Pub Date : 2024-10-09DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106420
Mikel Delgado , Ellen Marcinkiewicz , Paul Rhodes , Sarah L.H. Ellis
Play behaviour is often considered a sign of good welfare in companion animals. To meet their pets’ environmental needs, owners are encouraged to provide opportunities for the expression of natural behaviours. Owners can provide cats with an outlet for hunting behaviour through interactive play, where they move a wand toy in a way that mimics prey. However, not all owners play this way regularly, or at all, with their cats. In this study, we implemented part of the Behaviour Change Wheel framework, specifically the COM-B model in relation to human behaviour change, via an online survey to assess barriers (in the areas of Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation) for owners playing with their cats with wand toys and to quantify and understand current owner-cat play behaviour. Forty-seven percent of owners reported playing with their cat regularly in a baseline survey of 1599 respondents from 47 countries. Using COM-B analysis, we identified several barriers to playing relating to capability, opportunity, and motivation. Specific examples included being too mentally or physically tired, forgetting to play with their cat, not having time due to work, not being able to make play a daily habit, life getting in the way and the perception that their cat seems to prefer other toys or activities to wand toys. Greater knowledge about play and identifying fewer barriers were associated with more frequent interactive wand toy play. Interventions to improve feline welfare should focus on helping cat owners overcome these identified capability, opportunity, and motivation barriers.
{"title":"Identifying barriers to providing daily playtime for cats: A survey-based approach using COM-B analysis","authors":"Mikel Delgado , Ellen Marcinkiewicz , Paul Rhodes , Sarah L.H. Ellis","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106420","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106420","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Play behaviour is often considered a sign of good welfare in companion animals. To meet their pets’ environmental needs, owners are encouraged to provide opportunities for the expression of natural behaviours. Owners can provide cats with an outlet for hunting behaviour through interactive play, where they move a wand toy in a way that mimics prey. However, not all owners play this way regularly, or at all, with their cats. In this study, we implemented part of the Behaviour Change Wheel framework, specifically the COM-B model in relation to human behaviour change, via an online survey to assess barriers (in the areas of Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation) for owners playing with their cats with wand toys and to quantify and understand current owner-cat play behaviour. Forty-seven percent of owners reported playing with their cat regularly in a baseline survey of 1599 respondents from 47 countries. Using COM-B analysis, we identified several barriers to playing relating to capability, opportunity, and motivation. Specific examples included being too mentally or physically tired, forgetting to play with their cat, not having time due to work, not being able to make play a daily habit, life getting in the way and the perception that their cat seems to prefer other toys or activities to wand toys. Greater knowledge about play and identifying fewer barriers were associated with more frequent interactive wand toy play. Interventions to improve feline welfare should focus on helping cat owners overcome these identified capability, opportunity, and motivation barriers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"280 ","pages":"Article 106420"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142441924","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}
Pub Date : 2024-10-05DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106409
Cindy Anne Klausberger Ximenes, Arthur Fernandes Bettencourt, Bruna Schmitz, Delane Ribas da Rosa, Juliany Ardenghi Guimarães, Betina da Cunha Borges, Caren Paludo Ghedini, Vivian Fischer
Water buffaloes are increasingly being raised in similar way to dairy cows, in grazing systems frequently deprived of shade and water for immersion. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different heat mitigation resources, 1) only shade and 2) shade plus water for immersion, on the behavioral repertoire and physiological characteristics of female grazing buffaloes in the subtropics during the hot season. Twenty buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), including calves, heifers and non-lactating cows were allocated throughout the hot season (from December 2021 to April 2022) in a grazing system with two different heat mitigation resources (treatments): only shade (SH) and shade plus water for immersion (SHW). Diurnal behavioral repertoire was recorded every 15 days, individually and focally, at every 5 minutes for 12 hours per day. Heart rate (HR; beats/min), respiration rate (RR; breaths/min), rectal temperature (RT; °C) and panting score were also measured. Buffaloes reduced grazing time especially with THI above 75. Buffaloes at SHW spent more time grazing and lying than SH buffaloes (P < 0.05). Cows and heifers had higher ruminating (P < 0.05) and standing time (P < 0.05) compared with calves. Physiological variables did not differ (P > 0.05) between treatments (SH vs. SHW) and were positively correlated with air temperature and THI (P < 0.05). HR was higher for heifers (59.6) and calves (63.5) than for cows (53.3; P < 0.05). RT tended to be higher for heifers (38.4) and calves (38.3) than for cows (38.1; 0.05 < P < 0.10). However, respiration rate did not differ across buffalo categories (P > 0.05). Panting behavior was not reported throughout the observation days (panting score = 0). When both heat mitigation resources, shade and water for immersion were available, buffaloes preferred water for immersion to mitigate the effects of heat stress. Regardless animal category, buffaloes were able to maintain physiological variables within the normal range, indicating that providing shade and/or water for immersion, as environmental enrichment resources for thermoregulation, is suitable for heat stress mitigation in water buffaloes throughout the hot season in the subtropics.
{"title":"Physiological and behavioral indicators of water buffaloes with access to heat mitigation resources in a grazing system during the hot season in the subtropics","authors":"Cindy Anne Klausberger Ximenes, Arthur Fernandes Bettencourt, Bruna Schmitz, Delane Ribas da Rosa, Juliany Ardenghi Guimarães, Betina da Cunha Borges, Caren Paludo Ghedini, Vivian Fischer","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106409","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106409","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Water buffaloes are increasingly being raised in similar way to dairy cows, in grazing systems frequently deprived of shade and water for immersion. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different heat mitigation resources, 1) only shade and 2) shade plus water for immersion, on the behavioral repertoire and physiological characteristics of female grazing buffaloes in the subtropics during the hot season. Twenty buffaloes (<em>Bubalus bubalis</em>), including calves, heifers and non-lactating cows were allocated throughout the hot season (from December 2021 to April 2022) in a grazing system with two different heat mitigation resources (treatments): only shade (SH) and shade plus water for immersion (SHW). Diurnal behavioral repertoire was recorded every 15 days, individually and focally, at every 5 minutes for 12 hours per day. Heart rate (HR; beats/min), respiration rate (RR; breaths/min), rectal temperature (RT; °C) and panting score were also measured. Buffaloes reduced grazing time especially with THI above 75. Buffaloes at SHW spent more time grazing and lying than SH buffaloes (<em>P</em> < 0.05). Cows and heifers had higher ruminating (<em>P</em> < 0.05) and standing time (<em>P</em> < 0.05) compared with calves. Physiological variables did not differ (<em>P</em> > 0.05) between treatments (SH vs. SHW) and were positively correlated with air temperature and THI (<em>P</em> < 0.05). HR was higher for heifers (59.6) and calves (63.5) than for cows (53.3; P < 0.05). RT tended to be higher for heifers (38.4) and calves (38.3) than for cows (38.1; 0.05 < P < 0.10). However, respiration rate did not differ across buffalo categories (<em>P</em> > 0.05). Panting behavior was not reported throughout the observation days (panting score = 0). When both heat mitigation resources, shade and water for immersion were available, buffaloes preferred water for immersion to mitigate the effects of heat stress. Regardless animal category, buffaloes were able to maintain physiological variables within the normal range, indicating that providing shade and/or water for immersion, as environmental enrichment resources for thermoregulation, is suitable for heat stress mitigation in water buffaloes throughout the hot season in the subtropics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"280 ","pages":"Article 106409"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142422044","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}
引用次数: 0
IF 2.2 2区 农林科学Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE
Pub Date : 2024-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106407
Aiden E. Juge , Nathaniel J. Hall , John T. Richeson , Reinaldo F. Cooke , Courtney L. Daigle
Dogs are highly successful at detecting disease using olfaction; however, performance varies among dogs. Training detection dogs represents a substantial investment of time and resources; thus, identifying behavioral markers of a successful detection dog and factors that affect dog performance is needed. In a previous study, one of four dogs was able to distinguish between nasal and saliva swabs from healthy cattle and cattle undergoing an inflammatory response at a rate greater than chance, with 73 % accuracy. The present study evaluated how dogs’ accuracy changed throughout training and testing, whether dogs’ responses were related to illness signs present in cattle, and whether dogs’ accuracy was related to their own behavior on a per-trial and per-sample basis. Trial number, or the order of a detection trial within a 20-trial training or test session, was slightly positively correlated with accuracy for one dog. Sample number, the order in which the dogs encountered samples, was slightly positively correlated with per-session accuracy for all dogs. Dog accuracy declined across training sessions that used the same sample (F4381 = 3.48, P = 0.01), suggesting a deterioration in sample quality over time. Among the clinical illness signs measured in cattle, the strongest association demonstrated that greater changes in cattle body temperature were positively associated with dog accuracy (r = 0.32, P < 0.01). During training and testing, positive (sickness-model), negative (healthy) and blank (unscented) samples were presented at equal rates. Dogs spent more time sniffing and made more visits to investigate the positive samples than negative samples, and spent more time sniffing and made more visits to negative samples than blank samples, indicating that less time was required for dogs to rule out unscented stations than to distinguish between cattle swabs. Visits to the negative sample and visits to the positive sample were negatively (r = −0.581, P < 0.01) and positively (r = 0.761, P < 0.01) correlated with accuracy, respectively. Increased latency to search was negatively correlated with accuracy (r = −0.10, P < 0.01). This represents another potential behavioral marker of successful detection dogs.
{"title":"Relationships of dog behavior and cattle illness signs to dogs’ ability to distinguish between sick and healthy cattle","authors":"Aiden E. Juge , Nathaniel J. Hall , John T. Richeson , Reinaldo F. Cooke , Courtney L. Daigle","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106407","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106407","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dogs are highly successful at detecting disease using olfaction; however, performance varies among dogs. Training detection dogs represents a substantial investment of time and resources; thus, identifying behavioral markers of a successful detection dog and factors that affect dog performance is needed. In a previous study, one of four dogs was able to distinguish between nasal and saliva swabs from healthy cattle and cattle undergoing an inflammatory response at a rate greater than chance, with 73 % accuracy. The present study evaluated how dogs’ accuracy changed throughout training and testing, whether dogs’ responses were related to illness signs present in cattle, and whether dogs’ accuracy was related to their own behavior on a per-trial and per-sample basis. Trial number, or the order of a detection trial within a 20-trial training or test session, was slightly positively correlated with accuracy for one dog. Sample number, the order in which the dogs encountered samples, was slightly positively correlated with per-session accuracy for all dogs. Dog accuracy declined across training sessions that used the same sample (F<sub>4381</sub> = 3.48, P = 0.01), suggesting a deterioration in sample quality over time. Among the clinical illness signs measured in cattle, the strongest association demonstrated that greater changes in cattle body temperature were positively associated with dog accuracy (r = 0.32, P < 0.01). During training and testing, positive (sickness-model), negative (healthy) and blank (unscented) samples were presented at equal rates. Dogs spent more time sniffing and made more visits to investigate the positive samples than negative samples, and spent more time sniffing and made more visits to negative samples than blank samples, indicating that less time was required for dogs to rule out unscented stations than to distinguish between cattle swabs. Visits to the negative sample and visits to the positive sample were negatively (r = −0.581, P < 0.01) and positively (r = 0.761, P < 0.01) correlated with accuracy, respectively. Increased latency to search was negatively correlated with accuracy (r = −0.10, P < 0.01). This represents another potential behavioral marker of successful detection dogs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"279 ","pages":"Article 106407"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142423909","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}
Pub Date : 2024-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106382
Kris Descovich, Peta Taylor
{"title":"One Ethology, understanding animal behaviour to improve the lives of animals, humans and society: Preface for the special issue of ISAE’s 56th international congress","authors":"Kris Descovich, Peta Taylor","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106382","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106382","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"279 ","pages":"Article 106382"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142181656","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}
Broiler chickens are reared in very large groups and are submitted to repeated encounters with unknown conspecifics. Our aim was to assess the consequences of these encounters on broiler chickens learning abilities, social behaviour and emotional reactivity. Groups of 5 male medium-growing broiler chickens (JA 957) were reared under stable or unstable social conditions (n=16 groups in each condition). Under the unstable conditions, the 5 birds of the groups changed every 3–4 days from 1 to 52 days of age. Broiler chickens were tested in an associative learning task (conditioned place preference) between 14 and 18 days of age. A highly palatable food (mealworms) was delivered in a particular environment with coloured stripes and preference for this environment was then tested. Social behaviours were analysed between 21 and 43 days of age. Emotional reactivity of the birds when faced with novelty (reactivity to unknown food, object and human) was assessed at the end of the rearing period (46–51 days of age). Only birds from the stable condition were able to associate the palatable food to the environment in which it was delivered (p = 0.02). Furthermore, these birds had a higher social proximity than those from the unstable condition (p < 0.01) and showed less aggressive interactions such as aggressive pecking (p = 0.06), threat (p < 0.01) or facing each other with wing flapping in front of another bird (p = 0.03). The social conditions tested had no significant effect on their emotional reactivity. Our results evidenced that chickens exposed to social instability have some learning abilities impaired compared to chickens maintained in stable social conditions. In addition, social instability increases aggressive interactions between conspecifics, while social stability favours bird proximity. In conclusion, being reared in unstable social conditions likely impairs bird adaptation to their rearing environment and increases deleterious consequences of aggressive interactions with conspecifics.
{"title":"Deleterious effect of social instability on broiler chicken learning abilities and behaviour","authors":"Cécile Arnould , Carole Foucher , Ludovic Calandreau , Aline Bertin , Vérane Gigaud , Cécile Berri","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106398","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106398","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Broiler chickens are reared in very large groups and are submitted to repeated encounters with unknown conspecifics. Our aim was to assess the consequences of these encounters on broiler chickens learning abilities, social behaviour and emotional reactivity. Groups of 5 male medium-growing broiler chickens (JA 957) were reared under stable or unstable social conditions (n=16 groups in each condition). Under the unstable conditions, the 5 birds of the groups changed every 3–4 days from 1 to 52 days of age. Broiler chickens were tested in an associative learning task (conditioned place preference) between 14 and 18 days of age. A highly palatable food (mealworms) was delivered in a particular environment with coloured stripes and preference for this environment was then tested. Social behaviours were analysed between 21 and 43 days of age. Emotional reactivity of the birds when faced with novelty (reactivity to unknown food, object and human) was assessed at the end of the rearing period (46–51 days of age). Only birds from the stable condition were able to associate the palatable food to the environment in which it was delivered (p = 0.02). Furthermore, these birds had a higher social proximity than those from the unstable condition (p < 0.01) and showed less aggressive interactions such as aggressive pecking (p = 0.06), threat (p < 0.01) or facing each other with wing flapping in front of another bird (p = 0.03). The social conditions tested had no significant effect on their emotional reactivity. Our results evidenced that chickens exposed to social instability have some learning abilities impaired compared to chickens maintained in stable social conditions. In addition, social instability increases aggressive interactions between conspecifics, while social stability favours bird proximity. In conclusion, being reared in unstable social conditions likely impairs bird adaptation to their rearing environment and increases deleterious consequences of aggressive interactions with conspecifics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"279 ","pages":"Article 106398"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142423910","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}
Pub Date : 2024-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106404
Hannah E. Salvin , Angela Lees , Linda M. Cafe , Stephen Morris , Caroline Lee
Behavioural reactivity is an expression of temperament that may influence an animal’s response to stressful situations and impact on handleability and the human-animal relationship. Shortcomings of previously described tests led to the development of a standardized startle protocol in sheep using a tactile stimulus (airblast to the face) and the presence of conspecifics to minimize the effects of social isolation. Here we tested the repeatability of the protocol, the consistency of the response and habituation to the protocol. Twenty sheep were tested across four startle interval test phases. Phases were applied consecutively such that each sheep received up to 17 startles across a six-week period with two to six days between test phases. Phases were; within – up to 5 startles over a 7 min test, Bi-hourly – four repetitions of a single 4-minute startle test 2 hours apart on one day, daily – a single 4-minute startle test repeated over four consecutive days and, weekly – a single 4-minute startle test repeated once per week over four consecutive weeks. Three measures of startle magnitude, retreat distance (zone 1–6) and startle duration (s), startle force (gs), were recorded for each startle. A reduction in response to the startle stimulus over time was identified; however, consistent responses of sheep for the measures of startle magnitude were generally observed across test phases. Repeatability of retreat distance and startle force were moderate to high within test phases (0.56–0.82), whereas startle duration had low to moderate repeatability (0.26–0.50). Strong consistency in individual responses, good repeatability, and the presence of a distinct startle response after repeated applications of the stimulus indicate that the startle test shows promise as a measure of reactive temperament in sheep. Further development to improve the tests access in commercial environments may also facilitate producers use of startle magnitude for the selection of less reactive temperaments to improve handleability, safety and welfare on farm.
{"title":"Startle magnitude is a repeatable measure of reactive temperament in sheep","authors":"Hannah E. Salvin , Angela Lees , Linda M. Cafe , Stephen Morris , Caroline Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106404","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106404","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Behavioural reactivity is an expression of temperament that may influence an animal’s response to stressful situations and impact on handleability and the human-animal relationship. Shortcomings of previously described tests led to the development of a standardized startle protocol in sheep using a tactile stimulus (airblast to the face) and the presence of conspecifics to minimize the effects of social isolation. Here we tested the repeatability of the protocol, the consistency of the response and habituation to the protocol. Twenty sheep were tested across four startle interval test phases. Phases were applied consecutively such that each sheep received up to 17 startles across a six-week period with two to six days between test phases. Phases were; <em>within</em> – up to 5 startles over a 7 min test, <em>Bi-hourly</em> – four repetitions of a single 4-minute startle test 2 hours apart on one day, <em>daily</em> – a single 4-minute startle test repeated over four consecutive days and, <em>weekly</em> – a single 4-minute startle test repeated once per week over four consecutive weeks. Three measures of startle magnitude, retreat distance (zone 1–6) and startle duration (s), startle force (gs), were recorded for each startle. A reduction in response to the startle stimulus over time was identified; however, consistent responses of sheep for the measures of startle magnitude were generally observed across test phases. Repeatability of retreat distance and startle force were moderate to high within test phases (0.56–0.82), whereas startle duration had low to moderate repeatability (0.26–0.50). Strong consistency in individual responses, good repeatability, and the presence of a distinct startle response after repeated applications of the stimulus indicate that the startle test shows promise as a measure of reactive temperament in sheep. Further development to improve the tests access in commercial environments may also facilitate producers use of startle magnitude for the selection of less reactive temperaments to improve handleability, safety and welfare on farm.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"279 ","pages":"Article 106404"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142356859","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-30DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106406
Federica Pirrone , Patrizia Piotti , Holly Memoli , Irit Grader , Paola Scarpa , Eleonora Biffi , Joel Filipe , Mariangela Albertini , Carlo Siracusa
Aging is a complex, multidimensional process. Normative aging is typically accompanied by declines in several cognitive domains, including memory and social cognition. As aging progresses, the often-overlooked early manifestations of cognitive decline can advance, leading to an inability to adapt to new situations and environments. Potential mechanisms influencing cognitive decline remain elusive, but, among other mechanisms, inflammaging, an age-related increase in the chronic production of pro-inflammatory mediators, and emotional stress are implicated. Cognitive function in cats is under-researched, with no studies on the link between potential risk factors and cognitive signs in aging subjects. Understanding this link is essential as it may facilitate the early identification of cognitive decline and encourage preventative, individualized interventions. We carried out a citizen science study to investigate, for the first time, the relationship between cognitive functions, stress, and the inflammatory markers interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-10 in 44 healthy, privately owned pet cats (7–14 years of age), who underwent standardized testing in their home environment. A task was employed to test spatial memory, requiring the cat to recall the location of a food-baited container. An unsolvable task was used to assess cats' social cognition and cognitive flexibility by measuring how they used referential communication (i.e., gaze alternation between the apparatus and the caregivers) compared to their persistence in trying to obtain food which was out of reach. Generalized linear regression analysis, conducted while adjusting for demographic factors and stress behaviors, revealed: 1) a predictive positive relationship connecting spatial memory and the use of social referencing with the caregiver (more gaze alternation) in the unsolvable task, highlighting the importance of the interplay between cognitive domains in sustaining complex behaviors, and 2) a reduced engagement in social referencing toward caregivers (less gaze alternation) in the presence of higher serum levels of IL-1β in the unsolvable task, especially as cats get older. A cat’s social cognitive performance was also negatively predicted by stress-related behaviors, which is not surprising given that cats are sentient creatures whose everyday behavior is also influenced by emotional states. These findings provide new insights into the crosstalk between different cognitive domains during aging and the potential contributions of emotions and inflammation to cognitive changes in healthy aging cats. Further research using this multidimensional approach will help explore these mechanisms of cognitive aging and potential markers for early detection of cognitive changes in older cats, which is critical for timely interventions.
{"title":"Measures of spatial memory, peripheral inflammation and negative emotional state predict social-cognitive skills in healthy aging cats","authors":"Federica Pirrone , Patrizia Piotti , Holly Memoli , Irit Grader , Paola Scarpa , Eleonora Biffi , Joel Filipe , Mariangela Albertini , Carlo Siracusa","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106406","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106406","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Aging is a complex, multidimensional process. Normative aging is typically accompanied by declines in several cognitive domains, including memory and social cognition. As aging progresses, the often-overlooked early manifestations of cognitive decline can advance, leading to an inability to adapt to new situations and environments. Potential mechanisms influencing cognitive decline remain elusive, but, among other mechanisms, inflammaging, an age-related increase in the chronic production of pro-inflammatory mediators, and emotional stress are implicated. Cognitive function in cats is under-researched, with no studies on the link between potential risk factors and cognitive signs in aging subjects. Understanding this link is essential as it may facilitate the early identification of cognitive decline and encourage preventative, individualized interventions. We carried out a citizen science study to investigate, for the first time, the relationship between cognitive functions, stress, and the inflammatory markers interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-10 in 44 healthy, privately owned pet cats (7–14 years of age), who underwent standardized testing in their home environment. A task was employed to test spatial memory, requiring the cat to recall the location of a food-baited container. An unsolvable task was used to assess cats' social cognition and cognitive flexibility by measuring how they used referential communication (i.e., gaze alternation between the apparatus and the caregivers) compared to their persistence in trying to obtain food which was out of reach. Generalized linear regression analysis, conducted while adjusting for demographic factors and stress behaviors, revealed: 1) a predictive positive relationship connecting spatial memory and the use of social referencing with the caregiver (more gaze alternation) in the unsolvable task, highlighting the importance of the interplay between cognitive domains in sustaining complex behaviors, and 2) a reduced engagement in social referencing toward caregivers (less gaze alternation) in the presence of higher serum levels of IL-1β in the unsolvable task, especially as cats get older. A cat’s social cognitive performance was also negatively predicted by stress-related behaviors, which is not surprising given that cats are sentient creatures whose everyday behavior is also influenced by emotional states. These findings provide new insights into the crosstalk between different cognitive domains during aging and the potential contributions of emotions and inflammation to cognitive changes in healthy aging cats. Further research using this multidimensional approach will help explore these mechanisms of cognitive aging and potential markers for early detection of cognitive changes in older cats, which is critical for timely interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"280 ","pages":"Article 106406"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142422069","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}
Pub Date : 2024-09-30DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106405
Kaleiah Schiller, Kristina Horback
<div><div>Lamb welfare, performance and survival on rangeland is partially determined by the quality of maternal care received (i.e., high durations of sniffing/grooming, allowing udder access, and staying close to the lamb). Previous studies have explored maternal behavior scores (MBSs), as a tool to select ewes based on their proximity to the lamb and the shepherd, finding variable evidence towards sensitivity and robustness in scores in ability to gauge lamb outcome (birth weight and weaning weight), survival, and maternal care throughout the lambing season. Though this scoring system is convenient, there may be another behavioral attribute related to fear of human or relationship to the human handler may be elicited during lamb collection and processing. This longitudinal study investigated the presence of a trait in response to the human handler employing a Lamb Handling (during processing) and a Lamb Tie Down (after processing) test with N= 42 total ewes and n=26 ewes consistently present across both years of the study. The current study also set out to investigate the relationship between proximity to the shepherd and lamb outcome. Attempts to perform principal component analysis revealed that variables from the Lamb Handling and Lamb Tie down test were not suitable for factor analysis. In the Lamb Handling test, proportion of ‘pacing’ was a nearly significant, negative predictor (P=0.07) term in the binary ‘investigating human’ model, improved model fit and explained more variance compared to the null model [(cumulative weight: 90 vs 10 %); (R<sup>2</sup><sub>adjusted</sub>: 30.8 vs 15.2 %; deviance= 31 vs 18.5 %)]. A random term for individual also improved fit in this model, indicating a potential behavioral trait driven by the ewe related to fear or perception of the human. The occurrence of grazing (0 or 1) was a nearly significant, positive predictor (P=0.06), improved model fit and explained more variance in the ‘investigating human’ model compared to the null model [(cumulative weight: 76 vs 24 %); (R<sup>2</sup><sub>adjusted</sub>: 21 vs 15.2 %; deviance= 26.8 vs 18.5 %)]. Individual did not improve model fit in the relationship between ‘investigation human’ and ‘grazing’. Weaning weights were a nearly significant positive predictor in the model for ‘close proximity’ at lamb collection (P=0.07) and a significant positive predictor for ‘close proximity’ during processing (P<0.001), however, did not improve model fit over the null. Birth weights improved model fit for behaviours including ‘sniffing/grooming’ and ‘pawing’ in the Lamb Tie Down test and these behaviours may have been moderated by maternal investment in heavier lambs. Behavioural responses, expanding beyond proximity measures, can be useful for gauging maternal attachment and investment in the lamb during and after processing. Fear or perception of humans should also be considered as contributors to the response to the shepherd during human-animal interactions in the
羔羊在牧场上的福利、表现和存活率在一定程度上取决于母性照料的质量（即长时间的嗅闻/梳理、允许接触乳房和靠近羔羊）。以往的研究探讨了母性行为评分（MBSs），将其作为根据母羊与羔羊和牧羊人的亲近程度来选择母羊的工具，结果发现，在衡量羔羊结果（出生体重和断奶体重）、存活率以及整个产羔季节的母性照料能力方面，评分的灵敏度和稳健性各不相同。虽然这种评分系统很方便，但在收集和处理羔羊的过程中，可能会激发出另一种与惧怕人类或与人类饲养者关系有关的行为属性。本纵向研究采用羔羊处理（处理过程中）和羔羊捆绑（处理后）测试，调查了母羊对人类处理者的反应特质的存在情况，在研究的两年中，共有 42 只母羊和 26 只母羊持续存在这种特质。本研究还旨在调查与牧羊人的距离与羔羊结果之间的关系。尝试进行主成分分析后发现，羔羊处理和羔羊绑缚测试中的变量不适合进行因子分析。在羔羊处理测试中，"起搏 "比例是二元 "调查人类 "模型中一个几乎显著的负预测项（P=0.07），与空模型相比，它改善了模型的拟合度并解释了更多的方差[（累计重量：90 vs 10 %）；（R2调整后：30.8 vs 15.2 %；偏差= 31 vs 18.5 %）]。个体的随机项也提高了该模型的拟合度，表明母羊的潜在行为特征与对人类的恐惧或感知有关。在 "调查人类 "模型中，放牧发生率（0 或 1）是一个近乎显著的正向预测因子（P=0.06），与无效模型相比，它提高了模型的拟合度并解释了更多的变异[（累计重量：76 vs 24 %）；（R2 调整后：21 vs 15.2 %；偏差= 26.8 vs 18.5 %）]。个体并没有改善 "人类调查 "与 "放牧 "之间关系的模型拟合。断奶体重在羔羊采集时的 "接近 "模型中是一个近乎显著的正向预测因子（P=0.07），在加工过程中的 "接近 "模型中也是一个显著的正向预测因子（P<0.001），但与空值相比，并未改善模型拟合。出生体重提高了 "拴系羔羊 "试验中 "嗅闻/梳理 "和 "用爪子抓 "等行为的模型拟合度，这些行为可能受到母体对较重羔羊投资的影响。行为反应超出了近距离测量的范围，可用于衡量母性对羔羊的依恋以及在处理过程中和处理后对羔羊的投资。在产羔季节人与动物的互动中，对人类的恐惧或感知也应被视为对牧羊人反应的影响因素。
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Pub Date : 2024-09-26DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106399
Anina Vogt , Kerstin Barth , Marie Schneider , Uta König von Borstel , Susanne Waiblinger
Although originally developed for weaning of beef calves, nose flaps are also used on dairy farms nowadays to wean calves which are reared with contact to their dam or a foster cow. These calves are often weaned younger than beef calves and the time they wear nose flaps is highly variable, since it is unknown for how long younger calves need to wear the nose flap in order to induce an effective weaning. The aim of our study was therefore to track changes in dam-contact initiated by dairy calves after insertion of a nose flap in order to determine the minimum duration a nose flap needs to be worn to effectively reduce suckling motivation of calves. The study was conducted in two sequential experiments using 3-month-old dairy calves that were reared with full-time dam contact. Calves were weaned with a nose flap over either 14 (experiment I, 9 calves in herd A and 9 calves in herd B) or 7 days (experiment II, 11 calves in herd A and 12 calves in herd B) before they were fence-line separated from their dams. The total time a calf spent within the cow herd (TIC) per day was determined from continuous video recordings during 7 days before nose flap insertion (baseline), as well as during the 7 or 14 days in which calves had free access to the cow area while wearing the nose flap. Statistical analysis was conducted using linear mixed effects models. Results from both experiments showed that calves reduced their TIC at the fourth day of wearing the nose flap compared to their individual baseline (p=0.03 and p=0.001 respectively). In experiment I, calves showed a further numerical reduction in TIC from day 4 to day 5, while in experiment II, calves showed no further reduction in TIC after the 4 days of wearing the nose flap. After these 4 or 5 days respectively, TIC of calves in both experiments stayed at a constant low level of several hours per day. Taken together, these results indicate that in 3-month-old dairy calves it needs at least 4 days until the motivation to spend time with the cow decreases after insertion of a nose flap, while there seems to be no further decrease in motivation when using a nose flap longer than this time. However, results were subject to considerable inter-individual variability already during the baseline week and need replication in a pasture-based setting with less space-restrictions.
{"title":"Dairy calves' time spent in the cow herd in a calf-driven cow-calf contact system during two-step separation with a nose flap","authors":"Anina Vogt , Kerstin Barth , Marie Schneider , Uta König von Borstel , Susanne Waiblinger","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106399","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106399","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although originally developed for weaning of beef calves, nose flaps are also used on dairy farms nowadays to wean calves which are reared with contact to their dam or a foster cow. These calves are often weaned younger than beef calves and the time they wear nose flaps is highly variable, since it is unknown for how long younger calves need to wear the nose flap in order to induce an effective weaning. The aim of our study was therefore to track changes in dam-contact initiated by dairy calves after insertion of a nose flap in order to determine the minimum duration a nose flap needs to be worn to effectively reduce suckling motivation of calves. The study was conducted in two sequential experiments using 3-month-old dairy calves that were reared with full-time dam contact. Calves were weaned with a nose flap over either 14 (experiment I, 9 calves in herd A and 9 calves in herd B) or 7 days (experiment II, 11 calves in herd A and 12 calves in herd B) before they were fence-line separated from their dams. The total time a calf spent within the cow herd (TIC) per day was determined from continuous video recordings during 7 days before nose flap insertion (baseline), as well as during the 7 or 14 days in which calves had free access to the cow area while wearing the nose flap. Statistical analysis was conducted using linear mixed effects models. Results from both experiments showed that calves reduced their TIC at the fourth day of wearing the nose flap compared to their individual baseline (p=0.03 and p=0.001 respectively). In experiment I, calves showed a further numerical reduction in TIC from day 4 to day 5, while in experiment II, calves showed no further reduction in TIC after the 4 days of wearing the nose flap. After these 4 or 5 days respectively, TIC of calves in both experiments stayed at a constant low level of several hours per day. Taken together, these results indicate that in 3-month-old dairy calves it needs at least 4 days until the motivation to spend time with the cow decreases after insertion of a nose flap, while there seems to be no further decrease in motivation when using a nose flap longer than this time. However, results were subject to considerable inter-individual variability already during the baseline week and need replication in a pasture-based setting with less space-restrictions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"280 ","pages":"Article 106399"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142421971","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}
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