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Author |
Muller, C.E.; Uden, P. |
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Title |
Preference of horses for grass conserved as hay, haylage or silage |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2007 |
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Animal Feed Science and Technology |
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132 |
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1-2 |
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66-78 |
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Horse; Preference; Silage; Haylage; Hay |
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The purpose of this experiment was to determine if different methods of forage conservation influenced horse preference for conserved forages. Silage, haylage with two different dry matter (DM) levels and hay was produced from the same grass crop at the same botanical maturity stage. Four horses were simultaneously offered the four forages (1 kg DM of each forage) once daily for four consecutive experimental periods, each period consisting of 5 days. On each experimental day, the horses were observed for 2 h and their first choice, eating time and forage consumption was registered for every forage. The number of times each horse depleted individual forages and the number of times each horse tasted or smelled a forage, but left it in favour of another forage, was also recorded. Silage had the highest rate of consumption (0.90 kg DM/day, S.D. 0.14) and longest eating time (28.4 min/day, S.D. 5.16). Hay had the lowest rate of consumption (0.23 kg DM/day, S.D. 0.14) and shortest eating time (6.8 min/day, S.D. 4.08), while the haylages were intermediate. Silage was the first choice 72 of 84 times (85%). Hay was never completely consumed and silage was never left in favour of another forage after smelling or tasting it. We conclude that the forage conservation methods had an impact on horse preference in favour of silage, even if the reason for silage preference remains to be explained. |
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Admin @ knut @ |
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4353 |
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Mazurek, M.; McGee, M.; Minchin, W.; Crowe, M.A.; Earley, B. |
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Title |
Is the avoidance distance test for the assessment of animals' responsiveness to humans influenced by either the dominant or flightiest animal in the group? |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
132 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
107-113 |
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Keywords |
Cattle; Avoidance distance; Human-animal relationship (HAR); Dominance |
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A previously described (Windschnurer et al., 2009) avoidance distance test was used to assess animals’ fear of humans in order to quantify the human–animal relationship (HAR). This study investigated the influence of the dominant and flightiest animals within a group on the responsiveness of animals during the avoidance distance test. Eighty-eight pregnant heifers comprised of four different genotypes were used (22 animals per genotype): Limousin × Holstein-Friesian, Limousin × Simmental, Charolais × Limousin, and Charolais × Simmental. Sixty of the 88 heifers were group housed (n = 5) into 12 pens with 3 pens per breed, while 28 heifers were singly housed (seven heifers per breed). A reactivity test was performed on days 10, 18, 25 and 30 post-housing on the singly housed heifers, and then on the group housed heifers, on the same days, to calculate a reactivity score. On days 33 and 37 flight and dominance tests, respectively, were performed to identify the flightiest and the dominant animal within each group. On day 41, an avoidance test, measuring both the avoidance distance towards a familiar and an unfamiliar human, was performed on all heifers. No difference (P > 0.05) in reactivity scores was found between the genotypes, between pens for the group housed heifers or between singly housed and group housed heifers (P = 0.28). The avoidance distance (AD) of singly (S) housed heifers towards a familiar (F) (ADSF) human was shorter (P < 0.001) than the avoidance distance of group (G) housed heifers towards an unfamiliar human (ADSU). The ADSF and ADGF were correlated with the ADSU and ADGU (R = 0.87 for singly housed heifers; R = 0.61 for group housed heifers, P < 0.001). For the singly housed heifers, no correlation was observed between reactivity score and ADSF (R = 0.36, P = 0.18), whereas the reactivity score and ADSU were correlated (R = 0.68, P = 0.004). For the group housed heifers no significant correlation was detected between the reactivity score and ADGF (R = 0.18, P = 0.22) or ADGU (R = −0.11, P = 0.39). No influence of the most dominant animal and the flightiest animals was found on the behaviour of the group in term of avoidance distance and reactivity (P > 0.05). It is concluded that the assessment of the fear of the animals towards humans using the avoidance test at the feed bunk may be useful for singly and group housed heifers and that the leaders of a group such as the flightiest animal or the dominant animal did not influence the avoidance distance test. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5376 |
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Søndergaard, E.; Jensen, M.B.; Nicol, C.J. |
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Title |
Motivation for social contact in horses measured by operant conditioning |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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132 |
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3-4 |
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131-137 |
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Keywords |
Horse; Housing; Social behaviour; Operant conditioning; Motivation |
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Although horses are social animals they are often housed individually with limited social contact to other horses and this may compromise their welfare. The present study included eight young female horses and investigated the strength of motivation for access to full social contact, head contact and muzzle contact, respectively, to a familiar companion horse. Horses were housed individually next to their companion horse and separations between pens prevented physical contact. During daily test sessions horses were brought to a test area where they could access an arena allowing social contact. Arena access during 3 min was given after completion of a predetermined number of responses on a panel. Fixed ratios (FR) of 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40 responses per arena access were applied in a random order, one per daily test session, within each test week (Monday to Friday), and the number of rewards per daily test session was recorded. All horses could access all three types of social contact in a cross-over design, and an empty arena was used as control. Motivational strength was assessed using elasticity of demand functions, which were estimated based on the number of rewards earned and FR. Elasticities of demand for the three types of social contact were low (-0.20), and not significantly different, although increasing FR still resulted in a decrease in rewards obtained for all three types of social contact (P < 0.001). Across FR-levels horses earned more rewards for social contact than for an empty arena, as shown by much higher intercept values (2.51 vs. 0.99; P < 0.001). However, the elasticity of demand for infrequent access to an empty arena (-0.08) was lower than for social contact (P < 0.01) and not significantly different from zero (P = 0.07). Horses performed more social behaviour the lesser the restriction on social contact (full > head > muzzle). However, the finding that horses showed a similar and high motivation for all three types of social contact suggests that they are valued equally highly in a situation where the alternative is no social contact. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5410 |
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Leiner, L.; Fendt, M. |
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Title |
Behavioural fear and heart rate responses of horses after exposure to novel objects: Effects of habituation |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
131 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
104-109 |
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Keywords |
Anxiety; Avoidance; Behavioural test; Emotion; Fear; Flight; Habituation; Horse; Vocalization |
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The emotion fear promotes the fitness of wild animals. In a farm environment, exaggerated fear, e.g., in horses, can cause several problems. Therefore, knowledge about fear in horses helps to prevent or to handle potential fear-inducing situations. The present study investigated which behavioural fear responses can be observed during exposure of horses to a novel stimulus, whether these behavioural responses are correlated with physiological changes, and whether and how specifically these changes are reduced after habituation training to one of the novel objects. Our data shows that behavioural and physiological fear responses in horses are correlated, are reliable to observe and to measure, and appear in a typical chronological order. Furthermore, after habituation-training to an object, the fear response to this object is specifically attenuated whereas the fear response to another object remains. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5332 |
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Lee, J.; Floyd, T.; Erb, H.; Houpt, K. |
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Title |
Preference and demand for exercise in stabled horses |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
130 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
91-100 |
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Horse; Welfare; Exercise; Operant conditioning; Two choice preference; Treadmill |
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Operant conditioning and two choice preference tests were used to assess the motivation of horses to be released from straight and from box stalls. The motivations for food, a companion, and release into a paddock were compared when the horses had to work for each commodity at increasing fixed ratios of responses (panel presses) to reward in an equine operant conditioning stall. The motivation for food (mean ± SEM = 258 ± 143) responses was much greater than that for either release (38 ± 32) from a straight stall into a large paddock alone or into a small paddock with another horse (95 ± 41) (P = 0.04). When given a two choice preference test between exercise on a treadmill for 20 min or returning to their box stalls, eight of nine horses chose to return to their stalls. In a two choice preference test six of eight horses in box stalls chose to be released into a paddock alone. Horses were given a series of two choice preference tests to determine how long they preferred to be in a paddock. After 15 min in the paddock the horses were re-tested, but all chose the paddock when released into a paddock with three other horses. They were retested every 15 min until they chose to return to their stalls. They chose to stay out for 35 ± 6 min when other horses were in the paddock but for only 17 ± 2 min when they would be alone. When deprived of stall release for 48 h the horses chose to remain in the paddock with other horses for 54 ± 6 min, but showed no compensatory behavior when they were alone (duration chosen = 16 ± 4 min). These findings indicate that horses are not strongly motivated to exercise alone and will choose not to endure forced exercise on a treadmill. The social context of voluntary exercise is important; horses are willing to stay out of their stalls longer if other horses are present and will show compensatory behavior only if other horses are present. These finding have implications for optimizing turnout time for stalled horses. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5330 |
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Laister, S.; Stockinger, B.; Regner, A.-M.; Zenger, K.; Knierim, U.; Winckler, C. |
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Title |
Social licking in dairy cattle--Effects on heart rate in performers and receivers |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
130 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
81-90 |
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Dairy cows; Allogrooming; Affiliative social behaviour; Cardiac activity; Affective states |
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Using heart rate (HR) measurements we investigated whether potential calming effects of social licking were evident for both active (performers) and passive (receivers) licking partners. A HR decline was assumed to indicate relaxation and thus the experience of positive emotions. Effects of the licking category (spontaneous, solicited), the animals' basic activity (standing, lying) and the licked body region (head, neck, rest) were also considered. Two studies (A, B) were carried out in the same loose housed Austrian Simmental dairy herd. HR was recorded in up to 20 focal animals on 16 and 18 days, respectively. Using either direct observations (A) or video recordings (B), social licking interactions were continuously observed. The cow's basic activity was recorded using scan sampling at 5 min intervals. Linear mixed effects models were applied separately for Study A and B in order to compare the mean HR of the licking bouts with the mean of the respective 5 min pre- and post-licking periods. In receivers we found a significant calming effect in terms of a HR decline during allogrooming in both studies (A: -1.3 beats per minute, B: -1.1 bpm). This effect was more pronounced when animals were standing (A/B: -2.4 bpm/-3.8 bpm). However, it was not affected by the licked body region. In dairy cows performing social licking, we did not find an overall calming effect. On the contrary, in Study B, HR significantly increased during licking in lying performers (+2.5 bpm). This reaction was even stronger, when licking was directed to the receivers' head (+3.5 bpm) or neck (+3.0 bpm) as compared to the rest of the body (+1.4 bpm). The licking category had no effect on HR changes during the licking events. Our findings suggest that relaxation effects induced by social licking differ between performers and receivers and are affected by the cows' basic activity. In receivers, there were clear indications of a calming effect implying the experience of positive affective states. In performers, such calming effects during social licking were not identified. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5331 |
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Jørgensen, G.H.M.; Liestøl, S.H.-O.; Bøe, K.E. |
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Title |
Effects of enrichment items on activity and social interactions in domestic horses (Equus caballus) |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
129 |
Issue |
2-4 |
Pages |
100-110 |
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Horse; Activity; Behaviour; Item; Enrichment; Social interactions |
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The aim of this study was to investigate the use of items intended to provide enrichment during turnout, both for individual and group kept horses in an attempt to reduce the amount of passive behaviours. The study was divided into two parts, where study 1 involved eight horses rotated through eight individual paddocks, each containing one of seven enrichment items and one paddock being kept without item, functioning as a control. The horses' item-directed behaviours; passive behaviours or other non-item related activities were scored using instantaneous sampling, every minute for 1 h at the beginning and the end of the turnout period. Study 2 involved six horse groups (3-6 horses) and the same scoring methods and ethogram as in study 1. The four items that the horses interacted the most with during study 1 (straw STRA, ball filled with concentrates CBALL, branches BRAN and scratching pole POLE) are investigated in study 2. In addition, the amount of social interactions was recorded. Both horses kept individually (P < 0.05) and in groups (P < 0.0001) performed significantly more item-directed behaviours towards edible items like STRA and CBALL than other objects. There was, however, no overall relation between the numbers of item-directed behaviours and the number of passive behaviours observed, indicating that the enrichment items did not alone reduce the amount of passive behaviours during turnout periods. Such a reduction was, however, only apparent when horses spent more time eating green leaves growing on the paddock surface (R = -0.97 study 1, R = -0.67 study 2, P < 0.0001). Access to STRA in group kept horses also seemed to reduce the amount of agonistic behaviours (P < 0.0001). In conclusion, if grass is not available in paddocks, the provision of roughage reduces the amount of passive behaviours in singly kept horses and it also reduces the risk of agonistic interactions between horses kept in group. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5320 |
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Christensen, J.W.; Zharkikh, T.; Chovaux, E. |
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Title |
Object recognition and generalisation during habituation in horses |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
129 |
Issue |
2-4 |
Pages |
83-91 |
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Horse; Habituation; Object recognition; Generalisation |
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The ability of horses to habituate to frightening stimuli greatly increases safety in the horse-human relationship. A recent experiment suggested, however, that habituation to frightening visual stimuli is relatively stimulus-specific in horses and that shape and colour are important factors for object generalisation (Christensen et al., 2008). In a series of experiments, we aimed to further explore the ability of horses (n = 30, 1 and 2-year-old mares) to recognise and generalise between objects during habituation. TEST horses (n = 15) were habituated to a complex object, composed of five simple objects of varying shape and colour, whereas CONTROL horses (n = 15) were habituated to the test arena, but not to the complex object. In the first experiment, we investigated whether TEST horses subsequently reacted less to i) simple objects that were previously part of the complex object (i.e. testing for object recognition) and ii) a novel object (new shape and colour, i.e. testing for object generalisation), compared to CONTROLS. In the second experiment we investigated whether TEST horses reacted to a change in object order and object location. Behavioural reactions to the object, latency to eat, total eating time and heart rate were recorded. Compared to CONTROLS, TEST horses reacted significantly less towards objects, which were previously part of the complex object (e.g. mean heart rate; P = 0.006), indicating object recognition. In contrast to our expectations, TEST horses also reacted significantly less towards the novel object (e.g. mean heart rate; P = 0.018), suggesting that they were capable of object generalisation. We also found that TEST horses showed an increase in exploratory behaviour when objects within the complex object changed order and location (both P < 0.001), whereas there was no increase in heart rate, indicating that the horses were not frightened by the changes. The results demonstrate that it is possible to increase object generalisation in horses by habituating them to a range of colours and shapes simultaneously. This knowledge greatly affects the way in which horses may be trained to react calmly towards frightening objects. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5328 |
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Jørgensen, G.H.M.; Liestøl, S.H.-O.; Bøe, K.E. |
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Title |
Effects of enrichment items on activity and social interactions in domestic horses (Equus caballus) |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
129 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
100-110 |
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Keywords |
Horse; Activity; Behaviour; Item; Enrichment; Social interactions |
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Abstract |
The aim of this study was to investigate the use of items intended to provide enrichment during turnout, both for individual and group kept horses in an attempt to reduce the amount of passive behaviours. The study was divided into two parts, where study 1 involved eight horses rotated through eight individual paddocks, each containing one of seven enrichment items and one paddock being kept without item, functioning as a control. The horses' item-directed behaviours; passive behaviours or other non-item related activities were scored using instantaneous sampling, every minute for 1h at the beginning and the end of the turnout period. Study 2 involved six horse groups (3-6 horses) and the same scoring methods and ethogram as in study 1. The four items that the horses interacted the most with during study 1 (straw STRA, ball filled with concentrates CBALL, branches BRAN and scratching pole POLE) are investigated in study 2. In addition, the amount of social interactions was recorded. Both horses kept individually (P<0.05) and in groups (P<0.0001) performed significantly more item-directed behaviours towards edible items like STRA and CBALL than other objects. There was, however, no overall relation between the numbers of item-directed behaviours and the number of passive behaviours observed, indicating that the enrichment items did not alone reduce the amount of passive behaviours during turnout periods. Such a reduction was, however, only apparent when horses spent more time eating green leaves growing on the paddock surface (R=-0.97 study 1, R=-0.67 study 2, P<0.0001). Access to STRA in group kept horses also seemed to reduce the amount of agonistic behaviours (P<0.0001). In conclusion, if grass is not available in paddocks, the provision of roughage reduces the amount of passive behaviours in singly kept horses and it also reduces the risk of agonistic interactions between horses kept in group. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6604 |
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Miller, J.A. |
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Telling a quagga by its stripes. (extinct South African animal) |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
1985 |
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Science News |
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Sci. News |
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128 |
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70 |
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If, in a mix-up at a costume shop, a couple were issued the front half of a zebra suit and the back half of a horse, it could be considered a quagga disguise. But if the masqueraders were pressed as to whether they were more horse or more zebra, the latest biochemical research advises them to insist on zebra.
The quagga, a South African animal extinct for more than 100 years, has been a source of confusion among taxonomists. Some contend, on the basis of the quagga skins preserved in museums, that this front-striped animal is a zebra, either a fourth zebra species or a variant of the Plains zebra, whose hindquarter stripes are dim. But others have argued that the quagga's teeth and skeleton indicate that its nearest relative is the true horse.
Biochemists joined the fray last year when muscle tissue was obtained from a salt-preserved quagga pelt in a West German museum. The tissue yielded both proteins and genes that could be analyzed (SN:6/9/84, p. 356).
Now the analysis has yielded some results. According to “remarkably concordant” findings on the proteins and on the genes, the quagga was a subspecies of the Plains zebra, says Jerold M. Lowenstein of the University of California at San Francisco. He looked at the binding between a sample of quagga proteins and mixtures of antibodies that bind to blood-serum proteins of each of the extant Equus species. The quagga sample bound more of the antibodies against Plains zebra serum than against the other species. Lowenstein calculates that the quagga relationship with the Plains zebra is six times closer than its relationship with the two other zebra species.
“We had to use special techniques to show the difference,” Lowenstein told SCIENCE NEWS. “There is 99 percent identity on the protein level. All the [Equus] species diverged within the past 5 million years, which is only yesterday in evolutionary terms.”
The quagga-Plains zebra relationship is further supported by the analysis of quagga mitochondrial genes performed by Russell Higuchi and Allan Wilson at the University of California at Berkeley. They find seven times as great a difference between quagga and Mountain zebra DNA as they do between quagga and Plains zebra DNA.
“Stripes, the molecules tell us, do make a zebra,” Lowenstein concludes in the July 18 NEW SCIENTIST, “and the half-striped quagga was a Plains zebra.” |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2375 |
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