Animal Studies Commons^™

5'-Nucleotidase And Thrombin-Like Activities Of Selected Crotalid Venoms, Ali M.S. Shams, Dewey H. Sifford, Bob D. Johnson

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Thrombin-like activities were not observed inCrotalus basiliscus, C. molossus and C. scutulatus scutulatus crude venoms. 5'-Nucleotidase specific activities of 0.863, 0.273 and 5.520 units/mg of crude venom protein were observed inC. basiliscus, C. molossus and C. s. scutulatus venoms, respectively. Concanavalin ASepharose 4 B (Con A)affinitychromatography yielded two fractions from each of the crude venoms. Ineach instance, both fractions exhibited 5'-nucleotidase activities and the Con A-binding proteins had higher activities than the Con A-nonbinding proteins. 5'-Nucleotidase activities inthe DEAESephadex A-50 chromatographic fractions were localized in the first elution fraction and the last fraction(s) to elute. EDTAhad no effect on the …

Vertebrate Fauna Of Abandoned Mines At Gold Mine Springs, Independence County, Arkansas, Chris T. Mcallister, Stanley E. Trauth, Linda D. Gage

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Vertebrate Prey Of Selected Arkansas Snakes, Stanley E. Trauth, Chris T. Mcallister

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Egg Mass Characteristics Of Terrestrial Morphs Of The Mole Salamander, Ambystoma Talpoideum (Caudata:Ambystomatidae), From Northeastern Arkansas And Clutch Comparisons With Other Ambystoma Species, Stanley E. Trauth, Robert L. Cox Jr., J. D. Wilhide, Hilary J. Worley

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Canned Hunts--Canned Cruelty

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Animal Production And The New Social Ethic For Animals, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Welfare Collection

No abstract provided.

Surviving Disasters

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Animal Protection And Medical Science, David O. Wiebers, Jennifer Leaning, Roger D. White

Experimentation Collection

Over the past decade, the debate concerning animal use in biomedical research, education, and testing has contributed to an environment of public posturing on both sides. Many in the medical and animalprotection communities have come to view one another as adversaries with hopelessly different goals.

In the face of rapid and substantial increases in public concern over the wellbeing of animals, many in the medical community have sought to fend off what they see as an increasingly threatening social trend. Those who have spoken out on behalf of various medical organisations or institutions have generally been avid animal-research advocates. Those …

An Ethicist's Commentary On Whether Veterinarians Should Report Cruelty, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Welfare Collection

No abstract provided.

Vocal Learning In Grey Parrots (Psittacus Erithacus): Effects Of Social Interaction, Reference, And Context, Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

For many passerines, the extent,timing, and even presence of allospecific vocal learning can be influenced by the form of input that is received. Little data exist, however, on vocal learning in parrots (Psittacidae). I have previously proposed that such vocal learning proceeds most readily when input is (1) referential, (2) contextually applicable, and (3) interactive. The referential aspect demonstrates the meaning of the code to be taught, the contextual aspect demonstrates the use that can be made of the information contained in the code, and the interactive aspect provides explicit training that is constantly adjusted to the level of the …

Numerical Competence In An African Gray Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus), Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

An African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus), Alex, trained to label vocally collections of 1-6 simultaneously presented homogeneous objects, correctly identified, without further training, quantities of targeted subsets in heterogeneous collections. For each test trial Alex was shown different collections of 4 groups of items that varied in 2 colors and 2 object categories (e.g., blue and red keys and trucks) and was asked to label the number of items uniquely defined by the conjunction of 1 color and 1 object category (e.g., "How many blue key?"). The collections were designed to provide maximal confounds (or distractions) and thus replicate the …

The Relationship Between Creep Feeding Behavior Of Piglets And Adaptation To Weaning: Effect Of Diet Quality, David Fraser, J. J.R. Feddes, E. A. Pajor

Feeding Behavior Collection

Individual variation in creep feed intake and its relation to adaptation to weaning were studied in piglets weaned at 4 wk of age. The animals received either a "low-complexity" creep-starter diet based on corn, barley and soybean meal (12 litters), or a "high-complexity", medicated, commercial diet without soybean meal (12 litters). Diets were fed as creep feed during the 2 wk before weaning, and as the sole diet during the 2 wk after weaning. Creep feeding behavior of piglets was monitored by video recording. Pigs fed the high-complexity diet consumed more creep feed (P < 0.05), tended to gain more during the week before weaning (P < 0.10), and converted feed more efficiently and gained more weight in the 2 wk after weaning (P < 0.01). Use of creep feed varied greatly among individual littermates. Multiple regression analysis showed that on the high-complexity diet, pigs that used creep feed more than their littermates tended to be those with low gains in weeks 1-3 after birth (P < 0.001), and tended to gain more weight during the week before and during the 2 wk after weaning (P < 0.01). The trends were consistent but weaker with the low-complexity diet. However, predictive power was low, with creep feeding accounting for only 4% of individual variation in post-weaning gain on the high-complexity diet and 1% on the low. Regardless of diet quality, therefore, creep feeding remained highly variable and only weakly related to weight gains during the 2 wk after weaning.

Food Habits Of The Barn Owl (Tyto Alba) At A Nest Site In Southwest Arkansas, Johnathan L. Westmoreland, C. Renn Tumlison

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Individual Differences In The Cognitive Abilities Of Chimpanzees, Sarah T. Boysen

Psychology Collection

No abstract provided.

Spira Provides Insight On Animal Rights Movement, Anonymous

Profiles

No abstract provided.

Transportation Of Animals And Welfare, D. B. Adams

Transport of Farm Animals Collection

All forms of transport are potentially hazardous for animals, regardless of whether travel is between or within countries, or by road, rail, air or sea. However, experience shows that animals can be transported under suitable conditions without harm to their welfare.

The provision of suitable conditions and the establishment of a mutually satisfactory framework for regulating the international transport of animals depends on an understanding of welfare needs and of the biological basis for disease, stress and suffering. The author examines the biological aspects of this framework.

The capacity of animals to adapt to the different demands of different forms …

Public Attitudes Toward Animal Research: Some International Comparisons, Ralph Pifer, Kinya Shimizu, Linda Pifer

Attitudes Toward Animal Research Collection

A comparative analysis was made of the public's attitudes toward the use of animals in scientific research in 15 different nations. The intensity of opposition to animal research was found to vary from relatively low levels in Japan and the United States to much higher levels in France, Belgium, and Great Britain. More women than men were opposed to animal research in all 15 nations. Scientific knowledge, or the lack of knowledge, was not found to have a consistent relationship with attitudes toward animal research. Concern about the environment was found to be related to opposition to animal research in …

Concepts Of Animal Well-Being And Predicting The Impact Of Procedures On Experimental Animals, D. J. Mellor, C. S. W. Reid

Experimental Research and Animal Welfare Collection

1. We argue that:

• in their application to non-human animals, 'welfare' and 'well-being' are interchangeable words; and that

• good welfare/well-being is the state of being manifest in an animal when its nutritional, environmental, health, behavioural and mental needs are met.

2. These latter are essentially the 'five freedoms' formulated by the Farm Animal Welfare Council of the United Kingdom.

3. Using the five freedoms as a basis, we have developed a system for assessing the impact of a proposed animal experiment or usage. The freedoms are now transformed into 'domains of potential compromise' and are redefined better to …

Differences In Productivity Between Flocks A Comparative Study In The Pilbara, John James

Agriculture reports

To learn more about their own flock productivity relative to other flocks in the district, ten woolgrowers in the Roebourne-Port Hedland Land Conservation District conducted a small wool growing competition from November 1989 to November 1991. They compared the wool production from 20 young wethers drawn from their flocks.

Female Reproductive Traits In Selected Arkansas Snakes, Stanley E. Trauth, Robert L. Cox, Walter E. Meshaka Jr., Brian P. Butterfield, Anthony Holt

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Female reproductive characteristics of 17 genera of Arkansas snakes (27 species and subspecies) were examined. Most of the snakes (n= 495) were collected over a 10-year span (1984-1993). Methods used to estimate clutch and/or litter size were as follows: 1) counts of previtellogenic ovarian follicles,2) counts of vitellogenic ovarian follicles,3) counts of oviductal eggs or embryos, 4) counts of corpora luteal scars, and 5) counts of neonates from egg clutches or litters. In several species, Method 1 tended to overestimate clutch size as determined by Method 2 by as much as 100% (e.g., in Diadophis punctatus, Elaphe obsoleta, and Lampropeltis …

Recent Record Of The Plains Minnow, Hybognathus Placitus Girard, From Arkansas, Thomas M. Buchanan, Henry W. Robison

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Reproductive Cycles In Two Arkansas Skinks In The Genus Eumeces (Sauria: Scincidae), Stanley E. Trauth

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Reproductive cycles of the southern coal skink (Eumeces anthracinus pluvialis) and the five-lined skink (E. fasciatus) were studied by examining museum specimens collected in Arkansas. Histological preparations of testes from each species revealed eight spermatogenic stages. Male coal skinks produced sperm by late February, at least one month before male five-lined skinks. Height of the testicular cycle (maximum sperm production-stage 6 = spermiogenesis) in E. a. pluvialis occurred in March and early April, whereas in E. fasciatus, spermiogenesis reached a peak in May. Testicular recrudescence began in late May in E. a. pluvialis and mid-July in E. fasciatus. The reproductive …

Species Of Birds Newly Recorded In Arkansas Since 1985, Douglas A. James, Max Parker, Charles Mills, Joseph C. Neal

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Vocal Perception: Brain Event-Related Potentials In A Chimpanzee, Gary G. Berntson, Sarah T. Boysen, Michael W. Torello

Sentience Collection

We describe the first brain event-related potential (ERP) study of cognitive processes in the chimpanzee. In an extension of our studies on the ontogeny of vocal perception, ERP measures were obtained during the presentation of simple nonsignal stimuli as well as conspecific and human vocalizations. We initially confirmed findings from humans and monkeys of the appearance of a long-latency positivity in the ERP waveform to a rare stimulus in an oddball paradigm. This ERP component is reminiscent of the P3a reported in humans under similar (passive) experimental conditions. We further demonstrated that both conspecific and human vocal stimuli having affective …

Loved--Or Lost?

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Towards A Boundless Ethic, Henry Spira

Commentaries and Editorials

No abstract provided.

Prisoners Of The Trade

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Developing A Successful Riparian-Wetland Grazing Management Plan For The Upper Ruby River Cattle And Horse Allotment In Southwestern Montana, Paul Hansen

Ecological Impacts of Animal Agriculture Collection

No abstract provided.

Slaughter On The High Seas

Close Up Reports

No abstract provided.

Animal Welfare And Individual Characteristics: A Conversation Against Speciesism, Marc Bekoff, Lori Gruen

Animal Welfare Collection

It seems impossible for a human being not to have some point of view concerning nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) welfare. Many people make decisions about how humans are permitted to treat animals using speciesist criteria, basing their decisions on an individual's species membership rather than on that animal's individual characteristics. Although speciesism provides a convenient way for making difficult decisions about who should be used in different types of research, we argue that such decisions should rely on an analysis of individual characteristics and should not be based merely on species membership. We do not argue that the concept of …