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Murray, R. C., Branch, M. V., Dyson, S. J., Parkin, T. D. H., & Goodship, A. E. (2007). How does exercise intensity and type affect equine distal tarsal subchondral bone thickness? J Appl Physiol, 102(6), 2194–2200.
Abstract: Adaptation of osteochondral tissues is based on the strains experienced during exercise at each location within the joint. Different exercise intensities and types may induce particular site-specific strains, influencing osteochondral adaptation and potentially predisposing to injury. Our hypotheses were that patterns of equine distal tarsal subchondral bone (SCB) thickness relate to the type and intensity of exercise, and that high-intensity exercise leads to site-specific increases in thickness. SCB thickness was measured at defined dorsal and plantar locations on magnetic resonance images of cadaver tarsi collected from horses with a history of low [general purpose (n=20) and horse walker (n=6)] or high [elite competition (n=12), race training (n=15), and treadmill training (n=4)] exercise intensity. SCB thickness was compared between sites within each exercise group and between exercise groups. SCB thickness in elite competition and race training, but not treadmill training, was greater than low-intensity exercise. For general purpose horses, lateral SCB thickness was greater than medial throughout. Horse walker exercise led to relatively thicker lateral and medial SCB compared with the midline. Elite competition was associated with increased SCB thickness of the proximal small tarsal bones medially and the distal bones laterally. For race training and treadmill training, there were minimal differences between sites overall, although the lateral aspect was greater than medial, and medial greater than midline at a few sites for race training. In conclusion, different types of high-intensity exercise were associated with different patterns of SCB thickness across the joints from medial to lateral and proximal to distal, indicating that both exercise intensity and type of exercise affect the SCB response at any particular site within the equine distal tarsal joints.
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Muscatello, G., Gilkerson, J. R., & Browning, G. F. (2007). Comparison of two selective media for the recovery, isolation, enumeration and differentiation of Rhodococcus equi. Vet Microbiol, 119(2-4), 324–329.
Abstract: The use of selective media to facilitate the isolation of Rhodococcus equi from environmental and clinical samples has aided studies of the ecology of R. equi and the epidemiology of disease caused by R. equi. Here, we compared the efficacy of two selective media (NANAT and modified CAZ-NB) for the recovery of six defined strains of R. equi and for the isolation and enumeration of both avirulent and virulent R. equi from 60 paired soil samples from horse farms using colony blotting and DNA hybridisation. No difference was found between the two media in the recoverability of defined strains of R. equi or the proportion of soil cultures positive for R. equi or virulent R. equi. NANAT medium was significantly less inhibitory of bacterial growth from soil culture compared to mCAZ-NB (P = 0.001), but there was no difference between the media in the number of R. equi colonies recovered. Soil cultured on mCAZ-NB medium yielded a significantly greater number of virulent R. equi colonies than NANAT (P = 0.03). The proportion of R. equi that were virulent in soil cultures on mCAZ-NB (32%) was more than three times that seen in cultures on NANAT (9%). Thus modified CAZ-NB appeared to be a better selective media for studies where the optimal recovery of virulent R. equi is required, such as in studies of the gastrointestinal carriage of virulent R. equi and of subclinically infected foals.
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Naug, D., & Arathi, H. S. (2007). Sampling and decision rules used by honey bees in a foraging arena. Anim. Cogn., 10(2), 117–124.
Abstract: Animals must continuously choose among various available options to exploit the most profitable resource. They also need to keep themselves updated about the values of all available options, since their relative values can change quickly due to depletion or exploitation by competitors. While the sampling and decision rules by which foragers profitably exploit a flower patch have attracted a great deal of attention in theory and experiments with bumble bees, similar rules for honey bee foragers, which face similar foraging challenges, are not as well studied. By presenting foragers of the honey bee Apis cerana with choice tests in a foraging arena and recording their behavior, we investigate possible sampling and decision rules that the foragers use to choose one option over another and to track other options. We show that a large part of the sampling and decision-making process of a foraging honey bee can be explained by decomposing the choice behavior into dichotomous decision points and incorporating the cost of sampling. The results suggest that a honey bee forager, by using a few simple rules as part of a Bayesian inference process, is able to effectively deal with the complex task of successfully exploiting foraging patches that consist of dynamic and multiple options.
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Neiworth, J. J., Hassett, J. M., & Sylvester, C. J. (2007). Face processing in humans and new world monkeys: the influence of experiential and ecological factors. Anim. Cogn., 10(2), 125–134.
Abstract: This study tests whether the face-processing system of humans and a nonhuman primate species share characteristics that would allow for early and quick processing of socially salient stimuli: a sensitivity toward conspecific faces, a sensitivity toward highly practiced face stimuli, and an ability to generalize changes in the face that do not suggest a new identity, such as a face differently oriented. The look rates by adult tamarins and humans toward conspecific and other primate faces were examined to determine if these characteristics are shared. A visual paired comparison (VPC) task presented subjects with either a human face, chimpanzee face, tamarin face, or an object as a sample, and then a pair containing the previous stimulus and a novel stimulus was presented. The stimuli were either presented all in an upright orientation, or all in an inverted orientation. The novel stimulus in the pair was either an orientation change of the same face/object or a new example of the same type of face/object, and the stimuli were shown either in an upright orientation or in an inverted orientation. Preference to novelty scores revealed that humans attended most to novel individual human faces, and this effect decreased significantly if the stimuli were inverted. Tamarins showed preferential looking toward novel orientations of previously seen tamarin faces in the upright orientation, but not in an inverted orientation. Similarly, their preference to look longer at novel tamarin and human faces within the pair was reduced significantly with inverted stimuli. The results confirmed prior findings in humans that novel human faces generate more attention in the upright than in the inverted orientation. The monkeys also attended more to faces of conspecifics, but showed an inversion effect to orientation change in tamarin faces and to identity changes in tamarin and human faces. The results indicate configural processing restricted to particular kinds of primate faces by a New World monkey species, with configural processing influenced by life experience (human faces and tamarin faces) and specialized to process orientation changes specific to conspecific faces.
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Ninomiya, S. (2007). Social leaning and stereotypy in horses. Behav. Process., 76, 22–23.
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Ninomiya, S., Sato, S., Kusunose, R., Mitumasu, T., & Obara, Y. (2007). A note on a behavioural indicator of satisfaction in stabled horses. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 106(1-3), 184–189.
Abstract: We observed the behaviour of six stabled horses (stallions n = 3; geldings n = 3) in an attempt to identify behavioural measures of eating satisfaction. The horses were required to perform an operant response (pressing a button with the muzzle) in order to access a food reward in an experimental box stall. After each horse had successfully learned the experimental situation, it participated in the experimental protocol on 4 days. Horses were brought to the experimental box stall for the operant response sessions (1 h duration per session), and upon completion, they were returned to their own (home) box stalls. The number of presses for the reward was a Fixed Ratio schedule of either 3 or 12 muzzle presses (FR3, FR12) and the FR procedure for each horse was as follows: FR3 FR12 FR12 FR3 or FR12 FR3 FR3 FR12. Number of rewards obtained during each session, and behaviour and heart rate after each session were recorded for each horse. A repeated measures ANOVA showed that the number of rewards obtained in FR3 was higher than in FR12 (P < 0.05). The horses spent more time in standing-rest, (with ears rotating laterally and exhibiting a low neck position) indicating sleep, in the home box stall, after FR3 compared to FR12 treatments (P < 0.05). Mean heart rate after standing-sleep was significantly lower than mean heart rate in the home box stall (P < 0.01). These results suggest that eating satisfaction induces sleep in stabled horses, and that episodes of standing-sleep behaviour may be a useful indicator of appropriate or enhanced welfare in the horse.
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Ninomiya, S., Sato, S., & Sugawara, K. (2007). Weaving in stabled horses and its relationship to other behavioural traits. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 106(1-3), 134–143.
Abstract: We investigated 71 horses at five stud farms. Their breeds were Thoroughbred (n = 48), Anglo-Arab (n = 7), Thoroughbred mixed breed (n = 5), Appaloosa (n = 3), Selle Francais (n = 2), Dutch Warmblood, Haflinger, Pinto, Quarter Horse and Westfalen (n = 1, respectively), and one horse's breed was not known, but was a heavy horse. Their genders were stallion (n = 5), gelding (n = 41) and female (n = 25). Their ages ranged from 4 to 24 and the average was 11.1 +/- 5.3 (S.D.). The horses' behaviour was twice observed for 2 h both before and after feeding, using a scan sampling technique at 2 min intervals. We investigated the relationship between management factors, age, sex, breed and behavioural patterns of stabled horses, and the occurrence of weaving by a least-squares analysis of variance, a correlation analysis, Chi-square test and an analysis of behavioural sequences. Thoroughbred horses displayed weaving more than other breeds (P < 0.01) and horses in box stalls which were face to face with each other displayed weaving more than those in box stalls which were formed in a line (P < 0.01). The time budget of weaving correlated negatively with the amount of hay-cube fed (kg/day) (P < 0.05) and time budgets of drinking, bedding investigation, looking and coprophagia (P < 0.01, respectively). From the analysis of behavioural sequences, weaving followed resting (P < 0.01), looking (P < 0.01) and pawing (P < 0.05), and was followed by them (P < 0.01, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). The least-squares analysis of variance revealed that Thoroughbred horses investigated the bedding more than other breeds (P < 0.05), horses that are usually in contact with `mainly familiar people' investigated the bedding significantly less than those usually in contact with `people including strangers' (P < 0.05), and horses in box stalls which were face to face with each other tended to investigate the bedding more than those in box stalls which were formed in a line. The time spent feeding was related to food type (min/kg), and tended to be negatively correlated with the time budget of bedding investigation behaviour. These results indicate that weaving in horses is affected by breed, stable design, feed type, and other behavioural traits.
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Nogueira, S. S. da C., Nogueira-Filho, S. L. G., Bassford, M., Silvius, K., & Fragoso, J. M. V. (2007). Feral pigs in Hawai`i: Using behavior and ecology to refine control techniques. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 108(1-2), 1–11.
Abstract: Early Polynesians settlers were the first to introduce pigs to the Hawaiian Islands. Later Captain Cook brought European pigs during his first voyage to Hawai`i. Many other importations have followed. Animals from these introductions became feral and dispersed throughout the islands. Free-ranging pigs are now considered pests with negative impacts on some native biota. Several methods to control the ecological damage attributed to pigs have been adopted, such as fencing, hunting, live trapping and poisoning. However, the absence of behavioral knowledge in current control programs has resulted in inefficient management of this species. Therefore, the feral pig problem continues, and what before was almost strictly an agricultural and conservation concern has now become an urban problem as well. The aim of this study is to describe the state of knowledge on feral pig behavior in the Hawaiian Islands, introducing potential management approaches derived from the principles of behavioral ecology. Considering behavioral aspects of feral pig ecology, such as cognition and communication could help improve capture techniques, keep feral pigs away from urban areas and begin to resolve human-wildlife conflicts.
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Noser, R., & Byrne, R. (2007). Mental maps in chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ): using inter-group encounters as a natural experiment. Anim. Cogn., 10(3), 331–340.
Abstract: Abstract Encounters between groups of wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) can be viewed as a natural experiment to investigate the nature of these primates mental representations of large-scale space. During a 16-month field study in a high population density habitat we recorded the foraging routes and the most important resources of a group of 25 individuals. Also, we estimated the locations of additional baboon groups relative to the study group. Routes were less linear, travel speed was higher, and inter-resource distances were larger when other groups were present within 500 m of the focal group; thus, the study group avoided others by taking detours. We predicted that evasive manoeuvres would be characteristic of different possible orientation mechanisms, and compared them with our observations. We analysed 34 evasive manoeuvres in detail. In an area that lacked prominent landmarks, detours were small; larger detours occurred when resources were directly visible, or in the vicinity of a hill offering conspicuous landmarks. In areas without prominent landmarks, detours were along familiar routes and waiting bouts of up to 60 min occurred; on one occasion the study group aborted their entire day`s journey. We discuss these findings in the light of time and energy costs and suggest that the baboons lack the ability to compute Euclidean relations among locations, but use network maps to find their way to out-of-sight locations.
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Overli, O., Sorensen, C., Pulman, K. G. T., Pottinger, T. G., Korzan, W., Summers, C. H., et al. (2007). Evolutionary background for stress-coping styles: relationships between physiological, behavioral, and cognitive traits in non-mammalian vertebrates. Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 31(3), 396–412.
Abstract: Reactions to stress vary between individuals, and physiological and behavioral responses tend to be associated in distinct suites of correlated traits, often termed stress-coping styles. In mammals, individuals exhibiting divergent stress-coping styles also appear to exhibit intrinsic differences in cognitive processing. A connection between physiology, behavior, and cognition was also recently demonstrated in strains of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) selected for consistently high or low cortisol responses to stress. The low-responsive (LR) strain display longer retention of a conditioned response, and tend to show proactive behaviors such as enhanced aggression, social dominance, and rapid resumption of feed intake after stress. Differences in brain monoamine neurochemistry have also been reported in these lines. In comparative studies, experiments with the lizard Anolis carolinensis reveal connections between monoaminergic activity in limbic structures, proactive behavior in novel environments, and the establishment of social status via agonistic behavior. Together these observations suggest that within-species diversity of physiological, behavioral and cognitive correlates of stress responsiveness is maintained by natural selection throughout the vertebrate sub-phylum.
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