Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social, Spacing, And Cooperative Behavior Of The Collared Peccary, Tayassu Tajacu, John A. Byers, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Social behavior of the collared peccary was studied on the lower, eastern slopes of the Mazatzal Mountains, Arizona. The social unit in this species is a cohesive herd, in which small inter-individual distances are maintained. Two conspicuous acts, one olfactory and one auditory, functioned to maintain close spacing. Social interactions were brief but tended to synchronize the activities of animals and also to bring them closer together. Amicable and neutral actions occurred far more frequently than agonistic interactions. Most agonistic behavior did not involve physical contact. Cooperative nursing, predator defense, and feeding occurred; all adults were tolerant of young, and …

Activity Of Moose And White-Tailed Deer At Mineral Springs, D. Fraser, H. Hristienko

Social Behavior Collection

Activity of moose (Alces alces) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was studied at two natural mineral springs (licks) in Ontario during the springtime and summer of 1977 to 1980. Most adult moose appeared to use a lick during a single 1- to 5-day period in a year; some returned at intervals during the season; and all seemed drawn principally by the mineral-rich water. Some young moose remained in the lick vicinity for 3 weeks or more, and often wandered in and out of the licks, grazing herbage as well as drinking. This suggested a social as well as a nutritional …

Estimation Of Harvest Rate And Vulnerability From Age And Sex Data, J. E. Pahoheimo, David Fraser

Wildlife Population Management Collection

A nonlinear least-squares procedure is developed to estimate harvest rate and differential vulnerability in wildlife populations that are harvested with 1 segment of the population more able than another. The method requires age data by category from a series of harvests, plus information on accumulated harvest effort, and assumes that the nonharvest mortality rate is the same for the categories. The data need not be from consecutive harvests, as long as the effort is known for missing Monte Carlo simulations were done to verify the estimation procedure. An example shows the application of the method to moose (Alces alces) harvest …

Hsus Uncovers Cruel Puppy Mills

Close Up Reports

It is estimated that puppy mills grind out more than half a million puppies every year to be sold almost exclusively in pet stores. But it is not only puppies--who, after all, escape the squalor and crowding after six or seven weeks that suffer. Of equal concern is the fate of the puppy mill breeding stock-living, breathing, feeling adult dogs-used to produce these "valuable" puppies. These dogs often are forced to spend their entire lives in cramped cages or pens, with not enough food or water and no shade from the scorching midwestern sun or shelter from the brutal winter …

Hsus Uncovers Cruel Puppy Mills

Close Up Reports

Investigator exposes hidden misery on mass breeding farms

Behavioural Budgeting By Wild Coyotes: The Influence Of Food Resources And Social Organization, Marc Bekoff, Michael C. Wells

Ethology Collection

Daytime behavioural budgets of coyotes (Canis latrans) living in the Grand Teton National Park Jackson, Wyoming, were analysed in order to determine how activity patterns ' ere influenced by food resources and social organization. In winter coyotes rested more-and hunted less than in other seasons. Pack-living coyotes rested more and travelled less than resident pairs or solitary resident or transients during winter months when the major food resource was ungulate (predominantly elk, Cervus canadensis) carrion. A mated female living in a pack rested significantly more and travelled significantly less than a mated female living only with her mate (as a …

International Coalition To Abolish Ld-50, Michael Marten

Popular Press Items

No abstract provided.

Hsus Helps Bust Cruel Dogfights

Close Up Reports

The HSUS believes that dogfighting, along with other blood sports, is nothing less than torture for fun that is degrading and unfit for a civilized society.

The HSUS' dogfighting program is one of the most extensive in the nation. We are frequently contacted by other animal welfare groups, law enforcement agencies, and the media to provide assistance or expertise. Our investigators frequently travel undercover to dogfights, risking their lives to garner information from the heavily armed and often drug-using dogfighting fraternity. It is often information that only we are interested in providing that enables dogfighters to be caught and arrested. …

Hsus Helps Bust Cruel Dogfights

Close Up Reports

Thirty-eight arrested in raids in Georgia and Ohio

An Observational Study Of Coyote (Canis Latrans) Scent-Marking And Territoriality In Yellowstone National Park, Joseph J. Allen, Marc Bekoff, Robert L. Crabtree

Ethology Collection

Free-ranging coyotes (Canis latrans) living in neighboring packs were observed in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, from Jan. to May 1997. Through direct observation, we recorded the location of coyote scent marks and information regarding the identity of the marking animal. Patterns of scent-marking were then analyzed spatially and demographically. All of the evidence from the present study supports a strong relationship between scent-marking and territoriality in these coyotes, and all predictions were met. A preponderance of scent marks was found in the periphery of territories. Most of those marks were raised-leg urinations (RLUs) and forward-lean urinations …

Shade Management In Subtropical Environment For Milk Yield And Composition In Holstein And Jersey Cows, R. J. Collier, R. M. Eley, A. K. Sharma, R. M. Pereira, D. E. Buffington

Management and Monitoring of Farm Animals Collection

Forty-eight cows were assigned randomly to shade (15 Holsteins, 8 Jerseys) or no shade (16 Holsteins, 9 Jerseys) for 102 days beginning 12 June 1977 to examine effects of solar heat load on milk yield and composition. Rectal temperatures, respiration rates, and rumen contractions/min were monitored between 1200 and 1700 h on 20 randomly selected days. Morning and evening milk weights were recorded daily. Once weekly, morning and evening milk samples were collected from each cow and analyzed for fat, protein, acidity, freezing point depression, and somatic cell number. Black Globe temperature, rectal temperature, and respiration rate were elevated in …

An Observational Study Of Scent-Marking In Coyotes, Canis Latrans, Michael C. Wells, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Urination and defaecation patterns of free-ranging coyotes (Canis latrans) were studied in the Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, for two years. The vast majority of urinations by adult males and females were involved in 'marking,' and differentiating between 'marking' and 'elimination' may not be necessary. Our results may be summarized as follows: 1) Raised-leg urinations (RLU) performed by males were most frequently used in marking. (2) Females marked throughout the year using the squat (SQU) posture. (3) Snow tracking and reading snow sign resulted in a gross underestimate of the relative frequency of SQU's and a large overestimate in …

Fight For Alternatives Gathers Momentum

Close Up Reports

Commitments to help lab animals are extracted from industry and government

Fight For Alternatives Gathers Momentum: Commitments To Help Lab Animals Are Extracted From Industry And Government

Close Up Reports

The Humane Society of the United States wants to see an eventual end to all pain and suffering inflicted on animals in the laboratory. We are working hard to make this happen, and the "alternatives" concept is basic to our program. We want scientists to find alternative methods of testing and experimentation that do not involve the use of animals.

People At Zoos: A Sociological Approach, Edward G. Ludwig

Zoos and Aquariums Collection

This is a participant observation study of animal/human relationships at zoos. Both zoo personnel and zoo visitors were observed intensively over a period of four months and less intensively for two years. While young zoo employees tended to be naturalistic, ecologistic and scientistic in their value orientation toward animals, these attitudes were often frustrated by the day to day routines of the job involving hosing and feeding, and the realities of limitations placed upon zoos by strained budgets and antiquated buildings. The public tended to be an additional source of frustration due to their apparent lack of sensitivity and desire …

The Role And Responsibility Of Zoos: An Animal Protection Viewpoint, John E. Cooper

Zoos and Aquariums Collection

The aim of this paper is to look at zoological collections from the viewpoint of the animal and, in particular, to draw attention to areas where welfare considerations should be paramount. I do not intend to cover the capture and transportation of zoo animals, although this is obviously of great importance and must be included in any overall consideration of the welfare of zoo animals. In this paper, however, I shall concentrate upon the care of the animal within the zoo environment.

An Overview Of Zoo Goals And Exhibition Principles, Randall L. Eaton

Zoos and Aquariums Collection

It is not uncommon among progressive-minded zoo professionals these days to hear disdain for the function of zoos as recreational. This attitude is understandable in that traditionally, zoos have done little but offer amusement along with parklands or picnic facilities. The progressive zoo person sets his or her goals above the old-fashioned recipe of crowding as many exotic animals as possible into an amusement-oriented menagerie to an authentic theme for exhibition intended to educate the public, offer research possibilities, and preserve and propagate species. Nevertheless, recreation remains a primary function of zoos. Most zoo visitors do not seek education in …

Farm Animal Welfare: Some Economic Considerations, Frances Turner, John Strak

Agribusiness Collection

Farmers, just like other businessmen, attempt to produce a saleable product at the least possible cost to themselves. In this way they hope to assure themselves of some profit, and hence to earn a living. In itself this profit motive cannot be criticized, but in attempting to maintain their profits, farmers have adopted more intensive systems of animal production. In turn, the benefits from farmers using these new techniques have accrued to consumers in the form of relatively less expensive food. Clearly, by restricting the use of factory farming methods (which are associated with lower unit costs of production) there …

Behavior And Weight Loss Of Feeder Calves In A Railcar Modified For Feeding And Watering In Transit, T. H. Friend, M. R. Irwin, A. J. Sharp, B. H. Ashby, G. B. Thompson, W. A. Bailey

Agribusiness Collection

The behavior of 164kg Angus and Hereford calves was studied in a double deck 26m x 2.6m "jumbo" railcar equipped with feed and water. A 4,180 liter water tank positioned in the center of each deck divided the car into four compartments. Fifty head were loaded into the lower and upper forward compartment (252kg/m²floor space], each containing 675kg of hay in racks. The two rear compartments served as quarters for equipment and researchers. Two video cameras were mounted in the upper forward compartment containing calves. Behavior of the calves was monitored, with portions video taped during rail transport …

Euthanasia Of Day-Old Male Chicks In The Poultry Industry, Walter Jaksch

Agribusiness Collection

Humane killing of animals implies a painless death (euthanasia). This depends on the rapidity with which unconsciousness is achieved and the maintenance of this state until death occurs. Euthanasia methods for day-old chicks must also be economical and should not interfere with the use of the carcasses for animal food or fertilizer. Manual decapitation or dislocation of the neck are the best available manual methods of euthanasia. For larger numbers of birds, the literature recommends homogenization in a crusher. In the author's own experiments, the destruction of day-old chicks was most effectively carried out by poisoning with carbon dioxide (CO …

Equine Behavior Problems In Relation To Humane Management, Katherine A. Houpt

Equines Collection

The behavior problems of horses are frequently related to management practices. Behaviors that are termed stall vices appear to be either stereotyped behaviors that occur in reaction to stress, or patterns that emerge when natural behaviors such as grazing are prevented. The behavior cases presented to the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, were tabulated: 27% were stall vices and 27% were some form of aggression. The stall vices were circling, digging, kicking the stall, chewing wood, swallowing air or self-mutilation. Management of horses on pasture rather than in stalls prevents the development of many of these …

Farm Animal Welfare: Some Economic Considerations, Frances Turner, John Strak

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

There has been increasing public concern in the U.K. and other European countries about some of the intensive methods of livestock production used in modern agriculture. The battery system of egg production, which produces almost all of the eggs consumed in Britain, has aroused particular opposition, but there is also strong feeling about housing systems that effectively immobilize their inhabitants, such as certain types of veal calf and pig rearing units. In a recent test case in West Germany, an egg producer was charged with "continuous cruelty" to his 60,000-strong battery flock. A high court decided it was cruel to …

Farm Animal Welfare: Some Opinions, Michael W. Fox

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

The subject of farm animal welfare has evoked a wide range of responses from those involved in the livestock industry and those concerned about the humaneness of intensive husbandry farming practices. Books have been published

on the subject (Harrison, 1964; Mason & Singer, 1980; Dawkins, 1980, and Fox, 1980 and 1981), as well as many articles in professional and popular magazines. Three international symposia dealing with animal rights have

been held in the last two years (Lehman, 1980; Miller, 1981; Paterson and Ryder, 1980), and a major European conference dealing with farm animal welfare and involving veterinarians, farmers, animal scientists, …

Letter To Editor: Clever Hans And The Humane Movement, Susan Burns

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

The author suggests that attempts to encourage animal communication with humans overlook the sophisticated communication methods employed by animals. A greater appreciation of animal abilities to identify cues communicating human intentions would promote a more expansive recognition of animal rights.

The Politics Of Animal Rights: Making The Human Connection, Jim Mason

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

Animal Rights is in the air, so much so that the term borders on becoming a buzzword and the cause itself the latest form of radical chic. Although Lewis Gompertz, Henry S. Salt, and others put forth radically different views on attitudes and relations toward other animals more than a century ago, the publication in 1972 of essays by Brigid Brophy, Richard Ryder, and others in the book, Animals, Men and Morals (London: Gollancz, 1971; New York: Taplinger, 1972) and the more famous book, Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer (New York Review, 1975) have sparked another wave of these views …

Social And Cognitive Capabilities Of Nonhuman Primates: Lessons From The Wild To Captivity, William C. Mcgrew

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

All anthropoid primates in nature lead highly social lives. In infancy and childhood, this is characterized by stability and familiarity for both sexes; in adulthood, either one or the other sex changes groups. The natal group provides a social network of matrilineal kinship. After sexual maturity, incest avoidance and exogamy are the rules. Significant differences exist across species and between the sexes in mating strategies. In most species, males emigrate, but in others, females do so. Male sexual behavior is based on competition between peers; females exercise choice in selecting sexual partners. Normal development of sexual behavior and maternal caretaking …

Animal Welfare, Rights And 'Liberation', Michael W. Fox

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

A distinction that is more than mere semantics needs to be made between specific philosophical and political trends in the humane movement. The movement's historical basis is founded upon the morality of promoting kindness toward all creatures: reverence for all life. This approach has been strengthened by integrating ecological or eco-ethical principles and the emerging interdisciplinary animal welfare science. Furthermore, the movement has been enriched by the scholarship of moral philosophy, including the limited but valuable concept of animal 'rights.'

History Of The Humane Movement And Prospects For The 80s, Robert A. Brown

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

It was in 1836 that the oldest humane society currently in existence, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was founded in London. Many others were formed during the nineteenth century, such as the organization I now represent, which was founded in Chicago in 1899. Above all else, there is one distinguishing feature of this period for me: the movement had what is known in Chicago as clout. In marked contrast to the years following the First World War, humane societies enjoyed support from individuals of wealth, influence, and brains. That was a high point for the …

Is Nature Our Birthright?, Nancy Heneson

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

On December 2, 1980, former President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, protecting 104 million acres of federal land in Alaska (although mineral surveys will be allowed on protected areas where there may be oil and gas). In the words of former Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus (DO/ News Release, December 2 1980): "This law is the culmination of a nine-year national effort to protect the awesome wonders of our largest state as a part of a great legacy of beauty and nature that is the birthright of every American."

Where To Put Your Choker, Roger A. Mugford

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

The choke chain has become an indispensable aid in training dogs, but even the most time-hallowed practices deserve an occasional critical review. The author has recently completed an investigation into the uses and abuses of choke chains and failed to find any benefit from using a choker rather than a conventional leather collar. Indeed, there are some very considerable dangers and disadvantages associated with the device. These charges may sound like heresy to many dog trainers, but they may strike a sympathetic chord with others.