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Wolter, R. (2018). The behaviour and managementof Przewalski’shorsesin semi-reserves. Ph.D. thesis, University Regensburg, Regensburg.
Abstract: In recent years, Przewalski’s horses have been increasingly kept in semi-reserves. However,there areonly few studies ontheir behaviour and their ability to adaptto management interventions.In the main part of my dissertation, I focus on investigatingthe animals’ behaviour in different semi-reserves with varyinghabitats and living spaces. In addition, I investigate the horses’ behaviour during various management interventionsand analysetheensuing changes instress levels. Another aspect of my dissertation is the studyof social behaviour inPrzewalski’s horses. I investigate theparameters that should be used to demonstrate social bonds between individualsandassess whichdata provide the most meaningful results.In the commentary tochapter 1,several studies investigatingsocial bonds in horsesare discussed. Comparing the various studies, it is strikingthat no homogeneous analyses orevaluation criteria exist. While some authors only considersocial grooming, others include data onthe spatial proximity of the individuals in their evaluations, and various definitionsof proximity can also be found in the literature. Additionally, someauthors use friendly approaches between individuals asa furtherparameter wheninvestigating the social bonds.Continuing with this theme, in chapter 2I investigate the social behaviour of the horses and compare various analysis methods. I show that proactive behaviour, such as friendly approaches, is a good alternative to spatial proximity when investigating social bonds between group members, andis also useful for expanding the often very small data sets of mutual grooming in horses. Comparing Przewalski’s horses with wild living horses, I found no significant differences in the social behavior and the frequency of social interactions, regardlessof group size, group composition, habitat, and individual parameters such as age and gender.Inchapter 3,I investigate the behaviour of a Przewalski’s horse group when exploring a new area of their enclosure. Their behaviour changed, showing less resting and more feeding. Furthermore, the animals maintained greater distances from each other, and the alpha male, instead of herding the group from behind, led the group around the new area and walked in front of the other group members. Moreover, he showed a substantial increase in stress level during the first day.A general comparison of the behaviour of the Przewalski’s horses in different semi-reserves is provided in chapter 4. In it, the habitat choice of the animals and their reactions to various management interventions are investigated. It is shown that Przewalski’s horses prefer open grassland to dense woods, although keeping Przewalski’s horses in a pine forest does not influence the animals’ stress level. In contrast to habitat, food range, and changes in the group composition, which do not appear to change stress levels, individual factors, such as the hierarchy, influence the glucocorticoid level of the animals significantly. The largest increases in stress hormones were demonstrated when the horses were temporarily confined in smaller areas.The importance of the available space is also discussed in chapter 5, where it is shown that horses show less aggressive behaviour when more space is provided. In contrast, the husbandry system does not influence the animals’ aggression, but the way of feeding can additionally reduce agonistic behaviour, for example if food is offered ad libitum.In summary, the results of this study provide indications for the optimization of keeping Przewalski’s horses in semi-reserves. The animals can adapt themselves to the environment and thrive in habitats which do not correspond to their original steppe-like home. Nevertheless, the semi-reserves should provide sufficient grassland, as the horses prefer this type of habitat. General speaking, any types of habitat can only offer a suitable living space if the food range is sufficient for the number of horses. Otherwise, and especially during could winter months, supplementary feeding is necessary according to the body condition of the animals. This is particularly important for older, weakened, or very young animals, which are still adapting to life in the semi-reserve. Without sufficient food, stress hormones can increase and negatively influence the well-being of the horses. The same is true for management interventions: restricting the animals to small enclosures, for example, can adversely affect the horses’ well-being and should be only done if absolutely necessary. Targetedbehaviour observations allow the animals that have a special meaning for the group to be identified, and these should not be taken out of the group unless it is unavoidable, as young and unexperienced horses orientate themselves on those animals. This is especially true for the alpha male in a bachelor group, as these groups are often composed of young horses and the alpha-male provides the necessary stability and experience. Social bonds between individuals can be investigated by observing friendly and proactive behaviour, and social grooming and friendly approaches yield suitable data for such analysis.
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Lagos, L. (2013). Ecología del lobo (Canis lupus), del poni salvaje (Equus ferus atlanticus) y del ganado vacuno semiextensivo (Bos taurus) en Galicia: interacciones depredador-presa. Ph.D. thesis, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela.
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Schwenk, B. K., Fürst, A. E., & Bischhofberger, A. S. (2016). Traffic accident-related injuries in horses. Equine Med., 32(3), 192–199.
Abstract: Horses involved in road traffic accidents (RTAs) are commonly presented to veterinarians with varying types of injuries. The aim
of this study was describe the pattern and severity of traffic accident-related injuries in horses in a single hospital population. Medical
records of horses either hit by a motorized vehicle or involved in RTAs whilst being transported from 1993 to 2015 were retrospectively
reviewed and the following data was extracted: Signalement, hospitalisation time, month in which the accident happened, cause of the
accident, place of the accident and type of vehicle hitting the horse. Further the different body sites injured (head, neck, breast, fore limb,
abdomen, back and spine, pelvis and ileosacral region, hind limb, tail and genital region), the type of injury (wounds, musculoskeletal
lesions and internal lesions) and the presence of neurological signs were retrieved from the medical records. 34 horses hit by motorized
vehicles and 13 horses involved in RTAs whilst being transported were included in the study. Most of the accidents where horses were hit
by motorized vehicles occurred during December (14.7%) and October (14.7%), horses were most commonly hit by cars (85.3%) and the
majority of accidents occurred on main roads (26.5%). In 29.4% of the cases, horses had escaped from their paddock and then collided
with a motorized vehicle. Most of the accidents with horses involved in RTAs whilst being transported occurred during April (30.8%) and
June (23.1%). In 76.9% of the cases the accident happened on a freeway. In the horses hit by motorized vehicles the proximal hind limbs
were the body site most commonly affected (44.1%), followed by the proximal front limbs (38.2%) and the head (32.4%). When horses
were involved in RTAs whilst being transported the proximal fore limbs (61.5%), the proximal hind limbs (53.8%) and the distal hind limbs,
back and head (38.5% each) were the most common injured body sites. Wounds were the most common type of injury in both groups
(85.3% hit by motorized vehicle, 76.9% transported ones). In horses hit by a motorized vehicle 35.3% suffered from fractures, in 20.6%
a synovial structure was involved and in 5.9% a tendon lesion was present. 14.7% suffered from internal lesions and 14.7% showed neurologic
symptoms (40% peripheral, 60% central neurologic deficits). On the other hand, in horses involved in a RTA whilst being transported
30.8% suffered from fractures. There were no synovial structures injured and no tendon injuries were present. Furthermore there were
no internal lesions present and only one horse involved in a RTA showed central neurologic symptoms. Injuries of horses being hit by a
motorized vehicle were more severe than when horses were protected by a trailer and involved in a RTA whilst being transported. The study
has been able to identify the different injury types of traffic accident-related injuries in horses. Awareness of the nature of these injuries is
important, to avoid underestimation of their severity.
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Bandini, E., & Tennie C. (2020). Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use. PeerJ, 25, 8:e9877.
Abstract: The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined.
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Baciadonna, L., McElligott, A. G., & Briefer, E. F. (2013). Goats favour personal over social information in an experimental foraging task. Peer J, 1.
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Irving-Pease, E. K., Ryan, H., Jamieson, A., Dimopoulos, E. A., Larson, G., & Frantz, L. A. F. (2019). Paleogenomics of Animal Domestication. In C. Lindqvist, & O. P. Rajora (Eds.), Paleogenomics: Genome-Scale Analysis of Ancient DNA (pp. 225–272). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Abstract: Starting with dogs, over 15,000 years ago, the domestication of animals has been central in the development of modern societies. Because of its importance for a range of disciplines – including archaeology, biology and the humanities – domestication has been studied extensively. This chapter reviews how the field of paleogenomics has revolutionised, and will continue to revolutionise, our understanding of animal domestication. We discuss how the recovery of ancient DNA from archaeological remains is allowing researchers to overcome inherent shortcomings arising from the analysis of modern DNA alone. In particular, we show how DNA, extracted from ancient substrates, has proven to be a crucial source of information to reconstruct the geographic and temporal origin of domestic species. We also discuss how ancient DNA is being used by geneticists and archaeologists to directly observe evolutionary changes linked to artificial and natural selection to generate a richer understanding of this fascinating process.
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Van Horik, J., Clayton, N., & Emery, N. (2012). Convergent evolution of cognition in Corvids, Apes and other animals. In J. Vonk, & T. Shackelford (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Comparative Evolutionary Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Pérez-Barbería, F. J., & Gordon, I. J. (2005). Gregariousness increases brain size in ungulates. Oecologia, 145.
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Beery, A. K., & Kaufer, D. (2015). Stress, social behavior, and resilience: Insights from rodents. Neurobiol. Stress, 1(Stress Resilience), 116–127.
Abstract: The neurobiology of stress and the neurobiology of social behavior are deeply intertwined. The social environment interacts with stress on almost every front: social interactions can be potent stressors; they can buffer the response to an external stressor; and social behavior often changes in response to stressful life experience. This review explores mechanistic and behavioral links between stress, anxiety, resilience, and social behavior in rodents, with particular attention to different social contexts. We consider variation between several different rodent species and make connections to research on humans and non-human primates.
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Squire, L. (2004). Memory systems of the brain: a brief history and current perspective. Neurobiol Learn Mem, 82.
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