Showing papers in "Applied Animal Behaviour Science in 2009"

TL;DR: This paper found that animals in a negative affective state are more likely to respond to ambiguous cues as if they predict the negative event (a "pessimistic" response), than animals in more positive states.

TL;DR: In this paper, a method for automatically measuring and recognising several behavioural patterns of dairy cows using a three-dimensional accelerometer and a multi-class support vector machine (SVM) is presented.

TL;DR: It is concluded that straw has the highest potential to meet the four successful enrichment criteria that are proposed, and it is conceded that it is possible to design successful point-source enrichment-objects if the wealth of knowledge available on enrichment for pigs is exploited.

TL;DR: A review of the literature on sensory stimulation for animals can be found in this article, where the authors focus on auditory, olfactory and visual methods of sensory stimulation and conclude that stimuli specific to a species' natural habitat should not always be considered meaningful, or advantageous, to an animal's welfare.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review two general classes of research examining animal-visitor interactions in zoos: (1) effects of exhibit design and the behavior of the animals on zoo visitors, and (2) the effects of zoo visitors on the behaviour of exhibited animals, and suggest that interventions based on careful attention to exhibit design, species characteristics, and visitor education can increase positive animal-Visitor interactions and facilitate the multiple goals of modern zoos.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present evidence from a range of zoo, laboratory and farm animal studies demonstrating that observer ratings can be both reliable and valid, and also discuss both study design issues (e.g. selecting terms to be rated and appropriate observers) and the statistical issues some schemes may raise.

TL;DR: In this article, a 30-item survey of previous interventions was included in a behavioral questionnaire distributed to all dog owners making appointments at a referral behavior service over a 1 year period, and owners were asked to indicate whether there was a positive, negative, or lack of effect on the dog's behavior, and whether aggressive behavior was seen in association with the method used.

TL;DR: It is suggested that working and living with dogs, without any theoretical knowledge of canine behaviour, may not be determinant for allowing correct description of the majority of dog behaviours.

TL;DR: In this paper, the suitability of an inexpensive tri-axial accelerometer for the automated recording of goats' activities at pasture was tested on a slightly undulating pasture in Central Germany (52 h of registry) and on a rugged mountainous pasture in northern Oman (70 H of registry).

TL;DR: Observations of ear-posture changes seem to be a promising approach for assessing emotional reactions in sheep, although the need for further validation is needed.

TL;DR: In a follow-up study, over 450 participants provided demographic information about themselves and their dog and completed the Monash Canine Personality Questionnaire (MCPQ) for their dog as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: Investigating if lactating dairy cows have a preference for shade that offers greater protection against solar radiation found them to prefer shade that provided more protection from solar radiation and showed behavioural and physiological changes associated with increased heat load.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider evidence that crustaceans might experience pain and stress in ways analogous to those of vertebrates and apply criteria that might indicate a potential for pain experience: a suitable central nervous system and receptors, avoidance learning, protective motor reactions that might include reduced use of the affected area, limping, rubbing, holding or autotomy, physiological changes, trade-offs between stimulus avoidance and other motivational requirements, opioid receptors and evidence of reduced pain experience if treated with local anaesthetics or analgesics, and high cognitive ability and sentience.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors found that horses showed differences in stress, discomfort and fear responses as measured by heart rate and behaviour when ridden in Rollkur (R) obtained by pressure on the reins compared to regular poll flexion (i.e. N).

TL;DR: Pleasure has moral import for such practices as factory farming and laboratory research, for it amplifies the moral burden of depriving animals the opportunity to lead fulfilling, enjoyable lives.

TL;DR: It is speculated that cattle interactions with landscape level nutritional dynamics may at least partially explain seasonal changes in distribution and forage use by cattle across the landscape.

TL;DR: For instance, animal welfare science has been criticised for a tendency to rely on abstract, quantitative measures rather than description, to use controlled experiments more than naturalistic observation, and to focus on measures of central tendency (means, median) rather than individual differences.

TL;DR: Allometric relationships are found to be an appropriate basis for the formulation of space allowances for livestock, although there are theoretical reasons why allometric relationships to space allowances may vary slightly for different classes of stock.

TL;DR: It is important to consider the current system-level insights on different types of abnormal repetitive behaviour, to which these disorders may be classified, and to consider whether comparative research in humans and parrots might therefore be mutually beneficial.

TL;DR: It is concluded that C57BL/6J mice at 20–24 °C are not housed at their preferred temperature for all behaviors or genders, and that it may not be possible to select a single preferredTemperature for all mice.

TL;DR: It is suggested that primiparous cows are more susceptible to suffer from a lack of hygiene or socio-positive relationships when submitted to high competitive pressure, especially when they are mixed with more experienced animals that could have better coping strategies in a high competition situation.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the space use preferences between two distinct enclosures: an indoor, hardscape enclosure and an indoor/outdoor, naturalistic enclosure, using electivity index calculations to assess both the degree of use for specific features and the degree to which these selections strengthened or weakened.

TL;DR: A retrospective study was carried out on feline behaviour problems presented at the Animal Behaviour Clinic at the Barcelona School of Veterinary Medicine to identify the main risk factors as discussed by the authors, and three hundred thirty six cats presented for a behaviour problem between 1998 and 2006 were included in the study group.

TL;DR: The study demonstrated that training shelter dogs increases adoptability, and basic obedience training and environmental alterations on adoption rate of shelter dogs were evaluated.

TL;DR: The results suggest that optical flow measures have the potential to be used as an adjunct or even a substitute for gait scoring on commercial farms with the added advantage that the measurements could be made continuously throughout the life of a flock.

TL;DR: It is concluded that the welfare benefits of local anaesthesia for castration of piglets, as carried out and assessed here, may not fully meet expectations, and that further research is needed to find ways to reduce the suffering of male piglets.

TL;DR: This paper identified the characteristics important to the Australian public in their ''ideal dog'' to determine this, 877 participants (79.8% female) aged 18-82 years (mean = 34.3, SD = 14.5) were surveyed.

TL;DR: Measure of pig activity has potential for predicting tail biting outbreaks on commercial farms as do levels of tails tucked under and damaging tail contact and the occurrence of single tail-biting events may be reliable indicators of future Outbreaks.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess whether alternation of two contrasting objects increased enrichment value, and whether simultaneous access increased overall object-directed behavior in comparison with single presentation of each object.

TL;DR: There were only two main effects of light intensity on behaviour during the overall photoperiod: 5 lx broilers preened and foraged less than the 50 and 200 lX birds (P = 0.03).