Animals Flashcards
Traditionally, how were domesticated animals judged solely on?
Their physical health as indicated by their ability:
-to grow
-to reproduce and raise offspring
-to resist disease
What is the agreement surrounding domesticated animals’ welfare?
That an important part of an animal’s welfare is the provision of opportunities for it to express its natural behaviour patterns
What are ethics and what is considered unethical?
Ethics refers to the moral values and rules that ought to govern human behaviour
It is unethical to subject domesticated animals to a regime of negative experiences, like pain and distress
What are properties of free range farming?
moreland needed
more labour intensive
product sold at a higher price
animals have a better quality of life
What are properties of intensive farming?
-less ethical than free range
-higher output (high profit: low cost)
When do animals show behavioural indicators of poor welfare?
when they are confined in an unnatural environment, they often show behaviour patterns that differ from those in a natural environment
What is stereotypy?
A behaviour pattern where an animal makes repetitive movements over and over again.
This is often shown my animals houses in bare and/or confined enclosures
What is misdirected behaviour?
When a normal behaviour is directed inappropriately towards the animal itself, another animal or its surroundings.
Common in animals that are kept in isolation
For example:
-excessive licking, plucking or chewing limbs
-over-groomign
How can behaviours due to poor welfare be reduced?
By enriching the animals’ environment. One way to do this is providing the animals with companions of their own in a stimulating environment, (with sounds, scents and objects) similar to those in a natural environment
What is symbiosis?
the close relationship between two different species.
Co-evolution occurs, and the species become closely adapted to each other
What are the two types of symbiosis?
-parasitism
-mutualism
What is parasitism?
A parasite lives on another organism (the host) from which it obtains.
This:
-benefits the parasite (energy or nutrients)
-harms (or kills) the histamine because of loss of resources
In what ways can parasites transmit to new hosts?
-Direct contact, eg head lice
-Resistant stages where the organism is able to survive adverse condition until a new host become available, eg cat fleas
-use of a vector, eg mosquito carrying plasmodium (the organism responsible for malaria)
What are vectors?
Organisms, usually insects or ticks, that transmit parasites
Why do parasites use secondary hosts?
Parasites often have limited metabolism and cannot survive out of contact with a host
Some parasitic life cycles involve secondary hosts which allow them to complete their life cycle
eg tape worms
What is mutualism?
a specialist relationship between 2 organisms that is beneficial to both
Examples of mutualism
Ants and aphids
-some species of ants ‘farm’ aphids. They move from plant to plant and protect them from predators.
-In return the aphids secrete a sugary liquid that the ants drink
Herbivores and gut bacteria
-herbivores cannot produce cellulose-digesting enzymes
-Bacteria which can do this are found in the alimentary tract of herbivores
-These bacteria receive food and shelter and aid plant digestion
Terrestrial plants and pollinating animals
leguminous plants and rhizobium bacteria
