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Agonistic behaviour, skin lesions and activity pattern of entire male, female and castrated male finishing pigs
| Contributor(s):: Bunger, B., Schrader, L., Schrade, H., Zacharias, B.
Fattening of intact boars is the least invasive alternative to the detrimental welfare effects of surgical castration of piglets. However, beside problems such as boar taint the divergent agonistic and sexual behaviour of boars may impair the pigs' welfare during fattening. To evaluate the...
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Network characteristics and development of social structure of agonistic behaviour in pigs across three repeated rehousing and mixing events
| Contributor(s):: Buttner, K., Scheffler, K., Czycholl, I., Krieter, J.
In commercial pig production, the mixing of unacquainted pigs is a standard procedure which leads to agonistic interactions with a wide range of individual pig behaviour. A reduction in these agonistic interactions positively affects animal health, welfare aspects and production parameters. With...
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Head partitions at the feed barrier affect behaviour of goats
| Contributor(s):: Nordmann, E., Barth, K., Futschik, A., Palme, R., Waiblinger, S.
Space allowance at the feeding places often forces goats to feed in close proximity, that is, less than their individual distances. In consequence, agonistic behaviour may increase as well as stress and injuries, while access to feed may decrease, especially in low-ranking goats. Partitions...
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Effects of growth-promoting technology on feedlot cattle behavior in the 21 days before slaughter
| Contributor(s):: Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R., Tucker, C. B., Calvo-Lorenzo, M. S., Mitloehner, F. M.
There is growing interest in the animal welfare implications of growth-promoting technology used in feedlot cattle, namely hormonal implants, ionophores, antibiotics and β 2-adrenergic agonists. Previous studies have focused on the effects of implants on aggression, but little work has...
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Down but not out: supine postures as facilitators of play in domestic dogs
| Contributor(s):: Norman, K., Pellis, S., Barrett, L., Henzi, S. P.
We used two sets of videotaped data of playing domestic dog dyads to determine whether rolling over during play served as a signal of submission or whether it was a combat maneuver adopted as part of an ongoing play sequence. Our results provide strong support for the latter. In the absence of...
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A close keeper-nonhuman animal distance does not reduce undesirable behavior in contact yard goats and sheep
| Contributor(s):: Anderson, U. S., Maple, T. L., Bloomsmith, M. A.
This study investigated the relation between zookeeper-nonhuman animal distance and the undesirable behaviour that goats and sheep exhibited toward visitors of Zoo Atlanta's (Georgia, USA) contact yard. It hypothesized that a close distance between keeper and animal would be associated with a...
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Behavioral responses of silverback gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla ) to videos
| Contributor(s):: Maloney, M. A., Leighty, K. A., Kuhar, C. W., Bettinger, T. L.
This study examined the impact of video presentations on the behavior of 4 silverback, western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). On each of 5 occasions, gorillas viewed 6 types of videos (blue screen, humans, an all-male or mixed-sex group engaged in low activity, and an all-male or...
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Effect of short and long periods of separation on agonistic behaviour, injuries and stress in Herens cows kept in loose housing
| Contributor(s):: Castro, I. M. L., Gygax, L., Wechsler, B., Hauser, R.
Hérens cows are typically not dehorned and are therefore housed in tie-barns during winter. Recently, however, farmers have started to also use loose housing systems. They separate single cows from their herd for periods of a few days to ensure undisturbed calving and to avoid excessive...
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A review of shark agonistic displays: Comparison of 2 display features and implications for shark-human interactions
| Contributor(s):: Martin, R. Aidan
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Aggression and social spacing in light horse (Equus caballus) mares and foals
| Contributor(s):: Weeks, J. W., Crowell-Davis, S. L., Caudle, A. B., Heusner, G. L.
Aggression and social spacing were studied in 14 light horse mares and their foals living at pasture. Focal samples were collected on each mare-foal dyad for 6 to 10.5 h from 2 months of foal age until weaning at approximately 4 months of age. Observations on foals continued until approximately 6...
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Agonistic behaviour and feather pecking in single-sexed and mixed groups of laying hens
| Contributor(s):: Oden, K., Vestergaard, K. S., Algers, B.
The effects of the presence of males on female aggressiveness and feather pecking in groups of about 500 laying hens housed in an aviary system were studied. In all, 10 groups of ISA Brown laying hens were observed at 21, 35, 45 and 55 weeks of age on 2 farms, during 2 years. In the second year,...
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Agonistic interactions and physiological reactions of top- and bottom-ranking pigs confronted with a familiar and an unfamiliar group: preliminary results
| Contributor(s):: Otten, W., Puppe, B., Stabenow, B., Kanitz, E., Schon, P. C., Brussow, K. P., Nurnberg, G.
Four trials were carried out, where in each trial during a selection test 2 groups of growing pigs (12 weeks old) with 9 animals each were randomly formed. After a week, the top (TR) and bottom (BR) ranking pig from each group was isolated and kept under single housing conditions. At the age of...
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Alternative housing for sows and litters. Part 4. Effects of sow-controlled housing combined with a communal piglet area on pre- and post-weaning behaviour and performance
| Contributor(s):: Weary, D. M., Pajor, E. A., Bonenfant, M., Fraser, D., Kramer, D. L.
Previous experimental work has shown modest and variable production and welfare benefits for the lactating sow and piglets when sows are allowed to separate themselves temporarily from their piglets, or when piglets have access to a communal creep area sufficiently attractive that they spend...
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An investigation into the effect of different protein and energy intakes on model tail chewing behaviour of growing pigs
| Contributor(s):: McIntyre, J., Edwards, S. A.
Twenty-four crossbred pigs were housed individually and allocated at 62 kg (S.E.M.=0.81) to one of three diets providing differing daily protein and energy intakes: control (C) 1.42 g CP/MJ DE, fed to provide 2.85 maintenance energy; low protein (LP) 0.76 g CP/MJ DE fed to provide the same daily...
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Behaviour patterns and time course of activity in dogs with separation problems
| Contributor(s):: Lund, J. D., Jorgensen, M. C.
An analysis of video-recordings of 20 dogs with separation problems suggested that separation behaviour may be divided into; exploratory behaviour, object play including elements of predatory behaviour, destructive behaviour and vocalization. Elimination behaviour was only found in one case....
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Behavioural characteristics of two dairy breeds of cows selected (Herens) or not (Brune des Alpes) for fighting and dominance ability
| Contributor(s):: Plusquellec, P., Bouissou, M. F.
Two breeds of dairy cattle, one selected for intra-specific fighting and dominance ability (Herens, H), the other not selected for this behavioural trait (Brune des Alpes, BA), submitted to the same management techniques, were compared with respect to their social behaviour (dominance, agonistic...
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Behavioural variation in cultivated juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) in relation to stocking density and size disparity
| Contributor(s):: Uglem, I., Kjorsvik, E., Gruven, K., Lamberg, A.
The aim of this study was to examine the behaviour and activity of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) juveniles (~65-120 mm total length) in relation to varying stocking density (~500-2000 fish per m3) and size disparity under both experimental and commercial hatchery conditions. This was done by...
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Cannibalism in juvenile blue-swimmer crabs Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1766): effects of body size, moult stage and refuge availability
| Contributor(s):: Marshall, S., Warburton, K., Paterson, B., Mann, D.
Factors influencing the rate of cannibalism in juvenile blue-swimmer crabs Portunus pelagicus were investigated under controlled conditions using time-lapse video recordings. This study was undertaken to improve blue-swimmer crab culture and experimentally addressed (1) prey vulnerability (2)...
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Consistency of individual behavioural characteristics of dairy cows in their home pen
| Contributor(s):: Schrader, L.
The aim of this study was to identify reliable individual behavioural characteristics of dairy cows based on aspects of their spontaneous behaviour and their reactions towards behavioural tests performed in their home pen. The parameters measured were supposed to reflect how easily the behaviour...
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Development of feather pecking in relation to light intensity
| Contributor(s):: Kjaer, J. B., Vestergaard, K. S.
Medium heavy laying hens (ISA Brown) were reared on litter floor in a cross-over experiment with 4 treatments of age x light intensity: 3 or 30 lux and between 0 and 15 weeks of age and 3 or 30 lux and between 16 and 46 weeks. Feather pecking and behaviour were recorded by focal animal and time...