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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Toward A Synthesis Of Conservation And Animal Welfare Science, David Fraser
Toward A Synthesis Of Conservation And Animal Welfare Science, David Fraser
David Fraser, PhD
Conservation biology and animal welfare science are multidisciplinary fields of research that address social concerns about animals. Conservation biology focuses on wild animals, works at the level of populations, ecological systems and genetic types, and deals with threats to biodiversity and ecological integrity. Animal welfare science typically focuses on captive (often domestic) animals, works at the level of individuals and groups, and deals with threats to the animals’ health and quality of life. However, there are many areas of existing or potential overlap: (i) many real-life problems, such as environmental contamination, urban development and transportation, create problems for animals that …
Rating Harms To Wildlife: A Survey Showing Convergence Between Conservation And Animal Welfare Views, S. Dubois, D. Fraser
Rating Harms To Wildlife: A Survey Showing Convergence Between Conservation And Animal Welfare Views, S. Dubois, D. Fraser
David Fraser, PhD
Human activities may cause conservation concerns when animal populations or ecosystems are harmed and animal welfare concerns when individuals are harmed. In general, people are concerned with one or the other, as the concepts may be regarded as separate or even at odds. An online purposive survey of 339 British Columbians explored differences between groups that varied by gender, residency, wildlife engagement level and value orientation (conservation-oriented or animal welfare-oriented), to see how they rated the level of harm to wildlife caused by different human activities. Women, urban residents, those with low wildlife engagement, and welfare-orientated participants generally scored activities …
Four Types Of Activities That Affect Animals: Implications For Animal Welfare Science And Animal Ethics Philosophy, D. Fraser, A. M. Macrae
Four Types Of Activities That Affect Animals: Implications For Animal Welfare Science And Animal Ethics Philosophy, D. Fraser, A. M. Macrae
David Fraser, PhD
People affect animals through four broad types of activity: (1) people keep companion, farm, laboratory and captive wild animals, often while using them for some purpose; (2) people cause deliberate harm to animals through activities such as slaughter, pest control, hunting, and toxicology testing; (3) people cause direct but unintended harm to animals through crop production, transportation, night-time lighting, and many other human activities; and (4) people harm animals indirectly by disturbing ecological systems and the processes of nature, for example by destroying habitat, introducing foreign species, and causing pollution and climate change. Each type of activity affects vast numbers …
The Use Of Judgement Bias To Assess Welfare In Farm Livestock, L. Baciadonna, A. G. Mcelligott
The Use Of Judgement Bias To Assess Welfare In Farm Livestock, L. Baciadonna, A. G. Mcelligott
Alan G. McElligott, PhD
The development of accurate measures of animal emotions is important for improving and promoting animal welfare. Cognitive bias indicates the effect of emotional states on cognitive processes, such as memory, attention, and judgement. Cognitive bias tests complement existing behavioural and physiological measures for assessing the valence of animal emotions indirectly. The judgement bias test has been used to assess emotional states in non-human animals; mainly in laboratory settings. The aim of this review is to summarise the findings on the use of the judgement bias test approach in assessing emotions in non-human animals, focusing in particular on farm livestock. The …
Rescued Goats At A Sanctuary Display Positive Mood After Former Neglect, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott
Rescued Goats At A Sanctuary Display Positive Mood After Former Neglect, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott
Alan G. McElligott, PhD
Moods influence cognitive processes in that people in positive moods expect more positive events to occur and less negative ones (“optimistic bias”), whereas the opposite happens for people in negative moods (“pessimistic bias”). The evidence for an effect of mood on cognitive bias is also increasing in animals, suggesting that measures of optimism and pessimism could provide useful indicators of animal welfare. For obvious ethical reasons, serious poor treatments cannot be easily replicated in large mammals in order to study their long-term effects on moods. In this study, we tested the long-term effects (>2 years) of prior poor welfare …
Acoustic Analysis Of Cattle (Bos Taurus) Mother–Offspring Contact Calls From A Source–Filter Theory Perspective, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Elodie F. Briefer, Tom Reader, Alan G. Mcelligott
Acoustic Analysis Of Cattle (Bos Taurus) Mother–Offspring Contact Calls From A Source–Filter Theory Perspective, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Elodie F. Briefer, Tom Reader, Alan G. Mcelligott
Alan G. McElligott, PhD
Cattle vocalisations have been proposed as potential indicators of animal welfare. How-ever, very few studies have investigated the acoustic structure and information encoded in these vocalisations using advanced analysis techniques. Vocalisations play key roles in a wide range of communication contexts; e.g. for individual recognition and to help coordinate social behaviours. Two factors have greatly assisted our progress in developing an understanding of animal vocal communication. Firstly, more rigorous call analysis methods allow us to describe the variation in the vocal parameters in unprecedented detail. Secondly, the adoption of the “source–filter theory” of call production links the acoustic structure of …
Are Domestic Pigs (Sus Scrofa Domestica) Able To Use Complex Human-Given Cues To Find A Hidden Reward?, Christian Nawroth, Mirjam Ebersbach, Eberhard Von Borell
Are Domestic Pigs (Sus Scrofa Domestica) Able To Use Complex Human-Given Cues To Find A Hidden Reward?, Christian Nawroth, Mirjam Ebersbach, Eberhard Von Borell
Christian Nawroth, PhD
Understanding human-animal interactions in livestock production systems is crucial for improving animal welfare. It is therefore of general interest to investigate how livestock animals obtain information from humans. By using an object-choice paradigm, we investigated whether domestic pigs (n = 4) are able to use a variety of human-given cues, such as different pointing gestures, to find a hidden food reward. In Experiment 1, an experimenter pointed towards a baited location in front of the pig while the extent of the protrusion of his hand from the upper body was varied. Pigs had problems using pointing gestures that did not …