bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Feeding Gum Arabic to New World Monkeys: Species Differences and Palatability
Authors: Herron S , Price E , Wormell D 
Published: January 2023

AbstractMembers of the New World primate generaCallithrixandCebuellahave specialisations for eating plant exudates. Exudates are also an important component of the diets of many other callitrichid species in the wild, especially at times of nutritional stress. Gum arabic is fed daily to all marmosets and to some tamarins in Jersey Zoo's collection. This study investigated species differences in liking for gum and the effects of the concentration of gum solutions on palatability. As predicted from field data,Callithrixspecies consumed more gum than other species;Saguinusalso showed quite a strong liking for gum. In parallel with data from the wild, lion tamarins(Leontopithecusspp.) consumed the least, andCallimicoalso took relatively little. The two marmoset species tended to like stronger solutions of gum more than weak solutions and, therefore, the provision of smaller amounts of stronger concentrations is likely to be the most cost-effective way of incorporating gum into the diet. Providing gum to callitrichids on a regular basis can have significant welfare benefits.
Behavioural Reactions, Semen Quality and Testosterone Levels in Cocks: Genetic Implications
Authors: Ferrante V , Verga M , Mangiagalli M G , Carenzi C 
Published: January 2023

AbstractIntense selection for productivity may have indirectly affected some behavioural traits in poultry. Intensive husbandry systems change rapidly, and the animals may have difficulties in coping with their environment and management. The aims of this study are to examine the fear reactions of two strains of chicken(Gallus gallus domesticus)and to test the relationship between these fear reactivity levels and the chickens’ semen characteristics. Semen characteristics may indicate the effect of genetic selection both on the productivity and fitness of the animals. Forty cocks of two genetics strains (an egg-type strain and a meat-type strain), housed in single cages, were used in the study. During the breeding period, semen was collected twice a week from each animal. Each cock was submitted to an open-field test and a tonic immobility test. The results show that strong genetic selection, carried out over a long period on domestic chickens in order to improve egg and meat production, seems to affect some aspects of behaviour. The reactions to the fear tests show many differences between the two strains: in the open-field test, the egg-type cocks show higher levels of exploratory behaviour and lower general fearfulness (eg lower frequency of vocalisations and head movements). On the other hand, the meat-type cocks show a significantly lower duration of tonic immobility, indicating a lower level of fear specifically towards humans. Moreover, a key nearest neighbours analysis carried out using the behavioural data allows us to discriminate between the two strains with an error rate of 0%. These results suggest the potential for genetic selection aimed at reducing fear reactions, both towards novel environments and towards human beings, which may significantly improve the welfare of cocks.
Relationship Between Rooting Behaviour and Foraging in Growing Pigs
Authors: Beattie V E , O'Connell N E 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between rooting behaviour and foraging in growing pigs. In study 1, forty-eight 11-week-old pigs were housed in eight groups of six with access to a rooting substrate in the form of spent mushroom compost. In half of the groups the rooting substrate contained food rewards, and in the other half of the groups it did not. All pigs had ad libitum access to feed. In study 2, one hundred and ninety-two 11-week-old pigs were housed in thirty-two groups of six, all with access to spent mushroom compost, and eight groups were each fed to 70, 80, 90 or 100% appetite. Treatments were applied over a two-week period in both studies. The number of pigs involved in active rooting (rooting in substrate while standing), inactive rooting (rooting in substrate while sitting or lying) or non-rooting activity (standing in substrate area and involved in any activity except rooting) was recorded by scan sampling. These behaviours tended to reach a peak in the morning and again in the afternoon. Inactive rooting was not significantly affected by treatments in study 1 or study 2. Food rewards in the rooting substrate led to a significant reduction in active rooting behaviour and in non-rooting activity during peak periods of the day (P < 0.05). It is suggested that learned associations between rooting behaviour and acquisition of food caused the pigs to stop rooting when all the food rewards had been consumed. The fact that rooting was performed in the absence of nutritive feedback suggests that this behaviour is performed independently of its appetitive foraging function. Restricting feed levels to 70 or 80% of appetite led to a significant increase in active rooting and in non-rooting activity during peak periods (P < 0.05). The relationship between feed restriction and active rooting behaviour tended to be linear (P < 0.08). This suggests that levels of rooting behaviour are flexible in response to nutritional needs.
Oral Administration of a 12% Sucrose Solution Did Not Decrease Behavioural Indicators of Distress in Piglets Undergoing Tail Docking, Teeth Clipping and Ear Notching
Authors: Rand J S , Noonan G J , Priest J , Ainscow J , Blackshaw J K 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSucrose has been shown to attenuate the behavioural response to painful procedures in human infants undergoing circumcision or blood collection via heelstick. Sucrose has also been found to have a behaviour-modifying effect in neonatal rats exposed to a hot plate. The effect was abolished in neonatal rats by injection of the opioid antagonist naltrexone, suggesting that it was mediated by endogenous opioids. In this experiment, the behaviour of 571 newborn Large White x Landrace hybrid piglets in a specific-pathogen-free piggery of the University of Queensland was recorded during and after the routine management practices of tail docking, ear notching and teeth clipping. Piglets were randomly assigned to receive 1.0 ml of a 12% sucrose solution (treatment group) or a placebo (1.0 ml of air) administered via syringe in the mouth, 60 s before commencement of one of the management procedures. Behaviours were recorded at the time of the procedure, and then 2 min after completion of the procedure. Piglets that received the sucrose solution did not behave significantly differently from piglets receiving the placebo. Regardless of whether sucrose or placebo was administered, piglets undergoing the routine management procedures showed significantly greater behavioural responses than piglets undergoing no procedure. It was concluded that under commercial conditions, a 12% sucrose solution administered 1 min prior to surgery was not effective in decreasing the behavioural indicators of distress in piglets undergoing routine management procedures. Further research into methods of minimising distress caused to piglets by these procedures is recommended.
Effect of Catching Broilers by Hand or Machine on Rates of Injuries and Dead-On-Arrivals
Authors: Knierim U , Gocke A 
Published: January 2023

AbstractCatching of broilers is the first stage in the transfer of birds to the slaughterhouse. The catching process entails a high risk not only of stress but also of injury and death to the birds. Associated injury and mortality rates have important implications not only for animal welfare but also for the economics of the procedure. Catching machines are advantageous with regard to labour costs and standards, and they may also reduce damage to the birds. In the present investigation the use of a sweeper-type catching machine was compared with manual catching under commercial conditions, data being collected during 43 mechanical and 40 manual catching events evenly distributed over one year. Dead-on-arrival rates were recorded, and 108 068 mechanically caught and 87 916 manually caught birds were examined for injuries on the shackles at the processing plant. Injury rates of all types were significantly reduced after mechanical catching. This improvement was highest with respect to leg injuries. There was no significant difference in the number of dead-on-arrivals except during the spring period, when there were higher losses of birds caught mechanically; this was thought to be attributable to climatic conditions. The loading of the transport containers with equal numbers of birds and the initial familiarisation period of the catching team with the machine are potentially problematic factors with potential for improvement. The catching machine investigated here, with its lower risk of injury to broilers than commercial manual catching, has the potential to limit impairment of bird welfare during catching.
A Continuous-Choice Assessment of the Domestic Fowl's Aversion to Concurrent Transport Stressors
Authors: MacCaluim J M , Abeyesinghe S M , White R P , Wathes C M 
Published: January 2023

AbstractCharacterisation of the effect of transport on the welfare of fowl requires common currency methods that can compare the effects of diverse stressors using the same unit of measure. Aversion of broiler chickens (42 ± 1 days old) to vibrational and thermal stressors was investigated in a continuous free-choice procedure. Each choice-chamber had four compartments, connected via a central zone, offering a thermal stressor (T: 40°C, relative humidity 21%), a vibrational stressor (V: 2 Hz, 1 ms−2), concurrent vibrational and thermal stressors (VT), or no applied stressors (N). In experiment 1, there were no significant effects of stressor on the latency to leave the compartments after initial introduction (n = 24). In experiment 2, 12 subjects were introduced individually to a chamber for 4 h during each of a control and two treatment sessions. The results indicated that chickens did not avoid vibration, but significantly avoided the thermal stressor overall (T and VT; P < 0.001). As no interactive effect of the stressors was observed, all avoidance of the combined stressors can be attributed to the effects of the thermal stressor alone. Further work is required to establish ways in which delayed stressors can be studied using behavioural methods before common currency methods can be practicable.
The Effect of Nose Ringing on Exploratory Behaviour in Gilts
Authors: Studnitz M , Jensen K Hjelholt , Jørgensen E , Jensen K Kjær 
Published: January 2023

AbstractOutdoor sows with nose rings can perform most of their natural behavioural activities except rooting. The prevention of rooting through surgical intervention (nose ringing) may be detrimental to welfare, although the behavioural and welfare consequences of rooting deprivation are not well documented. The present experiment examines exploratory behaviour in unringed, ringed and deringed gilts by repeatedly exposing the gilts to a sandbox supplied with bark chips. Four months prior to the experiment, 16 gilts, eight with nose rings and eight without, were housed in four fields. Over a period of 12 days, the 16 gilts, in pairs from the same field, were walked to the sandbox; each gilt visited the sandbox six times in total. After deringing of the ringed gilts (and a control procedure for the unringed gilts), all of the gilts were exposed to the sandbox twice. During each visit, the exploratory behavioural patterns of rooting, sniffing, manipulating, and chewing were observed using 30 s scan sampling. The ringed gilts showed no rooting behaviour in the sandbox; on the other hand, their mean frequency of chewing behaviour was significantly higher than that of the unringed gilts (19.89 versus 13.54; P < 0.05). When all of the exploratory behavioural patterns were summed, no significant differences were found between ringed and unringed gilts. On the second day after deringing, the previously ringed gilts started to root, and no significant difference in the incidence of rooting behaviour between unringed gilts and newly deringed gilts was found. We discuss whether rooting behaviour can be substituted by chewing in order to explore an environment. Gilts that are prevented from rooting are found to explore as much as rooting gilts, and they achieved an adequate knowledge of the sandbox (as demonstrated by the fact that they did not show increased exploration after deringing), although rooting was the preferred exploratory behaviour. In this study, we did not find serious symptoms of chronically reduced welfare as a result of nose ringing.
Behavioural and Physiological Differences Between Silver Foxes Selected and Not Selected for Domestic Behaviour
Authors: Harri M , Mononen J , Ahola L , Plyusnina I , Rekilä T 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe degree of domestication of an animal is difficult to estimate because the animal's phenotype depends not only on its genetic make-up but also on its experiences during ontogeny. In addition, comparisons between wild and domestic animals suffer from the lack of a proper reference population. In this study, we compared the offspring of silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) that had been selected specifically for tameness for more than 30 generations (NOVO) with normal Finnish farmed foxes (FIN) and with reciprocal hybrids between these two strains. All animals were housed under standard farm conditions without any extra handling. The NOVO foxes had higher domestication indexes and lower fearfulness scores than the FIN foxes, with their hybrids showing values in between. Almost all NOVO foxes started eating in the presence of a human and took a titbit from him, whereas only a few FIN foxes did so. Open field and urinary cortisol tests failed to discriminate between the genotypes. The NOVO cubs had lower levels of serum cortisol both before and after a stressful situation or ACTH injection and showed lower stress-induced hyperthermia than the FIN cubs, with the hybrids showing results in between. NOVO foxes can be used as a reference when developing and validating behavioural tests for use in the selection of less fearful silver foxes. The observed low fear levels and low stress hormone levels suggest better welfare in the NOVO foxes under standard farm conditions.
Maternal Response to Mother-Offspring Separation in the Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes)
Authors: Bloomsmith M A , Tarou L R , Lambeth S P , Haberstroh M D 
Published: January 2023

AbstractFor management and/or research purposes, chimpanzee mothers and their offspring are often physically separated from one another at an earlier age than they would be in the wild. Studies of the behavioural and physiological effects of mother-infant separation on infant behaviour have been conducted in both human and nonhuman primates. However, few studies have been conducted to examine the response of the mother to separation from her infant, particularly in great apes. The current study opportunistically examined the response of twelve chimpanzee mothers to separation from 15 of their offspring ranging from 1.8 to 5.4 years of age. Behavioural data (proximity of the mother to other group members, and fifteen behaviours representing six categories [agonistic, prosocial, vocalisations, abnormal, locomotor, inactive]) were collected for three weeks prior to and three to five weeks following the permanent removal of the offspring from their mothers. A repeated measures MANOVA conducted on all subjects revealed no significant change in behaviour following separation. There was a significant increase in inactivity following separation of the offspring (F2.21 = 5.47, P < 0.05) in a subgroup of mothers (n = 8) that was studied more intensively on the first day of separation. Maternal age, infant age, presence of other offspring, and past experience with mother-offspring separation had no effect on response to separation. These results contradict those of mother-infant separation studies in monkeys and indicate that most behavioural indicators of well-being are stable in chimpanzee mothers that remain in their familiar environment and social group following offspring separation.
Assessing Pain, Suffering and Distress in Laboratory Animals: An RSPCA Survey of Current Practice in the UK
Authors: Hawkins P 
Published: January 2023

AbstractA survey was undertaken to evaluate how animal discomfort, pain, suffering and distress are recognised and assessed in UK scientific procedure establishments. In total, twenty-eight establishments were visited between 1999 and 2001 and 137 people participated, including animal technicians, veterinarians and scientists. The full results, conclusions and recommendations of the survey have been published elsewhere (Hawkins 2002). The study showed that people are concerned about animal suffering, want to be able to prevent and alleviate it, and are aware that there are a number of practical problems that need to be overcome. These include animals concealing clinical signs, which leads to difficulties in detecting incipient discomfort and distress, and human subjectivity when assessing animals. The clinical signs used as indicators of potential pain, suffering and distress are largely subjective. Participants at all establishments agree that a ‘team’ approach to animal monitoring is the best way to ensure consistency and effectiveness. All twenty-eight establishments use clinical observation sheets to assist with animal assessment and monitoring, nine also use score sheets and seven use computerised data management systems. This paper concludes with recommendations based on the survey findings, with respect to monitoring techniques, assessment protocols and training issues, which aim to facilitate more effective animal assessment and monitoring.
Safeguarding the Welfare of Livestock Grazing on Nature Conservation Sites
Authors: Grayson F W 
Published: January 2023

AbstractNature conservationists frequently use domestic livestock to graze unimproved semi-natural vegetation in order to achieve the ecological objectives that they are seeking for the sites that they manage. This paper reviews the role of the Grazing Animals Project in raising awareness of the factors that affect the health, safety and general welfare of the animals involved in this activity. It also describes the measures being undertaken to ensure that the people charged with the care of grazing livestock on nature reserves are best equipped to deliver the management targets for the land without compromising the well-being of the animals.
The assessment of bar chewing as an escape behaviour in laboratory mice
Authors: Lewis RS , Hurst JL 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe ability to measure objectively how an animal perceives its home environment is essential for improving the housing and husbandry conditions of laboratory animals. Chewing at cage bars by a rodent may reflect the animal's desire to escape from its home cage and thus provide a measure of the relative aversiveness or inadequacy of different housing conditions from the animal's viewpoint. To assess whether bar chewing by laboratory mice is an escape behaviour, adult male and female ICR-(CD-1) mice were housed individually or in same-sex groups of three in modified shoebox-type cages. Cages had two sets of external bars in the side walls, an equivalent set of bars fixed internally and a Perspex lid. One set of external bars opened daily, allowing the mice to escape into a larger arena. All mice showed a strong preference for chewing at external bars over those that were internal to each cage. After one week of experience, mice also preferred the external bars that opened daily to those that did not open. Behaviour directed towards the cage lid declined over time as the mice experienced the new escape route in the cage side. Interest in the external bars correlated positively with time since last escape. Results confirm that bar chewing reflects an attempt to escape the cage and explore the surrounding area and may provide a suitable behavioural measure of perception of the cage environment for use in welfare assessment.
The effects of road traffic accidents on domestic cats and their owners
Authors: Rochlitz I 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSix veterinary practices participated in a study of cats involved in road accidents. Of 127 cats, 93 survived, of which 58 had moderate to very severe injuries. The mean period of hospitalisation was five days and the mean length of veterinary treatment was 23 days. The cost of treatment was less than £400 for 84% of cats. Owners of 51 surviving cats completed questionnaires within three to five months of the accident. The mean time it took for their cats to recover was 47 days (n = 41; range 1-150 days). Eight cats had not recovered within five months, four of which had had a limb amputated. The severity of the cats’ injuries correlated positively with the cost of treatment, length of hospitalisation and treatment, and time to recovery (rs > 0.69, P < 0.001). Behavioural changes were noted in 34 cats; 23 were described as being more nervous, going outdoors less, or being more fearful of cars, roads or going outdoors. Half of the owners treated their cat differently: 17 restricted the time their cat spent outdoors and II worried more about their cat. The effects of the accident on the owner's emotions and finances were measured using a scale from I (minimum) to 7 (maximum). Most owners registered a score of 5, 6 or 7 for effect on emotions and I, 2 or 4 for effect on finances; the scores were not correlated. Road accidents are an important cause of poor welfare in cats and their owners.
Automated recording of stress vocalisations as a tool to document impaired welfare in pigs
Authors: Schön PC , Puppe B , Manteuffel G 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe vocalisations of animals are results of particular emotional states. For example, the stress screams of pigs may be indicators of disturbed welfare. Our objective was to develop a system to monitor and record levels of stress calls in pigs, which could be employed in environments of breeding, transportation and slaughter. Using a combination of sound analysis by linear prediction coding and artificial neural networks, it was possible to detect the stress vocalisations of pigs in noisy pig units with few recognition errors (<5%). The system (STREMODO: stress monitor and documentation unit) running on PCs is insensitive to environmental noise, human speech and pig vocalisations other than screams. As a stand-alone device it can be routinely used for the objective, non-invasive measurement of acute stress in various farming environments. The system delivers reliable, reproducible registrations of stress vocalisations. Its detection quality in commercial systems was found to correlate well with that of human experts. STREMODO is particularly well-suited for comparisons of housing and management regimes. Since the system can be trained to recognise various animal vocalisations, its use with other species is also well within its scope.