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| Author | Krueger, K. | ||||
| Title | Social learning and innovative behaviour in horses | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
| Volume | Issue | Pages | |||
| Keywords | social learning, innovative behaviour, Equus caballus, cognitive capacities | ||||
| Abstract | The evaluation of important parameters for measuring the horses’ cognitive capacities is one of the central topics of the equine behaviour team at Nürtingen-Geislingen University. Social complexity has been said to be one of the settings in which needs for cognitive capacities arise in animals. A variety of studies throughout the last two decades proved the horses’ social complexity to be far more elaborate than previously assumed. Horses form social bonds for the protection of offspring, intervene in encounters of others, identify group mates individually and easily orientate in a fission fusion society. In such socially complex societies, animals will benefit from learning socially. In many bird and primate species the degree of social complexity correlates nicely with the species abilities for social learning. Social learning was, therefore, argued to be an indicator for elaborate mental capacities in animals. We were delighted to prove that horses actually copy social behaviour and techniques for operating a feeding apparatus from older and higher ranking group members. In a recent study we found young horses, at the age of 3 to 12, to copy the operation of a feeding apparatus from a human demonstrator. Social learning seems to work nicely in horses when the social background of the animals is considered. The degree to which individual animals adapt to changes in their social or physical environment by finding innovative solution appears to be the other side of the coin, of whether animals adjust to challenges by social learning. It is not very astonishing, that along with the animals’ social complexity and their ability to learn socially also the degree to which they show innovative behaviour was claimed to be one of the most important demonstrations of advanced cognitive capacities. In a recent approach, we started to ask horse owners and horse keepers in many countries to tell us about unusual behaviour of their horses via a web site (http://innovative-behaviour.org). To date, we received 204 cases of innovative behaviour descriptions from which six cases were clear examples of tool use or borderline tool use. We categorized the innovative behaviours into the classes, a) innovations to gain food, b) innovations to gain freedom, c) social innovations, d) innovations to increase maintenance, and e) innovations that could not be clearly assigned to a category. About 20% of the innovative horses showed more than one innovation. These animals could be termed “true innovators”. Again, young horses were more innovative than older ones with the age group 5 – 9 showing the highest number of innovative behaviour descriptions. In a nutshell, the horses’ cognitive capacities appear to be underestimated throughout the last decades. The horses’ social complexity is far more elaborate than previously assumed, horses learn socially from conspecific and humans, some of them demonstrate innovative behaviour adaptations to their environment and even simple forms of tool use. |
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| Corporate Author | Krueger, K. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | |
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| Series Editor | Series Title | Abbreviated Series Title | |||
| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
| ISSN | ISBN | 978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5848 | ||
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| Author | Place Holder Author | ||||
| Title | Type | Conference Article | |||
| Year | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg | |
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| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Editor | Krueger, K. | |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5767 | ||
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| Author | Kaplan, G. | ||||
| Title | Social animals and Communication, with special reference to horses | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Corporate Author | Kaplan, G. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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| Series Editor | Series Title | Abbreviated Series Title | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg | ||
| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
| ISSN | ISBN | 978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Id - | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5796 | ||
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| Author | Palme, R. | ||||
| Title | Non-invasive monitoring of stress hormones for welfare assessment in domestic and wild equids | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Abstract | Stress responses play an important role in allowing animals to cope with challenges. Glucocorticoids, key elements in the neuroendocrine stress axis, are traditionally measured as a parameter for welfare assessment. As blood sample collection itself disturbs an animal, non-invasive or minimal invasive methods have gained importance for assessing stress. In horses saliva and faeces are most frequently used. Faecal samples offer the advantage that they can be collected easily and stress-free. In faecal samples circulating hormone levels are integrated over a certain period of time. As a consequence faecal glucocorticoid metabolites represent the cumulative secretion and they are less affected by short episodic fluctuations of hormone secretion. However, in order to gain reliable information about an animal’s adrenocortical activity, certain criteria have to be met: Depending whether the impact of acute or chronic stressors is assessed, frequent sampling might be necessary whereas in other cases, single samples will suffice. Background knowledge regarding the metabolism and excretion of glucocorticoids is essential and a careful validation is obligatory. In addition, this presentation will address analytical issues regarding sample storage, extraction procedures, and immunoassays and various examples of a successful application in equids will be given. Applied properly, non-invasive techniques to monitor stress hormones are a useful tool for animal welfare assessment. |
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| Corporate Author | Palme, R. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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Summary Language | Original Title | |||
| Series Editor | Series Title | Abbreviated Series Title | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg | ||
| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
| ISSN | ISBN | 978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Id - | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5795 | ||
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| Author | Rubenstein, D. | ||||
| Title | Social Networks: Linking Form with Function in Equid Societies | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Abstract | Animal societies develop from interactions and relationships that occur among individuals within populations. The fundamental tenet of behavioral ecology is that ecological factors shape behavior and determine the distribution and associations of individuals on landscapes. As a result, different social systems emerge in different habitats and under different environmental conditions. Since characterizing social systems depends on time and motion studies of individual actions and interactions that are often bilateral, such characterizations are often coarse-grained. If social relationships can be characterized using social networks, however, seemingly similar social organizations often reveal informative differences in terms of deep structure. Thus social network theory should be able to provide insights in to the connections between social form and function. This talk will explore how the network structures of horses, zebras and asses can provide novel insights into the functioning of animal societies with respect to the spread of memes, genes and diseases. | ||||
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| Corporate Author | Rubenstein, D. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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| Series Editor | Series Title | Abbreviated Series Title | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg | ||
| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
| ISSN | ISBN | 978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Id - | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5797 | ||
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| Author | Kaczensky, P. | ||||
| Title | Conservation of Asiatic wild asses | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Corporate Author | Kaczensky, P. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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| Series Editor | Series Title | Abbreviated Series Title | |||
| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
| ISSN | ISBN | 978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5839 | ||
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| Author | McComb, K. | ||||
| Title | Social cognition and emotional awareness: studies on elephants and horses | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Corporate Author | McComb, K. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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Summary Language | Original Title | |||
| Series Editor | Series Title | Abbreviated Series Title | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg | ||
| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
| ISSN | ISBN | 978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Id - | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5800 | ||
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| Author | Rogers, L. | ||||
| Title | Laterality in domestic and feral horses | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Corporate Author | Rogers, L. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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Summary Language | Original Title | |||
| Series Editor | Series Title | Abbreviated Series Title | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg | ||
| Series Volume | in prep | Series Issue | Edition | ||
| ISSN | ISBN | 978-3-95625-000-2 | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Id - | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5801 | ||
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| Author | Baumgartner, M.; Frank,V.; Gandorfer,J.; Ramoser, A.; Seiler, S.; Zeitler-Feicht, M.H. | ||||
| Title | Feasible animal-based indicators for assessing equine welfare | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
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| Abstract | Introduction Are horses doing well in their husbandries? For the first time the answer shall be given objectively by an integral on-farm welfare assessment system for horse husbandries. A current research project at the Technical University Munich evaluates indicators for well-being, pain and suffering in horses in order to develop a welfare assessment system (Baumgartner and Zeitler-Feicht 2013, 2014a, 2014b, 2015, Zeitler-Feicht et al. 2015). The research project is professionally supported by horse husbandry experts from academics, industries as well as leading organizations for horse owners and veterinarians. The aim of the project is to develop a welfare assessment system for all horse husbandry systems which can be applied both for sport horses and for leisure horses. It is based on national animal welfare standards (BMELV 2009) and does take sustainability into consideration. Animal-based indicators are completed with resource-based indicators if necessary. It is stipulated that indicators are valid, reliable and feasible. Welfare criteria were formulated for the two principles „good health“ and „behavioural demands“ (see figure 1 and 2). Each has to be represented by at least one indicator. The principle „behavioural demands“ aims at the possibility for horses to practise species-specific behaviour. It is gathered to what extent the housing conditions allow the horses to live out and show species-specific behaviour. Furthermore in the present studies the frequency of selected behaviours including abnormal behaviour were collected in precise timeframes. Potential indicators for assessing equine welfare on-farm were selected by study of literature and field tests. The field tests included direct observations on free-ranged horses, horses in group-housing systems and single-stabled horses. The following section presents selected indicators that are feasible for assessing equine behaviour on-farm. Feasible behavioural indicators for well-being The literature research revealed that „being together“ is linked with affiliative behaviour. It includes „resting together“, „foraging together“ and additionally „walking together“. Horses do have a strong need for social bonds. „Being-together“ amongst horses must be voluntary and not caused by bad weather conditions or lack of space. Therefore the context must be considered. For temporary direct observations the frequency in group-housing systems is sufficient (0.57 ± 0.67 per horse per 20 minutes). That´s why in our study „being-together“ is considered as a feasible indicator for well-being for horses in permanent or temporary groups. It is intended to conduct further studies on its validity. Other behaviours such as „social play“ is not only linked with positive emotional states in adult horses. Several studies showed that horses use „social play“ as a stress relief. However, it is too seldom to collect in an on-farm assessment system. Because of the lack of feasibility and validity we excluded „social play“ as an indicator for well-being. Feasible behavioural indicators for suffering Horses show „abnormal behaviour“ in distress, frustration, deprivation or conflict situations. The present studies showed a relatively high frequency in single-stabled horses (3.3 ± 6.45 per horse per 20 minutes). Hence „abnormal behaviour“ is a feasible and valid indicator for suffering. However, established stereotypes need to be excluded, because they may indicate a previous welfare status rather than the current welfare status. Horses use „agonistic behaviour“ to regulate social relations, to defend themselves or to defend resources. If husbandry or management is inadequate, „agonistic behaviour“ increases and thereby the frequency of injuries caused by social conflicts. A high frequency of „agonistic behaviour“ indicates a high aggression level in group-housed horses and therefore distress and suffering. The mean frequency of group-housed horses is sufficient for temporary observations (2.6 ± 2.26 per horse per 20 minutes). As a result „agonistic behaviour“ is a feasible and vaild indicator for suffering. Further studies need to be done on the scoring and severity. Key words Animal-based indicators Equine welfare Being-together Abnormal behaviour Agonistic behaviour References Baumgartner M. & M. H. Zeitler-Feicht (2013): Entwicklung eines Bewertungssystems zur Beurteilung der Tiergerechtheit von Pferdehaltungen als Bestandteil eines Nachhaltigkeitsmanagementsystems. KTBL Schrift: Aktuelle Arbeiten zur artgemäßen Tierhaltung 503, 226 – 227. Baumgartner M. & M. H. Zeitler-Feicht (2014a): Indikatoren für Tierwohl beim Pferd. 7. Pferde-Workshop Uelzen 2014. DGfZ-Schriftreihe Heft 64, 161 – 166. Baumgartner M. & M. H. Zeitler-Feicht (2014b): Entwicklung eines Bewertungssystems zur Beurteilung der Tiergerechtheit von Pferdehaltungen als Bestandteil eines Nachhaltigkeitsmanagementsystems. 9. Niedersächsisches Tierschutzsymposium in Oldenburg, Hrsg. Nds. Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, 37 – 42. Baumgartner M. & M.H. Zeitler-Feicht (2015): Eignung ausgewählter tierbezogener Indikatoren zur Beurteilung der Tiergerechtheit von Pferdehaltungen hinsichtlich Praktikabilität. In: Tagungsband der Deutschen Veterinärmedizinischen Gesellschaft e.V. (DVG), Fachgruppen „Ethologie und Tierhaltung“ sowie „Tierschutz“, Verlag der DVG Service GmbH, Gießen, S. 182 – 192. BMELV (2009): Leitlinien zur Beurteilung von Pferdehaltungen unter Tierschutzgesichtspunkten. Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz. Sachverständigengruppe tierschutzgerechte Pferdehaltung. Zeitler-Feicht M.H., Frank V., Ramoser A., Seiler S., Girisch C., Baumgartner M. (2015): Anhand welcher Verhaltensweisen lassen sich Rückschlüsse auf das Wohlbefinden von Pferden ziehen? In: Tagungsband der Deutschen Veterinärmedizinischen Gesellschaft e.V. (DVG), Fachgruppen „Ethologie und Tierhaltung“ sowie „Tierschutz“, Verlag der DVG Service GmbH, Gießen, S. 148 – 156. |
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| Corporate Author | Baumgartner,M. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krüger. K. |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5868 | ||
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| Author | Wyss, C. | ||||
| Title | Does housing in a „social box“ change faecal cortisol metabolites concentration in stallions? | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
| Volume | Issue | Pages | |||
| Keywords | housing system, stallions, social interaction, stress, faecal cortisol metabolites | ||||
| Abstract | In order to improve the housing conditions of stallions in individual boxes by offering a possibility to have more social contact, the Swiss national stud farm tested a new box system for horses, allowing increased physical contact with the neighbouring stallion. The aim of this part of the study was to investigate whether this type of housing system (named “social box”) potentially induces a change in stress reactions in stallions compared to conventional boxes. Therefore faecal cortisol metabolite (FCM) concentration was measured as a non-invasive parameter to assess endocrine responses related to this new environment. Four groups each consisting of eight adult Freiberger breeding stallions were included in the test design. Every stallion spent three weeks in a conventional box and in a social box respectively (cross-over design). The conventional box consisted of a separation wall with a lower opaque part and an upper part with vertical barriers (5 cm between barriers), allowing visual and olfactory contact but strongly limiting tactile contact. The separating wall of the social box consisted of two lateral sections, one part being opaque to the ceiling and the second part consisting of vertical barriers (30 cm between barriers), allowing the horse to have physical contact with its neighbour or to avoid it. In horses, FCM concentration reflects an average level of circulating cortisol over a period of approximatively 24h. Faecal samples were collected the day following integration in social / conventional boxes, reflecting the potential stress induced by increased social interactions during the integration. In order to asses potential chronical stress, faeces samples were also collected in week one, two and three after the integration into the social / conventional box (in total: 4 samples per horse and housing system). The samples were immediately stored at -20°C until they were analysed. The samples were not analysed in the laboratory until the end of the experiment, therefore the duration of conservation in the freezer varied from 40 to 429 days. A considerable percentage of data from groups 1 and 2 was below the detection limit (<0.8 ng/g) (Tab. 1). Thus the statistical analysis was conducted with the FCM concentration from groups 3 and 4 (n horses = 16) which contained no values below the detection limit. Tab. 1: Details about FCM values and storage time for the 4 groups of stallions Group Storage duration [d] Proportion of data below the detection limit (<0.8 ng/g) Mean [ng/g] Median [ng/g] Group 1 384-429 55.6 % 2.2 0 Group 2 315-360 25.5 % 5.8 6.3 Group 3 41-79 0.0 % 8.7 8.0 Group 4 40-85 0.0 % 5.8 5.4 Despite the impressive social interactions observed between the stallions directly after being introduced into the social boxes, we did not find any differences in FCM concentration between the stallions being introduced into the conventional box and the social box on the day of integration (social box: n samples = 16, mean±SD: 6.9±4.7 ng/g; conventional box: n samples = 16, mean±SD: 9.0±11.2 ng/g; Wilcoxon signed rank test V = 70, p = 0.94). Overall the samples taken during integration and in week one, two and three did not show evidence of changes in FCM concentration in either housing system over a longer period of time (social box: n samples = 64, mean±SD: 7.9±6.2 ng/g; conventional box: n samples = 64, mean±SD: 6.6±3.4 ng/g; Linear mixed model (LMM), p = 0.56). Our results suggest that the possibility of having physical contact with a conspecific does not induce changes in FCM concentration in breeding stallions. The considerable percentage of values below the detection limit in groups 1 and 2 seemed to correlate with the increasing duration of storage before analysis. During the IESM Network Meeting 2015, we would like to discuss possible methodological issues and the possibilities to correctly integrate these low values in the statistical analysis. |
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| Corporate Author | Wyss, C. | Thesis | |||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5869 | ||
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