Animal Studies Commons^™

Crisis In The Oceans

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Effects Of Early Social Isolation In Macaca Mulatta: Changes In Dopamine Receptor Function Following Apomorphine Challenge, Mark H. Lewis, John P. Gluck, Tom L. Beauchamp, Michael F. Keresztury, Richard B. Mailman

Experimentation Collection

The hypothesis that early social isolation results in long-term alterations in dopamine receptor sensitivity was tested using older adult rhesus monkeys. Isolated and control monkeys were challenged with apomorphine (0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg), and the drug effects on spontaneous blink rate, stereotyped behavior, and self-injurious behavior were quantified using observational measures. Monoamine metabolites were quantified from cisternal CSF by HPLC-EC, prior to pharmacological challenge. Isolated and control monkeys did not differ in CSF concentrations of HVA, 5-HIAA, or MHPG. At the higher dose, apomorphine significantly increased the rate of blinking, the occurrence of whole-body stereotypies, and the intensity of stereotyped …

Understanding Dogs Through Kinesthetic Empathy, Social Construction, And History, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Sentience Collection

The term, "come into animal presence," she takes from the title of a Denise Levertov poem. The poem, which reads, in part, "What joy when the insouciant armadillo glances at us and doesn't quicken his trotting across the track into the palm bush. What is this joy?" This joy is the possibility of our being in the presence of animals for "(t)he armadillo has some intention to pursue in the palm forest." This joy, to which I invite you here, consists in dwelling in that presence, in inhabiting that intention, that armored but guileless world of the armadillo. I will …

Animal Rights Vs. Humanism: The Charge Of Speciesism, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Animal Welfare Collection

The present article examines a concern I have had for some time about the compatibility of humanistic psychology with the emerging animal rights movement. Beyond working out my position, the paper has the additional educational and, frankly, political purpose of bringing animal rights issues to the attention of humanistic psychologists.

The article applies certain concepts of contemporary animal rights philosophy, notably "speciesism," to both the philosophy of humanism and humanistic psychology. While on a philosophical level, certain concepts are discussed that would likely block a rapprochement, I feel that humanistic psychologists as individuals are likely to extend their compassion to …

Animal Welfare, Animal Rights And Agriculture, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Welfare Collection

The past decade has witnessed a major revolution in social concern with animals. Philosophically, this revolution entails a significant revision in traditional ways of conceiving our mod obligations to other creatures. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the social and conceptual basis for what is widely termed “animal rights.” The agricultural community has mistakenly tended to dismiss this new thinking as tkinge and emotionally based. In actuality, it is a natural extension of earlier social thought. The case of new laws regulating biomedical research illustrates the rapidity of social change in this area, as do recent developments in European regulation …

Nutritive And Nonnutritive Sucking And The Temporal Organization Of The Suckling Behavior Of Domestic Piglets, Jeffrey Rushen, David Fraser

Feeding Behavior Collection

Detailed video recordings of the suckling behavior of one piglet from each of four litters were analyzed to determine how the components of piglet suckling behavior are organized in relation to the time of milk ejection and the temporal pattern of grunting by the sow. Early in the suckling episode, most piglets massaged the udder with their snouts, and then changed gradually to sucking the teats with slow mouth movements (1-2/sec). The piglets then had a distinct phase of sucking with rapid mouth movements (4-5/sec) which began suddenly and lasted about 5 to 15 sec. The weight gains of piglets …

Population And Social Biology Of Free-Ranging Dogs, Canis Familiaris, Thomas J. Daniels, Marc Bekoff

Ecology Collection

Population size and density, age structure, survivorship patterns, sex ratios, social organization of urban, rural, and feral dog (Canis familiaris) populations were examined in Cd. Juarez, Mexico (urban site) and on the Navajo reservation (rural and wild sites) between June 1983 and December 1984. Urban and rural dogs were less social than expected whereas dogs characteristically lived in packs. Seasonal variation in the structure of feral dog packs influenced by reproduction, both directly (pups born into the pack) and indirectly (pregnant females may temporarily emigrate form the pack to give birth).

Pressuring Perdue, Barnaby J. Feder

Profiles

Henry Spira, a moderate among animal-rights activists, aims now at the barnyard.

Fur Is Out, Compassion Is In

Close Up Reports

HSUS campaign targets consumers

Lethargy And Low Water Intake By Sows During Early Lactation: A Cause Of Low Piglet Weight Gains And Survival?, David Fraser, P. A. Phillips

Farm Animal Husbandry Collection

Daily water intake was monitored for 40 sows during 5 days before and 14 days after farrowing. Intake averaged 9-12 l day^‒1 before farrowing, dropped to a mean of 6 l on the day of farrowing and increased gradually over 4 days to a plateau of ~14 l day^‒1. Sows varied greatly in the degree of reduction in intake during the day of farrowing and the first 3 days of lactation, and those sows with low water intake on these days had low average weight gains by the piglets in the same period. Most of the piglet …

Remember The Elephants ... Forget Ivory

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Animal Companions--The Promise Kept; The Problems Broken

Close Up Reports

The powerful bond between people and dogs and cats is accompanied by serious ethical obligations on our part.

Specificity Of The Cardiac Response To Conspecific Vocalizations In Chimpanzees, Gary G. Berntson, Sarah T. Boysen

Sentience Collection

Heart rate measures were used to examine the functional response of young chimpanzees and orangutans to acoustic stimuli, including white noise and chimpanzee vocalizations (threat, stress, and alarm). The initial response of the animals to all stimuli was characterized by a prominent cardiac deceleration and an increase in heart period variability. The deceleratory responses persisted with repeated presentations of the noise, stress, and alarm stimuli. In contrast, the response of chimpanzees to the conspecific threat stimulus reverted over trials to a notable cardiac acceleration. This acceleratory response was not attributable to potential patterns of evoked somatic responses. The features of …

Numerical Competence In A Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes), Sarah T. Boysen, Gary G. Berntson

Sentience Collection

A chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), trained to count foods and objects by using Arabic numbers, demonstrated the ability to sum arrays of 0-4 food items placed in 2 of 3 possible sites. To address representational use of numbers, we next baited sites with Arabic numbers as stimuli. In both cases performance was significantly above chance from the first sessions, which suggests that without explicit training in combining arrays, the animal was able to select the correct arithmetic sum for arrays of foods or Arabic numbers under novel test conditions. These findings demonstrate that counting strategies and the representational use of numbers …

Non-Breeder Asymmetry In Florida Scrub Jays, Jonathan P. Balcombe

Ethology Collection

The data of Woolfenden and Fitzpatrick (1984) show a statistically significant asymmetry in the sex ratio of non-breeders when one of the breeders is not the non-breeder's parent. 1 propose that the asymmetry is attributable to a combination of two factors acting on non-breeders: the value of inheriting a territory, and incest avoidance. Although natal territories are only occasionally inherited by non-breeders, and then apparently only by males, the rate of inheritance is significantly higher for parent/step-parent breeders (n = 6) than when both breeders are the non-breeder's parents (n = 1). An alternative hypothesis, that step-parents determine the non-breeder …

Investigators In Action

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Acceptance Of Simulated Oral Rabies Vaccine Baits By Urban Raccoons, John Hadidian, Suzanne R. Jenkins, David H. Johnston, Peter J. Savarie, Victor F. Nettles, David M. Manski, George M. Baer

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

In summer 1986, a study was conducted to evaluate raccoon (Procyon lotor) acceptance of oral baits that could be used for rabies vaccination, One thousand wax-coated sponge bait cubes were filled with 5 mg of a seromarker (iophenoxic acid), placed in polyethylene bags, and hand-distributed in an 80 ha area within an urban National Park in Washington, D.C. (USA), After 3 wk, target and nontarget animals were trapped and blood samples collected to evaluate bait uptake. Thirty-three of 52 (63%) raccoons had elevated blood iodine levels indicating they had eaten at least one bait, 13 (25%) were negative, and six …

Conversations With Veterinary Students: Attitudes, Ethics, And Animals, Harold A. Herzog, Tamara L. Vore, John C. New Jr.

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

Interviews were conducted with 24 graduating veterinary students to examine (a) changes in their attitudes toward animals; (b) the types of experiences and procedures that they found personally distressing; (c) their perceptions of the most important ethical issues that they will face in private practice; and (d) their responses to euthanizing animals. Students’ responses differed considerably. For example, about half of the students claimed that they were not affected by euthanasia, but another 25% still were struggling with this aspect of their professional role. Rationalization was a common mechanism by which the students attempted to deal with stressful experiences. It …

Conspecific Recognition In The Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes): Cardiac Responses To Significant Others, Sarah T. Boysen, Gary G. Berntson

Sentience Collection

The ability of a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) to recognize photographs of conspecifics was evaluated with heart-rate measures. Heart rate was recorded before, during, and after viewing photographs of an aggressive chimpanzee, a friendly companion animal, and an unfamiliar chimpanzee. The subject displayed a differential pattern of heart-rate response to the stimulus animals, without prior experience with the photographs. Responses to the aggressive animal were acceleratory, which suggests a defensive response. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia suggested that this response was associated with sympathetic activation. In contrast, responses to the familiar animal were minimal, whereas cardiac deceleration was observed in response to the …

Singer Speaks With Spira, Peter Singer

Interviews

While in Melbourne, Henry Spira attended a workshop arranged by ANZFAS for animal rights/welfare workers to discuss the strategies adopted by the Coalitions. He advised on how Australian animal welfare groups could use US experiences to devise new approaches for local action.

For Animal Liberation Magazine he talked with fellow activist, PROFESSOR PETER SINGER, author of Animal Liberation, about animal rights issues and his involvement in the movement.

The Hidden Costs Of Beef, Michael W. Fox, Nancy E. Wiswall

eBooks

No abstract provided.

Bunk Attendance Of Feedlot Cattle Monitored With Radio Frequency Technology, D. J. Gibb, T. A. Mcalllister, C. Huisma, R. D. Wiedmeier

Management and Monitoring of Farm Animals Collection

Bunk attendance of 72 feedlot cattle (412 ± 23.6 kg) was monitored for 86 d using radio frequency technology. Late morning and late afternoon were confirmed as primary ad libitum feeding periods. The system detected differences (P < 0.005) in feeding behaviour in response to level of feeding and frequency of meals.

Comprehension Of "Absence" By An African Grey Parrot: Learning With Respect To Questions Of Same/Different, Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

An African Grey parrot, Alex, learned to report on the absence or presence of similarity and difference between two objects. Alex was shown pairs of objects that were (a) totally dissimilar, (b) identical, or (c) similar or different with respect to one of three attributes (color, shape, or material). In the first two cases, he responded to the respective queries of "What's same?" or "What's different?" with the vocalization "none," and in the third case he responded with the appropriate category label ("color," "shape," or "mah-mah" [matter]). His accuracy was 80.9% to 83.9% for pairs of familiar objects not used …

Initial Test Of A Farrowing Crate With Inward-Sloping Sides, D. Fraser, P. A. Phillips, B. K. Thompson

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

A farrowing crate was designed with sides spaced well apart (1150 mm) at the sow's standing height but angled inward near the floor to restrict the sow's lying area and to prevent the sow from dropping suddenly onto one side. Survival and body-weight data were collected for 20 farrowings in the prototype crate and for 18-20 farrowings in each of 3 other crate types. No significant differences were found in stillbirth rate, other deaths to 14 days, or average piglet weight gains, but gains were somewhat more variable in one of the conventional designs which interfered with the piglets' access …

Variation In Piglet Weights: Weight Gains In The First Days After Birth And Their Relationship With Later Performance, B. K. Thompson, D. Fraser

Ontogeny Collection

Piglets from 42 litters of Yorkshire sows were weighed 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 14 d after farrowing in order to explore the highly variable weight gains during the first 2 wk after birth. All litters were adjusted to 10-12 piglets by fostering. Litters differed greatly in average gain per piglet during the first 3 d after farrowing, with litter means ranging from 5 to 227 g d‒1 per piglet for the 3-d period. Gains during days 0-3 tended to be somewhat lower if the sow had a high body temperature during these days, but the …

Use Of Water By Piglets In The First Days After Birth, David Fraser, P. A. Phillips, B. K. Thompson, W. B. Peeters

Ontogeny Collection

Use of drinking water was determined for 51 litters of piglets by weighing and refilling a water dispenser each day for the first 4 d after farrowing. Measures of spillage, evaporation, and piglet drinking behavior indicated that most disappearance of water represented actual drinking by the piglets. Water use varied greatly among litters with an average of 46 g d^‒1 per piglet over the 4 d, and a range of negligible use to about 200 g d^‒1. Water use, especially on day 2, was correlated negatively with the average weight gain of the litter during the first …

Save The Chimpanzee

Close Up Reports

Humankind's sibling species

Preference Tests Of Ramp Designs For Young Pigs, P. A. Phillips, B. K. Thompson, D. Fraser

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Preference experiments were used to identify features of ramp design that influence the voluntary use of ramps by young pigs. In seven experiments, groups of pigs, aged 7-8 wk, were given free access to four different ramps simultaneously. The animals' behavior was monitored to identify the amount of time spent on the ramps and the number of pigs that failed to use specific designs. Slope, in the range of 20-32° from the horizontal, had a major influence on the pigs' behavior, with the shallower slopes attracting more use than steep ones. Pigs preferred ramps with angle-iron cleats (cross-laid on the …

Eavesdropping By Bats: The Influence Of Echolocation Call Design And Foraging Strategy, Jonathan Balcombe, M. Brock Fenton

Sentience Collection

We used playback presentations to free-flying bats of 3 species to assess the influence of echolocation call design and foraging strategy on the role of echolocation calls in communication. Near feeding sites over water, Myotis lucifugus and M. yumanensis responded positively only to echolocation calls of conspecifics. Near roosts, these bats did not respond before young of the year became volant, and after this responded to presentations of echolocation calls of similar and dissimilar design. At feeding sites Lasiurus borealis responded only to echolocation calls of conspecifics and particularly to "feeding buzzes". While Myotis, particularly subadults, appear to use the …

A New Invasiveness Scale: Its Role In Reducing Animal Distress, Kenneth J. Shapiro, Peter B. Field

Experimentation Collection

No abstract provided.