Animal Studies Commons^™

Arkansas Animal Science Department Report 2015, Paul Beck, Jason Apple, Beth Kegley, Charles Rosenkrans Jr.

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

Laterality Enhances Numerical Skills In The Guppy, Poecilia Reticulata, Marco Dadda, Christian Agrillo, Angelo Bisazza, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

It has been hypothesized that cerebral lateralization can significantly enhance cognition and that this was one of the primary selective forces shaping its wide-spread evolution amongst vertebrate taxa. Here, we tested this hypothesis by examining the link between cerebral lateralization and numerical discrimination. Guppies, Poecilia reticulata, were sorted into left, right and non-lateralized groups using a standard mirror test and their numerical discrimination abilities tested in both natural shoal choice and abstract contexts. Our results show that strongly lateralized guppies have enhanced numerical abilities compared to non-lateralized guppies irrespective of context. These data provide further credence to the notion that …

Economic Contribution Of Agriculture And Food To Arkansas' Gross Domestic Product 1997-2013, Leah English, Jennie Popp, Wayne Miller

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

Agricultural production, processing, and retail industries are major contributors to the Arkansas economy in terms of GDP. Agriculture contributes to the economy through direct agricultural production, value-added processing, and agricultural retail activities, and it also plays an important role through its interactions with other sectors. The use of non-agricultural goods and services as inputs into the agricultural sector promotes diversified growth in Arkansas’ economy; thus agriculture remains a vital part of Arkansas’ economy. This report: 1) compares the relative size of the Agriculture and Food Sector in Arkansas with those of neighboring states; 2) provides an overview of Arkansas’ economy …

A Study On The Multidimensional Effects Of Animal Rights And Tourism In Bandia Reserve, Lauren Watwood

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The guiding theme of this research was to gain an insiders perspective on animal welfare with Bandia Reserve and learn how the tourism generated by the reserve affected[US1] [LW2] the community. I sought to answer these questions by living in[US3] Mbour within close proximity to the guides to view their day-to-day activities, spending time in participant observation at the reserve, conducting interviews within Bandia and in the surrounding communities. This research is important to address the guiding motivation behind Bandia Reserve. It sheds light on how tourism affects[US4] not only La Petite Cote, but all of Senegal. …

Valuable Behavioural Phenotypes In Australian Farm Dogs, P. D. Mcgreevy, C. M. Wade, E. R. Arnott, J. B. Early

Livestock and Working Dogs Collection

This report presents findings regarding the ways to optimise the performance of livestock working dogs in Australia. The methods available to optimise dog performance include both environmental and genetic factors. The objectives of this study were to identify objective measures of desirable behavioural phenotypes in Australian livestock working dogs and explore genetic parameters of these 'quality of working life' traits within the Kelpie breed. The document reports on genotyping that reveals gene-behaviour associations and describes heritability estimates that underpin a database for potential estimated breeding value (EBV) calculations.

The Flaws And Human Harms Of Animal Experimentation, Aysha Akhtar

Experimentation Collection

Nonhuman animal (“animal”) experimentation is typically defended by arguments that it is reliable, that animals provide sufficiently good models of human biology and diseases to yield relevant information, and that, consequently, its use provides major human health benefits. I demonstrate that a growing body of scientific literature critically assessing the validity of animal experimentation generally (and animal modeling specifically) raises important concerns about its reliability and predictive value for human outcomes and for understanding human physiology. The unreliability of animal experimentation across a wide range of areas undermines scientific arguments in favor of the practice. Additionally, I show how animal …

Promoting Predators And Compassionate Conservation, Arian D. Wallach, Marc Bekoff, Michael Paul Nelson, David Ramp

Conservation Collection

No abstract provided.

The Flaws And Human Harms Of Animal Experimentation, Aysha Akhtar

Morality and Ethics of Animal Experimentation Collection

Nonhuman animal (“animal”) experimentation is typically defended by arguments that it is reliable, that animals provide sufficiently good models of human biology and diseases to yield relevant information, and that, consequently, its use provides major human health benefits. I demonstrate that a growing body of scientific literature critically assessing the validity of animal experimentation generally (and animal modeling specifically) raises important concerns about its reliability and predictive value for human outcomes and for understanding human physiology. The unreliability of animal experimentation across a wide range of areas undermines scientific arguments in favor of the practice. Additionally, I show how animal …

Deleuze, Haraway, And The Radical Democracy Of Desire, Robert Leston

Publications and Research

In response to suggestions that Deleuze and Guattari are the “enemy” of companion species, this essay explores the tension between Donna Haraway’s attacks against Deleuze and Guattari and their philosophy of becoming animal. The essay goes on to contextualize Deleuze and Guattari’s statements against pet owners through a discussion of the psychoanalytical refiguration of desire and shows how their ostensible attack against pet owners fits into their larger critique against capitalism. The essay illustrates why Deleuze and Guattari and Haraway are more in agreement than first meets the eye, finding commensurability through Haraway’s early work on embryology. Becoming animal does …

Wild-But-Not-Too-Wild Animals: Challenging Goldilocks Standards In Rewilding, Erica Von Essen, Michael P. Allen

Between the Species

Rewilding is positioned as ‘post’-conservation through its emphasis on unleashing the autonomy of natural processes. In this paper, we argue that the autonomy of nature rhetoric in rewilding is challenged by human interventions. Instead of joining critique toward the ‘managed wilderness’ approach of rewilding, however, we examine the injustices this entails for keystone species. Reintroduction case studies demonstrate how arbitrary standards for wildness are imposed on these animals as they do their assigned duty to rehabilitate ecosystems. These ‘Goldilocks’ standards are predicated on aesthetic values that sanction interventions inconsistent with the premise of animal sovereignty. These include culling, relocations and …

Social Learning: Parents May Not Always Know Best, Simon C. Griffith, Culum Brown

Social Cognition Collection

The efficiency with which animals learn new skills depends on their ability to choose good tutors. A new study shows that early-life stress causes young zebra finches to switch tutor preference from parents to unrelated adults.

Say “Neigh” To Abuse: On The Treatment Of Horses And Mules In The Civil War, Anika N. Jensen

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The stuffed head of Old Baldy, General George Meade’s favorite horse, can be found mounted on the wall of the Grand Army of the Republic Museum in Philadelphia. General Robert E. Lee’s horse, Traveler, received gifts and international adoration even after the war’s end, and General Ulysses S. Grant’s three war mounts, including one pony stolen from a plantation belonging to Jeff Davis’ brother, rested comfortably in fame and verdant pastures until the ends of their lives [excerpt].

Vegetarianism And Money: Surprising Results From A New Study, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

Are vegetarians more or less likely to live in high income households?

Expression Of Emotional Arousal In Two Different Piglet Call Types, Linhart Pavel, Victoria F. Ratcliffe, David Reby, Marek Špinka

Bioacoustics Collection

Humans as well as many animal species reveal their emotional state in their voice. Vocal features show strikingly similar correlation patterns with emotional states across mammalian species, suggesting that the vocal expression of emotion follows highly conserved signalling rules. To fully understand the principles of emotional signalling in mammals it is, however, necessary to also account for any inconsistencies in the way that they are acoustically encoded. Here we investigate whether the expression of emotions differs between call types produced by the same species. We compare the acoustic structure of two common piglet calls—the scream (a distress call) and the …

Do Dog Owners Really Make Better Lovers?, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

What does science say about the connection between love, sex and owning a dog?

Eating Cats, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

In some cultures people eat their pets.

Variation In Brain Morphology Of Intertidal Gobies: A Comparison Of Methodologies Used To Quantitatively Assess Brain Volumes In Fish, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

When correlating brain size and structure with behavioural and environmental characteristics, a range of techniques can be utilised. This study used gobiid fishes to quantitatively compare brain volumes obtained via three different methods; these included the commonly used techniques of histology and approximating brain volume to an idealised ellipsoid, and the recently established technique of X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). It was found that all three methods differed significantly from one another in their volume estimates for most brain lobes. The ellipsoid method was prone to over- or under-estimation of lobe size, histology caused shrinkage in the telencephalon, and although micro-CT …

Prediction Of Parturition In Holstein Dairy Cattle Using Electronic Data Loggers, M. Titler, M. G. Maquivar, S. Bas, P. J. Rajala-Schultz, E. Gordon, K. Mccullough, P. Federico, G. M. Schuenemann

Physiology Collection

The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of parturition on behavioral activity [steps, standing time, lying time, lying bouts (LB), and duration of LB] 4 d before calving using electronic data loggers. Animals (n = 132) from 3 herds were housed in similar freestall barns using a prepartum pen 21 d before the expected calving date and were moved into a contiguous individual maternity pen for parturition. Electronic data loggers were placed on a hind leg of prepartum heifers (heifers, n = 33) and cows (cows, n = 99) at 7 ± 3 d before the …

The Nature Of Social Relationships In Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus): Associations And The Role Of Affiliative, Agonistic, And Socio-Sexual Behaviors, Briana Nicole Harvey

Master's Theses

Little is known about the specific behavioral exchanges that occur on a day-to-day basis between dyads of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). This thesis assesses proximity between dyads (~ 2 meters) and the proportion of time that is spent in either an affiliative, agonistic, or socio-sexual context within age/sex pairings of dolphins in order to better understand the nature of social relationships in this species. Observations of bottlenose dolphins housed at the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences, collected in 2010, provided 10.5 hours of underwater footage for assessment of association coefficients and proportions of interactions. These data suggested similar …

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Of Dolphin Brains Reveals Direct Auditory Pathway To Temporal Lobe, Gregory S. Berns, Peter F. Cook, Sean Foxley, Saad Jbabdi, Karla L. Miller, Lori Marino

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

The brains of odontocetes (toothed whales) look grossly different from their terrestrial relatives. Because of their adaptation to the aquatic environment and their reliance on echolocation, the odontocetes’ auditory system is both unique and crucial to their survival. Yet, scant data exist about the functional organization of the cetacean auditory system. A predominant hypothesis is that the primary auditory cortex lies in the suprasylvian gyrus along the vertex of the hemispheres, with this position induced by expansion of ‘associative0 regions in lateral and caudal directions. However, the precise location of the auditory cortex and its connections are still unknown. Here, …

A Critical Review Of Horse-Related Risk: A Research Agenda For Safer Mounts, Riders And Equestrian Cultures, Kirrilly Thompson, Paul Mcgreevy, Phil Mcmanus

Sport and Working Animal Welfare Collection

While the importance of improving horse-related safety seems self-evident, no comprehensive study into understanding or reducing horse-related risk has been undertaken. In this paper, we discuss four dimensions of horse-related risk: the risk itself, the horse, the rider and the culture in which equestrian activities takes place. We identify how the ways in which risk is constructed in each dimension affects the applicability of four basic risk management options of avoidance, transference, mitigation and acceptance. We find the acceptance and avoidance of horse-related risk is generally high, most likely due to a common construction of horses as irrevocably unpredictable, fearful …

Epidemiological Associations Between Brachycephaly And Upper Respiratory Tract Disorders In Dogs Attending Veterinary Practices In England, Dan G. O'Neill, Caitlin Jackson, Jonathan H. Guy, David B. Church, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Peter Thomson, Dave C. Brodbelt

Epidemiology Collection

Background: Brachycephalic dog breeds are increasingly common. Canine brachycephaly has been associated with upper respiratory tract (URT) disorders but reliable prevalence data remain lacking. Using primary-care veterinary clinical data, this study aimed to report the prevalence and breed-type risk factors for URT disorders in dogs. Results: The sampling frame included 170,812 dogs attending 96 primary-care veterinary clinics participating within the VetCompass Programme. Two hundred dogs were randomly selected from each of three extreme brachycephalic breed types (Bulldog, French Bulldog and Pug) and three common small-to medium sized breed types (moderate brachycephalic: Yorkshire Terrier and non-brachycephalic: Border Terrier and West Highland …

Baboons Might Kidnap Puppies (But Not As Pets), Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

A primate expert explains the confusion over baboon "pet-keeping."

Turning Science Into Policy: The Case Of Farm Animal Welfare In Canada, David Fraser

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

Implications

• Development of farm animal welfare standards in Canada has evolved significantly over 35 yr in terms of process, leadership, and the role of science.
• Key elements of the current process include: 1) influential producers and producer organizations that see the benefit of having science-informed standards, 2) a credible coordinating body to ensure that a well-defined process is followed in developing standards, and 3) trusted scientists who are engaged in relevant research and willing to participate.
• The process benefits from having a distinct and defined role for the scientists, specifically to analyze relevant science and identify conclusions that are scientifically …

Unowned Cat Management In The State Of Ohio: Elements Of Best Practice In Public-Private Collaborative Efforts, Daniel D. Spehar

HSU STUDENT THESES AND CAPSTONE PROJECTS

A contentious debate over the management of free-roaming cat populations is ongoing. Nevertheless, disparate groups of stakeholders share a common goal of fewer community cats. Unowned cat management typically necessitates a choice between utilization of lethal or non-lethal measures. Research has indicated strong public support for employment of non-lethal methods, like trap-neuter-return (TNR). Collaborative TNR programs are experiencing success in a growing number of communities. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify new or underutilized public-private collaborative practices, and associated elemental factors, that have the potential to be used as—or incorporated into—templates of best practice for the non-lethal …

Grass Finishing Systems For Lambs, Erin Leigh Smyth

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is strong interest in sustainably produced meat. Grass-fed lamb could fulfill this market by reducing off-farm inputs. The objective was to examine the effect of grass-finishing or minimal supplementation on performance of lambs in the southeastern US. Katahdin lambs born in October 2013 and 2014 and February 2014 were weaned in January 2014/2015 and May 2014, respectively. Lambs were blocked by gender (fall; winter included only ram lambs) and randomly assigned to receive no (NON) or grain co-product supplement (SUP; 15% CP) at 0.5% of BW/d. Lambs were rotationally grazed on predominantly grass. Body weight, fecal egg counts (FEC), …

Human Preferences For Conformation Attributes And Head-And-Neck Positions In Horses, Georgina L. Caspar, Navneet Dhand, Paul Mcgreevy

Competitive Animal Racing Collection

Human preferences for certain morphological attributes among domestic animals may be entirely individual or, more generally, may reflect evolutionary pressures that favor certain conformation. Artificial selection for attributes, such as short heads and crested necks of horses, may have functional and welfare implications because there is evidence from other species that skull shape co-varies with behaviour. Crested necks can be accentuated by flexion of the neck, a quality that is often manipulated in photographs vendors use when selling horses. Equine head-and-neck positions acquired through rein tension can compromise welfare. Our investigation was designed to identify conformations and postures that people …

Veterinary Practices, Reactions And Laws: Analyzing The Difference In Rural And Urban Practices, Daniel Jude

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Daniel Jude on June, 23rd 2015

Encounters With Dead Pets: A Study Of The Evolution Of Grief, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

False recognitions of dead dogs and cats are common among grieving pet owners.

The Effects Of Arginine Vasopressin On Maternal Behavior And Aggression In Peromyscus Californicus Mothers, Nathaniel Ng

Honors Projects

Research studies since the 1950s have shown that a chemical within the brain called arginine vasopressin (AVP) is associated with the modulation of many different social behaviors in mammals. Some of these behaviors are related to parenting, such as parental care initiation, aggression, social recognition, depression and anxiety. Understanding the physiology behind AVP regulation could allow for the creation of new therapies for treating human social disorders, such as using an AVP receptor antagonist to attenuate anxiety. This project examines how neural injections of AVP and an AVP receptor antagonist affect both maternal care and aggression in female Peromyscus californicus …