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Veissier, I., Boissy, A., Nowak, R., Orgeur, P., & Poindron, P. (1998). Ontogeny of social awareness in domestic herbivores. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 57(3-4), 233–245.
Abstract: It is now well established that domestic animals construct responses to their environment that depend on experience and on integration of several features of the environment, including social partners. This ability to be aware of the environment is not fully developed at birth but improves and varies through the animal's life. This topic is discussed on the basis of social processes in sheep and cattle. Social relationships of an animal with its conspecifics develop with age; they do not merely depend on pre-programmed behaviours but rely at least in part on learning of characteristics of the partners. Soon after birth, a strong preferential bond establishes with the dam then to a lesser extent, the young associates to other members of the flock, especially other young. The attractiveness of the group varies later in life due to external events or to physiological state: the abrupt separation from the dam at artificial weaning strengthens bonds between peers, whereas around parturition, females are less disturbed by isolation from the group. More recently, the awareness of social partners has been described in non-social contexts: the animal modifies its responses to events according to the presence of partners, and also to their emotional state and behaviour. The effects of partners seem to depend on their relationship with the animal and also on the social motivation of that animal, which both vary during its life. We recommend study of the ontogeny of awareness using the model of social influences.
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Kendrick, K. M. (1998). Intelligent perception. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 57(3-4), 213–231.
Abstract: For an animal from any species to exhibit intelligent perception it must be capable of being consciously aware of what it perceives and capable of learning from this experience. Although many organisms, and for that matter machines, are capable of rapid adaptive learning in response to perception of environmental changes, such adaptations can occur without them being consciously aware either of external stimuli or their response to them. While behavioural and neurophysiological evidence suggests that, apart from ourselves, other higher primates must also be capable of such awareness, an important central question is whether such awareness is a characteristic of primate evolution or if it also occurs in sub-primate mammals as well. In this review I will examine our behavioural and neurophysiological evidence from visual and olfactory recognition studies in the sheep to support the argument that they are likely to be aware of and learn about both social and non-social objects and that they are therefore capable of intelligent perception. However, the impact of motivational changes on these perceptual processes suggests that they may be limited in terms of both prospection and retrospection and dealing with symbolic associations.
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Piggins, D., & Phillips, C. J. C. (1998). Awareness in domesticated animals--concepts and definitions. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 57(3-4), 181–200.
Abstract: Humans will probably never experience the awareness of another species, but adopting a broad concept of awareness leads to the conclusion that other species have some awareness. The existence of a more complex mind in humans, compared with other species, leads some to suggest that awareness only exists in humans. We postulate that humans possess a significantly increased level of awareness, facilitated in particular by the acquisition of language, but that generally animals possess a level of awareness that is appropriate to their needs. Categories of awareness can be devised by identifying levels, such as are used in the identification of the conscious state in humans, or by ranking states of awareness in order of complexity. A scheme is proposed that combines these two approaches, which is considered suitable for use with domesticated animals. The advantages of identifying awareness as being sensation-, perception- or cognition-based are discussed, as well as the possibility of a scheme based on the degree and site of CNS processing. Finally, the acquisition of awareness by learning and inheritance is considered, and it is argued that in variable environments, animals will evolve increased awareness, whereas in very stable environments the energetic cost of awareness will encourage the evolution of less aware animals.
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Boyd, L. (1998). The 24-h time budget of a takh harem stallion (Equus ferus przewalskii) pre- and post-reintroduction. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 60(4), 291–299.
Abstract: Focal animal sampling was used to determine the 24-h time budget of a takh harem stallion (Equus ferus przewalskii) during the 2 weeks prior to, and the two weeks following, reintroduction into the Hustain Nuruu Steppe Reserve, Mongolia. Both before and after release, the stallion spent approximately 47% of his time grazing, 6% standing, and 5% in recumbent rest. The biggest changes to the time budget after release were a 4-fold increase in the amount of time spent moving, and a 50% decrease in the amount of time spent resting in a standing position. During the middle of the day when the temperatures were hottest, the stallion exhibited less grazing and more standing resting behaviour than in the morning or evening hours. Recumbent rest invariably occurred in the hours before dawn.
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Scheibe, K. M., Schleusner, T., Berger, A., Eichhorn, K., Langbein, J., Dal Zotto, L., et al. (1998). ETHOSYS (R)--new system for recording and analysis of behaviour of free-ranging domestic animals and wildlife. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 55(3-4), 195–211.
Abstract: A storage telemetry system has been developed to monitor domestic animals and wildlife, and has been tested under variable conditions on sheep, Przewalski horse and mouflon. It can be used for automatic recording of different patterns of behaviour, such as activity and feeding, and is based on advanced analysis of sensor-emitted signals. The system is made up of collars (ETHOREC) with sensors and electronic devices for behaviour recording, a central station (ETHOLINK) and software for data transmission and processing (ETHODAT). All components of the ETHOREC recording device are integrated in the collar. Long-time recording of behaviour through up to four different channels and in numerous animals at one and the same time are necessary elements to facilitate biorhythmic analysis of animals under free-ranging conditions. The results obtained from this telemetry system were compared with visual observations on six sheep and four Przewalski horses. Parallel recordings were taken from four sheep, using a recorder for jaw movements. Locomotor activity usually was rated somewhat higher by observers, whereas feed uptake was rated lower. Higher feed uptake values were measured by means of the jaw movement recorder, although deviations thus measured varied less than those noticed by visual observations. All measured series exhibited significant correlations with control values. The system, consequently, was found to be more suitable for determination of diurnal patterns, change over time and relative comparison between behaviour levels than it actually was for measurement of absolute duration of a given behaviour.
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Slabbert, J. M., & Rasa, O. A. E. (1997). Observational learning of an acquired maternal behaviour pattern by working dog pups: an alternative training method? Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 53(4), 309–316.
Abstract: German shepherd pups from untrained bitches and bitches trained in the location of narcotics were either separated from their mothers at 6 weeks (standard raised) or at 3 months of age (extended maternal care). Pups with extended maternal care which were allowed to observe their trained mothers locating and retrieving a sachet of odour-producing narcotic between the ages of 6 and 12 weeks performed the same task significantly better than non-exposed pups when tested at the age of 6 months, without further reinforcement during the interim period. This difference in performance was independent of the duration of maternal care or maternal origin of the pups and was attributed to differences in early experience acquired through observational learning.
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Lovrovich, P., Sighieri, C., & Baragli, P. (2015). Following human-given cues or not? Horses (Equus caballus) get smarter and change strategy in a delayed three choice task. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 166, 80–88.
Abstract: Highlights
�Horses remember the location of food hidden by the experimenter after a delay.
�They understand the communicative meaning of a human positioned close to the target.
�The same horses are capable of changing their decision-making strategy.
�They are able to shift from accuracy inferred from human given cues to speed.
�Horses can use human cues or not depending on time, cost, experience and reward.
Abstract
To date, horses have seemed capable of using human local enhancement cues only when the experimenter remains close to the reward, since they fail to understand the communicative meaning of the human as momentary local enhancement cue (when the human is not present at the moment of the animal's choice). This study was designed to analyse the ability of horses to understand, remember and use human-given cues in a delayed (10 s) three-choice task. Twelve horses (experimental group) had to find a piece of carrot hidden under one of three overturned buckets after seeing the experimenter hide it. The results were then compared with those of a control group (twelve horses) that had to find the carrot using only the sense of smell or random attempts. At the beginning, the experimental horses made more correct choices at the first attempt, although they took more time to find the carrot. Later the same horses were less accurate but found the carrot in less time. This suggests that the value of the proximal momentary local enhancement cues became less critical. It seemed, in fact, that the experimental and control group had aligned their behaviour as the trials proceeded. Despite this similarity, in the second half of the trials, the experimental group tended to first approach the bucket where they had found the carrot in the immediately preceding trial. Our findings indicate that horses are capable of remembering the location of food hidden by the experimenter after a delay, by using the human positioned close to the target as valuable information. The same horses are also capable of changing their decision-making strategy by shifting from the accuracy inferred from human given cues to speed. Therefore, horses are able to decide whether or not to use human given-cues, depending on a speed-accuracy trade-off.
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Maros, K., Dóka, A., & Miklósi, Á. (2008). Behavioural correlation of heart rate changes in family dogs. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 109(2), 329–341.
Abstract: Fourteen dogs (7 males and 7 females) were tested for their heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) responses in different activities and environmental challenges while their movement was controlled. First, we wanted to compare the dogs? cardiac responses in different body positions (lying, sitting and standing) and during slow walking to reveal their possible influence on HR and HRV. Second, we tested the HR response during an attentive state when the dog was gazing at its favourite toy while remaining in a steady body position. Finally we investigated the heart activity during separation from the owner. We also analysed the individual differences and the influence of gender on the heart responses. We found that the HR increased during periods of increased activity (walking) and was lowest during lying, while it did not differ between sitting and standing. At the same time no changes in HRV were found in the case of different body positions and walking. In contrast, HRV significantly increased when dogs oriented towards their favourite toy, and we found a distinct individual characteristic HR change in this situation compared to the similar body position without the toy being shown. Interestingly during separation from the owner the HR did not increase, but when a strange person was petting the dog, a significant increasing effect was seen in the HR. However the HRV increased only when the petting was discontinued. In general, large individual variation was found with regard to the HR and HRV, while gender did not influence the cardiac activity of the dogs.These results show that body position affected HR significantly in dogs. Further it seems that HRV could be a good indicator of the dog's attentive state. Thus in future studies both the physical and cognitive factors should be given more attention when HR or HRV is investigated as a dependent variable.
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Mal, M. E., McCall, C. A., Cummins, K. A., & Newland, M. C. (1994). Influence of preweaning handling methods on post-weaning learning ability and manageability of foals. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 40(3-4), 187–195.
Abstract: Twenty-three foals were used to determine if different amounts of handling between birth and weaning affected their later learning ability and manageability. Foals were assigned to one of three treatments: non-handled (NH) foals were not handled except for necessary maintenance procedures; intermediately handled (IH) foals were handled daily in two 10-min sessions for 7 days after birth and then not handled except for necessary maintenance procedures; extensively handled (EH) foals were handled daily for 7 days as were IH foals and then handled for 10 min once weekly until weaning. Foals were weaned at 120 +/- 10 days of age. On days 1, 3, and 15 after weaning, foals were subjected to a one-trial learning test. The learning test consisted of placing the foal in a familiar pen with an 1.5 X .6-m apparatus containing 40 15 X 15-cm compartments. Number of visits to the apparatus and compartment visited were recorded for 5 min. A small amount of concentrate feed then was placed in a target compartment, and visits were recorded for an additional 5 min. On day 16 after weaning, foals were subjected to a manageability test in which flight distance from an unfamiliar handler and reaction to a novel stimulus were recorded. Split-plot analysis of variance revealed no treatment differences in performance on the learning test (P > .05). Foal performance on the test was greater on day 15 than on day 1 or day 3 (P < .01). Analysis of variance indicated handling treatment had no effect (P > .05) on foal performance during the manageability test. Results indicate that this preweaning handling regimen has no effect on foal learning ability or manageability as measured by these procedures.
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Sarova, R., Spinka, M., & Panama, J. L. A. (2007). Synchronization and leadership in switches between resting and activity in a beef cattle herd--A case study. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 108(3-4), 327–331.
Abstract: The mechanisms of activity synchronization in group living ungulates are not well understood. In a case study on herd of 15 Gasconne beef cows with calves observed during a total of 25 summer daylight periods in 2004 and 2005, we examined whether cows similar to each other in body weight or in reproductive status were more synchronized and whether the timing of activity switches were determined by specific leading animals. We calculated the synchronization of all possible pairs of cows in the herd and tested the effects of similarity in body weight and in reproductive status (lactating versus non-lactating) on synchronization in the pair. Further, we assessed whether any specific individuals, and especially the dominant cows, were more able, through their own activity switch, to incite another cow to follow shortly with her switch in activity. We found that body weight differences had a negative influence on pair synchronization (GLMM, F1,65 = 6.79; p < 0.05), but reproductive status did not affect the synchronization. Cows' individual identity explained only a small proportion (<2%) of variability in intervals between switches of subsequent cows. Furthermore, dominance status of an individual cow did not correlate with mean interval between her activity switches and activity switches of the next cow (lying down: Spearman correlation, rs = -0.16, n = 14, p > 0.10; standing up: Spearman correlation, rs = -0.38, n = 14, p > 0.10), indicating that there were no leading animals initiating switches in activity in our herd.
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