Midterm - Measuring Animal Welfare Flashcards
can we measure animal welfare
not directly
how do we measure animal welfare
measure what it is not rather than what it is
outputs of animal welfare
behaviour
physiology
clinical health; production
questions about animal behaviour
- function
- causation
- ontogeny
- evolution
causal explanations
the immediate current factors that initiate, control and terminate the behaviour
understanding the underlying mechanism (how)
developmental explanations
accounts for animals behaviour in terms of their :
previous experience
developmental stage
sequential changes in an individual across their lifespan
evolutionary explanations
refers to genetic inheritances from previous generations
examples of evolutionary explanations
influence of taxonomic group
effects of natural or artificial selection
sequential changes in a species across time
function explanations
the beneficial consequences of the behaviour for the animals and how they outweigh any cost
proximate functions explanation
benefits that are quite immediate
ultimate function explanation
benefit the evolutionary fitness of the animal
methods of assessing behaviour, preferences, strength or motivation
- behavioural observation
- preference tests
- work that an animal will do to gain what it wants/needs
- work that an animal will do to escape unpleasant stimuli
- deviations from normal behaviour
what is recorded for quantitative behavioural assessment
frequency
duration
latency
number of animals showing behaviour
qualitative behaviour assessment
descriptive terms summarizing an animals emotional state/behaviour
types of preference tests
habituation
associative learning
habituation
animals learns to cease responses to any stimuli or events which have no important or relevant outcomes
associative learning
animals learn that certain stimuli may be associated with reward or punishment and modify their behaviour accordingly
considerations of preference tests
- previous experience may influence a preference
- short term preference vs long term welfare
- preference results are not absolute
what does preference testing supply
information about animals choices or preferences
what question does preference testing not answer
whether the animals welfare is worse if it cannot get what it prefers
what is asked of an animal in motivation tests
to work for rewards
how do motivation tests work
the amount of work an animal will perform indicates the importance of the reward to the animal (del and chicken)
inelastic demand
factors essential for survival
methods of motivation testing
limiting time available
operant conditioning
obstructive techniques (mazes/push doors)
what does unpleasant stimuli testing do
measures how hard animal will work to avoid a stressful/painful stimuli
non-stereotypic behaviours
abnormal repetitive behaviours
stereotypies
identical repeated patterns of behaviour which have no obvious function
what animal class perform rhythmic repetitive behaviour that is functional
vertebrates:
locomotion
breathing
eye blinking
suckling
where is the line generally drawn between normal/abmormal behaviours
1 or 2 SD away from the average
maladaptive/adaptive behaviour
effectiveness of an animals behaviour
effective/adaptive behaviour
behaviour works for the animal (stress coping)
ineffective/maladaptive behaviour
behaviour does not work/makes problem worse
