Comparative Psychology Commons^™

The Contribution Of Equitation Science To Minimising Horse-Related Risks To Humans, Melissa Starling, Andrew Mclean, Paul Mcgreevy

Animal Training and Obedience Collection

Equitation science is an evidence-based approach to horse training and riding that focuses on a thorough understanding of both equine ethology and learning theory. This combination leads to more effective horse training, but also plays a role in keeping horse riders and trainers safe around horses. Equitation science underpins ethical equitation, and recognises the limits of the horse’s cognitive and physical abilities. Equitation is an ancient practice that has benefited from a rich tradition that sees it flourishing in contemporary sporting pursuits. Despite its history, horse-riding is an activity for which neither horses nor humans evolved, and it brings with …

Applying Ethological And Health Indicators To Practical Animal Welfare Assessment, F. Wemelsfelder, S. Mullan

Animal Welfare Collection

There is a growing effort worldwide to develop objective indicators for animal welfare assessment, which provide information on an animal’s quality of life, are scientifically trustworthy, and can readily be used in practice by professionals. Animals are sentient beings capable of positive and negative emotion, and so these indicators should be sensitive not only to their physical health, but also to their experience of the conditions in which they live. This paper provides an outline of ethological research aimed at developing practical welfare assessment protocols. The first section focuses on the development and validation of welfare indicators generally, in terms …

The Question Of Animal Awareness, Francoise Wemelsfelder

Sentience Collection

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

Sentience Collection

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 …

The Effects Of Ethostasis On Farm Animal Behavior: A Theoretical Overview, A. F. Fraser, M. W. Fox

Ethology Collection

The solution of animal problems that occur on the farm requires a holistic and multidisciplinary orientation and analysis, as well as the acquisition of new investigatory tools by both veterinarians and animal scientists. Field studies may be modeled under more controlled laboratory conditions, but the most relevant investigations must take place on the farm, and the first level of analysis should be ethological. Domestic animal behavior can be monitored and quantified like any other factor in the animals' environment; yet it has been virtually ignored in the development of new livestock husbandry systems.

The relationships between husbandry systems, disease problems, …

Abnormal Behavior As An Indication Of Immaterial Suffering, Hans Hinrich Sambraus

Sentience Collection

Reactive abnormal behavior is the convincing proof of immaterial suffering for the ethologist. We consider abnormal that behavior which does not correspond to, or is without object, which appears with sharply increased or decreased frequency, or which is abnormal in its motor pattern. Moreover, much reactive abnormal behavior manifests itself in stereotypies, i.e., the movement is repeated continuously in the same way. Among wild animals and in traditional forms of animal production abnormal behavior is unknown. However, it is encountered often in animals in intensive husbandry systems, and it can be demonstrated that abnormal behavior is actually brought about by …