Applied Animal Behaviour Science最新文献

{"title":"Effectiveness of gyroscopes and triaxial accelerometers paired with deep learning algorithms in detecting dairy camel behavior","authors":"Chayma Chaouch Aoun ,&nbsp;Moufida Atigui ,&nbsp;Paolo Balasso ,&nbsp;Marwa Brahmi ,&nbsp;Houssem Benjemaa ,&nbsp;Giorgio Marchesini ,&nbsp;Mohamed Hammadi","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106643","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106643","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nowadays, the behavior of dairy camels in intensive systems has received little attention. This study is the first to use wearable sensors to predict camel behavior, filling a knowledge gap by providing information into their activities. A novel system using triaxial accelerometer and gyroscope sensor was developed to monitor and predict the behavior of six female Maghrebi dairy camels. Using a 10-second time window for data collection, this research effectively distinguishes between key behaviors such as feeding, ruminating, resting, and walking. Various deep learning techniques, including convolutional neural networks combined with long short-term memory (ConvLSTM), dense layer convolutional neural networks, and standalone long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, were used to analyze the data. Results indicate that, under our conditions, camels spent most of the study time feeding, with 33134 occurrences (444 minutes), followed by ruminating 11611 times (156 minutes) and resting 10487 times (140 minutes). In contrast, walking and drinking were much less frequent, with 2627 and 368 occurrences, respectively. The dense-layer CNNs achieved the highest predictive performance with an overall accuracy of 84 %. This model predicted feeding with 89 % accuracy, resting with 67 %, ruminating with 92 %, and walking with 12 %. Following closely, the ConvLSTM model attained an accuracy of 83 %, predicting feeding at 85 %, resting at 76 %, ruminating at 87 %, and walking at 18 %. The LSTM model had a slightly lower overall accuracy of 78 %, predicting feeding at 81 %, resting at 66 %, ruminating at 87 %, and walking at 8 %. In the ConvLSTM model, resting was frequently confused with feeding and ruminating, while walking was often misclassified as feeding. Similarly, the Convolutional with Dense Layers model misclassified resting and walking as feeding, and ruminating as resting. The LSTM model showed similar issues, with resting and walking misclassified as feeding, and ruminating often confused with both feeding and resting. This study highlights the potential of accelerometer and gyroscope sensors as effective tools for assessing camel behavior in intensive systems. The dense layer CNN model showed the best predictive performance, with feeding and rumination behaviors being the most accurately classified. However, walking remained difficult to predict across all models. This is probably due to the limited locomotion of camels in intensive dairy systems. These findings provide a basis for improving automated behavioral monitoring in dairy camels, supporting improved welfare and optimized management in intensive farming systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 106643"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The biological irrelevance of ‘Cattachment’ – It’s time to view cats from a different perspective","authors":"Péter Pongrácz ,&nbsp;Flavie Bensaali-Nemes ,&nbsp;Noémi Bánszky ,&nbsp;Petra Dobos","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106641","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106641","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cats’ interactions with humans were traditionally conceptualized as a less-than-perfect attempt to reach the complexity of the dog-human bond. However, to understand the evolutionary success of cats, we need an ecologically valid approach: why would a socio-cognitive trait be adaptive for the cat? We tested ‘therapy cats’ (<em>N</em> = 15) that were trained for Animal Assisted Services, in the modified version of the Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Test, suitable for the assessment of animals’ attachment bond with their owners. We also tested ‘regular’ companion cats (<em>N</em> = 13) with the same experimental protocol as control animals. The use of ‘therapy cats’ allowed us to avoid strong stress reaction of ordinary companion cats when tested in an unknown, laboratory environment. As expected, we found significant differences between the ‘therapy’ and regular companion cats in each of the main components of the attachment complex: ‘Attachment’ (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.001); ‘Anxiety’ (<em>P</em> = 0.005); ‘Acceptance of the Stranger’ (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.001). ‘Therapy’ cats received significantly higher ‘Attachment’ and ‘Acceptance’ scores than regular pet cats. The ‘Anxiety’ scores of ‘therapy’ cats were significantly lower than in the regular pet cats. However, we found no sign of attachment to the owner in any of the cat groups. Even therapy cats, whose behaviour was not thwarted by the strong stress at the unknown place, did not show exclusive Safe Haven and Secure Base-type reactions towards their owner. They behaved equally calm and friendly towards their owner and a stranger. Cats display symmetrical inter-specific amicability with humans, and we encourage their behavioural investigation to be based on evolutionary significance. We showed that domestic cats retained their functional independence from humans, and they do not show attachment towards their owners, which is a hallmark of the dependence-based, dog-human relationship. We argue that attachment would be ecologically unlikely in this species, as they preserved their independence from humans. Therefore, we believe it is time to change our research perspective on cats and find out more about what they can teach us about different ways of evolving mutually advantageous, but independence-based relationships with humans.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 106641"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unwanted feline scratching in the home: A re-examination of its relationship with stress and marking","authors":"Jacqueline Braggs,&nbsp;Daniel Simon Mills","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106635","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106635","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Unwelcome environmental scratching in the home by pet cats (<em>Felis catus</em>) has been attributed to some form of stress-related marking. However, the relationship between scratching and potential stressors is not well-established. Emotional responses are key to understanding the nature of stress, as they have an organisational function that helps to prepare the animal for actions associated with a specific goal (e.g. frustration prepares an animal for dealing with limits to its autonomy). Thus the relationship between responses and emotionally competent stimuli can be used to help elucidate in what way a behaviour might (or might not) be related to stress. We therefore used a survey to explore the physical and social environmental contexts in which scratching occurs, to evaluate the relationship between scratching and potential stress in cats. An English-language, online survey of 1797 cat-owners explored scratching at 7 types of location in the home which may be of functional significance to the cat e.g. resting places, feeding places, and physical boundaries to the core territory. Binary logistic regression was used to model frequent versus infrequent scratching on feline biological factors (age, sex) and the presence of potential stressors e.g. other cats, dogs, children, and recent household changes. Cats scratched most frequently at resting places and in the living room and bedroom. The most frequently cited activities undertaken in the immediate vicinity of scratching were greeting people positively, sleeping, and entering or leaving a room. Known predictors of urine-marking were not significant predictors of scratching. The only potential stressors significantly associated with scratching were the absence of dogs in the home (which was contrary to the stress-association prediction), and the departure of a person from the household within the last 3 months (which is ambiguous in its relationship with stress). The association between scratching and locations associated with comfort, sleep, and positive interactions with caregivers, lead us to suggest that a major emotional association with scratching involves positive affect. We argue that this type of scratching might be predicted to be inhibited rather than exacerbated by stressors. We therefore suggest that the popular clinical behaviour assertion that increased scratching is a sign of stress in the home needs to be carefully considered and not assumed to be necessarily the case. Further research is required to explore whether specific forms of scratching might exist which are clearly related to some form of stress response.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 106635"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do pairs exhibit similar behaviours? Evaluating inter-individual synchrony in activities of Magellanic penguins","authors":"Takashi Yamamoto ,&nbsp;Tomohiro Kakizaki ,&nbsp;Yukari Takashima ,&nbsp;Hiroe Tsunesumi ,&nbsp;Ken Yoda","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106633","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106633","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Animal welfare is a key priority in modern zoos and aquariums, with behavioural observations widely adapted as practical and effective methods for its assessment. Although increasing attention has been given to inter-individual interactions within a group, which can enhance animal welfare, such studies remain limited due to logistical constraints associated with conducting continuous behavioural observations alongside individual identification. Penguins, in particular, present significant challenges, as they are typically housed in groups and spend part of their time in aquatic environment. In this study, we employed animal-borne data loggers to record the on-water and on-land activities of captive Magellanic penguins <em>Spheniscus magellanicus</em>. The aim was to examine the behavioural synchrony of paired individuals, presumed to share close bonds, and consequently to explore which behavioural parameter could serve as a proxy for inter-individual affinity. On-water and on-land activities were monitored using immersion sensors attached to the flipper bands of 23 penguins, including three bonded pairs, at Sumida Aquarium, Tokyo, Japan, from 11 October 2022–9 October 2023. To assess inter-individual synchrony, kappa coefficient values were calculated for all unique pairwise combinations. Synchrony within pairs was relatively low during the breeding period but increased significantly during the non-breeding period, with on-water activity showing a marked tendency to be distinctly higher within pairs compared to non-paired individuals, serving as a proxy for inter-individual affinity in penguins. Additionally, simulated pseudo-observations suggested that approximately 250 intermittent observations of on-water instances are required to reliably detect substantial behavioural synchrony among individuals, which offers an alternative methodology that is both practical and suitable for daily observation settings by keepers. This study revealed significant synchrony in on-water activity during the non-breeding period within pairs; however, no data were available regarding inter-individual distances or other relevant interactions. Therefore, further research is needed to investigate spatial proximity and social interactions in greater detail to gain deeper insights.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 106633"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143851563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hand preferences in captive non-human primates are associated with generation and stress level","authors":"Lin Wang ,&nbsp;Yunchao Luo ,&nbsp;Haoyu Sun ,&nbsp;Yiru Gu ,&nbsp;Yu Wang ,&nbsp;Yali Bai ,&nbsp;Zhongqiu Li","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106630","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106630","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hand-use preferences of non-human primates are affected by various factors, such as posture and task difficulty. Additionally, the degree of lateralization may be a useful indicator for evaluating the welfare of non-human primates, but more empirical studies are needed to explore the relationship between lateralization and stress levels. In this study, we compared the handedness of four groups of Callitrichids at Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo during two tasks, simple reaching and reaching into a feeder, as well as the handedness of subjects that repeated the simple reaching task at a one-year interval. The subjects did not display different levels of hand preference (including direction and strength of hand preference) across four groups in the two different tasks, and 26 marmosets showed a stronger hand preference (absolute handedness index [<em>ABS-HI</em>]) in the repeated simple reaching task one year later. Individual factors such as sex and generation significantly impacted individual hand preference; in particular, the strength of hand preference in all three tests differed significantly across generations. The results revealed that individuals with high <em>ABS-HI</em> have higher levels of fecal cortisol in golden-handed tamarins (<em>Saguinus midas</em>), implying an association between handedness and physiological stress, which suggested the potential of using handedness as an indicator for assessing physiological stress in captive non-human primates in the future, thus contributing to enhancing animal welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 106630"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143851564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Behavioral effects of floor pens as environmental enrichment for laboratory rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)","authors":"Vitor B. Vilardo ,&nbsp;Mônica S.F. Pinto ,&nbsp;Ana M.P.T. de Carvalho e Silva ,&nbsp;Ricardo T. Santori","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106629","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106629","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Laboratory animals are indispensable for science, particularly in biomedical research. Their welfare must meet their physical, social and physiological needs. Ethological evaluations are crucial for identifying and correcting abnormal behaviors caused by captivity, often through tools like environmental enrichment (EE). This study evaluated the behavioral effects of implementing floor pens as EE for individually caged laboratory rabbits. A single observer analyzed the behavior of 24 male adult rabbits inside the cages (48 ×80 x 60 cm) before the EE application through all-sample observations over two months. After, the test group (<em>n</em> = 15) was introduced to large floor pens (120 ×180 cm; no ceiling) once a week for two months, with 60 s all-sample observations every 10 minutes. The control group (<em>n</em> = 9) was not introduced to the EE. After this period, all animals were observed once again inside the cages, in order to compare behavioral frequencies before and after the EE application using appropriate statistical tests. The test group showed increased inactivity (31.1 <em>vs.</em> 55.4 %; Student's t-test, <em>t</em> = - 9.34, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) and a significant decrease in negative behaviors (13.5 <em>vs.</em> &lt;5 %; Wilcoxon test, <em>V</em> = 119, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) after the EE ap<em>p</em>lication. Both behavioral categories frequencies aligned more closely to values reported in other related studies. Inside the floor pens, rabbits expressed locomotory, exploratory and positive behaviors for a great portion of time (more than 80 % of total time). These findings highlight the effectiveness of implementing floor pens as EE in reducing negative behaviors, increasing daytime inactivity, and promoting exploration and positive welfare of laboratory rabbits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 106629"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143828971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of a dog owner caregiving style scale (Lincoln Owner Caregiving Questionnaire, LOCQ) and its relationship with behaviour problems in dogs","authors":"Luciana Santos de Assis ,&nbsp;Barbara Georgetti ,&nbsp;Oliver Burman ,&nbsp;Thomas W. Pike ,&nbsp;Daniel Simon Mills","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106628","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106628","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is increasing recognition that a dog’s relationship with its owner is a form of attachment bond with similarities to the human infant-carer bond. However, it seems less recognised that infant attachment style is typically a response to parental caregiving style, i.e., the style of caregiving by the dog’s owner may play an important role in the development of the attachment style of a dog. We therefore aimed to develop a reliable owner-response-based instrument to assess behaviour directed towards their dogs, focused on different ‘parental’ caregiving styles which give rise to four forms of attachment in the child (Secure, Ambivalent, Avoidant and Disorganised), and compare the relationship between these styles and behaviour problems in dogs. A questionnaire with 40 items (7-point Likert scale) based on the four styles of caregiving was made available online where dog owners were asked to show how much they agreed with each item and report if their dogs had behaviour problems. A total of 982 participants answered the questionnaire and Principal component analysis and other validation methods were conducted. Owners whose dogs were not reported having any behaviour problem were compared with those who reported different behaviour problems in their dogs by Multinomial Generalised Linear Model. Results showed good validity (item reliability, face and content validity, and convergent and discriminant validity) for the new caregiving questionnaire for dog owners (Lincoln Owner Caregiving Questionnaire, LOCQ) which is composed by three Caregiving style dimensions: Ambivalent, Avoidant and Disorganised. Additionally, it was found that having a high score in the Disorganised and/or Avoidant caregiving styles significantly predicted the presence of some problem behaviours in a dog. Specifically, compared to owners of dogs without behaviour problems, owners with high scores for the Disorganised caregiving style predicted dogs with separation related problems or with more than one behaviour problem, owners with high Avoidant caregiving style scores predicted dogs with Fear, and owners with high scores for both Disorganised and Avoidant caregiving styles predicted dogs with Aggressivity problems. Hence, we have developed a reliable tool for evaluating dog owner caregiving style based on Attachment theory and showed its relationship with problem behaviour. Although causal relationships cannot be inferred, these results will be highly valuable when evaluating and developing treatment for behaviour problems in dogs, and to improve the welfare of dogs and their owners.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 106628"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessment of the behavior and suitability of primitive horse breeds for hippotherapy using the ‘Hippotest’ empirical test scale","authors":"Bogusława Długosz ,&nbsp;Kamila Duda ,&nbsp;Barbara Chrapek ,&nbsp;Pete Holmes ,&nbsp;Edyta A. Bauer","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106622","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106622","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hippotherapy is a method of physical rehabilitation used to support many different human diseases and conditions with the help of horses. The appropriate selection of a horse as a co-therapist is a key factor in therapy with a patient. Horses of a wide range of different breeds and ages are typically selected for this type of rehabilitation. The study aimed to compare the behavior and reactions of horses of two primitive breeds that are not typically used in Hippotherapy outside of Poland: Hucul (hc) and Polish konik (kn), and determine their mental and physical predispositions to work in hippotherapy using an empirical test scale. Research observations following the Hippotest protocol were conducted on 20 horses, from two different equestrian centers. The research sample consisted of 9 geldings and 11 mares. The mean age of the horses in the sample was ± 7 years old. The horses’ behavior and reactions were observed using the eight trials in the Hippotest protocol. The behavioral assessment results based on the Hippotest’s empirical data were used in the statistical analysis of the Student’s <em>t</em>-test for one sample. Both breeds appeared to show they were suitable for hippotherapy work, while Hucul horses performed better (<em>p</em> &gt; 0.05) than Polish koniks. The one of the test involving, the assessment of lunge movement showed statistical significance (<em>p</em> &gt; 0.04) only for Hucul horses. The obtained results suggest that, regardless of their age, horses of these two primitive breeds show high predispositions to work in hippotherapy in terms of their behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 106622"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143808785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"IMTFF-Networks: A deep learning model for cattle behavior classification integrating multimodal time-frequency features","authors":"Xinglin Ni ,&nbsp;Zhenjie Hou ,&nbsp;En Lin ,&nbsp;Xing Li ,&nbsp;Jiuzhen Liang ,&nbsp;Xinwen Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106627","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106627","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In modern livestock farming, understanding cattle behavior patterns is crucial for improving their health and production efficiency. For example, behaviors such as rumination (chewing food) and eating not only affect their health but also directly influence farm economic efficiency and food safety. However, these behaviors exhibit complex dynamic characteristics, showing significant nonlinearity and temporal dependence, which presents challenges in representing behavioral features for accurately capturing long-term dependencies and nonlinear relationships, thereby limiting classification accuracy. To address these challenges, we propose a deep learning model for cattle behavior classification Integrating Multimodal Time-Frequency Features (IMTFF-Networks). Compared to traditional deep learning models such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) or Temporal Convolutional Networks (TCN), IMTFF-Networks can simultaneously capture both time-domain and frequency-domain features, overcoming the limitations of relying solely on time-domain or frequency-domain features when processing complex behavior patterns. IMTFF-Networks comprises modules for multimodal time-frequency fusion of sensor signals and multi-scale time-frequency feature analysis. The multimodal time-frequency fusion module integrates time-frequency features through Feature Mode Decomposition (FMD) and frequency domain processing, comprehensively capturing the dynamic characteristics of behavioral signals, such as frequency components and temporal patterns, thereby enhancing the accuracy and robustness of behavior recognition. The multi-scale time-frequency feature analysis module employs multi-scale temporal processing and attention mechanisms to capture long-term dependencies and complex nonlinear relationships among features across different time scales. The experiments were conducted using 3460 hours of behavioral data from 18 Limousin crossbred steer, encompassing rumination, eating, and other behavioral categories. The results demonstrate that IMTFF-Networks significantly outperforms methods relying solely on single time-domain or frequency-domain features in cattle behavior classification tasks. Specifically, IMTFF-Networks achieved an accuracy of 86.42 %, a balanced accuracy of 84.78 %, precision of 87.53 %, recall of 86.42 %, and F1 score of 86.64 % on the test set. This study not only validates the effectiveness of IMTFF-Networks in processing complex temporal data but also provides important references for future research in animal behavior monitoring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 106627"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143791366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of behavioural indicators of acute pain and stress during and after three methods of handling and restraint for pre-weaned beef calves","authors":"Lindsey Arkangel,&nbsp;M. Claire Windeyer,&nbsp;Christy Goldhawk,&nbsp;Edmond Pajor","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106623","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106623","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pre-weaned beef calves in western Canada are processed at approximately 6–12 weeks of age, when they are individually handled and restrained to conduct various husbandry procedures. Best practice recommendations for safeguarding animal welfare during husbandry procedures suggest using calm, quiet handling techniques and proper restraint, but little is known about methods of “proper restraint”. The most common methods for handling and restraining calves in western Canada are roping and wrestling (RW), roping and Nord fork (RNF), and using a tilt table (TT). Thus, the objective was to compare the effects of these 3 methods on behavioural indicators of pain and stress responses under industry relevant conditions. A total of 117 beef bull calves were assigned to 3 groups (RW, RNF, or TT), consisting of 39 bull calves each (30 processed calves, 9 control calves). Control calves were handled and restrained according to their assigned group but did not undergo any processing procedures. Processing included ear tagging, vaccinations, growth implant in the ear, surgical castration, record keeping, and oral analgesic administration. Video recordings were used to quantify duration of handling and restraint, and behaviours associated with active stress or pain responses. Duration of handling and restraint was longest for TT calves. Handling difficulty was not related to handling method. Vocalization rate was highest for RNF calves during processing by approximately 6–10 counts/min over TT and RW, respectively (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05) and struggling rate was higher for TT calves by approximately 2–3 counts per minute vs RW and RNF, respectively (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). Upon release, RNF calves had a higher occurrence of running upon release compared to the other groups (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). After processing, foot stomping rate differed among groups and was highest for RNF calves, followed by RW calves, then TT calves (RNF: 1.9 [2.3]; RW: 1.0 [0.9]; TT: 0.5 [0.5]; <em>P</em> &lt; 0.01). No injuries were observed in any calves. Comparison of multiple behavioural indicators of active coping with pain and stress between the handling methods did not indicate any individual method was clearly preferable or detrimental method for animal welfare. The variation in individual behaviours, such as struggling during restraint and processing or foot stomping after, supports further investigation into specific welfare considerations of each handling method.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 106623"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143816420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}