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Dances with dogs: interspecies play and a case for sympoietic enactivism
Contributor(s):: Merritt, M.
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Play behaviour reduced by environmental enrichment in fast-growing broiler chickens
Contributor(s):: Liu, Zhenzhen, Torrey, Stephanie, Newberry, Ruth C., Widowski, Tina
The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of environmental enrichment on play behaviour in fast-growing broiler chickens. Chicks (19 of each sex) were randomly assigned to 6 non-enriched (NE) pens and 6 pens enriched (E) with a raised platform, hanging weighing scale, peck stone, and...
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Which types of rooting material give weaner pigs most pleasure?
Contributor(s):: Ocepek, Marko, Newberry, Ruth C., Andersen, Inger Lise
Provision of rooting material as enrichment for pigs has been primarily oriented towards reducing negative affect (suffering). Information is also needed on the impact of different types of rooting materials in promoting positive affect (pleasure). We hypothesised that repeated addition of fresh...
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Changing Human Behavior to Improve Animal Welfare: A Longitudinal Investigation of Training Laboratory Animal Personnel about Heterospecific Play or "Rat Tickling"
Contributor(s):: LaFollette, M. R., Cloutier, S., Brady, C. M., O'Haire, M. E., Gaskill, B. N.
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Pre-weaning socialization and environmental enrichment affect life-long response to regrouping in commercially-reared pigs
Contributor(s):: Ko, Heng-Lun, Chong, Qiai, Escribano, Damián, Camerlink, Irene, Manteca, Xavier, Llonch, Pol
Weaning and other regrouping events as routine work in commercial farms cause stress to pigs and compromise their welfare. Several studies found positive outcomes to mitigate weaning stress when piglets were socialized (i.e. co-mingled) or raised with enrichment materials in research settings....
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Selection on ultrasonic call rate in neonatal rats affects low frequency, but not ultrasonic, vocalizations in adults
Contributor(s):: Lesch, Raffaela, Orozco, Andrea, Shilling, Margaret, Zimmerberg, Betty, Fitch, W. Tecumseh
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Rat Tickling in Pet Stores: Effects on Employees, Customers, and New Owners
Contributor(s):: LaFollette, Megan R., Cloutier, Sylvie, Gaskill, Brianna N., O’Haire, Marguerite E.
Rat tickling is a technique used by humans with rats to mimic rough-and-tumble play, improve welfare, and reduce fear. Anecdotal information suggests that rat tickling is also beneficial for humans, yet this assertion has not been empirically validated. We hypothesized that rat tickling would be...
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Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs
Contributor(s):: Gácsi, Márta, Vas, Judit, Topál, József, Miklósi, Ádám
In this study we aimed to investigate novel aspects of dogs’ comprehension of human social behaviours by revealing potential differences in the responses of wolves and dogs when they interact with a human in socially ambiguous situations. In Experiment 1, pet dogs (N=13) and hand-reared wolves...
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Which measures of acceleration best estimate the duration of locomotor play by dairy calves?
Contributor(s):: Luu, John, Johnsen, Julie Føske, Passillé, Anne Marie de, Rushen, Jeffrey
Measures of acceleration have been used as automated measures of the locomotor play of calves. We examined which measures of acceleration were best correlated with locomotor play and how the sampling rate of the accelerometer affected the correlations. Accelerometers were attached to 30 6–7...
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A review of behavioural methods to study emotion and mood in pigs, Sus scrofa
Contributor(s):: Murphy, Eimear, Nordquist, Rebecca E., van der Staay, Franz Josef
The study of emotions in animals is of increasing importance to a number of disciplines such as animal welfare science and affective neuroscience. Pigs are a common farm animal species, most often reared in intensive systems. Moreover, they are increasingly being used in laboratories. To...
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Rearing substrate and space allowance influences locomotor play behaviour of dairy calves in an arena test
Contributor(s):: Sutherland, Mhairi A., Worth, Gemma M., Schütz, Karin E., Stewart, Mairi
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of rearing substrate and space allowance in the home environment on the motivation of dairy calves to perform locomotor play in an arena test. At 1wk of age, 72 calves were moved into one of 18 experimental pens (n=4 calves/pen) where they...
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Playful handling as social enrichment for individually- and group-housed laboratory rats
Contributor(s):: Cloutier, Sylvie, Baker, Chelsea, Wahl, Kim, Panksepp, Jaak, Newberry, Ruth C.
Social housing is recommended for laboratory rats because they are highly social mammals but research constraints or medical issues often demand individual housing and, when social housing is practiced, it typically involves housing with only one or two conspecifics. We hypothesized that playful...
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Play behavior as an indicator of animal welfare: Disbudding in dairy calves
Contributor(s):: Mintline, Erin M., Stewart, Mairi, Rogers, Andrea R., Cox, Neil R., Verkerk, Gwyneth A., Stookey, Joseph M., Webster, James R., Tucker, Cassandra B.
Play behavior may be reduced during negative experiences (e.g. pain) and serve as an indicator of animal welfare. To test this, the effects of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and a local anesthetic (LA) on dairy calf play behavior and wound sensitivity of calves after hot-iron...
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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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Investigating the motivation to play in lambs
Contributor(s):: Chapagain, Durga, Uvnäs-Moberg, Kerstin, Lidfors, Lena M.
The aim of this study was to identify behaviours and ear postures linked to the appetitive, consummatory and post-consummatory motivational phases of play in male lambs, and to evaluate how cortisol was affected by play. Ten pairs of male lambs, Ovis aries were observed in a play arena three...
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Environmental enrichment and cognitive complexity in reptiles and amphibians: Concepts, review, and implications for captive populations
Contributor(s):: Burghardt, Gordon M.
Reptiles and amphibians have been neglected in research on cognition, emotions, sociality, need for enriched and stimulating environments, and other topics that have been greatly emphasized in work on mammals and birds. This is also evident in the historic lack of enriching captive environments...
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‘Beware, I am big and non-dangerous!’ – Playfully growling dogs are perceived larger than their actual size by their canine audience
Contributor(s):: Bálint, Anna, Faragó, Tamás, Dóka, Antal, Miklósi, Ádám, Pongrácz, Péter
Nonhuman animals often use specific signals to initiate playful interactions. There is evidence also for different forms of play-maintenance. Playful encounters include out-of-context and exaggerated behavioural sequences. Scientists have already collected knowledge about virtual size...
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Two's company? Solitary vixens’ motivations for seeking social contact
Contributor(s):: Hovland, Anne Lene, Akre, Anne Kathrine, Flø, Andreas, Bakken, Morten, Koistinen, Tarja, Mason, Georgia J.
The flexible social organisation in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) suggests that social contact could enrich the housing of silver fox vixens (a selected line of red foxes) farmed for their fur. To investigate their social motivation, adult vixens housed in an operant apparatus were allowed to pull a...
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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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Factors affecting dog–dog interactions on walks with their owners
Contributor(s):: Řezáč, Petr, Viziová, Petra, Dobešová, Michaela, Havlíček, Zdeněk, Pospíšilová, Dagmar
Little is known about factors influencing dyadic interactions between dogs in public places. This paper reports on the effect of dog age, gender and size, human gender and the use of a leash on the occurrence of body sniffing, scent-marking, playing games, showing a threat and biting in canine...
