Showing papers in "Applied Animal Behaviour Science in 2014"

TL;DR: In this article, a cross-sectional convenience sample of UK dog owners was used to estimate the number of dogs showing aggression to people in three contexts (unfamiliar people on entering, or outside the house, and family members); identify whether these co-occur, and investigate risk factors for aggression in each context using multivariable analyses.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the scientific findings of breed differences in behaviour from a wide range of methodologies with respect to both temperament traits and cognitive abilities to determine whether meaningful differences in behavior between breeds have been established.

TL;DR: It was found that the majority of dogs (87%) trained with pure PC alone did not correctly signal the presence of one or more of four PC-based explosive mixtures.

TL;DR: A number of issues are found with the more commonly used behavioural tests, including the lack of ethologically valid test designs, and the need for greater standardisation of design which would facilitate comparison of results across studies.

TL;DR: Quantifying the mechanisms by which intake rate is determined in swards of contrasting structure and forage species reveals the importance of animal choice in the interaction between animal and sward, and it seems that bite mass first increased and then decreased with increasing sward height, a result that seems due to animal choice and not from restrictions imposed by the swards.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors tested the effect of noise pollution on the behavior and enclosure use of 12 mammal species held in 12 separate enclosures at the Belo Horizonte Zoo when exposed to different sound pressure levels.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess individual ranging behavior on a covered (veranda) and an uncovered outdoor run (free-range) in laying hen flocks varying in size and find that individual hens in small and medium sized flocks visited the areas outside the house more frequently and spent more time there than hens from large flocks.

TL;DR: The findings suggest that cats provided with a hiding box were able to recover faster in their new environment compared to cats without a hide box, as measured by the CCS.

TL;DR: Risks during the rearing and laying period for feather damage at 40 weeks of age, in ISA brown and Dekalb White laying hens are assessed to aid in providing practical solutions to this serious animal welfare problem.

TL;DR: Eye and limb preferences were scored in the closest undomesticated relative of Equus caballus using the same methods as used previously to study laterality in feral horses to find significant left-eye/side biases in agonistic interactions within harem bands.

TL;DR: To conclude, tail biting in pigs starts early in life and is difficult to predict due to its inconsistency, although tail damage is more consistent throughout life.

TL;DR: During the 60-min AAA session, salivary cortisol concentration and stress-associated behavior were not statistically differ- ent compared to when dogs spent the same amount of time in the home setting, suggesting that they were not distressed when participating in the AAA sessions.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of visitor number and visitor noise on the welfare of a population of captive koalas were investigated, and it was shown that an increase in visitor noise treatment resulted in increased time spent vigilant in the animals.

TL;DR: Early life experiences are known to shape the behavioral development of animals, and therefore events occurring during preadolescence and adolescence may have long-term effects as discussed by the authors. In dogs, this peri...

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether ear postures in dairy cows were reliable indicators of a low arousal, positive emotional state, and found that relaxed ear posture is indicative of what is suggested to be a positive, low arousal emotional state in dairy cow and could therefore be a useful, noninvasive measure of emotional state when used by trained observers.

TL;DR: The results confirm the importance of light stimulation during incubation on the later behavior and physiology of broiler chickens, but indicate that providing light only during the last week of incubation, which would coincide with the maximum light stimulation provided by hens’ excursions from the nest, is insufficient to produce these effects.

TL;DR: The study evaluated whether any behaviors exhibited by dogs during an out-of-kennel interaction with a potential adopter predicted adoption and whether other predictors such as the morphology of the dog, intention to adopt a dog that day, and location of the interaction influenced adoption.

TL;DR: Three low-cost objects are tested on undocked growing-finishing pigs on a commercial farm in Finland, housed on partly slatted floors in 10-m2 pens of 11 pigs, to design objects that improve welfare at minimal material and labour costs.

TL;DR: In this paper, a cognitive bias test in horses was developed to assess the effect of training using positive reinforcement (PR) or negative reinforcement (NR) on their emotional states, and the results of the test suggest that NR mares were in a more optimistic mood compared to PR mares.

TL;DR: Results from three independent observational studies reveal that lameness in an AMS affected feeding behaviour, rumination and AMS visits, likely to have negative consequences for farm profitability, but also implications for the health and welfare of the animals.

TL;DR: The results suggest that the macro environment may be at least as relevant to the cat as the micro environment, indicating that attention to cage enrichment without consideration for the effect of the room may be insufficient to optimize caged cat behavior and welfare.

TL;DR: This review presents the current scientific knowledge on behavioural methods of pain assessment in laboratory rats and mice and focuses on measures of spontaneous behaviour, since these will find greatest utility in clinical pain management.

TL;DR: In this paper, a questionnaire for behavioral phenotyping of dogs with and without anxiety was developed to identify the most fearful dogs (cases) and dogs not showing fear (controls) within and across breeds.

TL;DR: The results point out that the assessment of dogs’ behavioural and physiological responses during physical human–dog contact provide adequate information, whether the level of the dogs' emotional conflict might jeopardize the benefits associated with human– dog interactions.

TL;DR: Behaviour is a good indicator of mucosal immune function in shelter cats and may be of clinical significance for the management of upper respiratory disease in animal shelters.

TL;DR: Findings provide further support for the emotional contagion between dogs and their owners, and suggest that measuring changes in the memory performance can be used as an indicator of contagion-induced changes in dogs’ stress level.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors suggest four criteria by which an intervention may be considered an environmental enrichment: (a) give the animal more control over its environment; (b) add behavioral choices; (c) promote species-appropriate repertoires; and (d) empower the animal to deal adequately with challenges.

TL;DR: This paper used a spatial judgement task, in which farmed pigs were trained to expect food inside a bowl in one location and not in another, to determine whether pigs housed in ways that might be expected to result in relatively positive or negative emotional states respond differently to ambiguous stimuli of intermediate spatial locations.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated whether pigs selected for a relatively positive or negative genetic effect (−SBV) on the growth of their pen mates and kept in either barren or straw-enriched pens differ in fearfulness.

TL;DR: Evidence of good content, construct and criterion validity was established, however, internal consistency was found to be poor, indicating that the reliability of the score could be improved.