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Henry, S.; Richard-Yris, M.-A.; Hausberger, M. |
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Title |
Influence of various early human-foal interferences on subsequent human-foal relationship |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
Publication |
Developmental psychobiology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Dev Psychobiol |
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48 |
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8 |
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712-718 |
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Animal Husbandry/methods; Animals; Animals, Newborn/*psychology; Animals, Suckling/*psychology; Behavior, Animal; Female; *Handling (Psychology); Horses/*psychology; Humans; Mothers/psychology; *Object Attachment; Species Specificity |
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Whereas the way animals perceive human contact has been particularly examined in pet animals, a small amount of investigations has been done in domestic ungulates. It was nevertheless assumed that, as pet animals, non-aggressive forms of tactile contact were as well rewarding or positive for these species, even though the features of intraspecific relationships in pet animals and domestic ungulates may be to some extent different.We test here the hypothesis that horses may not consider physical handling by humans as a positive event. When comparing different early human-foal interactions, we found that early exposure to a motionless human enhanced slightly foals reactions to humans whereas forced stroking or handling in early life did not improve later human-foal relation. Foals that were assisted during their first suckling (e.g., brought to the dam's teat) even tended to avoid human approach at 2 weeks, and physical contact at 1 month of age.We argue that interspecies differences may exist in how tactile stimulation is perceived. It may be important for the establishment of a bond that a young animal is active in the process and able, through its behavioral responses, to help define what is positive for it. This way of investigation may have important general implications in how we consider the development of social relations, both within and between species. |
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UMR CNRS 6552, Ethologie-Evolution-Ecologie, Universite de Rennes 1, Avenue du General Leclerc, Campus de Beaulieu, F-35042 Rennes Cedex, France. severine.henry@univ-rennes1.fr |
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0012-1630 |
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PMID:17111402 |
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1781 |
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Li, C.; Jiang, Z.; Tang, S.; Zeng, Y. |
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Title |
Influence of enclosure size and animal density on fecal cortisol concentration and aggression in Pere David's deer stags |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2007 |
Publication |
General and Comparative Endocrinology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Gen Comp Endocrinol |
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151 |
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2 |
Pages |
202-209 |
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*Aggression; Animals; *Deer; *Environment; Feces/*chemistry; Handling (Psychology); Housing, Animal; Hydrocortisone/*analysis; Male; Population Density |
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We investigated the impact of enclosure size and animal density on behavior and adrenocortical secretion in Pere David's deer in Dafeng Nature Reserve, China. From February 15 to April 16 in 2004, we conducted two experiments. First, we studied maintenance behavior and conflict behavior of Pere David's deer stags in a large enclosure (200 ha) with low animal density (0.66 deer/ha) and a small display pen (0.75 ha) with high animal density (25.33 deer/ha). The maintenance behavior we recorded included standing, locomotion, foraging and rest. During the behavioral observations, we collected fresh voided fecal samples from the stags periodically, and analyzed the fecal cortisol concentrations in those samples using radioimmunoassay technique. Second, we monitored the fecal cortisol concentrations of one group of stags (12 deer lived in an enclosure of 100 ha) before and after transferred into a small pen (0.5 ha). We found that in the first experiment: (1) there were significant differences in standing and rest whereas no significant differences of locomotion and foraging between the free-ranging group and the display group; (2) frequency of conflict behavior in the display group was significantly higher than those in the free-ranging group; and (3) fecal cortisol concentration of the display group (326.17+/-16.98 ng/g dry feces) was significantly higher than that of the free-ranging group (268.98+/-15.21 ng/g dry feces). In the second experiment, there was no significant difference of the fecal cortisol concentrations among sampling days, but the mean fecal cortisol concentration of the day after transferring (337.46+/-17.88 ng/g dry feces) was significantly higher than that of the day before transferring (248.44+/-7.99 ng/g dry feces). Comparison with published findings, our results indicated that enclosure size and animal density affect not only behaviors, but also adrenocortical secretion in Pere David's deer. Small living space with high animal density may impose physiological stress to captive Pere David's deer. Moreover, long-term physiological stress and increase of conflict behavior may subsequently affect survival and reproduction of the deer. |
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Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China |
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0016-6480 |
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PMID:17324429 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5475 |
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Rybarczyk, P.; Rushen, J.; de Passille, A.M. |
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Title |
Recognition of people by dairy calves using colour of clothing |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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81 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
307-319 |
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Keywords |
Cattle handling; Discrimination; Human-animal relationships; Colour cues; Y-maze |
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We examined whether very young dairy calves are able to discriminate between two people, and whether they use the colour of clothing or other indices to do so. During the familiarisation phase, one person (the familiar rewarder), who always wore the same colour clothes, gave milk, spoke gently and patted the calves in their individual pen for 6 days each week. During the test phase, the calf had to make a choice in an Y-maze placed in front of the gate of its stall. When the calves chose the familiar rewarder, they received 200 ml of milk as reinforcement. When they made the incorrect choice, they received nothing and were returned to their stall. On each test day, the calves made eight choices. The criterion of success was that the calf made at least six correct choices in eight trials on each of two consecutive test days (P<0.021 by the binomial law). The first experiment was carried out with fourteen 1-week-old male and female Holstein calves to see if calves could approach a person, who changed position in the maze, in order to obtain a feed reward. The familiar rewarder wore the same clothes as during the period of familiarisation and was in one arm of the Y-maze. The other arm was empty and the position of the familiar rewarder in the maze was randomised. Eleven of the 14 calves reached the criterion for success, after only three tests. The second experiment, carried out with five 2-week-old calves, examined whether the calves can differentiate the familiar rewarder (wearing the same clothing as during the period of familiarisation) from another person (the non-rewarder) wearing clothes of a different colour. The criterion of success was reached by all five calves. The third experiment was carried out with seven 2-week-old calves. It examined whether the calves can differentiate the familiar rewarder and the non-rewarder, when the two people are wearing clothes of the same colour (i.e. the same colour worn by the familiar rewarder during the phase of familiarisation). None of the calves were able to reach the criterion of success within a limited number of four test days. Often, calves would always choose the same arm of the maze. The fourth experiment was carried out on six 1-month-old calves. It was similar to experiment 3 with the difference that the familiar rewarder and the non-rewarder both wore the same colour clothes, but which were not the same colour as worn during the phase of familiarisation. Only one calf achieved the criterion of success within two test days. Results demonstrated that colour cues help very young calves to discriminate between two people, when these people wear different colour clothing. Some calves may be able to use other indicators than the colour of clothing. The Y-maze method is an promising way of examining calves' abilities to recognise people. |
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refbase @ user @ |
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848 |
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Waiblinger, S.; Menke, C.; Korff, J.; Bucher, A. |
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Title |
Previous handling and gentle interactions affect behaviour and heart rate of dairy cows during a veterinary procedure |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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85 |
Issue |
1-2 |
Pages |
31-42 |
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Keywords |
Human-animal relationship; Cattle; Handling; Stress; Heart rate; Welfare |
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Veterinary and management procedures often are aversive to the animals, resulting in physiological and behavioural stress reactions, which increase the risk of accidents and might lower performance. We investigated the effects of previous positive handling and of gentle interactions during the procedure on behaviour and heart rate in dairy cows during rectal palpation with sham insemination. Twenty cows were allocated randomly into two groups of 10 animals: handling, received additional positive handling over a period of four weeks by one person (handler); control, only routine handling by different caretakers. The week after the handling period, tests lasting 9 min, including 4 min rectal palpation, were carried out with each animal on four successive days in four situations in a balanced order: cow is alone during the test, with the handler, with an usual caretaker, or with an unknown person. Behaviour and heart rate were recorded. Previously handled animals had lower heart rate during tests (P<=0.05, n=19), kicked less when alone (P<=0.05, n=19) and tended to show less restless behaviour (P<=0.1, n=19). Cows were further calmed by gentle interactions during the test, but people differed remarkably. Cows showed less restless behaviour when gentled by the handler, both in the 4 min of rectal palpation and in the 9 min test period (each: P<=0.001, n=19). No significant stress reducing effect was found for the other two persons. In conclusion, stress reactions of cows during rectal palpation/insemination can be reduced by previous positive handling as well as by a person providing positive, gentle interactions during the procedure. The results underline the importance of positive, gentle interactions with the animals to enhance animal welfare and reduce the risk of accidents. They also show that people differ in the success to calm down the animals in aversive situations and indicate the need to investigate the characteristics responsible for the differences and identify the preconditions for a stress reducing effect in future research. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4397 |
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Heird, J.C.; Lennon, A.M.; Bell, R.W. |
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Title |
Effects of early experience on the learning ability of yearling horses |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
1981 |
Publication |
Journal of Animal Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Anim Sci. |
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53 |
Issue |
5 |
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1204-1209 |
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Animals; Conditioning (Psychology); Female; *Handling (Psychology); Horses/*physiology; *Learning |
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Twenty-four yearling Quarter Horse fillies were divided into three groups (I) very limited handling, (II) intermediate handling and (III) extensive handling. At about 14 months of age, each horse was preconditioned for 2 weeks and then run in a simple place-learning T-maze test in which it had to locate its feed. Thirty trials were run daily for 20 days, with the location of the feed changed each day. To retire from the maze, a horse had to meet the criterion: 11 correct responses in 12 tries, with the last eight being consecutive. Horses in Group II required the fewest trials to reach criterion. These horses also learned more and had the highest percentage of correct responses (P less than .05). Mean trainability tended to predict learning ability; however, trainability and trials to criterion were not significantly correlated. Mean emotionality scores indicated a tendency for horses in the intermediately handled group to be less emotional than those in Group I or III. Results indicated that horses with an intermediate amount of handling scored higher on an intermediate test of learning. All handled horses scored higher on learning tests than those not handled. |
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0021-8812 |
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PMID:7319966 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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3577 |
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Pollard, J.C.; Littlejohn, R.P. |
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The effects of pen size on the behaviour of farmed red deer stags confined in yards |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
1996 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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47 |
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3-4 |
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247-253 |
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Red deer; Handling; Density; Aggression; Farming |
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To determine whether pen size affected the behaviour and welfare of farmed red deer confined temporarily in yards, four groups of ten 2-year-old stags were confined for 40 min or 2 days in each of spring and summer, in either large (5 m × 4 m ) or small (2.5 m × 4) pens. In the small pens, wall pacing and vertical/horizontal head movements at the walls were more frequently observed (P < 0.05) and were carried out by a greater percentage of the deer (P < 0.001), and distances between individuals were smaller (P < 0.01), than observations in the large pens. Aggressive activities varied seasonally, with head-butting and chasing being seen most frequently in the spring (P < 0.05) and biting and kicking being seen most frequently in the summer (P < 0.05), and the overall frequency of aggressive activities was low in summer. In spring, in small pens there were fewer threats to head-butt, head butts by moving animals, and less stepping activity than in large pens (P < 0.05). In summer, in small pens there were more threats to butt and more stepping activity than in the large pens (P < 0.05). In both seasons, aggressive activities were correlated with wall pacing (r = 0.58 and 0.55, respectively). It was concluded that the effect of pen size on the frequency and nature of aggressive and other activities varied seasonally. In order minimise aggression and stepping activity, small pens were favoured in spring and large pens were favoured in summer. However, in both seasons there were greater inter-individual distances and reduced pacing and head movements at the walls in large pens. This latter finding may indicate that the large pens were less aversive to the deer, regardless of season. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5472 |
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Breuer, K.; Hemsworth, P.H.; Coleman, G.J. |
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The effect of positive or negative handling on the behavioural and physiological responses of nonlactating heifers |
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Journal Article |
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2003 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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84 |
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1 |
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3-22 |
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Dairy heifer; Fear; Handling; Stress response; Milk production; Stimulus generalisation |
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This experiment investigated the effects of positive and negative tactile handling on the stress physiology and behaviour of dairy heifers. Forty-eight 5-14-month-old nonlactating Holstein-Friesian heifers were allocated to one of two handling treatments, either positive or negative tactile handling, over four time replicates. Handling was imposed twice daily, 2-5 min per session and involved moving animals individually along a 64 m outdoor route. The negatively handled heifers took longer to approach within 1 and 2 m of a stimulus person in a standard test, than their positively handled counterparts (P<0.001) and had a greater flight distance to an approaching stimulus (P<0.001). The time taken by the heifers to approach within 1 and 2 m of a familiar person was similar to that taken to approach within 1 and 2 m of an unfamiliar person in the standard test (P<0.05). There was a tendency for heifers to have a greater flight distance from the approaching unfamiliar person than from the approaching familiar person (P=0.06). The negatively handled heifers had greater (P<0.05) increases in total cortisol concentrations 5, 10 and 15 min after exposure to a human and had higher (P<0.05) free cortisol concentrations in the afternoon than the positively handled heifers. It is concluded that the nature of the human contact affects the subsequent behavioural response of heifers to humans. This behavioural response may extend to other humans through the process of stimulus generalisation, although there was some evidence of moderate discrimination. Negative handling results in an acute stress response in the presence of humans and also leads to a chronic stress response. Further research into the effect of these stress responses on milk production and welfare in fearful cows in a commercial situation is suggested. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4980 |
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Jezierski, T.; Jaworski, Z.; Górecka, A. |
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Effects of handling on behaviour and heart rate in Konik horses: comparison of stable and forest reared youngstock |
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Journal Article |
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1999 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
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Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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62 |
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1 |
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1-11 |
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Handling; Behaviour; Heart rate; Horses; Rearing |
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Thirty foals and young Konik horses born in 3 consecutive years and reared up to weaning either in a forest reserve (R) or conventional stable (S) were compared with respect to behavioural reactions and heart rate (HR) during handling manipulations. The foals were randomly allocated within sex and rearing group to one of two handling treatments. Intensively handled (IH) foals received a 10-min handling, 5 days/week, beginning at the age of 2 weeks (S foals) or 10 months (R foals), and lasting up to the age of 24 months. During handling IH foals were haltered, touched, rubbed and their feet were picked up; non-handled (NH) foals were not handled except for routine or emergency veterinary care. The horses were tested at the age of approximately 6 months (S only) and 12, 18 and 24 months of age. In a test comprising catching the horse on a paddock, leading away from and towards the stable, picking up feet and being approached by an unfamiliar person, the horses' behaviour was scored and the HR was recorded telemetrically. The IH horses scored better as far as manageability behaviour is concerned (P<0.001) and demonstrated lower HR than the NH ones and the S horses scored better than R ones (P<0.001). Fillies demonstrated higher HR than colts (P=0.007). Youngstock of all groups tended to be less manageable at the age of 24 months than at 18 months. Differences between youngstock stemming from particular harems from the reserve seem to be related to differences in accidental contact with people visiting the forest reserve. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5064 |
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Griffin, B. |
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The use of fecal markers to facilitate sample collection in group-housed cats |
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Journal Article |
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2002 |
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Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science / American Association for Laboratory Animal Science |
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Contemp Top Lab Anim Sci |
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41 |
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2 |
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51-56 |
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Animals; Behavior, Animal; Biological Markers/*analysis; Cats/*physiology/psychology; Diet/veterinary; Feces/*chemistry; Food Coloring Agents/analysis; Housing, Animal; Individuality; Plastics/analysis; Specimen Handling/methods/*veterinary |
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The provision of proper social housing is a priority when designing an experiment using domestic cats as laboratory animals. When animals are group-housed, studies requiring analysis of stool samples from individual subjects pose difficulty in sample collection and identification. In this study, commercially available concentrated food colorings (known as bakers pastes) were used as fecal markers in group-housed cats. Cats readily consumed 0.5 ml of bakers paste food coloring once daily in canned cat food. Colorings served as fecal markers by imparting a distinct color to each cat s feces, allowing identification in the litter box. In addition, colored glitter (1/8 teaspoon in canned food) was fed to cats and found to be a reliable fecal marker. Long-term feeding of colorings and glitter was found to be safe and effective at yielding readily identifiable stools. |
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Scott-Ritchey Research Center, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Alabama 36841, USA |
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1060-0558 |
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PMID:11958604 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4165 |
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Lansade, L.; Bertrand, M.; Boivin, X.; Bouissou, M.-F. |
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Title |
Effects of handling at weaning on manageability and reactivity of foals |
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Journal Article |
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2004 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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87 |
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1-2 |
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131-149 |
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Horse; Handling; Weaning; Manageability; Emotional reactivity; Fearfulness; Human-animal relationship |
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Abstract |
The horse's temperament, including its manageability and reactivity and/or fearfulness, is of importance as it can result in problems and can render horses unsuitable for inexperienced riders. Early experience, including handling during infancy, may influence the horse's adult behaviour and reduce its fear of humans and other potentially frigthening situations. In the various species studied, handling has generally been undertaken during the neonatal period. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of handling young horses around the time of weaning, a period which has been demonstrated to be effective in increasing ease of handling in cattle and goats. Sixteen Anglo-Arab foals were handled for 12 days either immediately following weaning (early handled: EH) or 21 days later (late handled: LH); eight additional non-handled foals served as controls (C). Handling consisted of haltering, gently petting all parts of the body, picking up feet and leading the foal over 120 m. During handling sessions, EH were easier to handle than LH: time taken to fit them with a halter, to pick up feet, and “walk-ratio” (time walking under constraint/total time walking) were significantly lower for EH. During subsequent tests conducted over 2 days, 4, and 7 months, as well as 10 months and to some extent 18 months after the end of handling period, EH and LH were easier to handle and less reactive than controls, although differences diminished with time. The period following weaning can therefore be qualified as an “optimal period” for handling. Some of the effects persist for at least 18 months. |
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842 |
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