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Henry, S., Richard-Yris, M. - A., & Hausberger, M. (2006). Influence of various early human-foal interferences on subsequent human-foal relationship. Dev Psychobiol, 48(8), 712–718.
Abstract: 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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Wennerstrand, J., Johnston, C., Roethlisberger-Holm, K., Erichsen, C., Eksell, P., & Drevemo, S. (2004). Kinematic evaluation of the back in the sport horse with back pain. Equine Vet J, 36(8), 707–711.
Abstract: REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Earlier studies have developed a clinical tool to evaluate objectively the function of the equine back. The ability to differentiate horses with back pain from asymptomatic, fully functioning horses using kinematic measures from this tool has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVES: To compare the kinematics of the back at walk and trot in riding horses with back dysfunction to the same parameters in asymptomatic sport horses. METHODS: The kinematics of the back in 12 horses with impaired performance and back pain were studied at walk and trot on a treadmill. Data were captured for 10 sees at 240 Hz. Range of movement (ROM) and intravertebral pattern symmetry of movement for flexion and extension (FE), lateral bending (LB) and axial rotation (AR) were derived from angular motion pattern data and the results compared to an earlier established database on asymptomatic riding horses. RESULTS: At walk, horses with back dysfunction had a ROM smaller for dorsoventral FE in the caudal thoracic region (T13 = 7.50 degrees, T17 = 7.71 degrees; P<0.05), greater for LB at T13 (8.13 degrees; P<0.001) and smaller for AR of the pelvis (10.97 degrees; P<0.05) compared to asymptomatic horses (FE-T13 = 8.28 degrees, FE-T17 = 8.49 degrees, LB-T13 = 6.34 degrees, AR-pelvis = 12.77 degrees). At trot, dysfunctional horses had a smaller (P<0.05) ROM for FE at the thoracic lumbar junction (T17 = 2.46 degrees, L1 = 2.60 degrees) compared to asymptomatic horses (FE-T17 = 3.07 degrees, FE-L1 = 3.12 degrees). CONCLUSIONS: The objective measurement technique can detect differences between back kinematics in riding horses with signs of back dysfunction and asymptomatic horses. The clinical manifestation of back pain results in diminished flexion/extension movement at or near the thoracic lumbar junction. However, before applying the method more extensively in practice it is necessary to evaluate it further, including measurements of patients whose diagnoses can be confirmed and long-term follow-ups of back patients after treatment. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE: Since the objective measurement technique can detect small movement differences in back kinematics, it should help to clinically describe and, importantly, objectively detect horses with back pain and dysfunction.
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Nallan, G. B., Pace, G. M., McCoy, D. F., & Zentall, T. R. (1979). Temporal parameters of the feature positive effect. Am J Psychol, 92(4), 703–710.
Abstract: Trial duration and intertrial interval duration were parametrically varied between groups of pigeons exposed to a discrimination involving the presence vs. the absence of a dot. Half the groups received the dot as the positive stimulus (feature positive groups) and half the groups received the dot as the negative stimulus (feature negative groups). Faster learning by the feature positive birds (feature positive effect) was found when the trial duration was short (5 sec) regardless of whether the intertrial interval was short (5 sec) or long (30 sec). No evidence for a feature positive effect was found when the trial duration was long (30 sec) regardless of the length of the intertrial interval (30 sec or 180 sec). The results suggest that short trial duration is a necessary condition for the occurrence of the feature positive effect, and neither intertrial interval nor trial duration/intertrial interval ratio are important for its occurrence. The suggestion that mechanisms underlying the feature positive effect and autoshaping might be similar was not supported by the present experiment since the trial duration/intertrial interval ration parameter appears to play an important role in autoshaping but not the feature positive effect.
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Scherer, W. F., Dickerman, R. W., & Ordonez, J. V. (1970). Discovery and geographic distribution of Venezuelan encephalitis virus in Guatemala, Honduras, and British Honduras during 1965-68, and its possible movement to Central America and Mexico. Am J Trop Med Hyg, 19(4), 703–711.
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Spadavecchia, C., Arendt-Nielsen, L., Andersen, O. K., Spadavecchia, L., Doherr, M., & Schatzmann, U. (2003). Comparison of nociceptive withdrawal reflexes and recruitment curves between the forelimbs and hind limbs in conscious horses. Am J Vet Res, 64(6), 700–707.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To compare nociceptive withdrawal reflexes (NWRs) evoked from the distal aspect of the left forelimb and hind limb in conscious standing horses and to investigate NWR recruitment for graded electrical stimulation intensities. ANIMALS: 20 adult horses. PROCEDURE: Surface electromyographic (EMG) activity evoked by transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the digital palmar (or plantar) nerve was recorded from the common digital extensor and cranial tibial muscles. Stimuli consisted of 25-millisecond train-of-5 constant current pulses. Current intensity was gradually increased until NWR threshold intensity was reached. The EMG signal was analyzed for quantification of the NWR. Behavioral responses accompanying the reflex were scored (scale, 0 to 5). The NWR recruitment curves were determined at 0.9, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 times the NWR threshold intensity. RESULTS: The NWR threshold was significantly higher for the hind limb (median value, 6.6 mA; range, 3 to 10 mA) than the forelimb (median, 3 mA; range, 1.7 to 5.5 mA). The NWR of the hind limb had a significantly longer latency (median, 122.8 milliseconds; range, 106 to 172 milliseconds), compared with the forelimb (median, 98 milliseconds; range, 86 to 137 milliseconds), and it was associated with significantly stronger behavioral reactions. Gradual increase of NWR amplitude was evident at increasing stimulation intensities and supported by the behavioral observations. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: We documented NWRs evoked from the forelimb and hind limb and their recruitment with stimuli of increasing intensity in horses. These results provide a basis for use of NWRs in studies on nociceptive modulation in horses.
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Straub, A. (2007). An intelligent crow beats a lab. Science, 316(5825), 688.
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Edman, J. D. (1971). Host-feeding patterns of Florida mosquitoes. I. Aedes, Anopheles, Coquillettidia, Mansonia and Psorophora. J Med Entomol, 8(6), 687–695.
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Goodwin, D., Davidson, H. P. B., & Harris, P. (2002). Foraging enrichment for stabled horses: effects on behaviour and selection. Equine Vet J, 34(7), 686–691.
Abstract: The restricted access to pasture experienced by many competition horses has been linked to the exhibition of stereotypic and redirected behaviour patterns. It has been suggested that racehorses provided with more than one source of forage are less likely to perform these patterns; however, the reasons for this are currently unclear. To investigate this in 4 replicated trials, up to 12 horses were introduced into each of 2 identical stables containing a single forage, or 6 forages for 5 min. To detect novelty effects, in the first and third trials the single forage was hay. In the second and fourth, it was the preferred forage from the preceding trial. Trials were videotaped and 12 mutually exclusive behaviour patterns compared. When hay was presented as the single forage (Trials 1 and 3), all recorded behaviour patterns were significantly different between stables; e.g. during Trial 3 in the 'Single' stable, horses looked over the stable door more frequently (P<0.001), moved for longer (P<0.001), foraged on straw bedding longer (P<0.001), and exhibited behaviour indicative of motivation to search for alternative resources (P<0.001) more frequently. When a previously preferred forage was presented as the single forage (Trials 2 and 4) behaviour was also significantly different between stables, e.g in Trial 4 horses looked out over the stable door more frequently (P<0.005) and foraged for longer in their straw bedding (P<0.005). Further study is required to determine whether these effects persist over longer periods. However, these trials indicate that enrichment of the stable environment through provision of multiple forages may have welfare benefits for horses, in reducing straw consumption and facilitating the expression of highly motivated foraging behaviour.
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Zentall, T. R., Clement, T. S., Bhatt, R. S., & Allen, J. (2001). Episodic-like memory in pigeons. Psychon Bull Rev, 8(4), 685–690.
Abstract: It has been proposed that memory for personal experiences (episodic memory, rather than semantic memory) relies on the conscious review of past experience and thus is unique to humans. In an attempt to demonstrate episodic-like memory in animals, we first trained pigeons to respond to the (nonverbal) question “Did you just peck or did you just refrain from pecking?” by training them on a symbolic matching task with differential responding required to the two line-orientation samples and reinforcing the choice of a red comparison if they had pecked and the choice of a green comparison if they had not pecked. Then, in Experiment 1, after providing the conditions for (but not requiring) the pigeons to peck at one new stimulus (a yellow hue) but not at another (a blue hue), we tested them with the new hue stimuli and the red and green comparisons. In Experiment 2, we tested the pigeons with novel stimuli (a circle, which they spontaneously pecked, and a dark response key, which they did not peck) and the red and green comparisons. In both experiments, pigeons chose the comparison appropriate to the response made to the test stimulus. Thus, the pigeons demonstrated that they could remember specific details about their past experiences, a result consistent with the notion that they have the capacity for forming episodic-like memories.
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Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew, W. C., Nishida, T., Reynolds, V., Sugiyama, Y., et al. (1999). Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature, 399(6737), 682–685.
Abstract: As an increasing number of field studies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have achieved long-term status across Africa, differences in the behavioural repertoires described have become apparent that suggest there is significant cultural variation. Here we present a systematic synthesis of this information from the seven most long-term studies, which together have accumulated 151 years of chimpanzee observation. This comprehensive analysis reveals patterns of variation that are far more extensive than have previously been documented for any animal species except humans. We find that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours, are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted. Among mammalian and avian species, cultural variation has previously been identified only for single behaviour patterns, such as the local dialects of song-birds. The extensive, multiple variations now documented for chimpanzees are thus without parallel. Moreover, the combined repertoire of these behaviour patterns in each chimpanzee community is itself highly distinctive, a phenomenon characteristic of human cultures but previously unrecognised in non-human species.
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