monitored each “birth interval” (i.e. the period between two successive births) and noted the interval’s length, the sow’s posture and postural changes during the interval, and whether the interval ended with a live-born or stillborn piglet. The wide and conventional crates did not differ significantly in median interval between piglets (15.9 …

Collecting Birds: The Importance Of Moral Debate, Marc Bekoff, Andrzej Elzanowski

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

No abstract provided.

Weapon Size Versus Body Size As A Predictor Of Winning In Fights Between Shore Crabs, Carcinus Maenas (L.), Lynne U. Sneddon, Felicity A. Huntingford, Alan C. Taylor

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Relative body size (carapace width) and weapon size (chela length) were used as indicators of resource holding potential (RHP) in the agonistic behaviour of male shore crabs, Carcinus maenas (L.). Weapon size was found to be a more reliable predictor of the outcome of pairwise fights than body size. Crabs with longer chelae than their opponents were more likely to win fights than crabs with relatively larger bodies. Body size had less influence on the outcome of fights. Relative body and weapon size did not influence initiation of contests but did affect the likelihood of winning; however, this was significant …

Vocal Response Of Piglets To Weaning: Effect Of Piglet Age, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Ontogeny Collection

Piglets vocalize a great deal during the first few days after weaning. The aim of this experiment was to determine if the calls given by piglets vary in response to one factor thought to influence post-weaning adaptation: weaning age. In 22 litters, each containing a minimum of 9 piglets, 3 piglets were weaned under identical conditions at 3, 4 and 5 weeks of age. Vocalizations and weight gain were monitored for the week after weaning. The number of calls produced by piglets of all three ages declined from an average of 8.2 calls/min per piglet on the day of weaning …

Dna Fingerprinting Reveals Low Genetic Diversity In Gunnison's Prairie Dog (Cynomys Gunnisoni), Steven E. Travis, C. N. Slobodchikoff, Paul Keim

Genetics Collection

The use of molecular techniques for the assessment of familial relationships among social species of mammals has become relatively commonplace. However, some species represent poor candidates for such studies due to naturally low levels of genetic diversity, leading to unacceptably large standard errors associated with estimates of relatedness. Here, we report on a preliminary study of genetic diversity within two populations of a social species of ground squirrel, Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) using DNA fingerprinting. We observed low levels of diversity in the form of large mean coefficients of genetic similarity among individuals occupying the same population. …

Life In Captivity: Its Lack Of Opportunities For Variable Behaviour, Françoise Wemelsfelder

Zoos and Aquariums Collection

No abstract provided.

Vocalizations By Isolated Piglets: A Reliable Indicator Of Piglet Need Directed Towards The Sow, Daniel M. Weary, Stephen Ross, David Fraser

Communication Skills Collection

When suckling piglets are isolated from the sow and litter-mates they vocalize a great deal. Sows also call when isolated from their piglets. In one experiment, we found that isolated piglets doubled their call rate in response to playback of sow calls, indicating that piglets are directing calls towards the sow. In a second experiment, we found that variation in the piglet isolation calls related to aspects of the piglet's condition: piglets isolated for 13 min in an enclosure kept at approximately 14°C called more, used higher frequency calls and longer calls, than litter-mates isolated in an enclosure kept at …

The Scientific Validity Of Subjective Concepts In Models Of Animal Welfare, Françoise Wemelsfelder

Animal Welfare Collection

This paper takes a closer look at the subjectivity/objectivity relationship, as it plays a role in the science of animal welfare. It argues that subjective, experiential states in animals such as well-being and suffering are, contrary to what is often assumed, open to empirical observation and scientific assessment. The presumably purely private, inaccessible nature of such states is not an inherent property of these states, but derives from their misguided conception as ‘causal objects’ in mechanistic models of behaviour. This inevitably endows subjective experience with a ‘hidden’ status. However, subjective experience should be approached on its own conceptual grounds, i.e. …

Nest-Site Selection By Belted Kingfishers (Ceryle Alcyon) In Colorado, Sara Shields, Jeffrey F. Kelly

Habitat Assessment and Management Collection

Along the Cache la Poudre River in northern Colorado, belted kingfishers nested in relatively tall banks that lacked a toe. Kingfishers constructed burrows in soils that contained significantly less sand than was present at systematically sampled points. This finding conflicts with earlier findings that indicate kingfishers select sandy soils for burrow construction. Otherwise, the physical characteristics of banks used by belted kingfishers in Colorado were similar to those found elsewhere.

Development Of Piagetian Object Permanence In A Grey Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus), Irene M. Pepperberg, Mark R. Willner, Lauren B. Gravitz

Sentience Collection

The authors evaluated the ontogenetic performance of a grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) on object permanence tasks designed for human infants. Testing began when the bird was 8 weeks old, prior to fledging and weaning. Because adult grey parrots understand complex invisible displacements (I. M. Pepperberg & F. A. Kozak, 1986), the authors continued weekly testing until the current subject completed all of I. C. Uzgiris and J. Hunt's (1975) Scale 1 tasks. Stage 6 object permanence with respect to these tasks emerged at 22 weeks, after the bird had fledged but before it was completely weaned. Although the parrot progressed …

Effect Of Room Arrangement And Blood Sample Collection Sequence On Serum Thyroid Hormone And Cortisol Concentrations In Cynomolgus Macaques (Macacafascicularis), Bryan L. Flow, John T. Jaques

Research Methodology and Laboratory Animals Collection

We evaluated the relationship, in cynomolgus macaques (Macacafascicularis), between rank for order of blood collection with serum concentrations of 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), free thyroxine (FT4), and serum cortisol. These relationships were determined for males and females that were housed in two room arrangements. For both room arrangements, males and females were housed separately. For room arrangement 1, macaques were housed on both sides of the animal holding room. The sides of the animal holding room were designated as side A or side B. Blood was initially collected from animals on side A, then from animals on side B. Animals …

Harry F. Harlow And Animal Research: Reflection On The Ethical Paradox, John P. Gluck

Experimentation Collection

With respect to the ethical debate about the treatment of animals in biomedical and behavioral research, Harry F. Harlow represents a paradox. On the one hand, his work on monkey cognition and social development fostered a view of the animals as having rich subjective lives filled with intention and emotion. On the other, he has been criticized for the conduct of research that seemed to ignore the ethical implications of his own discoveries. The basis of this contradiction is discussed and propositions for current research practice are presented.

Preference And Motivation Testing, David Fraser, Lindsay R. Matthews

Validation of Animal Experimentation Collection

Since the early 1970s, scientists have used preference tests (tests that require animals to choose between two or more different options or environments) as a means of answering questions about animal welfare. Preference tests have been used to establish animals' preferences for common housing options such as ambient temperature, illumination and preferred types of bedding and flooring; to improve the effectiveness of devices such as loading ramps and nest boxes; and to clarify how strongly animals avoid various aspects of confinement and methods of restraint.

To use preference research to answer questions about animal welfare, three issues need to be …

Language-Naive Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) Judge Relations Between Relations In A Conceptual Matching-To-Sample Task, Roger K.R. Thompson, David L. Oden, Sarah T. Boysen

Sentience Collection

Three chimpanzees with a history of conditional and numeric token training spontaneously matched relations between relations under conditions of nondifferential reinforcement. Heretofore, this conceptual ability was demonstrated only in language-trained chimpanzees. The performance levels of the language-naive animals in this study, however, were equivalent to those of a 4th animal—Sarah—whose history included language training and analogical problem solving. There was no evidence that associative factors mediated successful performance in any of the animals. Prior claims of a profound disparity between language-trained and language-naive chimpanzees apparently can be attributed to prior experience with arbitrary tokens consistently associated with abstract relations and …

Institutional Animal Care And Use Committees: A Flawed Paradigm Or Work In Progress?, John P. Gluck, F. Barbara Orlans

Animal Welfare Collection

In his challenging article, Steneck (1997) criticized the creation of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) system established by the 1985 amendments to the Animal Welfare Act. He saw the IACUC review and approval of biomedical and behavioral research with animals as an unnecessary "reassignment" of duties from existing animal care programs to IACUC committees. He argued that the committees are unable to do the work expected of them for basically three reasons: (a) the membership lacks the expertise in matters relevant to animal research and care, (b) there exists an inherent and disabling conflict of interest, and …