Lecture 4 Flashcards
Sick animals often have difficulty facing their environment. When an animal can’t cope with their environment, their welfare
Decreases
What is normally the first indicator of disease?
Altered behaviour
practicing veterinarians rely heavily on ______ ________ in diagnosis of illness
Behavioural observations
It is common for animal illness to be first manifested _______
Behaviourally - examples: loss of appetite, altered activity, diminished body care or lack of responsiveness
do prey species show behavioural indicators of illness?
They try not to
Hypocalcemia or milk fever in cows - what are behavioural indicators?
Lateral / stern al decubitus (lays in a certain position)
- can’t/won’t get up
Is lameness in dairy cows a behavioural indicator?
Yes! Indicates a problem somewhere in the feet/legs
The most basic way to assess whether an animal is well is to observe if?
Its behaviour is within what is expected for the species (displaying normal behaviour).
The degree of animal welfare is ______ when animals may show natural/normal behaviour
high
Successful coping with the environment includes not only physiological health, but also
The animal’s ability to perform normal behaviour according to its motivational needs
The frequency with which an animal performs natural behaviours for its species can also be used as a
Welfare indicator
Studies comparing the behaviour of farm animals kept on a farm with animals kept in semi-natural enclosures found that normal behaviours differ in
Frequency and duration
Examples of normal behaviour
Eating behaviour
Resting
Idleness
Activity
Behaviour related to thermal comfort
Social behaviour
Confided animals are offered concentrate diets, resulting in an important decrease in time required to feed, increasing idle. Is this a natural behaviour?
Yes
Opportunity to express the behavioural repertoire of the species depends on
The facility
Behaviour related to thermal comfort - examples?
Panting, searching for shade, choices of places to rest
Opportunity to express the behavioural repertoire of the species can be evaluated by
access to external area (number of days/hours)
Examples of natural behaviours performed by chickens
- nesting
- foraging
-ground scratching - perching
- dust bathing
Under natural conditions, pigs dedicate how much time to rooting?
Up to 50%
What are agonistic behaviours?
Involves all forms of behaviour associated with conflict with another animal
Examples of agonistic behaviour
Fights, threats, displacements
Usually over access to resources, hierarchy, reproduction
What are affiliate behaviours
Indicate bonds between animals
examples of affiliate behaviours
Physical proximity, allogrooming, etc
Leg shapes of cows when performing agonistic vs affiliative behaviour
Agonistic - V
Affiliative - straight legs
What is allogrooming
The cleaning of the body surface by licking, nibbling, picking, scratching, rubbing, directed at another animal
Is play behaviour a social behaviour
Yes
Play behaviour is an important stage of
Learning & has adaptive value
What does play behaviour indicate
Positive welfare
Alterations in behaviour observed in housing systems lacking specific stimuli to elicit normal behaviour are often related to
Motivational problems, and hence relevant to animal welfare
can we give good welfare to animals?
NO! But we can provide them with conditions that are good
What are abnormal behaviours
Behaviour that differs in pattern, frequency, or context from that which is shown by most members of a species
What are stereotypies
Repeated, relatively invariant sequence of movements that has no obvious purpose
In what situations are stereotypies shown
When the individual lacks control over its environment
Do stereotypies have large individual variation
Yes
Stereotypies involve neurochemical changes in the brain - What are they
Dopamine, endorphins, and their receptors
Do stereotypies alleviate the effects of adverse conditions?
No clear answer