Animal Studies Commons^™

Salmon For Terrestrial Protected Areas, Chris T. Darimont, Heather M. Bryan, Stephanie M. Carlson, Morgan D. Hocking, Misty Macduffee, Paul C. Paquet, Michael H. H. Price, Thomas E. Reimchen, John D. Reynolds, Christopher C. Wilmers

Environment and Nature Conservation Collection

Although managers safeguard protected areas for migratory species, little consideration has been given to how migratory species might benefit parks. Additionally, whereas land‐sea connections are considered in management of protected areas, most effort has focused on reducing negative “downstream” processes. Here, we offer a proposal to promote positive “upstream” processes by safeguarding the seasonal pulse of marine nutrients imported into freshwater and riparian ecosystems by spawning migrations of Pacific salmon. Currently, high rates of fishing limit this important contribution to species and processes that terrestrial parks were designed to protect. Accordingly, we propose limiting exploitation in areas and periods through …

Arkansas Animal Science Department Report 2010, David L. Kreider

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

Economic Contribution Of The Agricultural Sector To The Arkansas Economy In 2008, Jennie Popp, Nathan Kemper, Wayne Miller, Katherine Mcgraw, Kyle Karr

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

This report is the fifth in a series of reports examining agriculture’s economic contribution to the Arkansas economy. Utilizing data from the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), USDA Economics Research Service (ERS), USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and Minnesota IMPLAN Group, Inc. (MIG), the economic contribution of agriculture on the Arkansas economy was estimated for the most recent year available, 2008. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by State information for Arkansas was compared with those of other states in the southeast U.S. to give a measure of the relative importance of agriculture in Arkansas.2 The total economic contribution …

Vocal Learning In Grey Parrots: A Brief Review Of Perception, Production, And Cross-Species Comparisons, Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

This chapter briefly reviews what is known—and what remains to be understood—about Grey parrot vocal learning. I review Greys’ physical capacities—issues of auditory perception and production—then discuss how these capacities are used in vocal learning and can be recruited for referential communication with humans. I discuss cross-species comparisons where applicable and conclude with a description of recent research that integrates issues of reference, production and perception.

Eating Disorders: The Dark Side Of Vegetarianism, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

Is the Skinny Bitch Diet dangerous?

The Effect Of Claw Horn Disruption Lesions And Body Condition Score At Dry-Off On Survivability, Reproductive Performance, And Milk Production In The Subsequent Lactation, V. S. Machado, L. S. Caixeta, J. A. A. Mcart, R. C. Bicalho

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL; sole ulcers and white line disease) and body condition score (BCS) at dry-off on survivability, milk production, and reproductive performance during the subsequent lactation. An observational prospective cohort study was conducted on a large commercial dairy in Cayuga County, New York, from September 2008 until January 2009. A total of 573 cows enrolled at dry-off were scored for body condition and hoof trimmed; digits were visually inspected for the presence of CHDL. The BCS data were recategorized into a 3-level variable BCS group (BCSG), …

Are Unfamiliar Neighbours Considered To Be Dear-Enemies?, Elodie Briefer, Fanny Rybak, Thierry Aubin

Sentience Collection

Background: Discriminating threatening individuals from non-threatening ones allow territory owners to modulate their territorial responses according to the threat posed by each intruder. This ability reduces costs associated with territorial defence. Reduced aggression towards familiar adjacent neighbours, termed the dear-enemy effect, has been shown in numerous species. An important question that has never been investigated is whether territory owners perceive distant neighbours established in the same group as strangers because of their unfamiliarity, or as dear-enemies because of their group membership.

Methodology/Principal Findings: To investigate this question, we played back to male skylarks (Alauda arvensis) songs of adjacent neighbours, distant …

Cat-Eating Coyotes Are A Bird’S Best Friend, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

Coyotes will catch and kill domestic cats. Therefore, where coyotes are found, there tend to be fewer cats. This is good news for small animals and birds that domestic cats catch and kill.

True Fact: Dog-Walking Helps Dogs But Harms Birds, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

The good news and bad news about dog-walking

Capuchins (Cebus Apella) Can Solve A Means-End Problem, Anna M. Yocom, Sarah T. Boysen

Sentience Collection

Three capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) were tested on a 2-choice discrimination task designed to examine their knowledge of support, modeled after Hauser, Kralik, and Botto-Mahan’s (1999) experiments with tamarins. This task involved a choice between 2 pieces of cloth, including 1 with a food reward placed on its surface, and a second cloth with the food reward next to its surface. After reliably solving the basic problem, the capuchins were tested with various alternations of the original food reward and cloth. The capuchins were able to solve the initial task quickly, and generalize their knowledge to additional functional and nonfunctional …

Human Induced Rotation And Reorganization Of The Brain Of Domestic Dogs, Taryn Roberts, Paul Mcgreevy, Michael Valenzuela

Anatomy Collection

Domestic dogs exhibit an extraordinary degree of morphological diversity. Such breed-to-breed variability applies equally to the canine skull, however little is known about whether this translates to systematic differences in cerebral organization. By looking at the paramedian sagittal magnetic resonance image slice of canine brains across a range of animals with different skull shapes (N = 13), we found that the relative reduction in skull length compared to width (measured by Cephalic Index) was significantly correlated to a progressive ventral pitching of the primary longitudinal brain axis (r = 0.83), as well as with a ventral shift in the position …

Road Kill And The New Science Of Human-Animal Relationships, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

Ignore, rescue, or obliterate that turtle in the road?

Human Induced Rotation And Reorganization Of The Brain Of Domestic Dogs, Taryn Roberts, Paul Mcgreevy, Michael Valenzuela

Morphology Collection

Domestic dogs exhibit an extraordinary degree of morphological diversity. Such breed-to-breed variability applies equally to the canine skull, however little is known about whether this translates to systematic differences in cerebral organization. By looking at the paramedian sagittal magnetic resonance image slice of canine brains across a range of animals with different skull shapes (N = 13), we found that the relative reduction in skull length compared to width (measured by Cephalic Index) was significantly correlated to a progressive ventral pitching of the primary longitudinal brain axis (r = 0.83), as well as with a ventral shift in the position …

What Do Irish Setters And Girls Named "Jennifer" Tell Us About The Causes Of Social Change?, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

What causes dog breed fads?

Dairy Farmer Attitudes And Empathy Toward Animals Are Associated With Animal Welfare Indicators, Camilla Kielland, Eystein Skjerve, Olav Østerås, Adroaldo José Zanella

Societal Attitudes Toward Animals Collection

Attitudes and empathy of farmers influence human–animal interaction, thereby affecting their behavior toward animals. The goal was to investigate how measures of attitude and empathy toward animals were associated with animal welfare indicators such as milk yield, mastitis incidence, fertility index, and the prevalence of skin lesions on cows. To assess empathy toward animals, a photo-based pain assessment instrument was developed depicting various conditions that could be associated with some degree of pain in cattle and included questions aimed at assessing attitudes toward animals. Photos of painful conditions are useful in eliciting measurable empathic responses to pain in humans. A …

Playing Dead As A Defense Against Angry Bears And Rapists, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

Paralysis as a defense against predation and rape?

Is Pet-Love Caused By A Virus Of The Mind?, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

Is my cat a brain worm?

The Vision Of Toxicity Testing In The 21st Century: Moving From Discussion To Action, Melvin E. Andersen, Daniel Krewski

Toxicology and Animal Models in Research Collection

Over the past year, a series on commentaries have appeared in the Toxicological Sciences Forum Series related to the 2007 National Research Council (NRC) publication, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy. The first article in the series provided an overview of the vision and was accompanied by an editorial by the three editors of Toxicological Sciences. During the past year, eight invited commentaries from the academic, industrial, and regulatory sectors have provided diverse perspectives on the vision, noted challenges to its implementation, and highlighted aspects of toxicity testing that were not addressed in …

Are Humans The Only Animals That Keep Pets?, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

Do Monkeys Keep Pets?

On-Farm Welfare Assessment For Regulatory Purposes: Issues And Possible Solutions, Jan Tind Sørensen, David Fraser

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

On-farm welfare assessment has been used mainly for non-regulatory purposes such as producer education or to qualify for voluntary welfare-assurance programs. The application of on-farm assessments in regulatory programs would require four issues to be addressed: (1) selecting criteria that are widely accepted as valid by diverse citizens, (2) setting minimum legal levels, (3) achieving the high level of fairness and objectivity required for legally binding requirements, and (4) achieving the cost-efficiency needed for widespread use of the methods. Issues 1 and 2 pose a particular problem because different citizens disagree on what they understand as good animal welfare, with …