Animal Studies Commons^™

Novel Candidate Genes Identified In The Brain During Nociception In Common Carp (Cyprinus Carpio) And Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss), Siobhan C. Reilly, John P. Quinn, Andrew R. Cossins, Lynne U. Sneddon

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Recent studies have demonstrated that teleost fish possess nociceptors that detect potentially painful stimuli and that the physiological properties of these fibres are markedly similar to those found in mammals. This finding led to suggestions of possible pain perception in fish, contrary to the view that the sensory response in these animals is limited to the spinal cord and hindbrain and as such is reflexive. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine if the brain is active at the molecular level by using a microarray analysis of gene expression in the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain of two fish …

Systematic Reviews Of Animal Experiments Demonstrate Poor Contributions To Human Healthcare, Andrew Knight

Experimentation Collection

Widespread reliance on animal models during preclinical research and toxicity testing assumes their reasonable predictivity for human outcomes. However, of 20 published systematic reviews examining human clinical utility located during a comprehensive literature search, animal models demonstrated significant potential to contribute toward clinical interventions in only two cases, one of which was contentious. Included were experiments expected by ethics committees to lead to medical advances, highly-cited experiments published in major journals, and chimpanzee experiments—the species most generally predictive of human outcomes. Seven additional reviews failed to demonstrate utility in reliably predicting human toxicological outcomes such as carcinogenicity and teratogenicity. Results …

Survey Of Dairy Management Practices On One Hundred Thirteen North Central And Northeastern United States Dairies, W. K. Fulwider, T. Grandin, B. E. Rollin, T. E. Engle, N. L. Dalstead, W. D. Lamm

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

The objective was to conduct a broad survey of dairy management practices that have an effect on animal well-being. Dairies were visited during the fall and winter of 2005 and 2006 in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, and New York. Data were collected on 113 dairies on colostrum feeding, dehorning, tail-docking, euthanasia methods, producer statements about welfare, use of specialized calf-raising farms (custom), level of satisfaction with calf-raising by producers, and cow behavior. Calves were raised by the owner on 50.4% of dairies; 30.1% were raised on custom farms during the milk-feeding period, 18.6% were custom raised after weaning, and 1% …

Effects Of Gregariousness, Conspicuousness, And Novelty On Blue Jay (Cyanocitta Cristata) Learned Avoidance And Stimulus Generalization Of Unpalatable Prey, Joyce M. Dykema

Avian Cognition Papers

I examined a variety of factors hypothesized to be important in the evolution and maintenance of aposematism. Aposematism occurs when prey individuals advertise their toxic or otherwise aversive nature to potential predators via evolved conspicuous signals. I conducted three experiments in which blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) were allowed to search a printed grayscale pixilated background for grayscale pixilated moths in an open room. I manipulated moth appearance and food reward, and recorded jay predation on the varying moth stimuli. In my first experiment, I repeated Alatalo & Mappes’ (1996) study examining the effects of prey gregariousness, or grouping, …

Factors Affecting Road Mortality Of Whitetailed Deer In Eastern South Dakota, Troy W. Grovenburg, Jonathan A. Jenks, Robert W. Klaver, Kevin L. Monteith, Dwight H. Galster, Ron J. Schauer, Wilbert M. Morlock, Joshua A. Delger

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) mortalities (n = 4,433) caused by collisions with automobiles during 2003 were modeled in 35 counties in eastern South Dakota. Seventeen independent variables and 5 independent variable interactions were evaluated to explain deer mortalities. A negative binomial regression model (Ln Y = 1.25 – 0.12 [percentage tree coverage] + 0.0002 [county area] + 5.39 [county hunter success rate] + 0.0023 [vehicle proxy 96–104 km/hr roads], model deviance = 33.43, χ2 = 27.53, df = 27) was chosen using a combination of a priori model selection and AICc. Management options include use of the model to predict …

The Qualitative Assessment Of Responsiveness To Environmental Challenge In Horses And Ponies, Fabio Napolitano, Giuseppe De Rosa, Ada Braghieri, Fernando Grasso, Aldo Bordi, Françoise Wemelsfelder

Sentience Collection

The responsiveness of 10 horses and 10 ponies to environmental challenge (represented by an open field test) was assessed using a qualitative approach based on free choice profiling methodology (FCP), which gives observers complete freedom to choose their own descriptive terms. Data were analysed with generalised Procrustes analysis (GPA), a multivariate statistical technique associated with FCP. A cross-validation of the outcomes of this approach to data recorded through quantitative behaviour analysis, and through a questionnaire given to the animals’ owner/riding instructor, was also performed using principal component analysis (PCA). Twelve undergraduate students generated their own descriptive vocabularies, by watching 20 …

Medical Progress Depends On Animal Models - Doesn't It?, Robert A. J. Matthews

Validation of Animal Experimentation Collection

Animal models are widely recognized as being essential to the progress of medical science. In countering the critics’ arguments of the use of animals in medicine, one statement has acquired almost talismanic importance:

‘Virtually every medical achievement of the last century has depended directly or indirectly on research with animals.’

In this essay, the origins and justification of this oft-repeated statement are examined. Despite its endorsement by leading academic bodies, it is far from clear that the statement has been, or even could be, formally validated.

An Hsus Report: Food Safety Concerns With The Slaughter Of Downed Cattle, The Humane Society Of The United States

Impact of Animal Agriculture

Nonambulatory cattle may be at higher risk of harboring foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and, very rarely, the infectious agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy, colloquially known as “mad cow disease.” The exclusion of nonambulatory cattle from slaughter for human consumption may strengthen the safety of the food supply and is a prudent measure already in place throughout the European Union.

Amyloid Fibrils: Potential Food Safety Implications, Michael Greger

Human Health Collection

The demonstration of oral Amyloid-A (AA) fibril transmissibility has raised food safety questions about the consumption of amyloidotic viscera. In a presumed prion-like mechanism, amyloid fibrils have been shown to trigger and accelerate the development of AA amyloidosis in rodent models. The finding of amyloid fibrils in edible avian and mammalian food animal tissues, combined with the inability of cooking temperatures to eliminate their amyloidogenic potential, has led to concerns that products such as pâté de foie gras may activate a reactive systemic amyloidosis in susceptible consumers. Given the ability of amyloid fibrils to cross-seed the formation of chemically heterologous …

Behavioural Interactions Between The Introduced Plague Minnow Gambusia Holbrooki And The Vulnerable Native Australian Ornate Rainbowfish Rhadinocentrus Ornatus, Under Experimental Conditions, K. Keller, C. Brown

Sentience Collection

The impact of the plague minnow Gambusia holbrooki on the ornate rainbowfish Rhadinocentrus ornatus was investigated by comparing the behavioural response and microhabitat preferences of populations of R. ornatus collected from locations that are sympatric and allopatric with G. holbrooki. Rhadinocentrus ornatus populations from sympatric areas exhibited a significantly higher frequency of intraspecific chases, spent significantly more time at an intermediate depth and were nipped significantly less often by G. holbrooki compared to the allopatric R. ornatus populations. The frequency of intraspecific chases by all R. ornatus populations were greatest immediately following G. holbrooki exposure and increased further with repeated …

Processing Of The Müller-Lyer Illusion By A Grey Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus), Irene M. Pepperberg, Jennifer Vicinay, Patrick Cavanagh

Sentience Collection

Alex, a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) who identifies the bigger or smaller of two objects by reporting its color or matter using a vocal English label and who states "none'' if they do not differ in size, was presented with two-dimensional Müller-Lyer figures (Brentano form) in which the central lines were of contrasting colors. His responses to ``What color bigger/smaller?'' demonstrated that he saw the standard length illusion in the Müller-Lyer figures in 32 of 50 tests where human observers would also see the illusion and reported the reverse direction only twice. He did not report the illusion when (a) …

How To Identify Dear Enemies: The Group Signature In The Complex Song Of The Skylark Alauda Arvensis, Elodie F. Briefer, Thierry Aubin, Katia Lehongre, Fanny Rybak

Ethology Collection

Song geographic variation and Neighbour–Stranger (N–S) discrimination have been intensively but separately studied in bird species, especially in those with small- to medium-sized repertoires. Here, we establish a link between the two phenomena by showing that dialect features are used for N–S recognition in a territorial species with a large repertoire, the skylark Alauda arvensis. In this species, during the breeding season, many pairs settle in stable and adjoining territories gathered in locations spaced by a few kilometres. In a first step, songs produced by males established in different locations were recorded, analyzed and compared to identify possible microgeographic variation …

Low Frequency Groans Indicate Larger And More Dominant Fallow Deer (Dama Dama) Males, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Background: Models of honest advertisement predict that sexually selected calls should signal male quality. In most vertebrates, high quality males have larger body sizes that determine higher social status and in turn higher reproductive success. Previous research has emphasised the importance of vocal tract resonances or formant frequencies of calls as cues to body size in mammals. However, the role of the acoustic features of vocalisations as cues to other quality-related phenotypic characteristics of callers has rarely been investigated.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined whether the acoustic structure of fallow deer groans provides reliable information on the quality of the caller, …

Lack Of Assortative Mating Between Incipient Species Of Stickleback From A Hybrid Zone, F. C. Jones, C. Brown, V. A. Braithwaite

Evolutionary Biology Collection

Both premating and postmating barriers to gene flow can contribute to reproductive isolation but the relative role of these factors, particularly in the early stages of speciation, is not well understood. Evidence suggests that factors contributing to assortative mating and, thus, the development and maintenance of divergent species, can be ecology-dependent. Here, we present results from a study of assortative mating between recently diverged anadromous and freshwater sticklebacks conducted in semi-natural conditions. Sympatric anadromous and freshwater sticklebacks were sampled from a contact zone and multiple male and female morphs were allowed to breed in replicate ponds. Mate choice was determined …

Parent-Offspring Resource Allocation In Domestic Pigs, Anna Drake, David Fraser, Daniel M. Weary

Feeding Behavior Collection

Behavioural research on domestic pigs has included parent-offspring conflict, sibling competition, and the use of signals which influence resource allocation. In this paper, we review key sow-piglet behavioural studies and discuss their relevance to resource allocation theory. Sibling competition begins in the uterus and continues after birth, as piglets compete directly for access to the sow's teats. This competition is made more severe by a unique dentition, which newborn piglets use to lacerate the faces of siblings during teat disputes. Competition often leads to the death of some littermates, especially those of low birth weight. Piglets also compete indirectly for …

What Is A Humane Wildlife Control Service?, John Griffin, Lori Thiele, Pamela Lough, Janet Snyder, Maggie Brasted, John Hadidian

Wildlife Population Management Collection

In May 2007, The Humane Society of the United States launched a for-fee business called Humane Wildlife Servicessm to engage in wildlife control jobs in the Washington, D.C. metro area. We had several purposes in launching this service. First, we felt it necessary to offer a service to customers in our home base area that allowed them to choose a wildlife removal company that did not trap and relocate, or trap and kill, animals. Second, we wished to directly experience and test the operational and conceptual challenges associated with this sort of service. Third, we wished to develop a model …

Earthworm Abundances In Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue Pastures In Northwest Arkansas, Ashley Rashe, Mary C. Savin

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The ecology of organisms that co-evolve within an ecosystem is likely to be distinct from that involving organisms recently introduced into an area. To better understand the relationship of earthworms with endophyte-infected tall fescue, earthworms in novel and toxic endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures were enumerated and identified as adults or juveniles. We hypothesized that differences in endophyte infection of the fescue would influence earthworm abundances. Earthworms in two toxic and two novel endophyte-infected tall fescue fields in Fayetteville, Ark., were sampled weekly from January through July 2007. Each type of endophyte-infected pasture was established in 1997 and 2003. Sampling was …

Impact Of Stressing A Pen Mate On Physiological Responses Of Growing Pigs, Brent Koonce, Elizabeth B. Kegley, Doug Galloway, Jason Apple

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Crossbred barrows and gilts (n = 36), weighing 16.59 ± 2.1 kg, were used to test the effects of stressing a pen mate on the physiological responses of growing pigs. Pigs were randomly allotted to 6 groups after stratifying according to gender, litter origin, and body weight. Dominance order was determined within each group, and 1 to 3 d prior to the stress treatment the most- and least-dominant pigs within a group were fitted with indwelling catheters in their vena cavas. Over 3 d, groups were either: 1) isolated from audile and visual contact with stressed pigs in a separate …

Investigating Current Efficacies Of Several Nematocides For Use In Cattle According To The Fecal Egg Count Reduction Test, Tifanie Silver, Chris Tucker, Jeremy Powell, Jana Reynolds, Zelpha Johnson, Bill Lindsey, Pete Hornsby, T. A. Yazwinski

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Utilizing small groups of naturally infected replacement heifers, fecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) were conducted in the later months of 2007 at the University of Arkansas Savoy Research Station. Each test was 28 d in length, consisting of individual fecal nematode egg counts (EPG) and coprocultures. For the first test, the calves were ranked by beginning EPG, blocked, and randomly assigned treatment within each block. Nine to ten animals were in each treatment group. In this test, neither IVOMEC (® Merial) or IVERMECTIN (® Durvet), both delivered as an injectable at the rate of 0.2 mg of ivermectin kg-1 …

Systematic Reviews Of Animal Experiments Demonstrate Poor Human Clinical And Toxicological Utility, Andrew Knight

Experimentation Collection

The assumption that animal models are reasonably predictive of human outcomes provides the basis for their widespread use in toxicity testing and in biomedical research aimed at developing cures for human diseases. To investigate the validity of this assumption, the comprehensive Scopus biomedical bibliographic databases were searched for published systematic reviews of the human clinical or toxicological utility of animal experiments. In 20 reviews in which clinical utility was examined, the authors concluded that animal models were either significantly useful in contributing to the development of clinical interventions, or were substantially consistent with clinical outcomes, in only two cases, one …

Heritable And Experiential Effects On Boldness In A Tropical Poeciliid, Culum Brown, Fiona Burgess, Victoria Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

Consistent differences in human behaviour are often explained with reference to personality traits. Recent evidence suggests that similar traits are widespread across the entire animal kingdom and that they may have substantial fitness consequences. One of the major components of personality is the shyness–boldness continuum. Little is known about the relative contributions of genes and the environment in the development of boldness in wild animal populations. Here, we bred wild-caught fish (Brachyraphis episcopi) collected from regions of highand low-predation pressure, reared their offspring in the laboratory under varying conditions and tested boldness utilising an open-field paradigm. First-generation laboratory-reared fish showed …

Correlation Between Boldness And Body Mass In Natural Populations Of The Poeciliid Brachyrhaphis Episcopi, C. Brown, F. Jones, V. Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

The boldness of individual Brachyrhaphis episcopi, collected from regions of high and low predation, was investigated using two independent assays: (1) the time to emerge from cover and (2) the propensity to leave shoal mates and investigate a novel object. A strong correlation between the two assays was revealed such that fish that emerged from shelter sooner were also more likely to approach a novel object. This is indicative of a boldness personality axis acting across both behavioural contexts. Fish from high-predation areas were bolder than those from low-predation areas and males were bolder than females. A significant correlation between …

Distribution And Habitats Of Mosquito Larvae In The Kingdom Of Tonga, Jon S. Harding, Culum Brown, Felicity Jones, Russell Taylor

Ecology Collection

Mosquitoes are a significant pest and human health issue in the Kingdom of Tonga. The occurrence of species and habitats used by mosquito larvae were investigated to determine the potential for control through larval habitat management. Forty-two sites, including 22 villages and 20 farm plantations on the six islands of Tongatapu, Pangaimotu, Vava’u, Pangaimotu (Vava’u group), ‘Utungake and Nuku, were surveyed in April 2006. A total of eight mosquito species were collected: Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus), Ae. horrescens (Edwards), Ae. nocturnus (Theobold), Ae. tongae (Edwards), Culex albinervis (Edwards), Cx. annulirostris (Skuse), Cx. quinquefasciatus (Say) and Cx. sitiens (Wiedemann). Several species were …

Considerations For Determining Optimal Mouse Caging Density, Charmaine Foltz, Larry Carbone, David Delong, Bernard E. Rollin, Pascalle Van Loo, Julia Whitaker, Axel Wolff

Laboratory Research and Animal Welfare Collection

At the 2006 National Meeting of the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science, a panel discussed the question of what constitutes optimal or acceptable housing density for mice. Though there is a consensus that present guidelines are somewhat arbitrarily defined, scientific research has not yet been able to provide clear recommendations for amending them. Speakers explored the many factors that influence decisions on mouse housing, including regulatory requirements, scientific data and their interpretation, financial considerations and ethical concerns. The panel largely agreed that animal well-being should be the measure of interest in evaluating housing density and that well-being includes not …

Animal Mind: Science, Philosophy, And Ethics, Bernard E. Rollin

Sentience Collection

Although 20th-century empiricists were agnostic about animal mind and consciousness, this was not the case for their historical ancestors – John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and, of course, Charles Darwin and George John Romanes. Given the dominance of the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary continuity, one would not expect belief in animal mind to disappear. That it did demonstrates that standard accounts of how scientific hypotheses are overturned – i.e., by empirical disconfirmation or by exposure of logical flaws – is inadequate. In fact, it can be demonstrated that belief in animal mind disappeared as a result …

Animal Minds, Cognitive Ethology, And Ethics, Colin Allen, Marc Bekoff

Sentience Collection

Our goal in this paper is to provide enough of an account of the origins of cognitive ethology and the controversy surrounding it to help ethicists to gauge for themselves how to balance skepticism and credulity about animal minds when communicating with scientists. We believe that ethicists’ arguments would benefit from better understanding of the historical roots of ongoing controversies. It is not appropriate to treat some widely reported results in animal cognition as if their interpretations are a matter of scientific consensus. It is especially important to understand why loose references to ‘‘cognitive ethology’’ by philosophers can signal ignorance …

Nociception In Fish: Stimulus–Response Properties Of Receptors On The Head Of Trout Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Paul J. Ashley, Lynne U. Sneddon, Catherine R. Mccrohan

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

This study examined stimulus–response properties of somatosensory receptors on the head of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, using extracellular recording from single cells in the trigeminal ganglion. Of 121 receptors recorded from 39 fish, 17 were polymodal nociceptors, 22 were mechanothermal nociceptors, 18 were mechanochemical receptors, 33 were fast adapting mechanical receptors and 31 were slowly adapting mechanical receptors. Mechanical thresholds were higher in polymodal nociceptors than in either slowly adapting or fast adapting mechanical receptors, whereas thermal thresholds of mechanothermal nociceptors were higher than those of polymodal nociceptors. Polymodal nociceptors and mechanochemical receptors gave similar responses to topical applications of …

Physiological Constraints On Contest Behaviour, Mark Briffa, Lynne U. Sneddon

Sentience Collection

1. Contests may involve injurious fighting, other types of direct physical aggression and communication. They occur over ownership access to mates and other resources that may increase an individual’s attractiveness and its chance of survival. Traits that enhance resource holding potential may be the result of sexual selection, natural selection or a combination of both.
2. Agonistic behaviours are expected to be demanding to perform and costly in terms of changes in physiological state. The ability to meet the physiological costs may determine contest outcomes and constrain the intensity of agonistic activities.
3. The energetic costs have been investigated in a broad range …

The Influence Of Early Experience On, And Inheritance Of, Cerebral Lateralization, Culum Brown, Jac Western, Victoria A. Braithwaite

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Cerebral lateralization refers to the lateralized partitioning of cognitive function in either hemisphere of the brain. Using a standard detour test, we investigated lateralized behaviour in wild-caught, female poeciliid fish, Brachyraphis (=Brachyrhaphis) episcopi, from high- and low-predation areas. Wild fish were bred and their offspring reared under controlled laboratory conditions. These laboratory-reared fish were screened in the same laterality assays as their parents. We observed differences between wild-caught females and their laboratory-reared female offspring in the pattern of lateralization (tendency to use one hemisphere over the other to process information). Conversely, the strength of lateralization (consistency of hemispherical bias) was …

Observing Panda Play: Implications For Zoo Programming And Conservation Efforts, Sarah M. Bexell, Olga S. Jarrett, Luo Lan, Hu Yan, Estelle A. Sandhaus, Zhang Zhihe, Terry L. Maple

Zoos and Aquariums Collection

This study explores the effects of visitor observation of giant panda play on visitor concern for endangered species and satisfaction with seeing giant pandas. A total of 335 visitors to three institutions that house giant pandas participated in the study. These institutions are: the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, and the Chengdu Zoo, in China; and Zoo Atlanta in the U.S. After viewing the giant pandas, visitors were interviewed on whether they ever observed a panda play session, whether they observed panda play on the day of the visit, whether they wanted additional information on panda protection, and …