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Keil, N. M., Sambraus, H.H. (1998). “Intervenors” in agonistic interactions amongst domesticated goats. Z. Säugetierk., 63(5), 266–272.
Abstract: Social behaviour was observed in individually marked goats in two herds. The goats from one herd (n = 98) were horned, those of the other herd (n = 83) were polled. By recording agonistic interactions within the herds, a dominance index was determined for each animal. In both herds, intervention took place. Intervention is defined as one animal pushing in between two fighters, and thus ending the fight. More cases of intervention took place per individual animal amongst the horned goats than amongst the polled ones. Goats which intervened in fights on several occasions usually had a high dominance index. Members of the herd which were observed intervening only once had an average dominance index in both herds of almost 0.5. In some cases, goats very low in the rank order intervened a fight. Only rarely did the intervenors have a lower dominance index than the two fighters. In 103 cases, the direct dominance relationship between a fighting animal and the intervenor was known. In 95 cases (92.2%), the intervenor was dominant to the herd member in this fight and in just eight cases (7.8%), it was subordinate. It could not be determined what advantage the intervenor gained from its activity. It is possible that, at least in certain cases, a particularly relationship existed between the intervenor and one of the fighters.
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Birke, L. (2007). “Learning to speak horse”: The culture of “natural horsemanship”. Society and Animals, 15(3), 217–239.
Abstract: This paper examines the rise of what is popularly called “natural horsemanship” (NH), as a definitive cultural change within the horse industry. Practitioners are often evangelical about their methods, portraying NH as a radical departure from traditional methods. In doing so, they create a clear demarcation from the practices and beliefs of the conventional horse-world. Only NH, advocates argue, properly understands the horse. Dissenters, however, contest the benefits to horses as well as the reliance in NH on disputed concepts of the natural. Advocates, furthermore, sought to rename technologies associated with riding while simultaneously condemning technologies used in conventional training (such as whips). These contested differences create boundaries and enact social inclusion and exclusion, which the paper explores. For horses, the impact of NH is ambiguous: Depending on practitioners, effects could be good or bad. However, for the people involved, NH presents a radical change-which they see as offering markedly better ways of relating to horses and a more inclusive social milieu.
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Kuroshima, H., Fujita, K., Adachi, I., Iwata, K., & Fuyuki, A. (2003). A Capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) recognizes when people do and do not know the location of food. Anim. Cogn., 6(4), 283–291.
Abstract: In a previous study, Kuroshima and colleagues demonstrated that capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) learned to discriminate between a “knower” who inspected a box for food, and a “guesser” who did not. The aim of the present study was to specify whether the subjects learned a simple conditional discrimination or a causal relationship that seeing leads to knowing. In experiment 1, we introduced five types of novel containers to two subjects. Each container was of different shape and color. The subjects gradually learned to reach toward the container the knower suggested. In experiment 2, we diversified the behavior of the knower and the guesser. In experiment 3, in order to eliminate the possibility of discrimination based on differences in the magnitude and the complexity of two trainers, we equated their behaviors. One subject adapted to the novel behaviors of the knower and the guesser, successfully discriminating the two trainers. Thus this monkey clearly learned to use the inspecting action of the knower and the non-inspecting action of the guesser as a discriminative cue to recognize the baited container. This result suggests that one capuchin monkey learned to recognize the relationship between seeing and knowing.
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Miklósi, Á., & Soproni, K. (2006). A comparative analysis of animals' understanding of the human pointing gesture. Anim. Cogn., 9(2), 81–93.
Abstract: We review studies demonstrating the ability of some animals to understand the human pointing gesture. We present a 3-step analysis of the topic. (1) We compare and evaluate current experimental methods (2) We compare available experimental results on performance of different species and investigate the interaction of species differences and other independent variables (3) We evaluate how our present understanding of pointing comprehension answers questions about function, evolution and mechanisms. Recently, a number of different hypotheses have been put forward to account for the presence of this ability in some species and for the lack of such comprehension in others. In our view, there is no convincing evidence for the assumption that the competitive lifestyles of apes would inhibit the utilization of this human gesture. Similarly, domestication as a special evolutionary factor in the case of some species falls short in explaining high levels of pointing comprehension in some non-domestic species. We also disagree with the simplistic view of describing the phenomenon as a simple form of conditioning. We suggest that a more systematic comparative research is needed to understand the emerging communicative representational abilities in animals that provide the background for comprehending the human pointing gesture.
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Jones, J. E., Antoniadis, E., Shettleworth, S. J., & Kamil, A. C. (2002). A comparative study of geometric rule learning by nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), pigeons (Columba livia), and jackdaws (Corvus monedula). J Comp Psychol, 116(4), 350–356.
Abstract: Three avian species, a seed-caching corvid (Clark's nutcrackers; Nucifraga columbiana), a non-seed-caching corvid (jackdaws; Corvus monedula), and a non-seed-caching columbid (pigeons; Columba livia), were tested for ability to learn to find a goal halfway between 2 landmarks when distance between the landmarks varied during training. All 3 species learned, but jackdaws took much longer than either pigeons or nutcrackers. The nutcrackers searched more accurately than either pigeons or jackdaws. Both nutcrackers and pigeons showed good transfer to novel landmark arrays in which interlandmark distances were novel, but inconclusive results were obtained from jackdaws. Species differences in this spatial task appear quantitative rather than qualitative and are associated with differences in natural history rather than phylogeny.
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Forkman, B., Boissy, A., Meunier-Salaün, M. - C., Canali, E., & Jones, R. B. (2007). A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses. Physiol. Behav., 92(3), 340–374.
Abstract: FORKMAN, B., A., BOISSY, M.-C., SALAUN, E., CANALI, AND R.B., JONES. A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses. PHYSIOL. BEHAV. 000-000, 2007. Fear is arguably the most commonly investigated emotion in domestic animals. In the current review we attempt to establish the level of repeatability and validity found for fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, poultry and horses. We focus the review on the three most common types of fear tests: the arena test (open field), the novel object test, and the restraint test. For some tests, e.g. tonic immobility in poultry, there is a good and broad literature on factors that affect the outcome of the test, the validity of the test and its age dependency. However, there are comparatively few of these well defined and validated tests and what is especially missing for most tests is information on the robustness, i.e., what aspects can be changed without affecting the validity of the tests. The relative absence of standardized tests hampers the development of applied ethology as a science.
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Hebenbrock, M., Due, M., Holzhausen, H., Sass, A., Stadler, P., & Ellendorff, F. (2005). A new tool to monitor training and performance of sport horses using global positioning system (GPS) with integrated GSM capabilities. Dtsch Tierarztl Wochenschr, 112(7), 262–265.
Abstract: Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are considered suitable to monitor the position and velocity of horses during cross-country competition or in training. Furthermore, simultaneous recording of life data such as heart rate could be useful to assess the horse's condition during exercise. To test the suitability and reliability of a commercially available GPS system with integrated heart rate recording system and with built in GSM for data transmission, the Fidelak Equipilot Type EP-2003-15/G-2.11 (EP-15/G) was evaluated first for reliability of pulse recording from a pulse generator within the physiological range of horses; furthermore distance, velocity and heart rate recordings were carried out on a standard 1000 m field track with five repetitions. Agreement (% deviation from actually measured distance and from stopwatch-distance based velocity calculations) and variability (Coefficient of Variation for distance, velocity, heart rate) were calculated. From the results it was safe to assume that the heart rate sensor recorded horse heart rates at a high degree of accuracy. Overall distances and velocities are in high agreement with actually measured values. However, overall variability expressed in terms of relative variability (C.V.) is smaller for distance recording (C.V. 0.68%) when compared to velocity (C.V. 1.01%). The system tested is suitable and reliable for simultaneously recording of distance, velocity and heart rates for horses during cross country exercise. GPS-based monitoring of movement along with simultaneous recording of physiological data and the possibility to call upon data will not only be of benefit for training horses or for surveillance during competition, it may also be suitable for distant patient monitoring and in behavioural studies as well as in veterinary medicine in general.
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Virányi, Z., Topál, J., Miklósi, Á., & Csányi, V. (2006). A nonverbal test of knowledge attribution: a comparative study on dogs and children. Anim. Cogn., 9(1), 13–26.
Abstract: The sensitivity of eleven pet dogs and eleven 2.5-year-old children to others' past perceptual access was tested for object-specificity in a playful, nonverbal task in which a human Helper's knowledge state regarding the whereabouts of a hidden toy and a stick (a tool necessary for getting the out-of-reach toy) was systematically manipulated. In the four experimental conditions the Helper either participated or was absent during hiding of the toy and the stick and therefore she knew the place(s) of (1) both the toy and the stick, (2) only the toy, (3) only the stick or (4) neither of them. The subjects observed the hiding processes, but they could not reach the objects, so they had to involve the Helper to retrieve the toy. The dogs were more inclined to signal the place of the toy in each condition and indicated the location of the stick only sporadically. However the children signalled both the location of the toy and that of the stick in those situations when the Helper had similar knowledge regarding the whereabouts of them (i.e. knew or ignored both of them), and in those conditions in which the Helper was ignorant of the whereabouts of only one object the children indicated the place of this object more often than that of the known one. At the same time however, both dogs and children signalled the place of the toy more frequently if the Helper had been absent during toy-hiding compared to those conditions when she had participated in the hiding. Although this behaviour appears to correspond with the Helper's knowledge state, even the subtle distinction made by the children can be interpreted without a casual understanding of knowledge-formation in others.
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Minero, M., Zucca, D., & Canali, E. (2006). A note on reaction to novel stimulus and restraint by therapeutic riding horses. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 97(2-4), 335–342.
Abstract: Little research has been done to measure reactivity objectively in therapeutic riding horses (TRH). As individual reactivity and chronic stress could be assessed by exposing animals to acute, novel stressors, the authors of this work aimed at comparing reactions of TRHs and jumping horses (JH) to two challenges. Four TRHs and four JHs were exposed to a restraint covering their head with a hood for 1 h and to a startling stimulus (a 40 cm long, red and white synthetic holiday garland shaken with a rustling noise inside the box). Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were recorded continuously and telemetrically, the reaction was video-recorded and analysed with a software for behavioural analysis. Blood samples were collected before and after each challenge to determine lymphocyte proliferation and other biochemical parameters. Horses spent most of the time immobile, during the challenges (p < 0.05). TRHs had a significantly higher average basal HR than JH (p < 0.05), probably due to their better condition. HR varied among different behaviours during the restraint (p < 0.05): the average HR during “pawing” was higher than during other behaviours (p < 0.005). A significant decrease in the proliferation of lymphocytes in samples taken after the removal of the hood (p < 0.05) was found, while the other stress related parameters did not vary significantly after the challenges. The authors conclude that TRHs did not react less than JHs to the new stimuli and this should be taken into consideration while planning their daily work and management.
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Forbes, A. B. (1993). A review of regional and temporal use of avermectins in cattle and horses worldwide. Vet Parasitol, 48(1-4), 19–28.
Abstract: Ivermectin and abamectin are two members of the group of parasiticides known as the avermectins; ivermectin was first registered as an injectable treatment for cattle in 1981. Since then, abamectin has been registered for cattle and ivermectin for horses. The relative popularity of the avermectins amongst farmers and veterinarians can be attributed to their spectrum of activity, convenience, wide margin of safety and the improved health and performance of stock following their use. Patterns of use in grazing animals apply equally to the avermectins as to other antiparasitics, particularly anthelmintics; these are based on a knowledge of epidemiology integrated with practical management considerations. For cattle, programs are commonly aimed at control of abomasal nematodes of the genera Ostertagia and Haemonchus. Use of avermectins is largely strategic in cattle, treatments being favored at the end of the period of transmission of these parasites; this frequently coincides with housing, entry into a feedlot or movement to another pasture. Simultaneous control of important ectoparasites at this time is an added benefit. Prophylactic use of avermectins at pasture is primarily targeted at the young first season grazing animal. In horses, a bimonthly treatment schedule during the period of risk has proved effective in helping prevent adverse effects of the main target parasites, including large and small strongyles and stomach bots. These patterns of use can be applied to the evaluation of the potential for avermectin residues in feces to have impact on pasture ecology. The evidence presented suggests that any effects are temporally and spatially limited. After more than a decade of practical use, there is no indication that avermectins have had a significant impact on pasture ecology and the environment.
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