Other Animal Sciences Commons^™

Behavioural Risks In Female Dogs With Minimal Lifetime Exposure To Gonadal Hormones, Melissa J. Starling, Anne Fawcett, Bethany Wilson, James Serpell, Paul Mcgreevy

Physiology Collection

Spaying of female dogs is a widespread practice, performed primarily for population control. While the consequences of early spaying for health are still being debated, the consequences for behaviour are believed to be negligible. The current study focused on the reported behaviour of 8981 female dogs spayed before 520 weeks (ten years) of life for reasons other than behavioural management, and calculated their percentage lifetime exposure to gonadal hormones (PLGH) as a proportion of their age at the time of being reported to the online Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ). We found that 23 behaviours differed between entire …

The Question Of Animal Awareness, Francoise Wemelsfelder

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

The problem of animal awareness lies at the interface of science and philosophy. As a starting point for the study of phenomena such as awareness, mind, consciousness, etc., we hardly have any reference other than our own human experience and in the context of a nondualistic ontology this can be justified. In philosophy and psychology it appears to be very difficult to give direct operational definitions of terms such as consciousness, etc. So we might expect this to be even more difficult in the study of animals. A detailed knowledge of animals and their behaviour is necessary in order to …

Animal Boredom: Is A Scientific Study Of The Subjective Experiences Of Animals Possible?, Françoise Wemelsfelder

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between different meta-scientific frameworks and the science of animal welfare. Animal Boredom 117 During the past few years, I have become more and more convinced that the great difficulty science has in studying subjective experience in its objects, might be related to the denial of any role to subjective experience in the observer as an interpretational guide. Can a quality in the world around us be observed, when this same quality is deliberately excluded from the process of observing?

As a practical example for the discussion described above, the phenomenon …

Impact Of Stress, Fear And Anxiety On The Nociceptive Responses Of Larval Zebrafish, Javier Lopez-Luna, Qussay Al-Jubouri, Lynne U. Sneddon

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

Both adult and larval zebrafish have been demonstrated to show behavioural responses to noxious stimulation but also to potentially stress- and fear or anxiety- eliciting situations. The pain or nociceptive response can be altered and modulated by these situations in adult fish through a mechanism called stress-induced analgesia. However, this phenomenon has not been described in larval fish yet. Therefore, this study explores the behavioural changes in larval zebrafish after noxious stimulation and exposure to challenges that can trigger a stress, fear or anxiety reaction. Five-day post fertilization zebrafish were exposed to either a stressor (air emersion), a predatory fear …

Do Painful Sensations And Fear Exist In Fish?, Lynne U. Sneddon

Lynne Sneddon, PhD

The detection of pain and fear in fi sh has been subject to much debate and, since fi sh are a popular experimental model and commercially important in both angling and aquaculture, many procedures that fi sh are subjected to cause injury, fear and stress. These injuries would give rise to the sensation of pain in humans but whether fi sh have the capacity for pain is relatively under explored. Recent evidence has shown that fi sh have the same neural apparatus to detect pain that mammals and humans do, that their brain is active during a potentially painful experience, …

Geographic Variation In Alarm Calls Of Gunnison's Prairie Dogs, C. N. Slobodchikoff, S. H. Ackers, M. Van Ert

Con Slobodchikoff, PhD

Geographic variation in alarm calls of Gunnison's prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) was analyzed at regional and local scales. Alarm calls in response to a common stimulus (the same human) were recorded at four colonies near Flagstaff, Arizona, and at six sites throughout the southwestern United States. The acoustic structure of calls was analyzed for seven call variables. Regional differences fit the prediction of greater differences with increased geographical separation. Differences between colonies at a local scale were not related to geographical distance, suggesting that local dialects exist within a region. Differences in the level of predation by humans …

Thinking Chickens: A Review Of Cognition, Emotion, And Behavior In The Domestic Chicken, Lori Marino

Lori Marino, PhD

Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity. At least some birds are now known to be on par with many mammals in terms of their level of intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction. Yet, views of chickens have largely remained unrevised by this new evidence. In this paper, I examine the peer-reviewed scientific data on the leading edge of cognition, emotions, personality, and sociality in chickens, exploring such areas as self-awareness, cognitive bias, social learning and self-control, and comparing their abilities in …

Laterality Strength Is Linked To Stress Reactivity In Port Jackson Sharks (Heterodontus Portusjacksoni), Evan E. Byrnes, Catarina Vila Pouca, Culum Brown

Culum Brown, PhD

Cerebral lateralization is an evolutionarily deep-rooted trait, ubiquitous among the vertebrates and present even in some invertebrates. Despite the advantages of cerebral lateralization in enhancing cognition and facilitating greater social cohesion, large within population laterality variation exists in many animal species. It is proposed that this variation is maintained due links with inter-individual personality trait differences. Here we explored for lateralization in Port Jackson sharks (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) using T-maze turn and rotational swimming tasks. Additionally, we explored for a link between personality traits, boldness and stress reactivity, and cerebral lateralization. Sharks demonstrated large individual and sex biased laterality …

Stress Profile Influences Learning Approach In A Marine Fish, Vincent Raoult, Larissa Trompf, Jane E. Williamson, Culum Brown

Culum Brown, PhD

The spatial learning skills of high and low stress juvenile mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus) were tested in a dichotomous choice apparatus. Groups of fish were formed based on background blood cortisol levels and required to learn the location of a food reward hidden in one of two compartments. Low stress fish characterised by low background levels of the stress hormone cortisol had higher activity levels and entered both rewarded and unrewarded rooms frequently. Within the first week of exposure, however, their preference for the rewarded room increased, indicative of learning. Fish that had high background levels of cortisol, in …

Incubation Under Climatewarming Affects Behavioral Lateralisation In Port Jackson Sharks, Catarina Vila Pouca, Connor Gervais, Joshua Reed, Culum Brown

Culum Brown, PhD

Climate change is warming the world’s oceans at an unprecedented rate. Under predicted end-of-century temperatures, many teleosts show impaired development and altered critical behaviors, including behavioral lateralisation. Since laterality is an expression of brain functional asymmetries, changes in the strength and direction of lateralisation suggest that rapid climate warming might impact brain development and function. However, despite the implications for cognitive functions, the potential effects of elevated temperature in lateralisation of elasmobranch fishes are unknown. We incubated and reared Port Jackson sharks at current and projected end-of-century temperatures and measured preferential detour responses to left or right. Sharks incubated at …

Demographics Regarding Belief In Non-Human Animal Sentience And Emotional Empathy With Animals: A Pilot Study Among Attendees Of An Animal Welfare Symposium, Amelia Cornish, Bethany Wilson, David Raubenheimer, Paul Mcgreevy

Paul McGreevy, PhD

Attitudes to animals are linked to beliefs about their ability to experience pain and suffering, their cognition, and their sentience. Education and awareness-raising play a pivotal role in increasing society’s consideration of non-human animal welfare. The current pilot study explores the attitudes towards animal welfare among a unique population of people who attended an animal welfare symposium at the University of Sydney. It involved administration of a validated questionnaire that assessed attitudes to animals; specifically exploring participants’ (n = 41) beliefs about the sentience of animals and their emotional empathy with animals. The resultant data revealed significant associations between participants’ …

Orca Behavior And Subsequent Aggression Associated With Oceanarium Confinement, Robert Anderson, Robyn Waayers, Andrew Knight

Andrew Knight, PhD

Based on neuroanatomical indices such as brain size and encephalization quotient, orcas are among the most intelligent animals on Earth. They display a range of complex behaviors indicative of social intelligence, but these are difficult to study in the open ocean where protective laws may apply, or in captivity, where access is constrained for commercial and safety reasons. From 1979 to 1980, however, we were able to interact with juvenile orcas in an unstructured way at San Diego’s SeaWorld facility. We observed in the animals what appeared to be pranks, tests of trust, limited use of tactical deception, emotional self-control, …

Elevated Sensitivity To Tactile Stimuli In Stereotypic Horses, Sabrina Briefer Freymond, Déborah Bardou, Sandrine Beuret, Iris Bachmann, Klaus Zuberbühler, Elodie Briefer

Elodie Briefer, PhD

Although stereotypic behaviors are a common problem in captive animals, why certain individuals are more prone to develop them remains elusive. In horses, individuals show considerable differences in how they perceive and react to external events, suggesting that this may partially account for the emergence of stereotypies in this species. In this study, we focused on crib-biting, the most common stereotypy displayed by horses. We compared how established crib-biters (“CB” = 19) and normal controls (“C” = 18) differed in response to a standard “personality” assessment test battery, i.e., reactivity to humans, tactile sensitivity, social reactivity, locomotor activity, and curiosity …

Perceptual Lateralization Of Vocal Stimuli In Goats, Luigi Baciadonna, Christian Nawroth, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Elodie Briefer, PhD

Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily involved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a head-orienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting …

Perceptual Lateralization Of Vocal Stimuli In Goats, Luigi Baciadonna, Christian Nawroth, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Christian Nawroth, PhD

Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily involved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a head-orienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting …

Perceptual Lateralization Of Vocal Stimuli In Goats, Luigi Baciadonna, Christian Nawroth, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Alan G. McElligott, PhD

Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily involved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a head-orienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting …

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Vocal Responses To Sonar And Spectrally Pink Background Noise, Maria Zapetis

Dissertations

As human populations rise, the level of man-made noise increases globally. Naval sonar and boat traffic are underwater sound sources of particular concern to marine mammal welfare. To better understand the impact of these noise increases on cetaceans, studies can explore animals’ behavioral changes in response to noise. Studies have investigated the ‘dose-response’ relationship between the received sound pressure level of sonar signals and the behavior of cetaceans in the wild, but exposure studies in controlled environments are limited. The studies in this dissertation examined bottlenose dolphin vocal modifications during various experimental noise treatments. Acoustic recordings previously obtained for bottlenose …

Vocal Expression Of Emotions In Mammals: Mechanisms Of Production And Evidence, Elodie Briefer

Elodie Briefer, PhD

Emotions play a crucial role in an animal’s life because they facilitate responses to external or internal events of significance for the organism. In social species, one of the main functions of emotional expression is to regulate social interactions. There has recently been a surge of interest in animal emotions in several disciplines, ranging from neuroscience to evolutionary zoology. Because measurements of subjective emotional experiences are not possible in animals, researchers use neurophysiological, behavioural and cognitive indicators. However, good indicators, particularly of positive emotions, are still lacking. Vocalizations are linked to the inner state of the caller. The emotional state …

Looking On The Bright Side Of Livestock Emotions—The Potential Of Their Transmission To Promote Positive Welfare, Luigi Baciadonna, Sandra Duepjan, Elodie Briefer, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Christian Nawroth

Elodie Briefer, PhD

Emotions can be defined as an individual’s affective reaction to an external and/or internal event that, in turn, generates a simultaneous cascade of behavioral, physiological, and cognitive changes. Those changes that can be perceived by conspecifics have the potential to also affect other’s emotional states, a process labeled as “emotional contagion.” Especially in the case of gregarious species, such as livestock, emotional contagion can have an impact on the whole group by, for instance, improving group coordination and strengthening social bonds. We noticed that the current trend of research on emotions in livestock, i.e., investigating affective states as a tool …

Cross-Modal Recognition Of Familiar Conspecifics In Goats, Benjamin J. Pitcher, Elodie F. Briefer, Luigi Baciadonna, Alan G. Mcelligott

Elodie Briefer, PhD

When identifying other individuals, animals may match current cues with stored information about that individual from the same sensory modality. Animals may also be able to combine current information with previously acquired information from other sensory modalities, indicating that they possess complex cognitive templates of individuals that are independent of modality. We investigated whether goats (Capra hircus) possess cross-modal representations (auditory–visual) of conspecifics. We presented subjects with recorded conspecific calls broadcast equidistant between two individuals, one of which was the caller. We found that, when presented with a stablemate and another herd member, goats looked towards the caller sooner and …

Goats Prefer Positive Human Emotional Facial Expressions, Christian Nawroth, Natalia Albuquerque, Carine Savalli, Marie-Sophie Single, Alan G. Mcelligott

Alan G. McElligott, PhD

Domestication has shaped the physiology and the behaviour of animals to better adapt to human environments. Therefore, human facial expressions may be highly informative for animals domesticated for working closely with people, such as dogs and horses. However, it is not known whether other animals, and particularly those domesticated primarily for production, such as goats, are capable of perceiving human emotional cues. In this study, we investigated whether goats can distinguish human facial expressions when simultaneously shown two images of an unfamiliar human with different emotional valences (positive/ happy or negative/angry). Both images were vertically attached to a wall on …

Individual Personality Differences In Goats Predict Their Performance In Visual Learning And Non-Associative Cognitive Tasks, Christian Nawroth, Pamela M. Prentice, Alan G. Mcelligott

Alan G. McElligott, PhD

Variation in common personality traits, such as boldness or exploration, is often associated with risk–reward trade–offs and behavioural flexibility. To date, only a few studies have examined the effects of consistent behavioural traits on both learning and cognition. We investigated whether certain personality traits (‘exploration’ and ‘sociability’) of individuals were related to cognitive performance, learning flexibility and learning style in a social ungulate species, the goat (Capra hircus). We also investigated whether a preference for feature cues rather than impaired learning abilities can explain performance variation in a visual discrimination task. We found that personality scores were consistent …

Looking On The Bright Side Of Livestock Emotions—The Potential Of Their Transmission To Promote Positive Welfare, Luigi Baciadonna, Sandra Duepjan, Elodie Briefer, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Christian Nawroth

Christian Nawroth, PhD

Emotions can be defined as an individual’s affective reaction to an external and/or internal event that, in turn, generates a simultaneous cascade of behavioral, physiological, and cognitive changes. Those changes that can be perceived by conspecifics have the potential to also affect other’s emotional states, a process labeled as “emotional contagion.” Especially in the case of gregarious species, such as livestock, emotional contagion can have an impact on the whole group by, for instance, improving group coordination and strengthening social bonds. We noticed that the current trend of research on emotions in livestock, i.e., investigating affective states as a tool …

Human Demonstration Does Not Facilitate The Performance Of Horses (Equus Caballus) In A Spatial Problem-Solving Task, Joan-Bryce Burla, Janina Siegwart, Christian Nawroth

Christian Nawroth, PhD

Horses’ ability to adapt to new environments and to acquire new information plays an important role in handling and training. Social learning in particular would be very adaptive for horses as it enables them to flexibly adjust to new environments. In the context of horse handling, social learning from humans has been rarely investigated but could help to facilitate management practices. We assessed the impact of human demonstration on the spatial problem-solving abilities of horses during a detour task. In this task, a bucket with a food reward was placed behind a double-detour barrier and 16 horses were allocated to …

Goats Prefer Positive Human Emotional Facial Expressions, Christian Nawroth, Natalia Albuquerque, Carine Savalli, Marie-Sophie Single, Alan G. Mcelligott

Christian Nawroth, PhD

Domestication has shaped the physiology and the behaviour of animals to better adapt to human environments. Therefore, human facial expressions may be highly informative for animals domesticated for working closely with people, such as dogs and horses. However, it is not known whether other animals, and particularly those domesticated primarily for production, such as goats, are capable of perceiving human emotional cues. In this study, we investigated whether goats can distinguish human facial expressions when simultaneously shown two images of an unfamiliar human with different emotional valences (positive/ happy or negative/angry). Both images were vertically attached to a wall on …

Human-Directed Behaviour In Goats Is Not Affected By Short-Term Positive Handling, Jan Langbein, Annika Krause, Christian Nawroth

Christian Nawroth, PhD

In addition to domestication, interactions with humans or task-specific training during ontogeny have been proposed to play a key role in explaining differences in human–animal communication across species. In livestock, even short-term positive interactions with caretakers or other reference persons can influence human–animal interaction at different levels and over different periods of time. In this study, we investigated human-directed behaviour in the ‘unsolvable task’ paradigm in two groups of domestic goats (Capra aegagrus hircus). One group was positively handled and habituated to a plastic box by the experimenter to retrieve a food reward, while the other group only received standard …

Farm Animal Cognition—Linking Behavior, Welfare And Ethics, Christian Nawroth, Jan Langbein, Marjorie Coulon, Vivian Gabor, Susan Oesterwind, Judith Benz-Schwarzburg, Eberhard Von Borell

Christian Nawroth, PhD

Farm animal welfare is a major concern for society and food production. To more accurately evaluate animal farming in general and to avoid exposing farm animals to poor welfare situations, it is necessary to understand not only their behavioral but also their cognitive needs and capacities. Thus, general knowledge of how farm animals perceive and interact with their environment is of major importance for a range of stakeholders, from citizens to politicians to cognitive ethologists to philosophers. This review aims to outline the current state of farm animal cognition research and focuses on ungulate livestock species, such as cattle, horses, …

Farm Animal Cognition—Linking Behavior, Welfare And Ethics, Christian Nawroth, Jan Langbein, Marjorie Coulon, Vivian Gabor, Susan Oesterwind, Judith Benz-Schwarzburg, Eberhard Von Borell

Social Cognition Collection

Farm animal welfare is a major concern for society and food production. To more accurately evaluate animal farming in general and to avoid exposing farm animals to poor welfare situations, it is necessary to understand not only their behavioral but also their cognitive needs and capacities. Thus, general knowledge of how farm animals perceive and interact with their environment is of major importance for a range of stakeholders, from citizens to politicians to cognitive ethologists to philosophers. This review aims to outline the current state of farm animal cognition research and focuses on ungulate livestock species, such as cattle, horses, …

Perceptual Lateralization Of Vocal Stimuli In Goats, Luigi Baciadonna, Christian Nawroth, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Communication Skills Collection

Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily involved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a head-orienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting …

Perceptual Lateralization Of Vocal Stimuli In Goats, Luigi Baciadonna, Christian Nawroth, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Social Cognition Collection

Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily involved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a head-orienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting …