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Reliability of Fear Assessment in Growing Pigs Exposed to a Novel Object Test in Commercial Conditions
Contributor(s):: Dalmau, Antoni, Mainau, Eva, Velarde, Antonio
The objective of this study was to assess the reliability and feasibility of a novel object test assessing fear in pigs in commercial conditions. A total of 18 commercial farms were visited, and 321 pens housing 4,220 growing pigs were assessed. Three balloons were used as a novel stimulus....
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My Reflections on Understanding Animal Emotions for Improving the Life of Animals in Zoos
Contributor(s):: Grandin, Temple
Scientists are often reluctant to attribute emotions to nonhuman animals that are similar to human emotions. When the author published her early studies, reviewers prohibited the word fear. Fearful behavior had to be described as agitated. The core emotional systems described by Panksepp may...
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Temperamental turkeys: Reliability of behavioural responses to four tests of fear
Contributor(s):: Erasmus, Marisa, Swanson, Janice
Open field (OF), tonic immobility (TI), voluntary approach (VA) and novel object (NO) tests are used to assess fear responses, activity levels and coping styles of poultry. Fear tests are also used as part of welfare assessment programmes. Little is known about fear responses of turkeys....
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Reliability and validity of a questionnaire survey in canine anxiety research
Contributor(s):: Tiira, Katriina, Lohi, Hannes
Canine behavior can be assessed through behavioral testing or questionnaire surveys. Behavioral tests, often observed by independent experts, can provide objective data, but capture only a short behavioral sequence in a defined situation and are practical only for small study cohorts....
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Natural incubation patterns and the effects of exposing eggs to light at various times during incubation on post-hatch fear and stress responses in broiler (meat) chickens
Contributor(s):: Archer, Gregory S., Mench, Joy A.
Although environmental conditions during incubation can affect poultry welfare, one factor often overlooked in the commercial incubation of eggs is light. Light stimulation during embryonic development is now known to affect the physiology and behavior of broiler (meat) chickens post-hatch, but...
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Measuring fear in dogs by questionnaires: An exploratory study toward a standardized inventory
Contributor(s):: Temesi, Andrea, Turcsán, Borbála, Miklósi, Ádám
Several types of questionnaires are in use to measure fear-related behaviour in family dogs. Our aim was to develop a general questionnaire based on relevant previous studies in order to facilitate the standardization of measurements of fear-related behaviour in dogs (social fear, non-social...
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Locomotor play of veal calves in an arena: Are effects of feed level and spatial restriction mediated by responses to novelty?
Contributor(s):: Rushen, Jeffrey, de Passillé, Anne Marie
When calves are placed in an open arena, they perform locomotor play, which provides a time-efficient means of assessing playfulness. To use this as a method of assessing welfare, we need to relate playfulness to other welfare indicators and understand what factors influence results. The novelty...
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Icelandic horses with the Silver coat colour show altered behaviour in a fear reaction test
Contributor(s):: Brunberg, Emma, Gille, Sanna, Mikko, Sofia, Lindgren, Gabriella, Keeling, Linda J.
The colour of a horse's coat has long been discussed to reflect its temperament. One opinion is that Silver coloured horses are nervous, difficult to handle and react more strongly to different fear stimuli. The objective with the present study was to investigate if mutations associated with the...
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Fear responses to novelty in testing environments are related to day-to-day activity in the home environment in dairy cattle
Contributor(s):: MacKay, Jill R. D., Haskell, Marie J., Deag, John M., van Reenen, Kees
Behavioural tests for cattle take time to perform and can be stressful for the animals but are currently the only way of assessing behavioural reactions to fear-causing stimuli in a standardised manner. It may be possible to use behavioural data collected remotely in the home pen environment...
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Fear responses to noises in domestic dogs: Prevalence, risk factors and co-occurrence with other fear related behaviour
Contributor(s):: Blackwell, Emily J., Bradshaw, John W. S., Casey, Rachel A.
Behavioural signs of fear or anxiety on exposure to noises in owned domestic dogs have been suggested in clinical studies to be common and a significant welfare concern. In this study two approaches were taken to investigate the occurrence of, and risk factors for, these behaviours: a postal...
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Effects of human contact and toys on the fear responses to humans of shelter-housed dogs
Contributor(s):: Conley, Melanie J., Fisher, Andrew D., Hemsworth, Paul H.
This study examined the effects of human contact and toys on fear responses to humans in small breed, shelter-housed dogs. Ninety dogs were assigned to one of three treatments: “control” (control), comprising routine husbandry performed by shelter staff; “human contact” (HC), where dogs...
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Effects of genetic selection for residual feed intake on behavioral reactivity of castrated male pigs to novel stimuli tests
Contributor(s):: Colpoys, Jessica D., Abell, Caitlyn E., Young, Jennifer M., Keating, Aileen F., Gabler, Nicholas K., Millman, Suzanne T., Siegford, Janice M., Johnson, Anna K.
Increasing feed efficiency in swine is important for increasing sustainable food production and profitability for producers; therefore, this is often selected for at breeding. Residual feed intake (RFI) can be used for the genetic selection of pigs for feed efficiency. In our selection project,...
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A descriptive study of 215 dogs diagnosed with separation anxiety
Contributor(s):: Storengen, Linn Mari, Boge, Silje Christine Kallestad, Strøm, Solveig Johanne, Løberg, Gry, Lingaas, Frode
Clinical records of dogs visiting a behavioral clinic were used to study the behavior and background of dogs with separation anxiety (SA). 215 dogs (with SA) were included in the study, representing 22.6% of the patients seen during the 40 months the study covered (n=952). Male dogs comprised 60%...
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Behavioural and physiological responses of heifer calves to acute stressors: Long-term consistency and relationship with adult reactivity to milking
Contributor(s):: Van Reenen, Cornelis G., Van der Werf, Jozef T. N., O’Connell, Niamh E., Heutinck, Leonie F. M., Spoolder, Hans A. M., Jones, R. Bryan, Koolhaas, Jaap M., Blokhuis, Harry J.
The present study investigated the long-term consistency of individual differences in dairy cattles’ responses in tests of behavioural and hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis reactivity, as well as the relationship between responsiveness in behavioural tests and the reaction to first...
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Assessing the emotions of laboratory rats
Contributor(s):: Makowska, I. Joanna, Weary, Daniel M.
Rats are one of the most commonly used species in research, and decades of testing have yielded a large amount of information pertaining to their experience of emotion. The aim of this review is to bring together information on rat emotion from across a number of disciplines and over several...
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Who's afraid of the big bad glove? Testing for fear and its correlates in mink
Contributor(s):: Meagher, Rebecca K., Duncan, Ian, Bechard, Allison, Mason, Georgia J.
Fear in farm animals is a welfare and economic concern. For Scandinavian mink, the “stick test” is common for assessing fearfulness: a spatula is inserted into the cage and minks’ immediate responses are noted. However, on Ontario farms, fearfulness in the stick test was very rare and aggressive...
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Playful handling by caretakers reduces fear of humans in the laboratory rat
Contributor(s):: Cloutier, Sylvie, Panksepp, Jaak, Newberry, Ruth C.
Handling of laboratory rats can increase physiological and emotional stress, leading to a fearful relationship with humans. We hypothesized that the affective quality of handling techniques used during routine care influences the animals’ fear of humans. We assessed responses of male...
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The influence of access to aerial perches on fearfulness, social behaviour and production parameters in free-range laying hens
Contributor(s):: Donaldson, Caroline Julie, O’Connell, Niamh Elizabeth
The aim of this trial was to determine the influence of aerial perches on welfare and production parameters in free-range laying hens. Five commercial free-range houses, each containing between 7000 and 8000 birds, were used. Each house and range area was split in half to create two treatments....
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Does reduction of fearfulness tend to reduce pessimistic-like judgment in lambs?
Contributor(s):: Destrez, Alexandra, Deiss, Véronique, Belzung, Catherine, Lee, Caroline, Boissy, Alain
Recent studies emphasize the role of interactions between emotions and judgment of environment to better assess affective state in animals. Diazepam offers a way to pharmacologically manipulate the affective state. This drug is generally used to reduce negative affective states, mainly by...
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Does learning performance in horses relate to fearfulness, baseline stress hormone, and social rank?
Contributor(s):: Christensen, Janne Winther, Ahrendt, Line Peerstrup, Lintrup, Randi, Gaillard, Charlotte, Palme, Rupert, Malmkvist, Jens
The ability of horses to learn and remember new tasks is fundamentally important for their use by humans. Fearfulness may, however, interfere with learning, because stimuli in the environment can overshadow signals from the rider or handler. In addition, prolonged high levels of stress hormones...
