Abstract: In modern intensive husbandry systems there is an increasing tendency for animals to interact with technical equipment. If the animal-technology interface is well-designed this may improve animal welfare by offering challenges for cognitive adaptation. Here a system and its application is presented that acoustically calls individual pigs out of a group (n = 8) to a feeding station. In three different learning phases, the computer-controlled “call-feeding-station” (CFS) trained the animals to recognize a specific acoustic signal as a summons for food, using a combination of classical and operant conditioning techniques. The experimental group's stall contained four CFSs, at each of which one animal at a time was able to feed. When an animal had learned to discriminate and recognize its individual acoustic signal it had to localize the particular CFS that was calling and to enter inside it. Then, it received a portion of feed, the amount of which was adapted to the respective age of the animals. Each animal was called at several, unpredictable times each day and the computer programme ensured that the total feed supply was sufficient for each animal. In the last phase of the experiment the animals, in addition, had to press a button with an increasing fixed ratio for the delivery of feed. It was demonstrated that the pigs were able to adapt quickly to the CFSs. Although they were challenged over 12 h daily by requirements of attention, sensory localization and motor efforts to gain comparatively low amounts of feed, they performed well and reached fairly constant success rates between 90 and 95% and short delays between 14 and 16 s between a summons and the food release in the last phase of the experiment. The weight gain during the experiment was the same as in a conventionally fed control group (n = 8). We therefore conclude that CFSs present a positive challenge to the animals with no negative effects on performance but with a potentially beneficial role for welfare and against boredom. The system is also a suitable experimental platform for research on the effects of successful adaptation by rewarded cognitive processes in pigs.

Abstract: Horses are known to show fear reactions when confronted with novelty and this can be a considerable hindrance in the context of working situations such as riding, dressage or racing. The aim of the present study was to measure the potential effects of a synthetic analogue of the Equine Appeasing Pheromone on saddled horses when subjected to a stressful situation using a double-blinded, placebo controlled study design. A group of 40 horses was analyzed during this study and horses were divided by sex, breed and reactivity into two homogenized groups. The test, which consisted of walking the horse through a fringed curtain, was selected from a range of tests which are used to assess behaviour for the selection of French breeding stock. Horses that could have been subjected to the test on a previous occasion, and therefore be familiar with it, were not included. Behavioural and physiological parameters were both taken into account with measures of time to go through the curtain, fear related typical behavioural patterns, based on available literature detailed in the bibliography, and heart rate being recorded. Parameters were analyzed by means of Mann-Whitney U-test. Significant differences were noticed between the two groups concerning heart rate data during the test (UMeanHR = 100.5, pMeanHR = 0.02; UMaxHR = 75, pMaxHR = 0.001) and during the whole measured period (UMeanHR = 67, pMeanHR = 0.005; UMaxHR = 58, pMaxHR = 0.002). Observation of the animals also revealed less behavioural items characteristic of fear within the treated group. As a result, horses performed the test with a better time performance when they received the pheromone analogue (U = 62, p = 0.002). The main parameter, area under the HR graph, is based on heart rate measure and performance. Differences noticed (U = 74, p = 0.002) for this parameter lead to the conclusion that horses who received EAP underwent less stress related consequences in terms of their cardiac physiology. As horses are subjected to a number of foreseeable stressful events this study suggests that the use of Equine Appeasing Pheromone could be a significant factor in improving the welfare of this species.

Abstract: Imitative learning, in which an individual learns to reproduce the behaviour pattern of another, has attracted considerable attention as a potentially powerful form of social learning. Despite extensive research, however, it has proved difficult to demonstrate in nonhuman animals. We investigated the ability of European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, to imitate the behaviour of a conspecific. Subjects watched a trained conspecific manipulating a plug for access to a food reward, using either a pushing or a pulling action. When later tested with the same apparatus these birds completed the task using the same action they had previously observed. In a second experiment, a separate group of starlings saw the plug move upwards or downwards automatically and a nearby conspecific obtain a food reward. When given access to the task these starlings failed to move the plug in the direction they had seen. Our experiment is an improvement on previous bidirectional control designs and provides strong evidence that starlings are capable of imitation. We advocate further use of this experimental design in attempts to demonstrate imitative learning. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract: A short-term study was made of 2 groups of Przewalski horses, a bachelor group of 4 juvenile stallions in Ooij Polder and a harem group of 1 stallion and 4 mares. All social interactions were recorded and the nearest and farthest neighbour was noted. Correspondence analysis was used to determine what parameters determined the relationships among the horses. There was a linear hierarchy among the bachelor stallions. The dominant stallion of the group was also the oldest. The hierarchy was not linear in the harem group, and the 3-year-old stallion was subordinate to the 5-year-old mares. He was also most likely to be farthest from other horses. The mares of the same age, who had also arrived in the park at the same time, tended to be one another's nearest neighbours. The frequency of aggression is higher among Przewalski horses than among domestic horses of similar ages. Correspondence analysis revealed that head-threats and other forms of aggression accounted for more of the variance in the data than any other behaviour, but submission, play and social interactions also contributed.