Wiśniewska A, Janczarek I, Ryżak M, Tkaczyk E, Kędzierski W. Behavioural responses of Konik Polski horses to natural, familiar sound of thunderstorm, and unfamiliar similar-sounding sounds of volcanic eruption and sea storms.
BMC Vet Res 2022;
18:207. [PMID:
35637528 PMCID:
PMC9150375 DOI:
10.1186/s12917-022-03314-4]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
It is not clear, if modern Konik Polski horses have retained the ability to identify sounds in terms of danger. The aim of the study was to identify differences in their behaviour in response to the reproduction of volcanic eruption and sea storm sounds, assumed to be unfamiliar to these horses, as compared to their response to a thunderclap sound, considered by the horses as potentially dangerous. The study included 13 adult mares of the Konik Polski breed, kept under a free-range system. Their behavioural responses to the reproduction of the three natural sounds with an intensity of over 50 dB, were registered. They were analysed distance of each horse to the central point of the pasture and to the exit from the enclosure, and time and/or frequencies of elements of behaviour categorised as: increased anxiety (walking, trotting and cantering), vigilance (snoring, vocalisation, high head position, high tail position, sticking together), foraging (time of grazing), comfort (playing, examining the surroundings, sniffing), maintenance of hygiene (rubbing against objects, auto- or allogrooming, rolling) and resting. The obtained data were analysed by the Dwass, Steel and Critchlow-Fligner method using the SAS program.
Results
Most of analysed elements increased in response to reproduced sounds and decreased after sounds were stop playing (p < 0.05), however, they were no significant differences in general response to each studied sound.
Conclusions
The responses of horses to similar sounds of both known and unknown origins, i.e. the sound of a thunderstorm, sea storm and volcanic eruption, are similar. The sound stimuli applied were not too stressful for the horses.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12917-022-03314-4.
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