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Ahmadinejad, M., Tavakoli, S. (2012). Common injuries in athletic horses in Tehran‘s riding clubs. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (Vol. in press).
Abstract: Various forms of intensive sport activities places stresses on the musculoskeletal system of the horse while involve in any forms of the activity (race &/or training). The musculoskeletal system of the horse has an inherent ability to adapt to the demands of high speed exercise, though if a threshold in adaptive capacity is exceeded, then some forms of damages to the structures of the musculoskeletal system may result. In case, if the insult (race &/or training) continued, it may worsen the repair and adaptation process and put the horse at risk of more serious musculoskeletal injury.
The result of this research describe the finding of the study performed in different breeds of horses involved in various types of activity in Tehran’s riding clubs, concentrating on the types of injuries observed in those horses. The study was then focused on the types of injuries observed in various activities (events) horses involved in.
Totally 400 horses took part in various activities during race season (March – September) in Tehran’s riding clubs, out of which 26 horses injured, in most of which musculoskeletal system of the fore limbs were involved.
From the sexual aspect of the study the percentages of the stallions were more (54%) when compared to the mares (46%). In this study the relation between the sex, breed, age and the weight of the horses with anatomical site of the injury, outcome of the injury, climate and the type of the event (jumping, polo etc.) were studied and compare with each other.
Bibliography:
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Peloso JG, Mundy GD, Cohen ND. 1994. Prevalence of, and factors associated with, musculoskeletal racing injuries of thoroughbreds. J.A.V.M.A. 204, 620-6
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Dumont, B., Rossignol, N., Loucougaray, G., Carrère, P., Chadoeuf, J., Fleurance, G., et al. (2012). When does grazing generate stable vegetation patterns in temperate pastures? Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 153, 50–56.
Abstract: The stability of grazing-induced spatial patterns of vegetation was analyzed at two spatial scales (25 m × 20 m areas and 1.6 m × 0.8 m grids) in pastures of contrasting productivity (maximum standing biomass: 130–800 gDM/m2). At both scales, the mosaic of grazed and ungrazed patches was modeled as a Boolean process, calculating cross-variograms to quantify the temporal stability of grazing patterns and its links with local floristic composition were tested. The scale at which stability of vegetation patterns took place in two successive years depended on pasture productivity. Inter-annual stability of large-scale patterns mainly occurred in extensively used fertile pastures grazed by cattle, and in pastures grazed by horses. Less-fertile grasslands were mainly characterized by a fine-scale stability of grazing patterns. Stable fine-scale patterns were often related to the local abundance of legumes and forbs. Stable large-scale patterns of grazing within lightly grazed productive grasslands could result in divergent local vegetation dynamics, which can be seen as an opportunity for restoring biodiversity in fertile grasslands.
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Van de Weerd, H. A., Seaman, S., Wheeler, K., Goddard, P., & Mclean, B. (2012). Use of artificial drinkers by unhandled semi-feral ponies. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 139(1-2), 86–95.
Abstract: This study investigated drinking behaviour of unhandled, semi-feral Dartmoor ponies. Aspects studied were drinking behaviour, latency to drink from novel unfamiliar drinkers after transport, preferences for different types of artificial water drinkers, effects of mixing with unfamiliar ponies and group size, on drinking behaviour, and the effect of a simulated market on the latency to drink. Ponies were tested in groups of three or six animals, or as individuals in test pens that were equipped with three water drinkers: bucket, automatic drinking bowl, flowing water trough. Behaviour was recorded using time-lapse video. An individual pony drank on average 10 l per day. Ponies also drank, but at a lower rate, during the night. The latencies to drink after 4.5 h of transport showed large variation, but most ponies drank within the first hour after being transported (all groups 80.5 ± 32.94 min, mean ± SEM). In the individual choice tests, the preferred drinkers were the bucket and the flowing water trough, but not the automatic drinking bowl (drinking time 25.2 ± 4.66, 11.5 ± 4.26, 2.4 ± 2.23 min for bucket, trough and bowl respectively, mean ± SEM; paired t-tests, bowl versus other drinkers, all tests p < 0.02). A possible reason for the avoidance of the automatic bowl was the noise it made when filling. After mixing a group of three ponies with a group of three unfamiliar animals, the ponies did not express their individual drinker preferences anymore. The use of the previously preferred bucket decreased significantly and the use of the initially, non-preferred, bowl increased significantly. This was likely caused by the fact that ponies were either intentionally or accidentally obstructing drinkers in certain areas of the pen and unfamiliar ponies did not want to push past them. In the simulated market, the differences in latencies to drink between ponies in the home pen and market groups did not reach significance. No significant effect of group size (groups of three versus six ponies) on drinking behaviour was detected. The results have implications for situations where only automatic water bowls are provided, such as during pony sales at livestock markets. Preventing ponies from expressing their drinking choice, either by offering non-preferred drinkers or by mixing with unfamiliar animals, could adversely affect their welfare especially if this happens in conjunction with other stressful events such as transport and markets, and potentially weaning.
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Warmuth, V., Eriksson, A., Bower, M. A., Barker, G., Barrett, E., Hanks, B. K., et al. (2012). Reconstructing the origin and spread of horse domestication in the Eurasian steppe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, .
Abstract: Despite decades of research across multiple disciplines, the early history of horse domestication remains poorly understood. On the basis of current evidence from archaeology, mitochondrial DNA, and Y-chromosomal sequencing, a number of different domestication scenarios have been proposed, ranging from the spread of domestic horses out of a restricted primary area of domestication to the domestication of numerous distinct wild horse populations. In this paper, we reconstruct both the population genetic structure of the extinct wild progenitor of domestic horses, Equus ferus, and the origin and spread of horse domestication in the Eurasian steppes by fitting a spatially explicit stepping-stone model to genotype data from >300 horses sampled across northern Eurasia. We find strong evidence for an expansion of E. ferus out of eastern Eurasia about 160 kya, likely reflecting the colonization of Eurasia by this species. Our best-fitting scenario further suggests that horse domestication originated in the western part of the Eurasian steppe and that domestic herds were repeatedly restocked with local wild horses as they spread out of this area. By showing that horse domestication was initiated in the western Eurasian steppe and that the spread of domestic herds across Eurasia involved extensive introgression from the wild, the scenario of horse domestication proposed here unites evidence from archaeology, mitochondrial DNA, and Y-chromosomal DNA.
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Krueger, T. (2012). Rinder- und Pferdebeweidung ist gut für die Natur. Junge Wissenscahften, 93, 28–35.
Abstract: Rinder und Pferde werden in den Abruzzen das ganze Jahr auf großen Weiden gehalten. Dies fördert nachweislich den Artenreichtum, verbessert die Bodenqualität und trägt durch Kohlenstoffbindung zum Klimaschutz bei.
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Proops, L., & McComb, K. (2012). Cross-modal individual recognition in domestic horses (Equus caballus) extends to familiar humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1741), 3131–3138.
Abstract: It has recently been shown that some non-human animals can cross-modally recognize members of their own taxon. What is unclear is just how plastic this recognition system can be. In this study, we investigate whether an animal, the domestic horse, is capable of spontaneous cross-modal recognition of individuals from a morphologically very different species. We also provide the first insights into how cross-modal identity information is processed by examining whether there are hemispheric biases in this important social skill. In our preferential looking paradigm, subjects were presented with two people and playbacks of their voices to determine whether they were able to match the voice with the person. When presented with familiar handlers subjects could match the specific familiar person with the correct familiar voice. Horses were significantly better at performing the matching task when the congruent person was standing on their right, indicating marked hemispheric specialization (left hemisphere bias) in this ability. These results are the first to demonstrate that cross-modal recognition in animals can extend to individuals from phylogenetically very distant species. They also indicate that processes governed by the left hemisphere are central to the cross-modal matching of visual and auditory information from familiar individuals in a naturalistic setting.
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Granquist, S. M., Thorhallsdottir, A. G., & Sigurjonsdottir, H. (2012). The effect of stallions on social interactions in domestic and semi feral harems. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 141(1–2), 49–56.
Abstract: Earlier research indicates that stallions may supress interactions of their harem members, leading to less stable hierarchies and friendship bonds in harems compared to non-stallion groups. In this paper, the effect of the presense of a stallion on the social behaviour of mares was studied by comparing six harems containing stallions to four mixed sex groups not containing stallions. Both temporary and permanent harems were studied, giving the possibility to investigate the effect of group stability on social interactions. A significant linear hierarchy was found in all non-stallion groups that were used for comparison, while the hierarchies were only found to be linear in three of the six harems containing stallions (Landaus h', p < 0.05). Aggression rate was lower (t-test, p < 0.05) and fewer friendship bonds (G-test, p < 0.0001) were found within the harems, compared to the groups without stallions. Stallions seldom intervene directly in interactions between harem members. Thus, our results give support to the hypothesis that stallions may suppress interactions of harem members, but in a more indirect way than with direct interference. In addition, our results give support for earlier findings that aggression rate may be affected by group stability. We found a higher aggression rate in the temporary harems compared to the permanent harems (Kruskal–Wallis, p < 0.05) and in the temporary non-stallion group compared to the permanent non-stallion group. The results have significance for further research on social structure of mammals, and may be applied in management of domestic animals.
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Watanabe, N. M., Stahlman, W. D., Blaisdell, A. P., Garlick, D., Fast, C. D., & Blumstein, D. T. (2012). Quantifying personality in the terrestrial hermit crab: Different measures, different inferences. Behav. Process., 91(2), 133–140.
Abstract: There is much interest in studying animal personalities but considerable debate as to how to define and evaluate them. We assessed the utility of one proposed framework while studying personality in terrestrial hermit crabs (Coenobita clypeatus). We recorded the latency of individuals to emerge from their shells over multiple trials in four unique manipulations. We used the specific testing situations within these manipulations to define two temperament categories (shyness-boldness and exploration-avoidance). Our results identified individual behavioral consistency (i.e., personality) across repeated trials of the same situations, within both categories. Additionally, we found correlations between behaviors across contexts (traits) that suggested that the crabs had behavioral syndromes. While we found some correlations between behaviors that are supposed to measure the same temperament trait, these correlations were not inevitable. Furthermore, a principal component analysis (PCA) of our data revealed new relationships between behaviors and provided the foundation for an alternate interpretation: measured behaviors may be situation-specific, and may not reflect general personality traits at all. These results suggest that more attention must be placed on how we infer personalities from standardized methods, and that we must be careful to not force our data to fit our frameworks.
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Hanggi, E. B., & Ingersoll, J. F. (2012). Lateral vision in horses: A behavioral investigation. Behav. Process., 91(1), 70–76.
Abstract: This study investigated lateral vision in horses (Equus caballus) for the first time from a behavioral point of view. Three horses were tested using a novel experimental design to determine the range of their lateral and caudolateral vision with respect to stimulus detection and discrimination. Real-life stimuli were presented along a curvilinear wall in one of four different positions (A, B, C, D) and one of two height locations (Top, Bottom) on both sides of the horse. To test for stimulus detection, the correct stimulus was paired against a control; for stimulus discrimination, the correct stimulus was paired against another object. To indicate that the correct stimulus was detected or discriminated, the horses pushed one of two paddles. All horses scored significantly above chance on stimulus detection trials regardless of stimulus position or location. They also accurately discriminated between stimuli when objects appeared in positions A, B, and C for the top or bottom locations; however, they failed to discriminate these stimuli at position D. This study supports physiological descriptions of the equine eye and provides new behavioral data showing that horses can detect the appearance of objects within an almost fully encompassing circle and are able to identify objects within most but not all of their panoramic field of view.
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Schneider, A. - C., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2012). How chimpanzees solve collective action problems. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, .
Abstract: We presented small groups of chimpanzees with two collective action situations, in which action was necessary for reward but there was a disincentive for individuals to act owing to the possibility of free-riding on the efforts of others. We found that in simpler scenarios (experiment 1) in which group size was small, there was a positive relationship between rank and action with more dominant individuals volunteering to act more often, particularly when the reward was less dispersed. Social tolerance also seemed to mediate action whereby higher tolerance levels within a group resulted in individuals of lower ranks sometimes acting and appropriating more of the reward. In more complex scenarios, when group size was larger and cooperation was necessary (experiment 2), overcoming the problem was more challenging. There was highly significant variability in the action rates of different individuals as well as between dyads, suggesting success was more greatly influenced by the individual personalities and personal relationships present in the group.
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