ANIMAL WELFARE (Social Behaviour) Flashcards
Social behaviour:
-interactions occurring between individuals of the same or different species that share some sort of structural relationship
Socialization:
-process of adopting behavioural patterns that leads to a relatively stable social structure
Stages of socialization:
-primary socialization
-secondary socialization
Primary socialization:
-initial emotional attachment formed with their own or other species
-no matter if the animal is rewarded, punished, or treated indifferently by the individual or object of socialization
-kittens: 3-9 weeks
-puppies: 19d-12 weeks
Secondary socialization:
-as individuals enter new parts of social life and engages in interactions with peers or other species
Ex. play behaviour
Precocial animals:
-offspring require little parental care (cattle, piglets, foal)
-primary socialization happens early
*period of extreme fearful response to strange things (between primary and secondary socialization)
Altricial animals:
-offspring require prolonged and extensive care (rodents, rabbits, babies)
-primary socialization takes a bit longer
*everything shifted a bit to the right
Bonding:
-any social connection prolonged in time between two individuals
-ex. mating, maternal bonding, imprinting
Imprinting:
-phase-sensitive learning process that occurs at birth (6-18 hours)
-rapid and irreversible
-animals will attached to first object with which they have visual, auditory or tactile experience
Ex. their parents, rubber boots, a box on a toy train
-Konrad Lorenz (worked with birds)
Imprinting studies:
-intensively studied only in birds (chickens, ducks, geese)
-comparable form of bonding apparently occurs in young of many mammals and some fish and insects (not necessarily imprinting)
Affiliative behaviours:
-social interactions that function to reinforce social bonds with a group or which are of mutual benefit to all animals involved in the interaction
Examples of affiliative behaviours:
-allogrooming/allopreening
-allofeeding/food sharing
-behavioural synchrony
-spatial proximity
Social structure:
-organization between individuals with long-term consequences for spatial distribution, access to resources, and behavioural interactions
Ex. hierarchy, social roles
Hierarchy:
-an order of individuals or groups of individuals in a social structure, based upon some ability or characteristic
-linear, triangular, despot
Linear hierarchy:
-quite common in small groups
-a>b>c>d>e
Triangular hierarchy:
-horse and cattle
-not clear who is the top dominant
-multiple levels with various animals in each
Ex. 3 cows are the dominant ones
Despot hierarchy:
-rosters
-very clear who is dominant
-A>b=c=d=e
Factors influencing dominance:
-physiological differences
-psychological differences
Physiological differences (hierarchy):
- Age of animal: older>younger
- Size of animal: larger>smaller (except if they are older)
- Presence of size of horns/combs/antlers
- Genes: breed, coat colour
- Gender: males (usually) > females > juveniles (injections of androgens can increase/alter status)