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Hansen, M. N., Estvan, J., & Ladewig, J. (2007). A note on resting behaviour in horses kept on pasture: Rolling prior to getting up. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 105(1-3), 265–269.
Abstract: In previous studies on lying behaviour in horses kept in individual boxes we observed that most horses that had been lying down resting sometimes made a rolling behaviour prior to getting up. The rolling behaviour was seen in approximately 30% of the times the horses stood up. To analyse whether the behaviour was caused by individual housing in a box or whether it is a behaviour occurring also under free range conditions, we observed a group of 43 horses kept on pasture throughout the day and night. The horses were observed from 03:00 to 10:00 h over four consecutive mornings, at a time when lying behaviour was frequent. Of the 43 horses observed, the rising procedure was seen in 41 horses, and 25 of these horses (60.9%) performed the rolling behaviour at least once. A total of 135 rising episodes were observed, and 41 followed the performance of a rolling behaviour (30.4%). In contrast to the rolling behaviour seen indoors, the behaviour was more varied outdoors in that some horses rolled anywhere from 45 to 180[degree sign], some even repeatedly, whereas horses in a box only rolled 90[degree sign] and back. In all cases when horses rolled 180[degree sign] they rolled back to the original side before getting up. Also in contrast to previous observations, no horse was observed changing position during the roll. We conclude that the behaviour is a kind of comfort behaviour but that further studies are necessary to explain its function.
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Sibbald, A. M., Elston, D. A., Smith, D. J. F., & Erhard, H. W. (2005). A method for assessing the relative sociability of individuals within groups: an example with grazing sheep. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 91(1-2), 57–73.
Abstract: We describe a method for quantifying relative sociability within a group of animals, which is defined as the tendency to be close to others within the group and based on the identification of nearest neighbours. The method is suitable for groups of animals in which all individuals are visible and identifiable and has application as a tool in other areas of behavioural research. A sociability index (SI) is calculated, which is equivalent to the relative proportion of time that an individual spends as the nearest neighbour of other animals in the group and is scaled to have an expectation of 1.0 under the null hypothesis of random mixing. Associated pairs, which are animals seen as nearest neighbours more often than would be expected by chance, are also identified. The method tests for consistency across a number of independent observation periods, by comparison with values obtained from simulations in which animal identities are randomised between observation periods. An experiment is described in which 8 groups of 7 grazing sheep were each observed for a total of 10, one-hour periods and the identities and distances away of the 3 nearest neighbours of each focal animal recorded at 5-min intervals. Significant within-group differences in SIs were found in four of the groups (P < 0.001). SIs calculated using the nearest neighbour, two nearest neighbours or three nearest neighbours, were generally highly correlated within all groups, with little change in the ranking of animals. There were significant negative correlations between SIs and nearest neighbour distances in five of the groups. It was concluded that there was no advantage in recording more than one neighbour to calculate the SI. Advantages of the SI over other methods for measuring sociability and pair-wise associations are discussed.
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Crowell-Davis, S. L. (1994). Daytime rest behavior of the Welsh pony (Equus caballus) mare and foal. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 40(3-4), 197–210.
Abstract: Upright and recumbent rest of 15 Welsh pony foals and their mothers was studied over a 2 year period. During their first week of life, the foals spent 32% of the time in recumbent rest. Subsequently, the percentage of time spent in recumbent rest decreased, but was still greater than for the foal's mother by Week 21, when the foals spent 6.5% of their time in recumbent rest. Adults spent little time in recumbent rest. Foals rested upright only 3.5% of the time during their first week of life. Mares rested upright more than foals did to Week 13, at which time peak values for time spent in upright rest occurred for both mares (32.5%) and foals (23%). Subsequently, mares and foals spent equal, but decreasing, amounts of time resting upright. The total time spent resting by the foals decreased gradually, and was characterized by a transition from recumbent rest to upright rest. Foals were more likely to be resting, either recumbent or upright, if their mother was resting upright. During the late spring, summer, and early autumn, mares and foals were most likely to be resting upright between 09:00 and 17:00 h.
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Selva, N., Cortés-Avizanda, A., Lemus, J. A., Blanco, G., Mueller, T., Heinrich, B., et al. Stress associated with group living in a long-lived bird. Biol Lett, .
Abstract: Many long-lived avian species adopt life strategies that involve a gregarious way of life at juvenile and sub-adult stages and territoriality during adulthood. However, the potential associated costs of these life styles, such as stress, are poorly understood. We examined the effects of group living, sex and parasite load on the baseline concentration of faecal stress hormone (corticosterone) metabolites in a wild population of common ravens (Corvus corax). Corticosterone concentrations were significantly higher in non-breeding gregarious ravens than in territorial adults. Among territorial birds, males showed higher stress levels than their mates. Parasite burdens did not affect hormone levels. Our results suggest a key role of the social context in the stress profiles of the two population fractions, and that group living may be more energetically demanding than maintaining a territory. These findings have implications for understanding hormonal mechanisms under different life styles and may inspire further research on the link between hormone levels and selective pressures modulating gregarious and territorial strategies in long-lived birds.
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Zenzinger, S. (2010). Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur optischen Kommunikation bei im Zoo gehaltenen Schabracken- und Flachlandtapiren (Tapirus indicus und Tapirus terrestris). Der Zoologische Garten, 79(4-5), 162–174.
Abstract: Until now, unlike their relatives, rhinos and horses tapirs have received considerably less attention in studies about communication. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to test which stimuli contain optical information for tapirs. For this purpose, the reactions of tapirs on optical stimuli (posters with edited tapir silhouettes) were examined. Research visits took place at the zoos of Berlin, Dortmund, Heidelberg, Munich, Nuremberg and Osnabrück during the year 2006. A total of 23 individuals, thereof 8 (5.3) Malayan tapirs (Tapirus indicus) and 15 (5.10) Lowland tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) attended the experiment. The results of the optical test with variously intense edited tapir silhouettes speak for the importance of the white ear rims as a family specific key stimulus. But that effect could not be amplified by adding a greater extent of white to the silhouette. Tapirs of both species reacted most strongly to the normal tapir silhouette followed by a silhouette without proboscis.
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Obergfell, J. (2012). Einf lus s v on St ruktur e l ement en auf da s Li eg ev e rha l t en v on Pf e rden in Gruppenha l tung unt e r Be rücks i cht igung de s Ag g r e s s i ons v e rha l t ens. Ph.D. thesis, , Karlsruhe.
Abstract: Durch die vorliegende Studie wurde der Einfluss von Strukturelementen auf das Liege- und Aggressionsverhalten von Pferden in Gruppenhaltung untersucht. Die Strukturelemente sollten Rückzugsmöglichkeiten bieten, sowie in ihrem Bereich zur Aufhebung der Individualdistanz führen und dadurch die Fläche relativ vergrößern. Für die Versuche stellte das Haupt- und Landesgestüt Marbach drei unabhängige Pferdegruppen mit verschiedener Herdengröße zur Verfügung, die jeweils in Einraum- Innenlaufställen gehalten wurden. Die Datenerfassung fand zwischen 23 und sieben Uhr statt. Insgesamt wurden 366 Stunden Videomaterial ausgewertet. Beim Ruheverhalten wurden mit Hilfe des event-sampling- Verfahrens die Parameter Gesamtliegedauer, Dauer in Seitenlage, Dauer der Einzelphasen in
Seitenlage und Abliegehäufigkeit pro Nacht erfasst. Es wurden Versuchsphasen ohne
Strukturelemente und mit hängenden Planen als Strukturierung durchgeführt. Im ersten Stall
kamen außerdem über einander gestapelte Strohballen zum Einsatz. Diese Art der
Strukturierung stellte sich jedoch als nicht praktikabel heraus und führte im Vergleich zu den Planen zu einer signifikanten Verschlechterung der Gesamtliegedauer. In Stall 1 konnte man eine tendenzielle Verbesserung der Parameter Gesamtliegedauer und Gesamtdauer in Seitenlage durch das Anbringen von Planen sehen. In Stall 3 dagegen verschlechterte sich das Ruheverhalten in den Versuchsphasen mit Planen gegenüber den Versuchsphasen ohne Struktur. Die Werte der Gesamtdauer in Seitenlage nahmen signifikant ab. In Stall 2 zeigten sich keine Unterschiede in den verschiedenen Versuchsphasen. Möglicherweise ist die Wirkung der Strukturelemente auf das Liegeverhalten abhängig von der Flächengröße. Stall 1 hatte bezogen auf die Leitlinien des BMELV die größte und Stall 3 die kleinste Fläche. Bei den anderen Parametern des Liegeverhaltens gab es keine signifikanten Unterschiede in den verschiedenen Versuchsphasen. Mit Hilfe des time-sampling-Verfahrens wurde die Anzahl gleichzeitig liegender Pferde und gleichzeitig liegender Pferde in Seitenlage bestimmt. Auch hier zeigten sich keine Unterschiede in den verschiedenen Versuchsphasen. Bei der Gegenüberstellung der Werte der Gesamtliegedauer und der Gesamtdauer in Seitenlage mit dem Alter der Pferde (Stall 1 und Stall 3) und mit dem Integrationszeitpunkt (Stall 1) konnte kein Zusammenhang festgestellt werden. Beim Aggressionsverhalten wurden mit Hilfe des
event-sampling-Verfahrens in den Ställen 2 und 3 verschiedene Arten von Aggressionen
erfasst, die dann in die drei Intensitätsgrade Low-Level-, Mid-Level- und High-Level-
Aggressionen unterteilt wurden. Neben der Anzahl wurde die Dauer der verschiedenen
Aggressionen bewertet. Insgesamt konnte eine positive Wirkung der Planen auf das
Aggressionsverhalten beobachtet werden. Die Gesamtanzahl an Aggressionen nahm in beiden
Ställen tendenziell in den Versuchsphasen mit Planen ab. In Stall 3 konnte, wenn man die
Aggressionen stundenweise betrachtet, ein signifikanter Unterschied festgestellt werden.
Auch der Hinterhandschlag und die Aggressionen, welche das Ruheverhalten stören,
verringerten sich tendenziell nach dem Anbringen von Strukturelementen. In beiden Ställen
nahm die relative Häufigkeit von Mid-Level-Aggressionen nach dem Anbringen von Planen
zu. Dagegen konnte bei den High-Level-Aggressionen und in Stall 3 bei den Low-Level-
Aggressionen eine relative Abnahme beobachtet werden. Sowohl die Anzahl als auch die
Dauer der Mid-Level-Aggressionen verringerten sich in Stall 3 stundenweise betrachtet
signifikant in den Versuchsphasen mit Planen. In Stall 2 war bei den High-Level-
Aggressionen sowohl bei der Dauer als auch bei der Anzahl eine signifikante Abnahme zu
sehen. Wenn man das Aggressionsverhalten in Bezug zu der Fläche in den zwei Ställen
betrachtet, schien diese vor allem einen Einfluss auf die High-Level-Aggressionen zu
nehmen. Mit Hilfe des Rangindex der Pferde im Stall 3 wurde eine Rangordnung aufgestellt.
Zwischen dem Platz der Pferde in der Rangordnung und den Parametern des Ruheverhaltens
(Gesamtliegedauer, Gesamtdauer in Seitenlage) sowie dem Alter der Pferde konnte kein
Zusammenhang festgestellt werden. Zwischen dem Rangindex und der Gesamtanzahl an
Aggressionen bestand dagegen ein hoch signifikanter Zusammenhang. Im Rahmen dieser
Studie ist das Anbringen von Strukturelementen in Bezug auf das Aggressionsverhalten in
Einraum-Innenlaufställen von Pferden zu empfehlen. Die Wirkung auf das Liegeverhalten der
Pferde sollte in weiteren Studien untersucht werden.
[In this study the influence of structural elements on lying and aggression behavior in horses
kept in groups was exanimated. Structural elements should offer the possibility of retreat.
Furthermore, within the respective area, the individual distance should be limited, thus
increasing the overall space relatively. For the studies the “Haupt- und Landesgestüt
Marbach” provided three non-related groups of different sized horses, each kept in separate
“Einraum-Innenlaufställen”. Data collection took place between 11 pm and 7 am. Altogether,
366 hours of video material were analyzed. Using the event-sampling-method, the following
parameters within the horses´ resting behavior were determined: The total lying period, the
total lying period in lateral position, the periods of the single lying in lateral position and the
frequency of lying down. Test phases were carried out without structural elements and with
hanging canvases as structural elements. In the first stable there were also three bales of straw
piled up on top of each other. This kind of structuring emerged as impractical and in
comparison to the canvas, led to a significant deterioration to the total period of lying. After
the canvases were fixed in the first stable, a slight improvement with the parameters of total
lying period and total lying period in the lateral position could be seen. In contrast, the resting
behavior in stable 3 worsened in the test phases with the canvases in comparison to the test phases without structural elements. The values for the total lying period in the lateral position
decreased significantly. In stable 2, there were no differences in the different test phases.
Possibly the effect of the structural elements is dependent of the space. Stable 1 had the
largest space and stable 3 the least space referred to the guideline of the BMELV. The other
parameters of the lying behavior showed no significant differences in the different test phases.
The number of horses lying at the same time, and the number of horses lying at the same time
in the lateral position were detected with the aid of the time-sampling-method. There were
also no differences between the different test phases. If the values of the total lying period and
the total lying period in lateral position were compared to the age of the horses (stable 1 and
stable 3) and to the point of integration (stable 1), there was no correlation.
Different kinds of aggression were detected by the means of the event-sampling-method in
stable 2 and 3 and were subdivided into the three levels of intensity: Low-level-, mid-level
and high-level-aggressions. Both the number and the duration of the different aggressions
were evaluated. All in all a positive influence of the canvas on the aggression behavior could
be observed. In both stables, the total number of aggressions decreased in the test phases with
canvases. In stable 3 a significant difference could be detected, if the aggressions were
observed per hour. Also hind limb kicks and aggressions disturbing the resting behavior,
decreased by trend, after fixing the canvases in the stable. In both stables the relative
frequency of mid-level-aggressions increased after the canvases were mounted. In contrast
there was a relative decrease at the high-level-aggressions and in stable 3 at the low-levelaggressions.
The number and the duration of the mid-level-aggressions in stable 3 decreased,
when considered by the hour in the test phases with canvases. In stable 2 a significant
decrease in duration and number of high-level-aggressions was observed. When examining
aggression behavior in reference to space in the two stables, high-level-aggressions seemed to
be mostly influenced. In stable 3 a rank order was established with the aid of the rank index of
the horses. There was no correlation between the horses´ rank and the parameters of the
resting behavior (the total lying period, the total lying period in lateral position) and between
horses´ rank and age. In contrast, there was a high significant correlation between the rank
index and the total number of aggressions. In context to this study, structural elements in
“Einraum-Innenlaufställen” (BMELV 2009) seem to have a positive influence on the
aggression behavior and thus seem to be recommendable. The influence on the lying behavior
should be investigated in further studies.]
Keywords: Pferde, Ruheverhalten, Liegeverhalten, Aggressionsverhalten, Strukturelemente, Rangordnung [horses, rest behavior, lying behavior, aggression behavior, structural elements, rank order]
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Wolter, R., & Krueger, K. (2015). The analysis of social bonds in feral horses. In Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting.
Abstract: In many social mammals, individuals preferentially affiliate with a small subset of available partners instead of distributing their social behaviors equally among all group members. The resulting social bonds have been investigated in several mammalian taxa, especially in primate societies, but also in other taxa such as birds, dolphins, rodents and ungulates. In feral horses, a great number of studies on social bonds can be found, but with a huge variety between methods for the analysis. There seems to be a lack of a clear and common definition of social bonds in horses and of comparable analyses. For example, there are irregularities between the studies regarding the research designs, the selection of recording methods and the interpretation of the measurements. Mutual grooming is used most often for the analysis of social relationships in many species. As mutual grooming is rare in horses, especially measurements of spatial proximity are commonly used for the analysis of social bonds in addition to other behavioral patterns. However, the combination of mutual grooming and nearest neighborhood analyses for the analysis of social bond is debatable, as in contrast to mutual grooming, which must occur deliberately by both grooming partners, the spatial distribution can be influenced by one partner alone, which may even force the other horse to keep a certain distance or to stay in close proximity.
In this study, we investigated the comparability of mutual grooming and nearest neighborhood data for social bond analyses in feral horses. Therefore, we observed five groups of semi-wild living Przewalski’s horses and six groups of feral horses.
We analysed the horses’ social ranks by applying an Average Dominance Index, we recorded the distances between the animals and observed the number of mutual grooming events as well as friendly approaches.
Our results show that there was only a weak correlation between the frequency of staying in nearest neighborhood and mutual grooming in all observed horse groups. In contrast to this, the correlation between the number of friendly approaches and mutual grooming events was higher in most groups.
Hierarchies did not affect social bonds, as mutual grooming was similarly induced by higher and lower ranking animals and the social rank did not affect the choice of the grooming partner. Similarly, likelihoods of staying in the neighborhood of particular animals were not affected by the animals’ social rank.
The grooming frequencies differed between the different horse groups and between the individual horses living in the particular groups. They seem to be effected by individual predisposition.
Altogether we suggest that the ratio of mutual grooming seems to be a better indicator for social bonds in feral horses than the frequency of staying in the nearest neighborhood. Mutual grooming occurs deliberately and is bidirectional, whereas nearest neighborhoods could be enforced and unidirectional. For the calculation of social bonds in horses, we consider it to be more reliable to combine the frequency of mutual grooming with the frequency of friendly approaches.
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Brinkmann, L., Gerken, M., & Riek, A. (2015). Energetic adaptations of Shetland pony mares. In Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting.
Abstract: Recent results suggest that wild Northern herbivores exhibit signs of a hypometabolism during times of low ambient temperature and food shortage in order to reduce their energetic needs. However, there are speculations that domestic animals lost the ability to reduce energy expenditure. To examine energetic and behavioural responses 10 Shetland pony mares were exposed to different environmental conditions (summer and winter). During winter ponies were allocated into two groups receiving two different food quantities (60% and 100% of maintenance energy requirement). We measured the field metabolic rate, water turn over, body temperature, locomotor activity, lying time, resting heart rate, body mass and body condition score.
In summer, the field metabolic rate of all ponies (FMR; 63.4±15.0 MJ/day) was considerably higher compared with food restricted and control animals in winter (24.6±7.8 and 15.0±1.1 MJ/day, respectively). Furthermore, during summer, locomotor activity, resting heart rate and total water turnover were significantly elevated (P<0.001) compared with winter. Animals receiving a reduced amount of food (N=5) reduced their FMR by 26% compared with control animals (N=5) to compensate for the decreased energy supply. Furthermore, resting heart rate, body mass and body condition score were lower(29.2±2.7 beats/min, 140±22 kg and 3.0±1.0 points, respectively) than in control animals (36.8±41 beats/min, 165±31 kg, 4.4±0.7 points; P<0.05). While no difference could be found in the observed behaviour, nocturnal hypothermia was elevated in restrictively fed animals. Our results indicate that ponies adapt to different climatic conditions by changing their metabolic rate, behaviour and some physiological parameters. When exposed to energy shortage, ponies, like wild herbivores, exhibited hypometabolism and nocturnal hypothermia.
Keywords:
Body temperature, Energy expenditure, Food restriction, Hypometabolism, Locomotor activity, Shetland pony
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Reyna-Garfias, H., Miliar, A., Jarillo-Luna, A., Rivera-Aguilar, V., Pacheco-Yepez, J., Baeza, I., et al. (2010). Repeated restraint stress increases IgA concentration in rat small intestine. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 24(1), 110–118.
Abstract: The most abundant intestinal immunoglobulin and first line of specific immunological defense against environmental antigens is secretory immunoglobulin A. To better understand the effect of repeated stress on the secretion of intestinal IgA, the effects of restraint stress on IgA concentration and mRNA expression of the gene for the alpha-chain of IgA was assessed in both the duodenum and ileum of the rats. Restraint stress induced an increase in intestinal IgA, which was blocked by an adrenalectomy, suggesting a role of catecholamines and glucocorticoids. Whereas the blocking of glucocorticoid receptors by RU-486 did not affect the increased IgA concentration, it did reduce IgA alpha-chain mRNA expression in both segments, indicating a possible mediation on the part of glucocorticoids in IgA secretion by individual cells. Treatment with corticosterone significantly increased both the IgA concentration and IgA alpha-chain mRNA expression in ileum but not in duodenum, suggesting that glucocorticoids may act directly on IgA-antibody forming cells to increase IgA secretion in the former segment. A probable role by catecholamines was evidenced by the reduction in IgA concentration and IgA alpha-chain mRNA expression in both segments after a chemical sympathectomy with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Additionally, norepinephrine significantly reduced IgA alpha-chain mRNA levels but increased pIgR mRNA expression and IgA concentration in both intestinal segments. We propose that the increased intestinal IgA levels caused by repeated restraint stress is likely due to the effects of catecholamines on the transport of plgA across the epithelium.
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A. Lanata, A. Guidi, G. Valenza, P. Baragli, & E. P. Scilingo. (2016). Quantitative heartbeat coupling measures in human-horse interaction. In 2016 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) (pp. 2696–2699). 2016 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (E.
Abstract: Abstract— We present a study focused on a quantitative estimation of a human-horse dynamic interaction. A set of measures based on magnitude and phase coupling between heartbeat dynamics of both humans and horses in three different conditions is reported: no interaction, visual/olfactory interaction and grooming. Specifically, Magnitude Squared Coherence (MSC), Mean Phase Coherence (MPC) and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) have been used as estimators of the amount of coupling between human and horse through the analysis of their heart rate variability (HRV) time series in a group of eleven human subjects, and one horse. The rationale behind this study is that the interaction of two complex biological systems go towards a coupling process whose dynamical evolution is modulated by the kind and time duration of the interaction itself. We achieved a congruent and consistent
statistical significant difference for all of the three indices. Moreover, a Nearest Mean Classifier was able to recognize the three classes of interaction with an accuracy greater than 70%. Although preliminary, these encouraging results allow a discrimination of three distinct phases in a real human-animal interaction opening to the characterization of the empirically proven relationship between human and horse.
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