Crowell-Davis, S. L. (1985). Nursing behaviour and maternal aggression among Welsh ponies (Equus caballus). Appl Anim Behav Sci, 14(1), 11–25.
Abstract: Nursing behaviour and related aggression of mare-foal pairs was studied from birth (n = 21) to 24 weeks of age (n = 15) of the foal. Foals exhibited a decreasing length and frequency of nursing as they grew older. Mares rarely aggressed against their foals during nursing in the foal's first 4 weeks of life, but did so increasingly through Weeks 13-16, after which the rate of aggression during nursing decreased. Mares terminated nursing primarily by moving away, and were most likely to do so during the foal's first 4 weeks of life. They became gradually less likely to do so as the foal grew older. It was concluded that mares sometimes flex their hind limb on the side opposite the foal during nursing in order to conserve energy in a situation in which they would be remaining still anyway. There was no difference between colts and fillies in the frequency or duration of nursing or in the frequency with which their mothers aggressed against them or terminated nursing.
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Crowell-Davis, S. L. (1986). Spatial relations between mares and foals of the Welsh pony (Equus caballus). Anim Beh, 34(4), 1007–1015.
Abstract: Welsh pony mares and foals (Equus caballus) were usually found to be within 1 or 5 m of each other during the first week of the foal's life and gradually spent more time at greater distances as the foals became older. There was an overall levelling of the trend during the 9th-15th weeks of life of the foal, followed by a second period of change during weeks 16-24. Through weeks 21-24, mares and foals spent at least half of their time within 5 m of each other. Proximity was primarily due to foal activity except during foal recumbency. During the first 8 weeks of the foal's life, a mare remained close by when it was recumbent, either by grazing in a circle around it or by standing upright beside it. Mares and foals were most likely to be close together when they were resting upright with the other ponies in the herd and most likely to be far apart when the foal was playing. Similarities in patterns of spatial relationship between the foals of a given mare were demonstrated. There was no difference between colts and filies in the development of independence.
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Custance, D., Whiten, A., & Fredman, T. (1999). Social learning of an artificial fruit task in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). J. Comp. Psychol., 113(1), 13–23.
Abstract: Social learning in 11 human-raised capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) was investigated using an artificial fruit that was designed as an analogue of natural foraging problems faced by primates. Each subject observed a human model open each of 3 principal components on the fruit in 1 of 2 alternative ways (“morphs”). The capuchin monkeys reproduced, to differing extents, the alternative techniques used for opening 1 component of the task (poking vs. pulling while twisting out a pair of smooth plastic bolts) but not the other 2. From the subjects' actions on the bolt latch, independent coders could recognize which morph they had witnessed, and they observed a degree of matching to the demonstrator's act consistent with simple imitation or object movement reenactment (A learns from watching B how an object, or parts of an object, move). Thus, these capuchins were capable of more complex social learning than has been recently ascribed to monkeys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
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d'Ingeo, S., Quaranta, A., Siniscalchi, M., Stomp, M., Coste, C., Bagnard, C., et al. (2019). Horses associate individual human voices with the valence of past interactions: a behavioural and electrophysiological study. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 11568.
Abstract: Brain lateralization is a phenomenon widely reported in the animal kingdom and sensory laterality has been shown to be an indicator of the appraisal of the stimulus valence by an individual. This can prove a useful tool to investigate how animals perceive intra- or hetero-specific signals. The human-animal relationship provides an interesting framework for testing the impact of the valence of interactions on emotional memories. In the present study, we tested whether horses could associate individual human voices with past positive or negative experiences. Both behavioural and electroencephalographic measures allowed examining laterality patterns in addition to the behavioural reactions. The results show that horses reacted to voices associated with past positive experiences with increased attention/arousal (gamma oscillations in the right hemisphere) and indicators of a positive emotional state (left hemisphere activation and ears held forward), and to those associated with past negative experiences with negative affective states (right hemisphere activation and ears held backwards). The responses were further influenced by the animals' management conditions (e.g. box or pasture). Overall, these results, associating brain and behaviour analysis, clearly demonstrate that horses' representation of human voices is modulated by the valence of prior horse-human interactions.
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da Cruz, A. B., Hirata, S., dos Santos, M. E., & Mendonça, R. S. (2023). Show me your best side: Lateralization of social and resting behaviors in feral horses. Behav. Process., 206, 104839.
Abstract: Growing evidence shows a variety of sensorial and motor asymmetries in social and non-social interactions in various species, indicating a lateralized processing of information by the brain. Using digital video cameras on tripods and drones, this study investigated lateralization in frequency and duration of social behavior patterns, in affiliative, agonistic, and resting contexts, in a feral population of horses (Equus ferus caballus) in Northern Portugal, consisting of 37 individuals organized in eight harem groups. Affiliative interactions (including grooming) were more often performed, and lasted longer, when recipients were positioned to the right side. In recumbent resting (animals lying down) episodes on the left side lasted longer. Our results of an affiliative behavior having a right side tendency, provide partial support to the valence-specific hypothesis of Ahern and Schwartz (1979) – left hemisphere dominance for positive affect, affiliative behaviors. Longer recumbent resting episodes on the left side may be due to synchronization. However, in both instances it is discussed how lateralization may be context dependent. Investigating the position asymmetries of social behaviors in feral equids will contribute to a better understanding of differential lateralization and hemispheric specialization from the ecological and evolutionary perspectives.
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da Cruz, A. B., Hirata, S., dos Santos, M. E., & Mendonça, R. S. (2023). Show me your best side: Lateralization of social and resting behaviors in feral horses. Behav. Process., 206, 104839.
Abstract: Growing evidence shows a variety of sensorial and motor asymmetries in social and non-social interactions in various species, indicating a lateralized processing of information by the brain. Using digital video cameras on tripods and drones, this study investigated lateralization in frequency and duration of social behavior patterns, in affiliative, agonistic, and resting contexts, in a feral population of horses (Equus ferus caballus) in Northern Portugal, consisting of 37 individuals organized in eight harem groups. Affiliative interactions (including grooming) were more often performed, and lasted longer, when recipients were positioned to the right side. In recumbent resting (animals lying down) episodes on the left side lasted longer. Our results of an affiliative behavior having a right side tendency, provide partial support to the valence-specific hypothesis of Ahern and Schwartz (1979) – left hemisphere dominance for positive affect, affiliative behaviors. Longer recumbent resting episodes on the left side may be due to synchronization. However, in both instances it is discussed how lateralization may be context dependent. Investigating the position asymmetries of social behaviors in feral equids will contribute to a better understanding of differential lateralization and hemispheric specialization from the ecological and evolutionary perspectives.
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Dalla Costa, E., Dai, F., Lebelt, D., Scholz, P., Barbieri, S., Canali, E., et al. (2016). Welfare assessment of horses: the AWIN approach. Anim. Welf., 25(4), 481–488.
Abstract: The EU-funded Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) research project (2011-2015) aimed to improve animal welfare through the development of practical on-farm animal welfare assessment protocols. The present study describes the application of the AWIN approach to the development of a welfare assessment protocol for horses (Equus caballus). Its development required the following steps: (i) selection of potential welfare indicators; (ii) bridging gaps in knowledge; (iii) consulting stakeholders; and (iv) testing a prototype protocol on-farm. Compared to existing welfare assessment protocols for other species, the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses introduces a number of innovative aspects, such as implementation of a two-level strategy focused on improving on-farm feasibility and the use of electronic tools to achieve standardised data collection and so promote rapid outcomes. Further refinement to the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses is needed in order to firstly gather data from a larger reference population and, secondly, enhance the welfare assessment protocol with reference to different horse housing and husbandry conditions.
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de Jong, T. R., & Neumann, I. D. (2018). Oxytocin and Aggression. In R. Hurlemann, & V. Grinevich (Eds.), Behavioral Pharmacology of Neuropeptides: Oxytocin (pp. 175–192). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Abstract: The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has a solid reputation as a facilitator of social interactions such as parental and pair bonding, trust, and empathy. The many results supporting a pro-social role of OT have generated the hypothesis that impairments in the endogenous OT system may lead to antisocial behavior, most notably social withdrawal or pathological aggression. If this is indeed the case, administration of exogenous OT could be the “serenic” treatment that psychiatrists have for decades been searching for.
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de Oliveira, K., Soutello, R. V. G., da Fonseca, R., Costa, C., de L. Meirelles, P. R., Fachiolli, D. F., et al. (2015). Gymnastic Training and Dynamic Mobilization Exercises Improve Stride Quality and Increase Epaxial Muscle Size in Therapy Horses. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 35(11), 888–893.
Abstract: The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of gymnastic training (GYM) and dynamic mobilization exercises (DMEs) on stride length (SL) and epaxial muscle size in therapy horses. Nine cross-bred hippotherapy horses that performed three, 25-minute therapeutic riding sessions per week throughout the study period were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: a control group in which the horses were sedentary with no additional physical activity; a group that performed DMEs; and a group that performed both DMEs and additional GYM including pelvic tilting, backing, turning in small circles, and walking over a raised rail to strengthen the abdominal and pelvic stabilizer muscles. The exercises were performed 3Â days per week for 3Â months, with evaluations at the start and end of the study. Stride quality was assessed by measuring SL and tracking distance (TD). Epaxial muscle size was monitored by ultrasonographic measurement of m. longissimus dorsi (LD) thickness and m. multifidi (MM) cross-sectional area. Paired t tests were used to compare within groups across time, and between groups were detected using analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc test. When walking at 1.3Â m/s, SL and TD at walk increased significantly (P < .05) in horses subjected to GYM. Thickness of LD did not change in any group, but cross-sectional area of MM increased significantly by 3.55Â cm2 (DME) and 3.78Â cm2 (GYM). It was concluded that GYM training improved stride quality and DME-stimulated MM hypertrophy which has been shown to improve intervertebral joint stability in other species.
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Devinsky, O., Boesch, J. M., Cerda-Gonzalez, S., Coffey, B., Davis, K., Friedman, D., et al. (2018). A cross-species approach to disorders affecting brain and behaviour. Nature Reviews Neurology, .
Abstract: Structural and functional elements of biological systems are highly conserved across vertebrates. Many neurological and psychiatric conditions affect both humans and animals. A cross-species approach to the study of brain and behaviour can advance our understanding of human disorders via the identification of unrecognized natural models of spontaneous disorders, thus revealing novel factors that increase vulnerability or resilience, and via the assessment of potential therapies. Moreover, diagnostic and therapeutic advances in human neurology and psychiatry can often be adapted for veterinary patients. However, clinical and research collaborations between physicians and veterinarians remain limited, leaving this wealth of comparative information largely untapped. Here, we review pain, cognitive decline syndromes, epilepsy, anxiety and compulsions, autoimmune and infectious encephalitides and mismatch disorders across a range of animal species, looking for novel insights with translational potential. This comparative perspective can help generate novel hypotheses, expand and improve clinical trials and identify natural animal models of disease resistance and vulnerability.
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