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Watanabe, S. (2007). How animal psychology contributes to animal welfare. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 106(4), 193–202.
Abstract: This article explores the contribution of animal psychology to animal welfare. Since animal welfare includes subjective welfare, it is crucial to know the subjective world of animals. Analysis of the concept of anthropomorphism is particularly important because it is a basic idea of animal ethics. The history of animal psychology, focusing on anthropomorphism and behaviourism, is briefly described, and then measurement of the subjective experience of animals in two ways, namely animal cognition and pleasure or reinforcing effects, is reported. Finally, it is suggested that animal welfare is not a permanently fixed idea, but a socially constructed one that can be changed. To gain widespread agreement about a socially constructed idea, it is important to know in which circumstances ordinary people employ metaphorical extension to an understanding of animal behaviour. In other words, a survey of “folk animal psychology” is important in order to establish a consensus about animal welfare.
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Nogueira, S. S. da C., Nogueira-Filho, S. L. G., Bassford, M., Silvius, K., & Fragoso, J. M. V. (2007). Feral pigs in Hawai`i: Using behavior and ecology to refine control techniques. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 108(1-2), 1–11.
Abstract: Early Polynesians settlers were the first to introduce pigs to the Hawaiian Islands. Later Captain Cook brought European pigs during his first voyage to Hawai`i. Many other importations have followed. Animals from these introductions became feral and dispersed throughout the islands. Free-ranging pigs are now considered pests with negative impacts on some native biota. Several methods to control the ecological damage attributed to pigs have been adopted, such as fencing, hunting, live trapping and poisoning. However, the absence of behavioral knowledge in current control programs has resulted in inefficient management of this species. Therefore, the feral pig problem continues, and what before was almost strictly an agricultural and conservation concern has now become an urban problem as well. The aim of this study is to describe the state of knowledge on feral pig behavior in the Hawaiian Islands, introducing potential management approaches derived from the principles of behavioral ecology. Considering behavioral aspects of feral pig ecology, such as cognition and communication could help improve capture techniques, keep feral pigs away from urban areas and begin to resolve human-wildlife conflicts.
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Gifford, A. K., Cloutier, S., & Newberry, R. C. (2007). Objects as enrichment: Effects of object exposure time and delay interval on object recognition memory of the domestic pig. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 107(3-4), 206–217.
Abstract: A modified spontaneous object recognition test was used to examine object recognition memory in the domestic pig. This test uses preference for a novel object over a previously encountered sample object as indicating recognition of the sample object, and no preference as indicating no recognition. Two factors hypothesized to affect object recognition are duration of exposure to the sample stimulus and delay interval before re-exposure. Both of these factors could be manipulated in a rotational object enrichment program for pigs. Reducing exposure time and increasing the delay interval before re-exposure should decrease object recognition and prolong novelty-induced object exploration. We exposed 5-week-old pigs to different sample objects in their home pens for 10 min and 2 days, respectively. We tested for object recognition memory at various delay intervals after initial exposure by placing littermate pairs in a test pen for 10 min and recording snout contact with a sample object and a completely novel object. At a 1-h delay, half the pairs were tested with the 2-day sample object; the other half received the 10-min sample object. At a 3-h delay, pairs were tested with the opposite sample object. Pairs were also tested with the 2-day sample at a 5-day delay and the 10-min sample at a 6-day delay. We predicted that pigs would show a preference for the novel versus the 2-day sample object at all three delays, but would only prefer the novel object over the 10-min sample object at the 1-h and 3-h delays. Pigs did not show novelty preference in the presence of the 10-min sample object at any delay. Novelty preference in the presence of the 2-day sample object occurred at the 3-h (P < 0.05) and 5-day delays (P < 0.001), but not the 1-h delay. The lack of novelty preference when pigs were tested with the 10-min sample object may have been due to failure to habituate to the sample object. Testing in a different location from the initial sample object exposure and retroactive interference from exposure to the 10-min sample object may have contributed to a temporary lack of novelty preference when pigs were tested with the 2-day sample object at the 1-h delay. The finding that pigs retained a memory for the 2-day sample object for at least 5 days suggests that restricting object exposure to less than 2 days may help to preserve the exploratory value of objects rotated among pens.
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Duncan, I. J. H., & Petherick, J. C. (1989). Proceeding (Paper presented at the Winter Meeting of the Society for Veterinary Ethology, London, Great Britain, 30 November 1988)Cognition: The implications for animal welfare. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 24(1), 81–1010.
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Duncan, I. J. H. (1995). D.G.M. Wood-Gush Memorial Lecture: An applied ethologist looks at the question “Why?”. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 44(2-4), 205–217.
Abstract: The question “Why does an animal behave as it does?” can be answered in terms of ontogeny, function, phylogeny and causation. The achievements of applied ethology relative to those four approaches are reviewed, gaps in our knowledge are identified and predictions for fruitful avenues of future research are made. Ontogenic studies have been useful in the past and it is suggested that studies of the effects of early experience on the sexual behaviour of animals used in artificial breeding schemes might pay dividends. It is proposed that functional studies should be approached cautiously. More information is required on the process of domestication in order to increase the chances of success in the trend to farm exotic species. Studies on causation are likely to continue to be the mainstay of applied ethological research. It is suggested that within this category, studies on states of suffering, motivation and cognition are urgently required to answer the most pressing questions on animal welfare.
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Spinka, M., Duncan, I. J. H., & Widowski, T. M. (1998). Do domestic pigs prefer short-term to medium-term confinement? Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 58(3-4), 221–232.
Abstract: A preference test was used to demonstrate that gilts have the ability to associate two sets of neutral cues with two different periods of confinement and water deprivation and to anticipate the long-term consequences of their choice in the test. Twelve gilts housed in two large, straw-bedded pens were trained to go to two sets of 12 crates, positioned on each side of a choice point, for feeding twice a day. Following initial training, the two sets of crates were marked with contrasting visual patterns and the patterns were associated with either 30 min (`short' confinement) or 240 min (`long' confinement) of confinement in the crates after entry. During 16 days of preference testing, the gilts were sent alternately to one side or the other in the mornings and allowed to choose in the afternoons. Eight gilts chose the short confinement side more often, two, the long confinement side more often and two, each side an equal number of times, indicating that most gilts learned the association and preferred to be released shortly after feeding. However, gilts still chose the long confinement side on occasion, suggesting that they did not find 240 min of confinement very aversive. When the gilts were sent to the crates in the morning, their behaviour indicated that they expected to be released or confined depending on which crate they were in. The cognitive abilities of animals with respect to perception of time and anticipation of future events have important implications for their welfare. This study demonstrates that methods can be developed to ask animals about such things.
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McLean, A. N. (2001). Cognitive abilities -- the result of selective pressures on food acquisition? Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 71(3), 241–258.
Abstract: Locating and capturing food are suggested as significant selection pressures for the evolution of various cognitive abilities in mammals and birds. The hypothesis is proposed that aspects of food procuring behaviour should be strongly indicative of particular cognitive abilities. Experimental data concerning higher mental abilities in mammals and birds are reviewed. These data deal with self-recognition studies, rule-learning experiments, number concept, deceptive abilities, tool-use and observational learning. A Darwinian approach reveals: (1) the adaptiveness of particular abilities for particular niches, (2) that in complex foraging environments, increases in foraging efficiencies in animals should result from the evolution of particular cognitive abilities, (3) that phenomena such as convergent mental evolution should be expected to have taken place across taxonomic groups for species exploiting similar niches, (4) that divergence in mental ability should also have taken place where related species have exploited dissimilar niches. Experimental data of higher mental abilities in animals concur with a Darwinian explanation for the distribution of these cognitive abilities and no anomalies have been found. There are, as a consequence, significant implications for the welfare of animals subject to training when training methodology gives little or no consideration to the various mental abilities of species.
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Ligout, S., Porter, R. H., & Bon, R. (2002). Social discrimination in lambs: persistence and scope. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 76(3), 239–248.
Abstract: Social recognition among familiar unrelated lambs was assessed in a series of tests. Lambs and their mothers were housed together in small groups for 1 week (Original groups; O) then reorganized into new groupings (Recent-groups; R) for the remainder of the experiment. During test series 1, lambs that were paired with a familiar O-group partner, from which they had been separated for 5 days, emitted fewer distress bleats than did those tested with an unfamiliar partner. This same effect was not evident when the test was repeated several hours later, indicating that the animals had become habituated to the testing procedures. Two days later, when given the choice between an O- versus a R-partner (test series 2), lambs did not display a preference for either of the stimulus lambs. However, in an additional two-choice test (test series 3) the subject lambs responded discriminatively to a recent familiar partner that was simultaneously present with an unfamiliar lamb. Overall, the results suggest that lambs are capable of developing discriminative relationships with age-mates from different sub-groups, and that such social discrimination persists over a separation period lasting at least several days. It is not clear whether lambs recognize several individual conspecifics per se or discriminate between members of higher order social categories (e.g. familiar versus unfamiliar individuals). Proximal and distal social discrimination may be mediated by different combinations of sensory modalities.
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Appleby, M. (2002). Consciousness, Cognition and Animal Welfare: J.K. Kirkwood, R.C. Hubrecht, S. Wickens, H. O'Leary, S. Oakley (Eds.), Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, 2001, 251 pp., Paperback, Supplement to Volume 10 of Animal Welfare, [pound sign]15/US$ 30, ISSN 0962-7286. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 77(3), 239–241.
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McKinley, S., & Young, R. J. (2003). The efficacy of the model-rival method when compared with operant conditioning for training domestic dogs to perform a retrieval-selection task. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 81(4), 357–365.
Abstract: Traditionally, dogs have been trained by operant conditioning techniques; that is, dogs make a desired behavioural response and this response is reinforced by a reward such as food. This type of training is very effective in training dogs to perform basic obedience behaviours (e.g. `stay'). However, dogs are social animals and should be predisposed to learn from social stimuli. In the present study, we used a modified version of the model-rival technique that has been extensively used in experiments investigating the cognitive ability of parrots. In this technique, social stimuli are used to create in the animal an interest in the object without the use of food or other rewards. Therefore, the animal learns the name of the object (intrinsic reward) and not that the object's name means food. In this experiment we compared the learning ability of nine pet dogs to solve the same retrieval-selection task having been previously trained using operant conditioning or model-rival techniques. The retrieval-selection task was the dogs had to correctly select the commanded object to bring to the experimenter from a group of three similar objects. The results show no difference in the speeds with which the dogs solved the test--demonstrating the efficacy of the model-rival method. This is the first time that the effectiveness of the model-rival technique has been experimentally demonstrated with dogs. Furthermore, we believe that the methodology reported in this paper has applications in dog training and in experiments into dog cognition.
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