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Ethology at the roof of the World: A cross-language systematic review of the behaviour and welfare of yaks (Bos mutus and Bos grunniens)
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-03-04 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106587
Dengsheng Sun , Irene Camerlink
The yak serves an important role in the Himalayan ecosystems of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Current management practices, and the change to more intensive farming methods, are a concern for their welfare especially in terms of behavioural expression. While focus has been on yaks within the context of the ecosystem, their behaviour has not been widely documented. The aim of this review is to evaluate the status quo on yak behaviour and welfare, and to synthesise the existing information on yak behaviour (domesticated and wild) to provide an ethogram that can benefit future empirical studies. Peer-reviewed literature was retrieved from three databases while making no restriction on language. We included 39 Chinese language papers, 19 English and 1 German source (total n = 59). Studies mostly considered grazing behaviour and activity time budgets. Other topics included reproductive and social behaviour and animal welfare. The data showed that yaks graze for nearly the full daytime when on summer pasture (11 h), with variations in behavioural patterns depending on the season. Social and reproductive behaviour occur limitedly when outside the mating season. Welfare issues are, amongst others, the lack of veterinary services, painful and stressful management procedures, and heat stress due to climate change. From the overall review a clear picture emerges about the behaviour of yaks, which was summarized into a comprehensive ethogram. However, there are still many knowledge gaps regarding yak welfare as well as known welfare issues that require urgent change in practice. We aspire that this review will open up discussion on yak welfare and their possibility for behavioural adaptation, especially in the light of climate change and new management systems.
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引用次数: 0
Comparison of first- and last-born pigs revealed no effect of the birth process on acquisition and reversal of the cognitive holeboard task
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-03-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106585
Vivian L. Witjes , Sanne Roelofs , Ellen Meijer , Puck H.C. Eicher , Elly C. Zeinstra , Christine H.Y. Oei , J.C.M. (Hans) Vernooij , Rebecca E. Nordquist , F. Josef van der Staay
Hyperprolific pig breeds produce particularly large litters. Birth order within these litters, reflecting the duration of the expulsion phase of farrowing, may be associated with an increased risk of birth complications that may affect the later functioning of the pig. In this study, piglets from 12 litters were weighed at birth. The first-born (FB) and the last-born piglet, that went through the longest expulsion period, were identified and selected per litter. These pigs were tested in a cognitive holeboard (HB) task, which allows simultaneous assessment of spatial working memory (WM) and reference memory (RM) performance. In the HB, the pigs learned to find hidden rewards (M&M's®) in 4 of 16 holes distributed in a 4 × 4 matrix. After task acquisition, a new pattern of baited holes was presented (reversal). Salivary cortisol samples were collected before and after the first reversal trial. We hypothesized that the FB piglets would be less likely to have their health and fitness compromised by the birthing process than the LB piglets. Also, the LB pigs would have lower birth weights, poorer memory performance in the holeboard, and be more stressed by the change to a new pattern of baited holes, as indicated by a more pronounced increase in salivary cortisol concentrations. Birth weights of FB and LB piglets did not differ, but mean birth weights decreased with increasing litter size. Acquisition of the WM and RM components of the HB task was similar in FB and LB pigs. When confronted with a reversed configuration of baited holes, FB and LB pigs showed an initial decrease in both WM and RM performance that was unaffected by birth order. Both groups reached high levels of performance on both memory components in the reversal phase. Switching to the reversed configuration of baited holes had no effect on salivary cortisol, i.e. it may not have stressed the pigs. The inter-visit interval, i.e., the average duration per hole visit, which is thought to reflect a pig's motivation to search for food rewards, was not differentially affected by birth order but was highly variable, presumably reflecting the influence of external conditions during training, most likely ambient temperature.
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引用次数: 0
The current status of your manuscript in the online submission system
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106571
Irene Camerlink, Péter Pongrácz
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引用次数: 0
From nature to nurture – How genes and environment interact to shape behaviour
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106582
Per Jensen
The question of nature vs nurture caused animated discussions during the first half of the 20th century but is since long resolved: all animal behaviour is a result of both genetic and environmental factors. In the last couple of decades, biology has got access to new and unprecedented tools for analysing the genetic underpinnings of behaviour variation. In this paper, examples are given on how analyses have moved from gross estimates of heritability to detailed genetic mapping, with new insights into the genetic mechanisms causing differences in behaviour. At the same time, studies of the effects of environment and experience largely have been running in isolation from the genetic analysis. However, we are now in a position where we can start to understand the details of how genetics and environment interact, primarily through epigenetic mechanisms. Examples are given of how different experiences cause epigenetic modifications, that in turn regulate the expression of the genome. Furthermore, epigenetic modifications can be inherited and even possibly affect mutations specifically related to the experience causing the epigenetic change, opening the possibility for environmentally driven evolution. Lastly, examples are given of future research fields that may further advance our understanding of how nature and nurture interact, specifically how play behaviour and the gut-brain axis may affect (and be affected by) the epigenome. The paper concludes that unravelling the complex interaction between genome, environment and epigenome will give rise to a considerably more comprehensive picture of the nature-nurture interactions in shaping behaviour.
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引用次数: 0
Do ewe remember? Comparative foraging behaviour of sheep and alternative livestock species in a spatial memory task
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-02-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106580
Megan R. Quail, Mariecia D. Fraser
<div><div>Foraging strategy is fundamentally linked with resource availability and dietary preference. Adaptive feeding behaviours, such as the role of spatial memory when navigating to food sites, are found in wild foraging species. We hypothesised that domesticated livestock species also possess adaptive foraging, with potential interspecies differences in this ability resulting from variations in foraging strategy. As such, this study aimed to compare foraging behaviour, in relation to ability to remember and prioritize food sites of different value, in livestock species that have different dietary preferences and backgrounds: sheep (<em>Ovis aries</em>), goats (<em>Capra hircus</em>) and alpacas (<em>Vicugna pacos</em>). A total of 705 trials were conducted across general training, criterion training and test trials. Eighteen sheep, 10 goats and 7 alpacas were presented with eight identical buckets, positioned on four cross mounts, that were placed into four corners of the test arena. Following acclimation and training, the subjects were required to search the arena for two randomly baited buckets, each of the two buckets containing either the large food reward or small food reward. After locating the reward, the animals re-entered the arena and were tasked to relocate the same buckets (Experiment 1). Each subject was allowed a maximum of two incorrect visits to non-baited buckets per trial, and the trial continued until both baits had been eaten or 7 min of inactivity had passed (more than two errors resulted in a ‘failure’ score for the individual trial). These conditions were then replicated, except that the animal was allowed to make a single selection between the large or small reward following their return to the arena after the initial search (Experiment 2). The goats passed the most trials across all three species (<em>p</em> < 0.001) and made fewer errors when relocating the baited buckets in training and test trials across both experiments (<em>p</em> < 0.05 and <em>p</em> < 0.01, respectively). In contrast, the alpacas failed to pass the training criterion, with the exception of one individual, primarily due to exceeding the time limit for inactivity. We detected no significant difference in preference for the larger food quantity between species in either experiment (<em>p</em> = 0.65 and <em>p</em> = 0.55, respectively). Equally, selection of either quantity did not deviate from random chance across all individuals (except for a single sheep, <em>p</em> < 0.05, Experiment 2). Thus, goats exhibited the greatest spatial memory of the three species across both test conditions, which may reflect the adaptive foraging strategy that is required to navigate patchy distributions of browse in the complex natural habitats of this species. We recommend that further work should be carried out to determine the scale of selectivity and role of habitat perception on grazing distribution in these species. This information could be us
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引用次数: 0
Establishing a predictable cue for catches to reduce reactivity to management events for captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) 建立可预测的捕捉线索,降低圈养猕猴对管理事件的反应性
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106578
Alexander J. Pritchard , Rosemary A. Blersch , Amy C. Nathman , Eli R. DeBruyn , Julia A. Salamango , Emily M. Dura , Brianne A. Beisner , Jessica J. Vandeleest , Brenda McCowan
Psychological duress can emerge from the perceived lack of predictability such that, in captive circumstances, reliable signals for aversive events can afford animals with the opportunity to behaviorally and physiologically prepare. Does a reliable and unique signal cue for an aversive management event reduce reactivity to management events that share unreliable cues? We recorded animal responses to management events near, or involving, outdoor-housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in two large mixed-sex groups, with experimental periods that introduced a signal coupled to catch events. Management events varied in the severity and magnitude of animal responses. Our results validated that catches were more disruptive than management events that indirectly involved animal subjects, yet were comparable to management events involving direct interactions. Signal use reduced aversive responses to more routine management events that shared unreliable cues with catches. Due to the abundance of these routine events, we assert that the value of change with the implementation of the signal provided a detectable improvement across multiple measures of disruption.
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引用次数: 0
To see or not to see: Horses’ ability to find the hidden treat
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106577
Clemence Lesimple , Ewa Jastrzębska , Katarzyna Paszek , Magdalena Drewka , Aleksandra Górecka-Bruzda
In animal cognition, the acquisition of object permanence is critical in many species to apprehend the physical world, including the position of conspecifics, alimentary resources or potential dangers. If most of the “highly cognitive” species, including great apes and some birds were shown to reach stage 6 (retrieving an object hidden invisibly at a new location) of Piagetian development, the ability of other species to reach stage 4 (retrieve an object entirely hidden) is more at stake. Domestic horses are exposed to a highly partitioned environment, and being able to mentally figure out the presence of a hidden object represents a particularly relevant challenge. In this study, we used a simple Piagetian-like task to determine whether horses would be able to retrieve a hidden treat when the displacement was not visible. Sixty-three horses, distributed amongst three groups, were tested. The Experimental (E) and first control (C1) horses were familiarised with the task of searching for the treat (a carrot) hidden under an upside-down bucket. During the test procedure, a carrot was placed under the bucket for E horses, but not for C1 horses. The second control group (C2) did not follow the familiarisation procedure and was presented with the upside-down bucket only to test a potential intrinsic effect of the bucket for exploration. In the groups that followed the familiarisation procedure, the success rate achieved 93.1 % (E group, the horses exposed and ate the treat) and 100 % (C1 group, the horses pushed the bucket enough to uncover the location of the theoretical position of the treat) which was significantly above chance (p < 0.001in both cases). In the C2 group, only 60.0 % of the horses touched and/or pushed the bucket, which was not above chance (p = 0.303) Our results show that horses are able to locate and find a hidden treat, even when the displacement was performed out of their sight, suggesting that they can at least reach Piaget’s stage 4 of object permanence task.
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引用次数: 0
Solitary working hunting dogs show a higher tendency for magnetic alignment, with decreased alignment in older dogs
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-02-22 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106575
Kateřina Benediktová , Natalia Iakovenko , Jana Adámková , Luděk Bartoš , Hana Brinkeová , Vlastimil Hart , Jitka Bartošová , Hynek Burda
Previous studies have suggested that domestic dogs may be able to sense the Earth's magnetic field. One way in which this sensory ability (magnetoreception) may be behaviourally expressed is via magnetic alignment, when animals align their bodies in a non-random direction relative to the geomagnetic field. Expression of magnetic alignment can vary depending on environmental and magnetic conditions, cognitive ability, motivation, experience, and possibly on dog breed. Here, we investigated whether magnetic alignment in domestic dogs varied according to breed working specialisation, particularly between breeds used for independent work away from their owners and those working closely with them. We analysed 4986 observations of dogs during excretion, categorising them into three groups based on their working specialisation: (1) non-hunting breeds cooperating closely with their owners, (2) hunting dogs working in visual contact with their owners, and (3) hunting dogs working independently of their owners out of sight. Although we did not observe a consistent pattern of magnetic alignment across all dogs, our results indicate that breeds working independently of their owners demonstrated a higher tendency to align their bodies along the North-South magnetic axis (N-S alignment) than those working closely with their owners. Additionally, the likelihood of N-S alignment decreased with the dogs' age, indicating that older dogs were less likely to exhibit this behaviour. Interestingly, dogs that defecated were more likely to align themselves than those that urinated. These findings highlight the importance of considering working specialisation and age in future studies of magnetoreception in dogs.
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引用次数: 0
Behavioural indicators of infectious disease in managed animals
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-02-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106573
Christine Janet Nicol
Identifying reliable and valid behavioural indicators of infection in managed animals is increasingly important as the risks of emergent diseases increase alongside concomitant concerns over pathogen resistance and the environmental and safety impacts of traditional therapeutic treatments. Early behavioural detection of disease could help to curb transmission, assist in selecting resilient animals and guide facility design to help animals avoid infection and to support their recovery. This review explores the adaptability and flexibility of animal responses to pathogens, including behaviours that (i) favour disease avoidance (ii) are associated with immune activation (iii) directly resist pathogens (iv) are dysregulated leading to hypersensitivity and (v) are associated with pathogen tolerance. A key theme is that all of these behavioural responses are strongly modulated by contextual factors such as pain, hunger and social priorities. Efforts to develop and validate, and increasingly automate, behavioural indicators of infection have so far primarily focused on infection-induced changes in core behaviours such as feeding and general activity or on hypothesis-free machine-learning comparison. However, such approaches have limited specificity, sensitivity and may be hard to generalise across contexts. The current review suggests ways in which specificity could be improved by monitoring changes in behaviours that are more closely linked to immune activation e.g. sleep, attention and motor function, by a more granular focus, and by integration with clinical symptoms. It also proposes that sensitivity could be improved by monitoring pliant (“luxury”) behaviours and by intentional challenges or tests. Improved knowledge of how animals behave when infected could be used to design environments where the costs of resistance or tolerance are reduced and where recovery is promoted.
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引用次数: 0
Behavioural effects of feed dilution and daily roughage provision in male Hubbard M77 broiler breeders during rearing
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2025-02-18 DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106561
Fernanda M. Tahamtani, Kathe E. Kittelsen, Guro Vasdal
A growing public interest in broiler chicken welfare is leading to an increase in the number of private companies committing to switch to slower growing hybrids, particularly those approved by schemes such as the Better Chicken Commitment. These slow growing chickens are often, however, a result of cross breeding a slow growing hybrid with a conventional hybrid. The Hubbard JA787 for example, is fathered by the M77 which has a conventional growth rate. As such, these broiler breeder males still experience feed restriction as is routine with other conventional hybrids. This study, therefore, aimed at investigating the effects of a combination of qualitative feeding restriction strategies (i.e. feed dilution and daily roughage) on several behavioural indicators of welfare in Hubbard M77 broiler breeder cockerels during the rearing period. Two hundred M77 broiler breeder cockerels were housed from 5 to 10 weeks of age in 12 pens (6 pens/treatment). The treatments were conventional feed restriction (Control) and feed with 20 % dilution with oat hulls and a daily provision per pen of 150 g of alfalfa roughage (D+R). In the home pen, novel object (NO) tests and frustration assessments during thwarted feeding were conducted, with responses captured on video. Additionally, four birds from each pen underwent a tonic immobility (TI) test. These behavioural tests were carried out weekly at 6, 8, and 10 weeks of age. After euthanasia, two feathers from each bird were plucked and examined macroscopically for fault bars. The results from the NO test introduced doubt as to whether the D+R diet reduced hunger in the short term (4 hours) or increased it in the longer term (24 hours). In the frustration test, control birds performed more behavioural transitions and spent more time pacing and pecking the feed box than D+R birds (P < 0.05), but these results were not consistent across weeks of age. Finally, no diet treatment differences were observed in the tonic immobility test or in the assessment of feather fault bars. We conclude that a combination of feed dilution with 20 % oat hulls and daily provision of roughage did not significantly improve M77 broiler breeder cockerel welfare during rearing according to the indicators assessed. Furthermore, the present study contributes to the growing literature suggesting that qualitative feed restriction, while promising in theory, in practice fails to deliver strong and consistent improvements to animal welfare.
{"title":"Behavioural effects of feed dilution and daily roughage provision in male Hubbard M77 broiler breeders during rearing","authors":"Fernanda M. Tahamtani,&nbsp;Kathe E. Kittelsen,&nbsp;Guro Vasdal","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106561","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106561","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A growing public interest in broiler chicken welfare is leading to an increase in the number of private companies committing to switch to slower growing hybrids, particularly those approved by schemes such as the Better Chicken Commitment. These slow growing chickens are often, however, a result of cross breeding a slow growing hybrid with a conventional hybrid. The Hubbard JA787 for example, is fathered by the M77 which has a conventional growth rate. As such, these broiler breeder males still experience feed restriction as is routine with other conventional hybrids. This study, therefore, aimed at investigating the effects of a combination of qualitative feeding restriction strategies (i.e. feed dilution and daily roughage) on several behavioural indicators of welfare in Hubbard M77 broiler breeder cockerels during the rearing period. Two hundred M77 broiler breeder cockerels were housed from 5 to 10 weeks of age in 12 pens (6 pens/treatment). The treatments were conventional feed restriction (Control) and feed with 20 % dilution with oat hulls and a daily provision per pen of 150 g of alfalfa roughage (D+R). In the home pen, novel object (NO) tests and frustration assessments during thwarted feeding were conducted, with responses captured on video. Additionally, four birds from each pen underwent a tonic immobility (TI) test. These behavioural tests were carried out weekly at 6, 8, and 10 weeks of age. After euthanasia, two feathers from each bird were plucked and examined macroscopically for fault bars. The results from the NO test introduced doubt as to whether the D+R diet reduced hunger in the short term (4 hours) or increased it in the longer term (24 hours). In the frustration test, control birds performed more behavioural transitions and spent more time pacing and pecking the feed box than D+R birds (P &lt; 0.05), but these results were not consistent across weeks of age. Finally, no diet treatment differences were observed in the tonic immobility test or in the assessment of feather fault bars. We conclude that a combination of feed dilution with 20 % oat hulls and daily provision of roughage did not significantly improve M77 broiler breeder cockerel welfare during rearing according to the indicators assessed. Furthermore, the present study contributes to the growing literature suggesting that qualitative feed restriction, while promising in theory, in practice fails to deliver strong and consistent improvements to animal welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 106561"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143464069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science
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