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Author Fureix, C.; Bourjade, M.; Henry, S.; Sankey, C.; Hausberger, M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 138 Issue (up) 3–4 Pages 216-228  
  Keywords Horses; Social behaviour; Aggression regulation; Coping in group; Management; Social development  
  Abstract Horses are highly social animals that have evolved to live in social groups. However, in modern husbandry systems, single housing prevails where horses experience social isolation, a challenge-to-welfare factor. One major reason for this single housing is the owners’ concerns that horses may injure each other during aggressive encounters. However, in natural conditions, serious injuries due to aggressive encounters are rare. What could therefore explain the claimed risks of group living for domestic horses? Basing our questioning on the current knowledge of the social life of horses in natural conditions, we review different practices that may lead to higher levels of aggression in horses and propose practical solutions. Observations of natural and feral horses mostly indicate a predominance of low frequencies and mild forms of aggression, based on subtle communication signals and ritualized displays and made possible by group stability (i.e. stable composition), dominance hierarchy and learning of appropriate social skills by young horses. Obviously, adults play a major role here in canalizing undesirable behaviours, and social experience during development, associated with a diversity of social partners, seems to be a prerequisite for the young horse to become socially skilled. Given the natural propensity of horses to have a regulation of aggression in groups, the tendency to display more aggression in groups of domestic horses under some management practices seems clearly related to the conditions offered. We therefore review the managing practices that could trigger aggressiveness in horses. Non social practices (space, resource availability) and social practices (group size, stability of membership, composition and opportunities for social experiences during development) in groups of domestic horses are discussed here. Finally, we propose simple practical solutions leading to more peaceful interactions in groups of domestic horses, based on the knowledge of horses’ natural social life which therefore should be enhanced (e.g. ensuring roughage availability, favouring group stability, introducing socially experienced adults in groups of young horses, etc.). The state of the art indicates that many questions still need to be answered. Given the importance of the associated welfare issues and the consequences on the use of horses, further research is required, which could benefit horses… and humans.  
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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5648  
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Author Visser, E.K.; van Reenen, C.G.; Hopster, H.; Schilder, M.B.H.; Knaap, J.H.; Barneveld, A.; Blokhuis, H.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Quantifying aspects of young horses' temperament: consistency of behavioural variables Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 74 Issue (up) 4 Pages 241-258  
  Keywords Horses; Temperament; Individual differences; Behavioural variables; Pca  
  Abstract Performance of horses, whether in sports or in leisure, depends on both physical abilities as well as temperament. The aim of the present work was to measure individual variation and consistency of behavioural variables, related to temperament, in young horses of the same breed and age, and reared under controlled housing conditions and management. A total of 41 Dutch Warmblood horses were tested at 9, 10, 21 and 22 months of age in two behavioural tests, i.e. the novel object test and the handling test. In the novel object test horses were confronted with an open umbrella that was lowered from the ceiling. In the handling test horses were led by a human to cross a bridge. Per test, behavioural variables in the following behavioural classes were observed: locomotor activity, latency times, postural expressions and vocalisations. Within years, all behavioural variables in the handling test, and all but two in the novel object test were positively correlated (0.36<Rs<0.81, P<0.05). For both tests, at 9, 10, 21 and 22 months of age, a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out to examine whether there were indications for underlying components of these individual behavioural variables that could possibly serve as measures for temperamental traits. The first component in the novel object test could be regarded as `flightiness' and the second as `sensitiveness'. In the handling test, the first component was suggested to relate to `patience', the second component to `willingness to perform'. The temperamental trait `flightiness' (novel object test) as well as the temperamental trait `patience' (handling test) were positively correlated within both years (0.36<Rs<0.65, P<0.05). For the traits `sensitiveness' (novel object test) and `willingness to perform' (handling test) a positive correlation was only found within the first year (0.44<Rs<0.57, P<0.01). A few individual behavioural variables showed consistency over years. Additionally, just one out of four temperamental traits, namely `flightiness', proved to be consistent over years (Rs=0.49, P<0.01). The temperamental trait `patience' showed a trend between years (Rs=0.31, 0.05<P<0.1). It is concluded that the behavioural tests employed in the present study can be used to reliably identify individual behavioural variables and temperamental traits in young horses. Long-term consistency, i.e. between subsequent years, could not be demonstrated convincingly. Nevertheless, future work may indicate that employing the same approach and considering an even longer time period or different phases of the horse's life, long-term consistency does exist.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 324  
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Author Visser, E.K.; Van Reenen, C.G.; Engel, B.; Schilder, M.B.H.; Barneveld, A.; Blokhuis, H.J. doi  openurl
  Title The association between performance in show-jumping and personality traits earlier in life Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 82 Issue (up) 4 Pages 279-295  
  Keywords Personality; Performance; Horses; Prediction; Individual differences; Behavioural tests  
  Abstract For a horse to succeed in a show-jumping career, the individual has to possess both excellent physical abilities as well as a suitable personality to perform under challenging conditions. Forty-one Dutch Warmblood horses were used to develop personality tests and correlations between test variables and early training performances in jumping were studied. In behavioural tests, during the first 2 years of the horses' lives, personality aspects like emotionality, reactivity to human and learning abilities were quantified. At the age of 3, horses were broken and received early training in show-jumping. The inter-relationship between several performance variables measured during this early training phase were studied using principal component analysis (PCA). Variables measured in the different personality tests (novel-object test, handling test, avoidance-learning test and a reward-learning test) showed no correlations, suggesting that these tests all triggered different aspects of a horse's personality. This study indicates that it is possible to predict a substantial part of the show-jumping performance of an individual horse later in life by personality traits earlier in life.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 326  
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Author Hausberger, M.; Muller, C. url  doi
openurl 
  Title A brief note on some possible factors involved in the reactions of horses to humans Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 76 Issue (up) 4 Pages 339-344  
  Keywords Horses; Aggressiveness; Behavioural reactions; Human-animal relationship  
  Abstract In order to investigate relationships of adult horses to humans, we developed a simple evaluation test and scores based on observations. The first reactions of 224 adult horses to the presence of an experimenter were observed and scored. All these horses belonged to the same riding school, had the same general housing conditions and were all geldings. The evaluation was based on the horse's posture. Individual differences that could be related to some extent to the breed but also to human factors emerged clearly. French saddlebreds showed more often friendly behaviour than Angloarabs, whereas thoroughbreds were more indifferent. Clear variations occurred between groups of horses that depended on different caretakers. In this school, one caretaker is responsible for the whole daily management of a group of horses and is probably a very important factor in their well-being. The effects of this daily relation to a human seemed to be involved in the reactions to a strange person. Further studies are required to investigate what, in practice, may be determinant.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 329  
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Author Goddard, P.J.; Summers, R.W.; Macdonald, A.J.; Murray, C.; Fawcett, A.R. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Behavioural responses of red deer to fences of five different designs Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 73 Issue (up) 4 Pages 289-298  
  Keywords Red deer; Fence efficiency; Grazing behaviour  
  Abstract Capercaillie, a large species of grouse, are sometimes killed when they fly into high-tensile deer fences. A fence design which is lower or has a less rigid top section than conventional designs would reduce bird deaths, but such fences would still have to be deer-proof. The short-term behavioural responses of farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) to fences of five designs, including four that were designed to be less damaging to capercaillie, were measured. Five deer were located on one side of a fence with a larger group (20 animals), from which they had been recently separated, on the other. The efficacy of fences in preventing deer from the small group from rejoining the larger group was also recorded. In addition to a conventional deer fence (C) the four new designs were, an inverted “L” shape (L), a fence with offset electric wire (E), a double fence (D) and a fence with four webbing tapes above (W). Four replicate groups of deer were each tested for 3 days with each fence design. Deer paced the test fence line relatively frequently (a proportion of 0.09 scan observations overall) but significantly less when deer were separated by fences E or C compared to L, W or D (overall difference between fence types, P<0.001). Deer separated by fence E spent significantly more time pacing perimeter fences than deer separated by fences of other types (overall difference between fence types, P<0.01) but deer separated by fence C maintained a low level of fence pacing overall. Analysis of behaviour patterns across the first day and the 3 days of exposure suggested that the novelty of the test fences, rather than the designs per se, influenced the behaviour of the deer. Over the course of the study, no deer crossed either C or L. Three deer crossed E and two deer crossed both W and D. On this basis, field testing, particularly of fence L, would be a useful next step.  
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  Call Number Serial 2101  
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Author Shier, D.M.; Owings, D.H. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Effects of social learning on predator training and postrelease survival in juvenile black-tailed prairie dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 73 Issue (up) 4 Pages 567-577  
  Keywords antipredator behaviour; black-tailed prairie dog; Cynomys ludovicianus; postrelease survival; predator avoidance; social learning  
  Abstract We examined how social context and experience affected development of antipredator behaviour and subsequent postrelease survival in the black-tailed prairie dog. Captive-reared juveniles were initially exposed to four stimulus animals: a ferret, a rattlesnake, a hawk and a cottontail control (pretraining tests). Subjects were then trained with or without an adult female demonstrator. Training involved exposure to each stimulus animal two to three times over 5 weeks. After training, each juvenile was retested with each stimulus animal (post-training tests). During pretraining tests, juveniles responded differentially to the stimulus animals. They were least active with the snake, fled the most in tests with the hawk, and were less vigilant with the ferret than with the snake. Following training, juveniles trained with experienced adults were more wary with all three predators than juveniles trained without an experienced adult present. We then compared the antipredator behaviour of captive-reared juveniles trained with experienced adult females with that of wild-reared juveniles of the same age. For all behavioural measures except shelter use, wild-experienced animals differentiated more strongly among predator types than did captive-trained juveniles. One year after reintroduction, survivorship of juveniles trained with experienced adults was higher than that of juveniles trained without experienced adults, but did not differ from that of wild-reared juveniles. These findings provide the first evidence that social transmission of antipredator behaviour during training can enhance long-term survival following release and that as long as a social training regime is used, predator avoidance training can emulate experience acquired in the wild.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4212  
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Author König, H.E.; Wissdorf, H.; Probst, A.; Macher, R.; Voß, S.; Polsterer, E. url  openurl
  Title Considerations about the function of the mimic muscles and the vomeronasal organ of horses during the Flehmen reaction Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Pferdeheilkunde Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 21 Issue (up) 4 Pages 297-300  
  Keywords Anatomy; Behaviour; Flehmen reaction; Horse; Vomeronasal organ  
  Abstract Additional to the olfactory epithelium, the equine vomeronasal organ serves to the perception of odorous substances and specially for pheromones. In a middle-size horse this organ has an extension in length from an imaginary transverse plane about 10 cm caudally the nostrils to a transverse plane through the middle of the second premolar tooth. During the Flehmen reaction the levator labii superior, nasolabial, caninus and lateralis nasi muscles contract. The upper lip and the tip of the nose are lifted. The opening of the nostrils is narrowed, caused by the convergence of the plate and horn of the alar cartilage. In this manner in case of Flehmen reaction air is directly conducted towards the opening of the vomeronasal organ into the nasal cavity during inspiration. During the “Flehmen” horses assume a characteristic posture.  
  Address Department für Pathobiologie (Institut für Anatomie), Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Veterinärplatz 1, A-1210 Wien, Austria  
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  Notes Export Date: 21 October 2008; Source: Scopus Approved yes  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4554  
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Author BROUCEK,J.; UHRINCAT,M.; ARAVE,C. W.; FRIEND,T. H.; MIHINA,S.; KISAC,P.; HANUS, A. openurl 
  Title Effects of Rearing Methods of Heifers during Milk Replacement Period Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Czech Journal of Animal Science Abbreviated Journal Czech J. Anim. Sci  
  Volume 71 Issue (up) 4 Pages 509-516  
  Keywords Heifers, behaviour, maze, feeding, housing  
  Abstract Fifty-eight Holstein heifer calves were assigned to one out of three treatment groups after having nursed by their mothers for the first week: BN) individual hutch, bucket with nipple n=25; DF)loose housing pen, machine milk feeder, n=16; NC) loose housing pen, nursing cow, n=17. After weaning at 8 weeks, all calves were kept in group pens. At 15 weeks of age, the behaviour in the 6-unit maze (16.4 – 4.5 m) was determined. On the first observation day, the calves were tested five times (the first one for training); on the second day there were four runs. The calves had to solve two tasks. In task A, the passage was open on the left side, and on the right side (task B) on the next day. We were testing the following hypothesis: the speed of traversing the maze is affected by the rearing system. The slowest were NC calves. On the first day (task A), the average time to traverse the maze among treatments DF (43.9 s), BN (53 s) and NC (111.3 s) was different (F = 8.26*, P = 0.0007). On the second day (task B), the averages were: BN 77.1 s, DF 83.8 s and DC 166.6 s (F=8.17*, P = 0.0008). The results indicate that the feeding method and housing used to rear calves may have a significant impact on their maze behaviour.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4323  
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Author Faria, J.J.; Dyer, J.R.G.; Tosh, C.R.; Krause, J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Leadership and social information use in human crowds Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 79 Issue (up) 4 Pages 895-901  
  Keywords collective animal behaviour; group; human; inadvertent social cue; information; leadership  
  Abstract One of the big challenges for group-living animals is to find out who in a group has pertinent information (regarding food or predators) at any moment in time, because informed individuals may not be obviously recognizable to other group members. We found that individuals in human groups were capable of identifying those with information, and this identification increased group performance: the speed and accuracy of groups in reaching a target. Using video analysis we found how informed individuals might have been identified by other group members by means of inadvertent social cues (such as starting order, time spent following and group position). Furthermore, we were able to show that at least one of these cues, the group position of informed individuals, was indeed correlated with group performance. Our final experiment confirmed that leadership was even more efficient when the group members were given the identity of the leader. We discuss the effect of information status regarding the presence and identity of leaders on collective animal behaviour.  
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  ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5192  
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Author Slabbert, J.M.; Rasa, O.A.E. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Observational learning of an acquired maternal behaviour pattern by working dog pups: an alternative training method? Type Journal Article
  Year 1997 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 53 Issue (up) 4 Pages 309-316  
  Keywords Dog; Learning; Parental behaviour; Narcotics  
  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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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5225  
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