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Kaźmierowska AM, Kostecki M, Szczepanik M, Nikolaev T, Hamed A, Michałowski JM, Wypych M, Marchewka A, Knapska E. Rats respond to aversive emotional arousal of human handlers with the activation of the basolateral and central amygdala. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2302655120. [PMID: 37934822 PMCID: PMC10655214 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2302655120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Reading danger signals may save an animal's life, and learning about threats from others allows avoiding first-hand aversive and often fatal experiences. Fear expressed by other individuals, including those belonging to other species, may indicate the presence of a threat in the environment and is an important social cue. Humans and other animals respond to conspecifics' fear with increased activity of the amygdala, the brain structure crucial for detecting threats and mounting an appropriate response to them. It is unclear, however, whether the cross-species transmission of threat information involves similar mechanisms, e.g., whether animals respond to the aversively induced emotional arousal of humans with activation of fear-processing circuits in the brain. Here, we report that when rats interact with a human caregiver who had recently undergone fear conditioning, they show risk assessment behavior and enhanced amygdala activation. The amygdala response involves its two major parts, the basolateral and central, which detect a threat and orchestrate defensive responses. Further, we show that humans who learn about a threat by observing another aversively aroused human, similar to rats, activate the basolateral and centromedial parts of the amygdala. Our results demonstrate that rats detect the emotional arousal of recently aversively stimulated caregivers and suggest that cross-species social transmission of threat information may involve similar neural circuits in the amygdala as the within-species transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna M. Kaźmierowska
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY–Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
| | - Mateusz Kostecki
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY–Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
| | - Michał Szczepanik
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY–Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behavior, Research Center Jülich, Jülich52428, Germany
| | - Tomasz Nikolaev
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY–Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
| | - Adam Hamed
- Laboratory of Spatial Memory, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
| | - Jarosław M. Michałowski
- Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience in Poznan, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poznań61-719, Poland
| | - Marek Wypych
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
| | - Artur Marchewka
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
| | - Ewelina Knapska
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY–Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw02-093, Poland
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Jardat P, Liehrmann O, Reigner F, Parias C, Calandreau L, Lansade L. Horses discriminate between human facial and vocal expressions of sadness and joy. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1733-1742. [PMID: 37543956 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01817-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Communication of emotions plays a key role in intraspecific social interactions and likely in interspecific interactions. Several studies have shown that animals perceive human joy and anger, but few studies have examined other human emotions, such as sadness. In this study, we conducted a cross-modal experiment, in which we showed 28 horses two soundless videos simultaneously, one showing a sad, and one a joyful human face. These were accompanied by either a sad or joyful voice. The number of horses whose first look to the video that was incongruent with the voice was longer than their first look to the congruent video was higher than chance, suggesting that horses could form cross-modal representations of human joy and sadness. Moreover, horses were more attentive to the videos of joy and looked at them for longer, more frequently, and more rapidly than the videos of sadness. Their heart rates tended to increase when they heard joy and to decrease when they heard sadness. These results show that horses are able to discriminate facial and vocal expressions of joy and sadness and may form cross-modal representations of these emotions; they also are more attracted to joyful faces than to sad faces and seem to be more aroused by a joyful voice than a sad voice. Further studies are needed to better understand how horses perceive the range of human emotions, and we propose that future experiments include neutral stimuli as well as emotions with different arousal levels but a same valence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Plotine Jardat
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
| | - Océane Liehrmann
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20500, Turku, Finland
| | | | - Céline Parias
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France
| | | | - Léa Lansade
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
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Lazzaroni M, Schär J, Baxter E, Gratalon J, Range F, Marshall-Pescini S, Dale R. Village dogs match pet dogs in reading human facial expressions. PeerJ 2023; 11:e15601. [PMID: 37431468 PMCID: PMC10329818 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Most studies on dogs' cognitive skills in understanding human communication have been conducted on pet dogs, making them a role model for the species. However, pet dogs are just a minor and particular sample of the total dog world population, which would instead be better represented by free-ranging dogs. Since free-ranging dogs are still facing the selective forces of the domestication process, they indeed represent an important study subject to investigate the effect that such a process has had on dogs' behavior and cognition. Despite only a few studies on free-ranging dogs (specifically village dogs) having been conducted so far, the results are intriguing. In fact, village dogs seem to place a high value on social contact with humans and understand some aspects of humans' communication. In this study we aimed to investigate village dogs' ability in understanding a subtle human communicative cue: human facial expressions, and compared them with pet dogs, who have already provided evidence of this social skill. We tested whether subjects were able to distinguish between neutral, happy, and angry human facial expressions in a test mimicking a potential real-life situation, where the experimenter repeatedly performed one facial expression while eating some food, and ultimately dropped it on the ground. We found evidence that village dogs, as well as pet dogs, could distinguish between subtle human communicative cues, since they performed a higher frequency of aversive gazes (looking away) in the angry condition than in the happy condition. However, we did not find other behavioral effects of the different conditions, likely due to the low intensity of the emotional expression performed. We suggest that village dogs' ability in distinguishing between human facial expressions could provide them with an advantage in surviving in a human-dominated environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Lazzaroni
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Joana Schär
- Department of Behavioral & Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Elizabeth Baxter
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Juliette Gratalon
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Friederike Range
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sarah Marshall-Pescini
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Rachel Dale
- Department for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University for Continuing Education, Krems, Austria
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Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol. Sci Rep 2023; 13:3285. [PMID: 36841856 PMCID: PMC9968287 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30119-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Animals are widely believed to sense human emotions through smell. Chemoreception is the most primitive and ubiquitous sense, and brain regions responsible for processing smells are among the oldest structures in mammalian evolution. Thus, chemosignals might be involved in interspecies communication. The communication of emotions is essential for social interactions, but very few studies have clearly shown that animals can sense human emotions through smell. We used a habituation-discrimination protocol to test whether horses can discriminate between human odors produced while feeling fear vs. joy. Horses were presented with sweat odors of humans who reported feeling fear or joy while watching a horror movie or a comedy, respectively. A first odor was presented twice in successive trials (habituation), and then, the same odor and a novel odor were presented simultaneously (discrimination). The two odors were from the same human in the fear or joy condition; the experimenter and the observer were blinded to the condition. Horses sniffed the novel odor longer than the repeated odor, indicating they discriminated between human odors produced in fear and joy contexts. Moreover, differences in habituation speed and asymmetric nostril use according to odor suggest differences in the emotional processing of the two odors.
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Albuquerque N, Resende B. Dogs functionally respond to and use emotional information from human expressions. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 5:e2. [PMID: 37587944 PMCID: PMC10426098 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.57] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Revised: 09/11/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotions are critical for humans, not only feeling and expressing them, but also reading the emotional expressions of others. For a long time, this ability was thought to be exclusive to people; however, there is now evidence that other animals also rely on emotion perception to guide their behaviour and to adjust their actions in such way as to guarantee success in their social groups. This is the case for domestic dogs, who have tremendously complex abilities to perceive the emotional expressions not only of their conspecifics but also of human beings. In this paper we discuss dogs' capacities to read human emotions. More than perception, though, are dogs able to use this emotional information in a functional way? Does reading emotional expressions allow them to live functional social lives? Dogs can respond functionally to emotional expressions and can use the emotional information they obtain from others during problem-solving, that is, acquiring information from faces and body postures allows them to make decisions. Here, we tackle questions related to the abilities of responding to and using emotional information from human expressions in a functional way and discuss how far dogs can go when reading our emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Briseida Resende
- Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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6
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Dogs can discriminate between human baseline and psychological stress condition odours. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0274143. [PMID: 36170254 PMCID: PMC9518869 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research suggests that dogs can detect when humans are experiencing stress. This study tested whether baseline and stress odours were distinguishable to dogs, using a double-blind, two-phase, three-alternative forced-choice procedure. Combined breath and sweat samples were obtained from participants at baseline, and after a stress-inducing (mental arithmetic) task. Participants’ stress was validated with self-report and physiological measures recorded via a Biopac MP150 system. Thirty-six participants’ samples were presented to four dogs across 36 sessions (16, 11, 7 and 2 sessions, respectively). Each session consisted of 10 Phase One training trials and 20 Phase Two discrimination trials. In Phase One, the dog was presented with a participant’s stress sample (taken immediately post-task) alongside two blanks (the sample materials without breath or sweat), and was required to identify the stress sample with an alert behaviour. In Phase Two, the dog was presented with the stress sample, the same participant’s baseline sample (taken pre-task), and a blank. Which sample (blank, baseline, or stress) the dog performed their alert behaviour on was measured. If dogs can correctly alert on the stress sample in Phase Two (when the baseline sample was present), it suggests that baseline and stress odours are distinguishable. Performance ranged from 90.00% to 96.88% accuracy with a combined accuracy of 93.75% (N trials = 720). A binomial test (where probability of success on a single trial was 0.33, and alpha was 0.05) showed that the proportion of correct trials was greater than that expected by chance (p < 0.001). Results indicate that the physiological processes associated with an acute psychological stress response produce changes in the volatile organic compounds emanating from breath and/or sweat that are detectable to dogs. These results add to our understanding of human-dog relationships and could have applications to Emotional Support and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) service dogs.
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Merkies K, Sudarenko Y, Hodder AJ. Can Ponies (Equus Caballus) Distinguish Human Facial Expressions? Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12182331. [PMID: 36139191 PMCID: PMC9495040 DOI: 10.3390/ani12182331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Communication within a species is essential for access to resources, alerting to dangers, group facilitation and social bonding; human facial expressions are considered to be an important factor in one’s ability to communicate with others. Evidence has shown that dogs and horses are able to distinguish positive and negative facial expressions by observing photographs of humans, however there is currently no research on how facial expressions from a live human are perceived by horses. This study investigated how ponies distinguish facial expressions presented by live actors. Trained actors (n = 2), using the human Facial Action Coding System, displayed four facial expressions (anger, sadness, joy and neutral) individually to twenty ponies. Heart rate and behaviors of the ponies including first monocular eye look, eye look duration (right and left side bias) and latency to approach were observed. A generalized linear mixed model (GLIMMIX) using Sidak’s multiple comparisons of least squared means determined that when exposed to anger expressions ponies looked more often with their left eye first and when exposed to joy, looked more often with their right eye first (p = 0.011). The ponies spent more time looking at angry expressions (p = 0.0003) in comparison to other expressions. There was no variation in heart rate across expressions (p > 0.89). Regardless of human facial expression, ponies looked longer (p = 0.0035), took longer to approach (p = 0.0297) and displayed more oral behaviours (p < 0.0001) with one actor than the other indicating increased arousal or negative valence. Ponies with more experience as a lesson mount had lower heart rates (p < 0.0001) carried their head lower (p < 0.0001), kept their left ear on the actor (p < 0.03) and exhibited more oral behaviours (p < 0.0001) than ponies with less experience. This study demonstrates that ponies are able to distinguish facial expressions presented by a live human, but other factors also contribute to their responses to humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrina Merkies
- Department of Animal Bioscience, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Reproduction, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Correspondence:
| | - Yuliia Sudarenko
- Department of Animal Bioscience, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Abigail J. Hodder
- Department of Animal Bioscience, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Reproduction, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
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Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Canali E, Drewe JA, Garin-Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Gortázar Schmidt C, Michel V, Miranda Chueca MÁ, Padalino B, Pasquali P, Roberts HC, Spoolder H, Stahl K, Velarde A, Viltrop A, Winckler C, Earley B, Edwards S, Faucitano L, Marti S, Miranda de La Lama GC, Nanni Costa L, Thomsen PT, Ashe S, Mur L, Van der Stede Y, Herskin M. Welfare of small ruminants during transport. EFSA J 2022; 20:e07404. [PMID: 36092764 PMCID: PMC9449987 DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
In the framework of its Farm to Fork Strategy, the Commission is undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of animal welfare legislation. The present Opinion deals with the protection of small ruminants (sheep and goats) during transport. The main focus is on welfare of sheep during transport by road but other means of transport and concerns for welfare of goats during transport are also covered. Current practices related to transport of sheep during the different stages (preparation, loading and unloading, transit and journey breaks) are described. Overall, 11 welfare consequences were identified as being highly relevant for the welfare of sheep during transport based on severity, duration and frequency of occurrence: group stress, handling stress, heat stress, injuries, motion stress, predation stress, prolonged hunger, prolonged thirst, restriction of movement, resting problems and sensory overstimulation. These welfare consequences and their animal-based measures are described. A wide variety of hazards, mainly relating to inappropriate or aggressive handling of animals, structural deficiencies of vehicles and facilities, unfavourable microclimatic and environmental conditions and poor husbandry practices, leading to these welfare consequences were identified. The Opinion contains general and specific conclusions in relation to the different stages of transport. Recommendations to prevent hazards and to correct or mitigate welfare consequences have been developed. Recommendations were also developed to define quantitative thresholds for microclimatic conditions within the means of transport and spatial thresholds (minimum space allowance). The development of welfare consequences over time were assessed in relation to maximum journey time. The Opinion covers specific animal transport scenarios identified by the European Commission relating to the export of sheep by livestock vessels, export of sheep by road, roll-on-roll-off vessels and 'special health status animals', and lists welfare concerns associated with these.
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Communication from the Zoo: Reports from Zoological Facilities of the Impact of COVID-19 Closures on Animals. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/jzbg3020022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Zoos engaged in a range of communication types with prospective visitors during the temporary closures necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to (1) investigate social media reports and public responses to zoo-animal-related posts over a one-year period during COVID-19 lockdowns; (2) understand the use of reporting language in news articles concerning animal responses during zoo closures, and to investigate whether this differed across species; and (3) investigate how keepers perceived general animal behavior, and how they perceived animal behavior in keeper–animal interactions, during the COVID-19 facility closures. Data were collected from BIAZA-accredited zoos’ Facebook pages (March 2020 to March 2021) and news reports (Google search outputs from 20 March to 5 April 2021). Keeper perceptions were captured via questionnaires (May to August 2021). Data were collected on taxa, the reported behavioral changes and the language used in media communications. In Facebook posts and news reports, mammals were more frequently represented than was expected (p < 0.05). Behavioral responses were more frequently negative (p < 0.05) and less frequently positive or neutral (p < 0.05). Keepers reported overall behavioral changes, as well as changes during their own interactions with animals. On Facebook, mammals were described using a combination of behavioral descriptions and anthropomorphic terms, which were used more frequently than was expected (p < 0.05). In the news reports concerning primate species, anthropomorphic descriptions were used more frequently than expected (p < 0.05), while behavioral descriptions were used less frequently than expected (p < 0.05). The reports regarding the Carnivora were the reverse of this. This study enabled an understanding of the impact of the temporary closures on the animals, and how this impact was communicated to the public. The findings may reflect the relationships that humans have with animals and the need for communication methods that will capture visitors’ interest and induce empathy with the various species.
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Maigrot AL, Hillmann E, Briefer EF. Cross-species discrimination of vocal expression of emotional valence by Equidae and Suidae. BMC Biol 2022; 20:106. [PMID: 35606806 PMCID: PMC9128205 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01311-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Discrimination and perception of emotion expression regulate interactions between conspecifics and can lead to emotional contagion (state matching between producer and receiver) or to more complex forms of empathy (e.g., sympathetic concern). Empathy processes are enhanced by familiarity and physical similarity between partners. Since heterospecifics can also be familiar with each other to some extent, discrimination/perception of emotions and, as a result, emotional contagion could also occur between species. RESULTS Here, we investigated if four species belonging to two ungulate Families, Equidae (domestic and Przewalski's horses) and Suidae (pigs and wild boars), can discriminate between vocalizations of opposite emotional valence (positive or negative), produced not only by conspecifics, but also closely related heterospecifics and humans. To this aim, we played back to individuals of these four species, which were all habituated to humans, vocalizations from a unique set of recordings for which the valence associated with vocal production was known. We found that domestic and Przewalski's horses, as well as pigs, but not wild boars, reacted more strongly when the first vocalization played was negative compared to positive, regardless of the species broadcasted. CONCLUSIONS Domestic horses, Przewalski's horses and pigs thus seem to discriminate between positive and negative vocalizations produced not only by conspecifics, but also by heterospecifics, including humans. In addition, we found an absence of difference between the strength of reaction of the four species to the calls of conspecifics and closely related heterospecifics, which could be related to similarities in the general structure of their vocalization. Overall, our results suggest that phylogeny and domestication have played a role in cross-species discrimination/perception of emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Laure Maigrot
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstrasse 2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.,Division of Animal Welfare, Veterinary Public Health Institute, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Länggassstrasse 120, 3012, Bern, Switzerland.,Swiss National Stud Farm, Agroscope, Les Longs-Prés, 1580, Avenches, Switzerland
| | - Edna Hillmann
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstrasse 2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.,Animal Husbandry and Ethology, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institut, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philippstrasse 13, 10115, Berlin, Germany
| | - Elodie F Briefer
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstrasse 2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland. .,Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, Agroscope, Tänikon, 8356, Ettenhausen, Switzerland. .,Department of Biology, Behavioral Ecology Group, Section for Ecology & Evolution, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
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Humans and Goats: Improving Knowledge for a Better Relationship. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12060774. [PMID: 35327171 PMCID: PMC8944699 DOI: 10.3390/ani12060774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary A good relationship between humans (e.g., farmers, owners) and farm animals is vital for the well-being of both parties: on the one hand, people are satisfied with their work, which becomes less stressful and more profitable, and may receive social benefits in terms of education or animal-assisted therapy; on the other hand, animals are rewarded by the presence of humans and are not afraid of them. Goats have high cognitive and communicative abilities towards humans: recognising these abilities helps humans to work properly on the quality of this relationship that is built from the first hours of the goat kids’ life, thanks to frequent and positive contacts (e.g., stroking, talking in a calm voice). Improving the quality of this relationship is an investment in the future of livestock farming and meets public demands for ethical and sustainable production. This review outlines the characteristics and predisposing factors for the establishment of a good human–goat relationship and for its evaluation. Abstract There is consensus that the quality of the human–animal relationship (HAR) is relevant to guarantee appropriate levels of animal welfare. Given the impact that HAR may have on both goats and human beings, the aim of the present review is to elucidate: (1) how humans and goats communicate; (2) which are the factors affecting human–goat interactions; (3) how we can measure the quality of this relationship. The systematic review led to the selection of 58 relevant articles. Effective human–goat communication takes place by means of visual, tactile and auditory stimuli and, to a less extent, via olfactory and gustative stimuli. Goats have well-developed socio-cognitive abilities and rely on humans to get relevant information. A deep knowledge of goats’ communication means and socio-cognitive abilities may greatly help improving the human–goat relationship. Management practices (e.g., rearing methods, amount and quality of interactions), as well as genetic selection for suitable individual traits, may contribute to improving HAR. Several measures to assess the quality of HAR have been validated, including avoidance in the pen and at the feeding rack and latency to first contact. Finally, farmers’ attitudes and empathy with goats, as well as their motivation to work with animals, should be improved through appropriate training.
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Niego A, Benítez-Burraco A. Are feralization and domestication truly mirror processes? ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2021.1975314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Amy Niego
- PhD Program, Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, C/Palos de la Frontera s/n, 41004 Sevilla, Spain
| | - Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, C/Palos de la Frontera s/n, 41004 Sevilla, Spain (E-mail: )
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13
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Jardat P, Lansade L. Cognition and the human-animal relationship: a review of the sociocognitive skills of domestic mammals toward humans. Anim Cogn 2021; 25:369-384. [PMID: 34476652 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01557-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Revised: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
In the past 20 years, research focusing on interspecific sociocognitive abilities of animals toward humans has been growing, allowing a better understanding of the interactions between humans and animals. This review focuses on five sociocognitive abilities of domestic mammals in relation to humans as follows: discriminating and recognizing individual humans; perceiving human emotions; interpreting our attentional states and goals; using referential communication (perceiving human signals or sending signals to humans); and engaging in social learning with humans (e.g., local enhancement, demonstration and social referencing). We focused on different species of domestic mammals for which literature on the subject is available, namely, cats, cattle, dogs, ferrets, goats, horses, pigs, and sheep. The results show that some species have remarkable abilities to recognize us or to detect and interpret the emotions or signals sent by humans. For example, sheep and horses can recognize the face of their keeper in photographs, dogs can react to our smells of fear, and pigs can follow our pointing gestures. Nevertheless, the studies are unequally distributed across species: there are many studies in animals that live closely with humans, such as dogs, but little is known about livestock animals, such as cattle and pigs. However, on the basis of existing data, no obvious links have emerged between the cognitive abilities of animals toward humans and their ecological characteristics or the history and reasons for their domestication. This review encourages continuing and expanding this type of research to more abilities and species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Plotine Jardat
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, University of Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France.,Department of Biology, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, University of Lyon, Lyon, France.,Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort (ENVA), Maisons-Alfort, France
| | - Léa Lansade
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, University of Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
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14
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Caicoya AL, Amici F, Ensenyat C, Colell M. Comparative cognition in three understudied ungulate species: European bison, forest buffalos and giraffes. Front Zool 2021; 18:30. [PMID: 34158081 PMCID: PMC8218502 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-021-00417-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 04/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Comparative cognition has historically focused on a few taxa such as primates, birds or rodents. However, a broader perspective is essential to understand how different selective pressures affect cognition in different taxa, as more recently shown in several studies. Here we present the same battery of cognitive tasks to two understudied ungulate species with different socio-ecological characteristics, European bison (Bison bonasus) and forest buffalos (Syncerus caffer nanus), and we compare their performance to previous findings in giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis). We presented subjects with an Object permanence task, Memory tasks with 30 and 60 s delays, two inference tasks based on acoustic cues (i.e. Acoustic inference tasks) and a control task to check for the use of olfactory cues (i.e. Olfactory task). Results Overall, giraffes outperformed bison and buffalos, and bison outperformed buffalos (that performed at chance level). All species performed better in the Object permanence task than in the Memory tasks and one of the Acoustic inference tasks (which they likely solved by relying on stimulus enhancement). Giraffes performed better than buffalos in the Shake full Acoustic inference task, but worse than bison and buffalos in the Shake empty Acoustic inference task. Conclusions In sum, our results are in line with the hypothesis that specific socio-ecological characteristics played a crucial role in the evolution of cognition, and that higher fission-fusion levels and larger dietary breadth are linked to higher cognitive skills. This study shows that ungulates may be an excellent model to test evolutionary hypotheses on the emergence of cognition. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12983-021-00417-w.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alvaro Lopez Caicoya
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. .,Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Federica Amici
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Research Group Primate Behavioural Ecology, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Montserrat Colell
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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15
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Caicoya AL, Colell M, Ensenyat C, Amici F. Problem solving in European bison ( Bison bonasus): two experimental approaches. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:201901. [PMID: 34007461 PMCID: PMC8080012 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The ability to solve novel problems is crucial for individual fitness. However, studies on problem solving are usually done on few taxa, with species with low encephalization quotient being rarely tested. Here, we aimed to study problem solving in a non-domesticated ungulate species, European bison, with two experimental tasks. In the first task, five individuals were presented with a hanging barrel filled with food, which could either be directly accessed (control condition) or which could only be reached by pushing a tree stump in the enclosure below it and stepping on it (experimental condition). In the second task, five individuals were repeatedly fed by an experimenter using a novel bucket to retrieve food from a bag. Then, three identical buckets were placed in the enclosure, while the experimenter waited outside with the bag without feeding the bison, either with a bucket (control condition) or without it (experimental condition). In the first task, no bison moved the stump behind the barrel and/or stepped on it to reach the food. In the second task, two individuals solved the task by pushing the bucket within the experimenter's reach, twice in the experimental and twice in the control condition. We suggest that bison showed a limited ability to solve novel problems, and discuss the implications for their understanding of the functional aspects of the tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alvaro L. Caicoya
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Montserrat Colell
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Federica Amici
- Junior Research Group 'Primate Kin Selection', Institute of Biology, Faculty of Bioscience, Pharmacy and Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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16
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Raoult CMC, Osthaus B, Hildebrand ACG, McElligott AG, Nawroth C. Goats show higher behavioural flexibility than sheep in a spatial detour task. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:201627. [PMID: 33959332 PMCID: PMC8074883 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The ability to adapt to changing environments is crucial for survival and has evolved based on socio-ecological factors. Goats and sheep are closely related, with similar social structures, body sizes and domestication levels, but different feeding ecologies, i.e. goats are browsers and sheep are grazers. We investigated whether goats' reliance on more patchily distributed food sources predicted an increased behavioural flexibility compared to sheep. We tested 21 goats and 28 sheep in a spatial A-not-B detour task. Subjects had to navigate around a straight barrier through a gap at its edge. After one, two, three or four of these initial A trials, the gap was moved to the opposite end and subjects performed four B trials. Behaviourally more flexible individuals should move through the new gap faster, while those less behaviourally flexible should show greater perseveration. While both species showed an accuracy reduction following the change of the gap position, goats recovered from this perseveration error from the second B trial onwards, whereas sheep did so only in the fourth B trial, indicating differences in behavioural flexibility between the species. This higher degree of flexibility in goats compared to sheep could be linked to differences in their foraging strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- C. M. C. Raoult
- Animal Husbandry and Animal Ecology, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle, Germany
- Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, FSVO, Agroscope Tänikon, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
| | - B. Osthaus
- School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK
| | - A. C. G. Hildebrand
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - A. G. McElligott
- Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China
| | - C. Nawroth
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
- Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, 18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
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17
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Prato-Previde E, Cannas S, Palestrini C, Ingraffia S, Battini M, Ludovico LA, Ntalampiras S, Presti G, Mattiello S. What's in a Meow? A Study on Human Classification and Interpretation of Domestic Cat Vocalizations. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10122390. [PMID: 33327613 PMCID: PMC7765146 DOI: 10.3390/ani10122390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Revised: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Cat–human communication is a core aspect of cat–human relationships and has an impact on domestic cats’ welfare. Meows are the most common human-directed vocalizations and are used in different everyday contexts to convey emotional states. This work investigates adult humans’ capacity to recognize meows emitted by cats during waiting for food, isolation, and brushing. We also assessed whether participants’ gender and level of empathy toward animals in general, and toward cats in particular, positively affect the recognition of cat meows. Participants were asked to complete an online questionnaire designed to assess their knowledge of cats and to evaluate their empathy toward animals. In addition, they listened to cat meows recorded in different situations and tried to identify the context in which they were emitted and their emotional valence. Overall, we found that, although meowing is mainly a human-directed vocalization and should represent a useful tool for cats to communicate emotional states to their owners, humans are not good at extracting precise information from cats’ vocalizations and show a limited capacity of discrimination based mainly on their experience with cats and influenced by gender and empathy toward them. Abstract Although the domestic cat (Felis catus) is probably the most widespread companion animal in the world and interacts in a complex and multifaceted way with humans, the human–cat relationship and reciprocal communication have received far less attention compared, for example, to the human–dog relationship. Only a limited number of studies have considered what people understand of cats’ human-directed vocal signals during daily cat–owner interactions. The aim of the current study was to investigate to what extent adult humans recognize cat vocalizations, namely meows, emitted in three different contexts: waiting for food, isolation, and brushing. A second aim was to evaluate whether the level of human empathy toward animals and cats and the participant’s gender would positively influence the recognition of cat vocalizations. Finally, some insights on which acoustic features are relevant for the main investigation are provided as a serendipitous result. Two hundred twenty-five adult participants were asked to complete an online questionnaire designed to assess their knowledge of cats and to evaluate their empathy toward animals (Animal Empathy Scale). In addition, participants had to listen to six cat meows recorded in three different contexts and specify the context in which they were emitted and their emotional valence. Less than half of the participants were able to associate cats’ vocalizations with the correct context in which they were emitted; the best recognized meow was that emitted while waiting for food. Female participants and cat owners showed a higher ability to correctly classify the vocalizations emitted by cats during brushing and isolation. A high level of empathy toward cats was significantly associated with a better recognition of meows emitted during isolation. Regarding the emotional valence of meows, it emerged that cat vocalizations emitted during isolation are perceived by people as the most negative, whereas those emitted during brushing are perceived as most positive. Overall, it emerged that, although meowing is mainly a human-directed vocalization and in principle represents a useful tool for cats to communicate emotional states to their owners, humans are not particularly able to extract precise information from cats’ vocalizations and show a limited capacity of discrimination based mainly on their experience with cats and influenced by empathy toward them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuela Prato-Previde
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy
- Correspondence:
| | - Simona Cannas
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (S.C.); (C.P.); (S.I.)
| | - Clara Palestrini
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (S.C.); (C.P.); (S.I.)
| | - Sara Ingraffia
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (S.C.); (C.P.); (S.I.)
| | - Monica Battini
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (M.B.); (S.M.)
| | - Luca Andrea Ludovico
- Department of Computer Science, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (L.A.L.); (S.N.); (G.P.)
| | - Stavros Ntalampiras
- Department of Computer Science, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (L.A.L.); (S.N.); (G.P.)
| | - Giorgio Presti
- Department of Computer Science, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (L.A.L.); (S.N.); (G.P.)
| | - Silvana Mattiello
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy; (M.B.); (S.M.)
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18
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Villain AS, Lanthony M, Guérin C, Tallet C. Manipulable Object and Human Contact: Preference and Modulation of Emotional States in Weaned Pigs. Front Vet Sci 2020; 7:577433. [PMID: 33330698 PMCID: PMC7728720 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2020.577433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 10/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Enriching the life of farm animals is a legal obligation in intensive farming conditions in the European Union, though not worldwide. In pigs, manipulable materials are mandatory when no bedding is available. Like manipulable objects, positive human interactions might also be considered as enrichment, as they provide the animals with opportunities to interact, increase their activity and lead to positive emotional states. In this study, we investigated how weaned pigs perceived an inanimate manipulable object and a familiar human. After a similar (in length, frequency, and procedure) familiarization to both stimuli, 24 weaned pigs were tested for a potential preference for one of the stimuli and submitted to isolation/reunion tests to evaluate the emotional value of the stimuli. We hypothesized that being reunited with a stimulus would attenuate the stress of social isolation and promote a positive state, especially if the stimulus had a positive emotional value for pigs. Although our behavioral data showed no evidence that pigs spent more time close to, or in contact with, one of the stimuli during a choice test, pigs more often approached the human and were observed lying down only near the human. Using behavioral and bioacoustic data from isolation/reunion tests, we showed that a reunion with the human decreased the time spent in an attentive state and mobility of pigs to a greater extent than a reunion with the object, or isolation. Vocalizations differed between reunions with the object and the human, and were different from those during isolation. The human and object presence led to higher frequency range and more noisy grunts, but only the human led to the production of positive shorter grunts, usually associated with positive situations. In conclusion, pigs seemed to be in a more positive emotional state, or be reassured, in the presence of a familiar human compared to the object after a short period of social isolation. This confirms the potential need for positive pseudo-social interactions with a human to enrich the pigs' environment, at least in or after potentially stressful situations.
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19
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Rault JL, Waiblinger S, Boivin X, Hemsworth P. The Power of a Positive Human-Animal Relationship for Animal Welfare. Front Vet Sci 2020; 7:590867. [PMID: 33240961 PMCID: PMC7680732 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2020.590867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Domestic animals often seek and enjoy interacting with humans. Positive human-animal relationships can elicit positive emotions and other positive welfare outcomes. Nevertheless, our understanding of the underlying processes that govern the positive perception of humans by animals is incomplete. We cover the potential mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of positive human-animal relationships from the perspective of the animal. This encompasses habituation, associative learning, and possibly attachment or bonding based on communication and social cognition. We review the indicators from the literature to assess a positive human-animal relationship. We operationally define this positive relationship as the animal showing voluntary approach and spatial proximity (seeking) and signs of anticipation, pleasure, relaxation, or other indicators of a rewarding experience from interacting with the human. For research, we recommend accounting for the baseline human-animal relationship in the animal's everyday life, and incorporating a control treatment rather than only comparing positive to negative interaction treatments. Furthermore, animal characteristics, such as previous experience, genetics, and individual predisposition, as well as contextual characteristics related to the social and physical environment, may modulate the perception of humans by animals. The human-animal relationship is also influenced by human characteristics, such as the person's familiarity to the animal, attitudes, skills, and knowledge. We highlight implications for current practices and suggest simple solutions, such as paying attention to the animal's behavioral response to humans and providing choice and control to the animal in terms of when and how to interact with humans. Practical applications to achieve a positive perception of humans could be better utilized, such as by incorporating training principles, while keeping in mind trust and safety of both partners. Overall, there is growing evidence in the scientific literature that a positive human-animal relationship can bring intrinsic rewards to the animals and thereby benefit animal welfare. Further research is needed on the underlying processes to establish an effective positive human-animal relationship, especially in regard to the type, frequency, and length of human interaction necessary. In particular, the importance of providing animals with a sense of agency over their interactions with humans remains poorly understood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Loup Rault
- Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Susanne Waiblinger
- Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Xavier Boivin
- Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores, Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
| | - Paul Hemsworth
- Animal Welfare Science Centre, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
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20
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Landau S, Provenza F. Of browse, goats, and men: Contribution to the debate on animal traditions and cultures. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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21
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Humphrey T, Proops L, Forman J, Spooner R, McComb K. The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat-human communication. Sci Rep 2020; 10:16503. [PMID: 33020542 PMCID: PMC7536207 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-73426-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2019] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Domestic animals are sensitive to human cues that facilitate inter-specific communication, including cues to emotional state. The eyes are important in signalling emotions, with the act of narrowing the eyes appearing to be associated with positive emotional communication in a range of species. This study examines the communicatory significance of a widely reported cat behaviour that involves eye narrowing, referred to as the slow blink sequence. Slow blink sequences typically involve a series of half-blinks followed by either a prolonged eye narrow or an eye closure. Our first experiment revealed that cat half-blinks and eye narrowing occurred more frequently in response to owners' slow blink stimuli towards their cats (compared to no owner-cat interaction). In a second experiment, this time where an experimenter provided the slow blink stimulus, cats had a higher propensity to approach the experimenter after a slow blink interaction than when they had adopted a neutral expression. Collectively, our results suggest that slow blink sequences may function as a form of positive emotional communication between cats and humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tasmin Humphrey
- Mammal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK.
| | - Leanne Proops
- Mammal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 2DY, UK
| | - Jemma Forman
- Mammal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK
| | - Rebecca Spooner
- Mammal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK
| | - Karen McComb
- Mammal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK.
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22
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Sabiniewicz A, Tarnowska K, Świątek R, Sorokowski P, Laska M. Olfactory-based interspecific recognition of human emotions: Horses (Equus ferus caballus) can recognize fear and happiness body odour from humans (Homo sapiens). Appl Anim Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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23
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Emotion Recognition in Cats. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10071107. [PMID: 32605256 PMCID: PMC7401521 DOI: 10.3390/ani10071107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2020] [Revised: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary The ability to perceive other individuals’ emotions plays a central role for animals living in social groups. Cats entertain social relationships with individuals of the same species (conspecifics) as well as with humans (heterospecifics). Although previous studies have demonstrated that cats are sensitive to conspecific and human communicative signals, their perception of these species’ emotions hasn’t been extensively investigated. In the light of this, the aim of the present work was to investigate cats’ ability to recognize conspecific and human emotions. Our results demonstrate that cats integrate visual and auditory signals to recognize human and conspecific emotions and they appear to modulate their behavior according to the valence of the emotion perceived. The understanding of cats’ socio-cognitive abilities to perceive their close partners’ emotions is crucial for improving the quality of human-cat and cat-cat relationships as well as cat welfare in the domestic environment. Abstract Recent studies demonstrated that cats form social bonds with both conspecifics and humans. One of the key factors regulating social interactions is the transfer of emotions between the individuals. The present study aimed at investigating cats’ spontaneous ability to match acoustic and visual signals for the recognition of both conspecific and human emotions. Different conspecific (cat “purr” and “hiss”) and heterospecific (human “happiness” and “anger”) emotional stimuli were presented to the tested population using a cross-modal paradigm. Results showed that cats are able to cross-modally match pictures of emotional faces with their related vocalizations, particularly for emotions of high intensity. Overall, our findings demonstrate that cats have a general mental representation of the emotions of their social partners, both conspecifics and humans.
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24
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Harwood D. Health and welfare priorities in goats. Vet Rec 2020; 185:264-266. [PMID: 31488640 DOI: 10.1136/vr.l5103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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25
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Artificial Grass as an Alternative Laneway Surface for Dairy Cows Walking to Pasture. Animals (Basel) 2019; 9:ani9110891. [PMID: 31683778 PMCID: PMC6912801 DOI: 10.3390/ani9110891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2019] [Revised: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 10/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Softer surfaces can alleviate pressure on the claw during claw-surface contact, which is especially important for cows with painful claws. The benefits of softer barn floors are well known, but as cows often walk long distances twice daily between pasture and parlour, laneway surfaces are also important. In trial 1, we evaluated the gait of 69 cows on a standard (stone dust-over-gravel) laneway and an artificial grass laneway. Greater speed and longer strides were interpreted as indicators of a more suitable surface. Walking speed was greater on artificial grass than on the standard laneway (p = 0.001, median artificial grass: 1.46 m/s [interquartile range (IQR): 1.39-1.54], standard 1.40 m/s [IQR: 1.30-1.48]). No significant stride length increase was detected (p > 0.10, 158 cm [IQR:151-166] versus 155 cm [IQR:149-164]). In trial 2, we evaluated cow preference by giving 66 pairs of cows four consecutive choices between the standard laneway and artificial grass. Artificial grass was preferred overall (median stretches of artificial grass used out of a maximum of 4: 3 [IQR:2-4], p < 0.001). This preference was significantly (p = 0.001) stronger in lame cows (median: 3 [IQR:3-4]), than in sound ones (median: 2 [IQR:2-3]). Preference was also affected by the side of the laneway covered with artificial grass. Our results suggest that artificial grass improves the welfare of dairy cows walking to and from pasture, with lame cows benefiting to a greater extent.
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Trösch M, Cuzol F, Parias C, Calandreau L, Nowak R, Lansade L. Horses Categorize Human Emotions Cross-Modally Based on Facial Expression and Non-Verbal Vocalizations. Animals (Basel) 2019; 9:ani9110862. [PMID: 31653088 PMCID: PMC6912773 DOI: 10.3390/ani9110862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Revised: 10/13/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Recently, an increasing number of studies have investigated the expression and perception of emotions by non-human animals. In particular, it is of interest to determine whether animals can link emotion stimuli of different modalities (e.g., visual and oral) based on the emotions that are expressed (i.e., to recognize emotions cross-modally). For domestic species that share a close relationship with humans, we might even wonder whether this ability extends to human emotions. Here, we investigated whether domestic horses recognize human emotions cross-modally. We simultaneously presented two animated pictures of human facial expressions, one typical of joy and the other of anger; simultaneously, a speaker played a human non-verbal vocalization expressing joy or anger. Horses looked at the picture that did not match the emotion of the vocalization more (probably because they were intrigued by the paradoxical combination). Moreover, their behavior and heart rate differed depending on the vocalization: they reacted more negatively to the anger vocalization and more positively to the joy vocalization. These results suggest that horses can match visual and vocal cues for the same emotion and can perceive the emotional valence of human non-verbal vocalizations. Abstract Over the last few years, an increasing number of studies have aimed to gain more insight into the field of animal emotions. In particular, it is of interest to determine whether animals can cross-modally categorize the emotions of others. For domestic animals that share a close relationship with humans, we might wonder whether this cross-modal recognition of emotions extends to humans, as well. In this study, we tested whether horses could recognize human emotions and attribute the emotional valence of visual (facial expression) and vocal (non-verbal vocalization) stimuli to the same perceptual category. Two animated pictures of different facial expressions (anger and joy) were simultaneously presented to the horses, while a speaker played an emotional human non-verbal vocalization matching one of the two facial expressions. Horses looked at the picture that was incongruent with the vocalization more, probably because they were intrigued by the paradoxical combination. Moreover, horses reacted in accordance with the valence of the vocalization, both behaviorally and physiologically (heart rate). These results show that horses can cross-modally recognize human emotions and react emotionally to the emotional states of humans, assessed by non-verbal vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miléna Trösch
- INRA, PRC, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
| | - Florent Cuzol
- INRA, PRC, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
| | - Céline Parias
- INRA, PRC, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
| | | | - Raymond Nowak
- INRA, PRC, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
| | - Léa Lansade
- INRA, PRC, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
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Sheep Quickstep while the Floor Rock and Rolls: Visuomotor Lateralization during Simulated Sea Travel. Animals (Basel) 2019; 9:ani9090700. [PMID: 31540547 PMCID: PMC6770936 DOI: 10.3390/ani9090700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Unpredictable floor motions during transport disturbs animals' balance, requiring stepping to move the centre of gravity in the direction of body movement. When repeated regularly, this may be stressful, requiring involvement of the right brain hemisphere, hence we investigated the existence of behavioral laterality in sheep during prolonged floor motions. Six sheep were restrained in pairs on a programmable rocking platform, in which they were unable to turn around. They were exposed to three continuous rocking motion treatments (roll, pitch or both) in a regular or irregular pattern for 1 h periods in a changeover design. Right forelimb and left hindlimb diagonal stepping was more frequent in response to the motion treatment of irregular roll and pitch, which previous research has suggested to be the most stressful from heart rate measurements. An overall strategy to maintain balance appeared to be the use of the right hindlimb as a stabilizer, which was repositioned least often of all limbs until towards the end of the hour of experimental treatment. Of each tested pair, sheep restrained on the left side of the rocking floor stepped significantly often than its partner restrained on the right side, and we postulate the existence of visuomotor lateralization as left restrained sheep were unable to view their partner within the field of view of their left eye. We also investigated which side sheep lie down on, which if left lateralized could explain our observed bipedal diagonal control of sheep balance under stress. From the observation of 412 web-based images of sheep, there was an overall left-sided laterality to their lying, as has been observed in cattle. We conclude that stepping activity in sheep in response to a motion stressor is lateralized, providing evidence that floor motion experienced in transport may induce stress responses.
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Abstract
In functional laterality research, most ungulate livestock species have until recently been mainly overlooked. However, there are many scientific and practical benefits of studying laterality in ungulate livestock. As social, precocial and domestic species, they may offer insight into the mechanisms involved in the ontogeny and phylogeny of functional laterality and help to better understand the role of laterality in animal welfare. Until now, most studies on ungulate livestock have focused on motor laterality, but interest in other lateralized functions, e.g., cognition and emotions, is growing. Increasingly more studies are also focused on associations with age, sex, personality, health, stress, production and performance. Although the full potential of research on laterality in ungulate livestock is not yet exploited, findings have already shed new light on central issues in cognitive and emotional processing and laid the basis for potentially useful applications in future practice, e.g., stress reduction during human-animal interactions and improved assessments of health, production and welfare. Future research would benefit from further integration of basic laterality methodology (e.g., testing for individual preferences) and applied ethological approaches (e.g., established emotionality tests), which would not only improve our understanding of functional laterality but also benefit the assessment of animal welfare.
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Robins A. The Alpha Hypothesis: Did Lateralized Cattle-Human Interactions Change the Script for Western Culture? Animals (Basel) 2019; 9:E638. [PMID: 31480488 PMCID: PMC6769460 DOI: 10.3390/ani9090638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2019] [Revised: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 08/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Domestic cattle possess lateralized cognitive processing of human handlers. This has been recently demonstrated in the preference for large groups of cattle to view a human closely within the predominantly left visual field. By contrast, the same stimulus viewed predominantly within the right visual field promotes a significantly greater frequency of dispersal from a standing position, including flight responses. The respective sets of behaviours correspond with the traditional terms of "near side" for the left side of cattle and horses, and the "off" or "far side" for the right side. These traditional terms of over 300 years usage in the literature communicate functional practicalities for handling livestock and the recognition of lateralized cognitive processing. In this review, the possibility of even earlier recognition and the significance of laterality in cattle-human interaction was argued, from the earliest representations of the letter "A", originally illustrated from nearly 4000 years before the present time as the head of an ox as viewed not from the front or from the right, but from the left (near) side. By extension, this knowledge of lateralization in cattle may represent the earliest written example of applied ethology-the study of the behaviour of animals under human management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Robins
- Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton Campus, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia.
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Baciadonna L, Briefer EF, Favaro L, McElligott AG. Goats distinguish between positive and negative emotion-linked vocalisations. Front Zool 2019; 16:25. [PMID: 31320917 PMCID: PMC6617626 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-019-0323-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Evidence from humans suggests that the expression of emotions can regulate social interactions and promote coordination within a group. Despite its evolutionary importance, social communication of emotions in non-human animals is still not well understood. Here, we combine behavioural and physiological measures, to determine if animals can distinguish between vocalisations linked to different emotional valences (positive and negative). Using a playback paradigm, goats were habituated to listen to a conspecific call associated with positive or negative valence (habituation phase) and were subsequently exposed to a variant of the same call type (contact call) associated with the opposite valence (dishabituation phase), followed by a final call randomly selected from the habituation phase as control (rehabituation phase). The effects of the calls on the occurrence of looking and cardiac responses in these phases were recorded and compared. RESULTS We found that when the valence of the call variant changed, goats were more likely to look at the source of the sound, indicating that they could distinguish calls based on their valence. Heart rate was not affected by the valence of the calls played, whereas heart-rate variability tended to be higher in the habituation and rehabituation phases, when positive calls were played compared to negative ones. Together, the behavioural and physiological measures provide evidence suggesting, first, that goats are able to distinguish call variants based on their valence, and second, that goat behaviour and cardiac responses are affected by call valence. CONCLUSION This study indicates that auditory modalities are a potent means to communicate emotions in non-human animals. These findings can contribute to our understanding of the evolution of emotion perception in non-human animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luigi Baciadonna
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS UK
| | - Elodie F. Briefer
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstrasse 2, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Section for Ecology & Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
| | - Livio Favaro
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin, Italy
- Equipe Neuro-Ethologie Sensorielle, ENES/Neuro-PSI CNRS UMR9197, University of Lyon/Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - Alan G. McElligott
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS UK
- Centre for Research in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour, Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, London, SW15 4JD UK
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Guo K, Li Z, Yan Y, Li W. Viewing heterospecific facial expressions: an eye-tracking study of human and monkey viewers. Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:2045-2059. [PMID: 31165915 PMCID: PMC6647127 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05574-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Common facial expressions of emotion have distinctive patterns of facial muscle movements that are culturally similar among humans, and perceiving these expressions is associated with stereotypical gaze allocation at local facial regions that are characteristic for each expression, such as eyes in angry faces. It is, however, unclear to what extent this 'universality' view can be extended to process heterospecific facial expressions, and how 'social learning' process contributes to heterospecific expression perception. In this eye-tracking study, we examined face-viewing gaze allocation of human (including dog owners and non-dog owners) and monkey observers while exploring expressive human, chimpanzee, monkey and dog faces (positive, neutral and negative expressions in human and dog faces; neutral and negative expressions in chimpanzee and monkey faces). Human observers showed species- and experience-dependent expression categorization accuracy. Furthermore, both human and monkey observers demonstrated different face-viewing gaze distributions which were also species dependent. Specifically, humans predominately attended at human eyes but animal mouth when judging facial expressions. Monkeys' gaze distributions in exploring human and monkey faces were qualitatively different from exploring chimpanzee and dog faces. Interestingly, the gaze behaviour of both human and monkey observers were further affected by their prior experience of the viewed species. It seems that facial expression processing is species dependent, and social learning may play a significant role in discriminating even rudimentary types of heterospecific expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun Guo
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK.
| | - Zhihan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Yin Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Wu Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
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Zobel G, Neave HW, Webster J. Understanding natural behavior to improve dairy goat ( Capra hircus) management systems. Transl Anim Sci 2018; 3:212-224. [PMID: 32704793 PMCID: PMC7200440 DOI: 10.1093/tas/txy145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2018] [Revised: 12/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Public interest is stimulating farming industries to improve animal welfare in production systems. Indoor housing of ruminants has received scrutiny because of perceived intensiveness and lack of naturalness. Animal welfare has traditionally focused on health benefits (e.g., bedding management and reducing disease) and reducing negative experiences (e.g., painful husbandry practices). Recent attention to animals having “a life worth living” extends expectations to provide increased care and opportunities for positive experiences and natural behaviors. Although not all natural behaviors necessarily contribute to improved welfare, we present evidence for why many are important, and for how they can be promoted in commercial systems. Worldwide, commercial dairy goats (Capra hircus) are frequently housed in large open barns with space to move and soft bedding for lying; however, this is not sufficient to promote the range of natural behaviors of goats, which in turn suggests that commercial housing could be improved. The basis for this thinking is from the range of behaviors expressed by the Capra genus. Collectively, these species have evolved cognitive and behavioral strategies to cope with harsh and changing environments, as well as variable and limited vegetation. The rocky and often steep terrain that goats inhabit allows for predator avoidance and access to shelter, so it is not surprising that domesticated goats also seek out elevation and hiding spaces; indeed, their hoof structure is designed for the movement and grip in such rugged environments. The browsing techniques and flexibility in diet selection of wild, feral and extensively managed goats, appears to be equally important to housed goats, highlighting the need for more complexity in how and what goats are fed. Goats naturally live in small, dynamic groups, governed by complex social structures in which horns play a strong role. Commercial housing systems should consider the benefits of more natural-sized social groups and revisit the rationale behind horn removal. We suggest that cognitive stimulation is a potential welfare improvement for goats in commercial settings. Goat cognitive abilities, which enabled success in complex and variable social and physical environments, are unchallenged in uniform environments, potentially leading to negative affective states. We make suggestions for housing improvements that could be readily adopted into current systems without compromising production efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gosia Zobel
- Animal Welfare Team, AgResearch Limited, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Heather W Neave
- Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Jim Webster
- Animal Welfare Team, AgResearch Limited, Hamilton, New Zealand
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