Introduction to Psychology and Welfare Y1 Flashcards
Horse Division
Horse Division
Read more about the Horse Division here:
* https://m.iaabc.org/about/divisions/horse/
From week 1 lecture notes
behaviour
consultant
behaviour
consultant
Read more about becoming a behaviour
consultant here:
* http://iaabc.org/articles/animal-behaviorconsulting-101-part-1-what-is-an-animalbehavior-consultant
great behaviourists
to follow
great behaviourists
to follow
. Justine Harrison (UK)
* Lauren Fraser (CA)
* Trudi Dempsey (UK)
* Robin Foster (USA)
* Ben Hart (UK)
* The Whispering Horse (AUS)
* The Evolving Equestrian
* The Willing Equine
From week 1 lecture notes
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
1
Describe the
behavioural needs
of the horse and
the factors that
influence them.
2
Recognise
behavioural
responses in the
horse in a variety of
situations.
3
Identify the impact
of domestication on
equine welfare.
From week 1 lecture notes
Ethology versus Psychology
Ethology versus Psychology
Studies of ethology and psychology influence one
another to develop our scientific understanding of
behaviour.
Ethology
Study horses in their natural environment
Forces of evolution have adapted
behaviour
Inheritance of behaviour – it is genetic
of innate mechanisms (instinctive behaviours e.g get up after birth etc)
Instinct
Nature
Psychology
Development of behaviour in the individual (artificial settings)
General and universal laws affect behaviour and can change through learning
Behaviour is influenced by the environment and internal environment e.g. upset because of colic
Learning
Nurture - how you raise them
From week 1 lecture notes
Nature-Nurture Debate
Nature-Nurture Debate
. We need to balance our role of nurturing with the nature of the horse
Need to understand their nature and their responses to nurture
- Can then apply appropriate and insightful
- Housing and management, training techniques, etc.
- Manage our expectations and improve welfare
Psychologists (nurture) demonstrated how flexible and changeable instinctive behaviours were
Ethologists (nature) showed how animals would inherently respond to certain stimuli without learning.
Both inextricably linked
- Behaviour is the consequence of the constant interaction of genetic factors with the environment.
.Nuture - how we keep our horses, train them too young?
From week 1 lecture notes
What is Behaviour?
What is Behaviour?
Expression of physiology, phenotypic characteristic
Used to describe physical actions
- Galloping
- Stretching
- Pirouetting
OR
Used to describe the function of the behaviour, or the
suspected aim:
-Threatening behaviour - might be playing
- Attacking behaviour - might be horses playing
- Involves interpretation of this behaviour
might be more than one reason why showing behaviour e.g. biting can be playful, wanting food, warning
From week 1 lecture notes
What is behaviour
What is behaviour
.Anything we can observe the horse doing
See The Dead Horse Test on Moodle by Equine
Behaviourist, Lauren Fraser
From week 1 lecture notes
The Study of Behaviour
The Study of Behaviour
Since animals were first domesticated,
stockmanship has involved observing and
responding to their behaviour (Fraser and Broom,
1990)
This requires understanding of the behavioural
repertoire of domestic species
Usually, the first symptom exhibited by a diseased
animal is a change in its behaviour
From week 1 lecture notes
The Study of Behaviour
The Study of Behaviour
Extremely useful when measuring welfare
Observing an animal will not affect it’s state
Therefore we are not changing the thing we wish
to measure
From week 1 lecture notes
Behaviour patterns
Behaviour patterns
Tinbergen’s questions about a behaviour pattern:
CONTROL (causation) - What are the proximate factors eliciting and controlling it?
DEVELOPMENT (ontogeny) - How did it arise during the life of that
individual?
FUNCTION - What is it for?
EVOLUTION (phylogeny) - How did it evolve?
Tinbergen, Niko (1963) “On Aims and Methods in
Ethology,” Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 20: 410-433.
From week 1 lecture notes
Why do horses gallop?
Why do horses gallop?
CONTROL
-Nerve impulses from the brain and spinal cord lead to muscle contraction
DEVELOPMENT
- During early development the foal learned to co-ordinate its
limbs and body to allow it to gallop
FUNCTION
- Galloping is the best way for the horse to avoid predators
EVOLUTION
- Over millions of years the slower horses got caught by
predators and faster horses survived
From week 1 lecture notes
The History
The History
.The study of animal behaviour is a science and a very
popular one. Look for triggers of behaviour.
Ethology = the scientific and objective study of
behaviour. No wild anymore as are managed by people e.g vaccinations so, they are feral instead of will as are descended from domesticated horses.
- Focus on behaviour under natural conditions ( left to make
their own decisions)
- Behavioural processes
- Biology – anatomy, physiology, genetics, CNS, past learning
etc.
Psychology = scientific study of mental functions and
behaviours
- Cognitive function
- Influences on behaviour – social, environmental, early
weening, stallions kept alone etc.
From week 1 lecture notes
Allogrooming (mutual grooming)
Allogrooming (mutual grooming)
Proximate causation
(control) – Nerve impulses
from brain to lips and
teeth in response to tactile
stimulation of the skin by
another horse
Ontogeny
(development) – Foal
started to do this in
response to mother
grooming it
Function – Coat care – dealing with parasites,
building social bonds, relaxation
Phylogeny (evolution)
- Maintenance of coat
important to prevent skin
pathology and in
thermoregulation
- Higher social ranking
may lead to increased
reproductive success
From week 1 lecture notes
Evolution of the Horse
Evolution of the Horse
Geological Time
Small mammals appeared in the Mesozoic era
220 million years ago
We are currently in the
Cenozoic era
The earth is circa 4600 million years
old (Webster, 1987)
Hyracotherium first appeared 65
million years ago (Clutton-Brock, 1992)
Hominids (humans) are only 4 million years old
(australopithecus first appeared)(Webster, 1987)
We should be aware of the evolutionary history and evolution of behaviour
The horse is a good example of evolution (phylogeny)
From the primative Hyracotherium (or Eohippus)
To the modern athlete known as Equus
From week 2 lecture notes
Hyracotherium (or Eohippus)
Hyracotherium (or Eohippus)
Eocene period
Fossilised bone evidence
63-65 million years ago
Dog-sized, 4-11kg (Hulbert, 1996), 40cm to withers
4 toes on front feet, 3 on hind (Clutton-Brock, 1992)
Slightly forward mounted eyes (compared with Equus)
Short neck and camouflage markings
Typical unspecialised molars; low crowned, enamel covered
(Hulbert, 1996)
Fruit/fleshy leaf browser (Hulbert, 1996)
“Hider” (prey animal)
Forest/swamp habitat
Developed a large brain
- In particular the neocortex responsible for learning
- May have helped it to develop acutely sensitive sensory
perception and adjust its diet.
From week 2 lecture notes
Ungulate
Ungulate
.A hoofed animal
From week 2 lecture notes
Change
Change
Climate
- Drier (not much grassland)
Species boom
- Little competition or threat from predators
Genetic mutations because of the more horses from breeding.
Driving force for adaptation
Survival ( evolved to outrun predators e.g could run faster than ancestors)
Divergent evolution
- Becoming a different species to their ancestors
From week 2 lecture notes
How has the horse evolved?
Not through conventional orthogenetic evolution
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of fossils shows considerable divergence and complexity (maternal DNA)
Each new form of the horse adapted to its environmental niche
Overlapped in time and space
.Started as browsing horses and became grazing horses over time.
From week 2 lecture notes
General trends in equine evolution
General trends in equine evolution
Increase in body size
Development and specialisation of the brain
Decrease in number of functional toes
Loss of toe pads and development of hooves
Relative lengthening of the limbs compared to the body
Fusion of some of the lower limb bones
Development of specialised locomotor systems
Week 2 lecture notes
Evolution - Change to a “Grazer”
Evolution - Change to a “Grazer”
Changes to the teeth
⚫ Hypsodont (high crown for grazing)
⚫ Elongation of the muzzle (more space for more teeth for
grazing).
Development of hind gut
fermentation (can’t break down cellulose) the bacteria in the hindgut breaks down the cellulose.
Development of the neocortex
⚫ Allows for more selective grazing
From Week 2 lecture
Classification
Classification
Kingdom – Animalia
Phylum – Chordata
Sub-phylum – Vertebrata
Class – Mammalia
Order – Perissodactyla - odd number of toes
Family – Equidae - all equines
Genus – Equus -horses E. caballus
Species – Caballus
Subspecies - various
DVD - return to wild china for Mongolian horses
From week 2 lecture notes
Closest Relation to horses
Closest Relation to horses
Przewalski’s horse
Asian/Mongolian Wild Horse
Equus (ferus) przewalskii
Only real wild horse
From week 2 lecture notes
Other equine Species
Other equine Species
African Wild Ass
⚫ Equus asinus africanus (donkey)
Asiatic Wild Ass
⚫ Equus hemonius hemippus
Tibetan Wild Ass / Klang
⚫ Equus klang
Mountain Zebra
⚫ Equus zebra
Grevy’s Zebra
⚫ Equus grevyi
Plains Zebra
⚫ Equus burchelli
Most recent extinct species – Quagga
⚫ Hunted to extinction in 19th C
Week 2 lecture notes
30-40,000 yr old mummified foal from Ice Age
(Pleistocene era) found in Siberia (2018)
30-40,000 yr old mummified foal from Ice Age
(Pleistocene era) found in Siberia (2018)
Link - https://www.livescience.com/63514-cloning-ice-age-foal-siberia.html
From week 2 lecture notes
Domestication
Domestication
Cave paintings from 25000 years ago
Caves in Pech Merle in southern France feature horses
painted white with black spots
⚫ Beneficial during the ice age?
⚫ Why is it so rare now?
Modern breeds have LP gene – 2 copies suffer from night blindness
8-10,000 yrs ago horses became extinct In North
America
⚫ Ice Age came to an end
⚫ Effects of man’s predation upon them
In Europe and Asia warmer
climates saw a resurgence of
forests and migration of horses
From lecture notes
Landraces
Landraces
.Basis for breed designation
Record keeping
* Breed Societies
* Breeding programmes
* Promote the breed
* Authentication
Geographical Location
* Hanoverian, Andalusian, Arab etc.
Phenotypic Characteristics
* Thoroughbred, Apaloosa, Paint etc.
From week 2 lecture notes
Number of breeds
Number of breeds
.Selective breeding - breeding for specific traits e.g. fast, strong.
.There are approximately 400 different breeds of horses –
although they all come from one species – equus caballus.
The breeds can be broken down roughly into 5 categories
* Draft or Heavy Horses
* Warmbloods or Sport Horse Breeds
* Light Horses
* Gaited Horses
* Ponies (Miniature Horses?)
From week 2 lecture notes
Behavioural Adaptations
Behavioural Adaptations
May not be as obvious as physical ones.
Horses are constantly exposed to predators, so:
⚫ Alert, constantly on the lookout for danger, quick reaction time; “Flighty”
⚫ Wary of novel stimuli; “Spooky”
⚫ If cannot flee (such as when restrained), fights
Fight/Flight - important for survival in the past
Week 2 lecture notes
Natural Selection – ‘Survival of the Fittest’
Natural Selection – ‘Survival of the Fittest’
Is about optimal reproduction not survival (ability to survive e.g escape from predators, get food)
Maximising reproductive success is where fitness comes into it.
Those variations that help an individual in competition for
resources are known as adaptive variations e.g. long legs
They help an individual to survive and reproduce for longer
The offspring of these individuals will inherit these adaptive
characteristics and will themselves survive and reproduce for
longer than those lacking it
The characteristic then becomes established in the population – evolution has taken place
From week 2 lecture notes
Selection Pressure
Selection Pressure
Is the ‘driving force’ behind evolution through natural
selection
The selection pressure for the horse = changes to the
environment (Hulbert, 1996):
Forest /swamp open plains
From week 2 lecture notes
Behaviour is Adaptive
Behaviour is Adaptive
Like any characteristic, variations occur in behaviour
These behaviours may be adaptive or maladaptive to the
animal.
Adaptive behaviours will be help an animal to survive and
reproduce
Maladaptive behaviours will be selected out as they are not
beneficial to the animal
From week 2 lecture notes
Equine Adaptations
Equine Adaptations
Social animal, lives in a group, relies on herdmates for survival
Advantages and Disadvantages to group living (Mills and Nankervis, 1999)
Communication: group living requires clear, unambiguous methods of communication for survival.
From week 2 lecture notes
