Transcript Ans 336. Livestock Behavior and Well

Tools and Tests
Dr. Anna Johnson
Week 5
Thursday 1st March 2007
Students please note: I have included
quite a few links to web pages that will
help define and explain concepts in
this (and future weeks) slides.
Therefore, for the links to work you
need to be on-line and have access to
the internet.
Today
• This is an introduction….
• Identification of tools
• Animal motivation and learning
• Identification of tests
• Challenges and positives for these tools and
tests
Identification of tools
Tools
Week 11
• Lasers
– Criterion 400 survey laser
Laser
Laser booklet
Tools
Week 11
• Data loggers
– Sirtrack
– Sirtrack Homepage
– Large mammal transmitter
Tools
Development of Small Size Data Logger to Observe Marine
Animals. Hiroyuki Muramoto and Naito Yasuhiko
Penguin information
Tools
Week 11
– Vocalizations
– Elephant listening project and
infrasound!
– Elephant project
Spectrogram of forest dwelling elephants
Tools
Week 12
• Locomotion
• Gait
Tools
Week 13
• Eating
• Rumination
Identification of tests
Tests
Week 9
– Novelty
Tests
Week 9
– Fear
Tests
Week 9
– Tonic immobility
Tests
Week 10
– T-mazes
– Aversion
– Operant conditioning
• But before this…. Motivation and
learning, some theory!
Motivation
• Motivation is sometimes termed the
“hypothetical variable” in that it can not be
observed directly
• Used to describe internal and external
processes that arouse and direct behavior
• Animals have motivations for behaviors
beyond what is needed for survival
Motivation
“Motivation is a process within the brain
that determines which and when
behaviors will occur. Goal orientation
of animals forms the basis for
motivation. Motivation is a function of
stimuli such as physiological
parameters and interactions with
external stimuli such as those of the
various dimensions of the animals total
environment.”
Motivation
• Motivation that is dominant will inhibit
the capacity of other motivations
• Flexibility can occur in motivational
systems
– Unlike reflexes and MAP’s
• Aspect of motivation animals are said
to form representation of their world
involving “expectations”
General behavioral model system
External factors
(darkness / leaves…)
Comparison (is it
enough?)
Goal (store food)
Internal factors (hunger,
body temp)
Motivation (find
food)
Motor Program (walk,
run, forage)
I.e. a squirrel!
Motivation
• Motivational controls set high level goals
– To get food
– Find water
• Goals are implemented by lower level
processes
• This represents hierarchical control
– Highest level = goal
– Lowest levels = command
What can influence motivation….
• Physiological systems
– Feeding, drinking, body regulation
• Reproductive systems
– Seek a mate / be receptive
– Seek isolation
– Increased aggression from the female
• Social characteristics
– Dominance order
– Flocking in sheep
Motivational systems
• Classical ethological approach
• Biopsychological approach
Classical ethological approach
• A particular motivation increases as a
function of the length of time that has
elapsed since it was last expressed
• Specific energy underlying a motivation
Lorenzo, 1950
Classical ethological approach
Time elapsed
Just performed
Behavior must be performed
Full
Tipping
Empty
Empty
Fill
Classical ethological approach
• Model has been criticized
– No evidence of actual accumulation of physical
energy within the animals body
– Energy is simply a metaphor to try and describe
motivational systems
• Does not describe all types of behavior well
– Aggressive behaviors
• In addition some behaviors explained by
physiology:
– Feeding and drinking behaviors
Biopsychological approach
• Physiological events within the animals body
– Toates, 2001
• Homeostasis is achieved partly by means of
behavior
• Deviation from optimum in body fluids / body
temperature
– Hypothermic animal might:
• Engage in huddling with other animals
• Persuaded to press a lever in Skinner box to gain units
of heat – an index of motivation
Biopsychological approach
• Emphasize that motivation arises from a
combination of external stimuli and internal
physiological states
• External stimuli are sometimes referred to as
“incentive”
• Power of the incentive can vary:
– Past experience,
– Size of the reward,
– Satiety levels.
Asking the animal….what’s their motivation?
• Early use of preference testing
– Natural study
• Collected in a systematic and quantitative way
• Traditional lab studies of behavior have provided insights
into animals preferences and motivation
• Brambell Committee
• Thorpe (1965) proposed what became an agenda for
using scientific research to resolve animal well-being
issues
• Pushed for more work to “ask animals about their
environmental preferences.”
Floor preference with a laying hen
“Chicken wire”
Heavy gauge metal mesh
Piglet Motivation
• Y-maze tests piglet
relative motivations
• Mother’s odor is
learned by 12 hours
of age
• Piglet motivation to
be near the odor of
their mother is
stronger than their
motivation for heat
A
B
Concerns with preference testing…
• Asking suitably complex questions
• Past animal experience
• Avoiding incorrect responses!
Test size of enclosure for sows
Strength of the preference…
• Grapes vs. cherries – weak
• Live in house or dungeon – strong
“Just because an animal prefers one thing over
another or chooses one set of conditions over
another this cannot be taken to mean that it
necessarily suffers if it has to make do with the least
preferred state…. What we need is w ay of
calibrating the various signs of well-being and
suffering in a quantitative way.”
Dawkins, 1983
Learning
What is learning….
• Animal can predict and control using past
experiences
• One-event learning
• Associative learning
• Social learning
• Extinction
One-event learning
• Habituation
– Progressive decrease in the strength of a
behavioral response to a continuing
stimuli
• I.e. horses and the train…
• Sensitization
– Reduce the threshold and magnify the
response
• Attack by predator, similar inputs = heightened
response
Associative learning
• Classical conditioning
• Instrumental conditioning
Associative learning
• Classical conditioning
• Animal associates two events with an
out come
• First studied by a Russian physiologist
called Ivan Pavlov
The site or smell of food (the
unconditioned stimulus)
causes the dog to salivate (the
unconditioned response).
Ordinarily a neural stimulus, such as a bell
ring does not cause the dog to salivate.
There is no response to food, only to a sound
where the dog may move it's ears.
We can condition the dog to respond to the tone.
We ring the bell and immediately follow it with
food.
This should be repeated several times. The link
between the bell and food is termed an
association.
Eventually, the dog will salivate (conditioned
response)
at the sound of the bell alone (the conditioned
stimulus).
The dog has associated the tone with food.
Associative learning
• Instrumental conditioning
– Operant conditioning or trial and error
learning
• The behavior of an animal is dependent
on the previous outcomes of the
behavior
Associative learning
• Desirable out come = perform more
• Undesirable outcome = perform less
• Investigated in a Skinner box or
operant conditioning box
Social learning
• Imitation - quite rare
– Orang-utans attempt to make a fire after
watching humans
• Social facilitation / learning
– Food sources
• Monkeys washing potatoes before eating
Social learning
• Imprinting
– Lorenzo and his ducks
• Shaping
• Prenatal and neonatal learning
• Aversion**
– Learn from negative experience to avoid an area,
thing or item (dominance)
Aversion
Social learning – Rushen 1986
Pushes
AVERSION…..
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
Attempts
No
Restraint
Shear
6
7
Electro immobilization
• How is electroimmobilisation carried
out?
• Nose-to-tail or head to
tail.
– Electrodes are attached to
the head of the animals
usually via an electrode
clip attached to the corner
of the mouth or cheek and
also to the caudal fold on
the tail of the animal using
a needle.
Electro immobilization
•
How is electro-immobilisation carried out?
•
Back-to-tail.
– Electrodes are inserted above the lumbar
vertebra and through the caudal fold of the
tail.
•
Rectally:
– An electrode is inserted into the rectum.
–
The current is then switched on at a low
current. The current is then increased,
resulting in immobility and rigidity of the
animal. Sometimes this paralyses the
animal's respiratory muscles and the
animal stops breathing. The current must
then be reduced and the animal will start to
breath again. Breathing is often labored.
Use of excessive current can lead to death
Eye roll
Electro immobilization
• What animals is electro-immobilisation used
on?
– Cattle, deer and sheep
• What is electro-immobilisation used for, and
by whom?
– Animals that are hard to handle stay still while
procedures such as dehorning are carried out
Electro immobilization – Grandin et al., 1986
•
Electro-immobilization is NOT a humane method of restraint – Grandin
et al., 1986
•
Electro-immobilization must not be confused with electric stunning
•
Electric stunning is correctly applied a high amperage current is
passed through the brain which renders the animal instantly
unconscious
•
Electro-immobilization is used a very small current is passed through
the body that paralyzes the muscles
•
Does NOT make the animal unconscious and insensible to pain
•
Animal is paralyzed, but remains conscious
•
Animal may not be able to vocalize or struggle because the muscles
are paralyzed
Electo – immobilization – Grandin et al., 1986
• Forty-five pregnant Suffolk ewes aged 1 to 9 yr
• Good physical condition
• Ewes had no previous experience with an electroimmobilizer, squeeze chute or tilt table
Windowless
Ewes
discriminate
between alleys
by six 4- x 40-cm
yellow tape
strips 3 cm apart
(vertical on the
electroimmobilizer
side, horizontal
on the other)
were placed just
past the Y's fork
on panels on
both sides of
both alleys.
Electo – immobilization - restraint
• One of three commercial electro-immobilizers in successive
trials
• A spring-clamp electrode was attached to the ewe's upper-lip
mucous membrane, and a needle electrode was inserted under
rump skin 5 cm from the spine and spring-clamped to wool
• Electro-immobilizer used:
–
–
–
–
Trial I operated at 100 Hz
Trial II was at 50 Hz
Trial III operated at preset, but unknown, pulse frequency
Devices were set at "low-range 40", "200 mA" and "low-range 10",
respectively,
– Electro-immobilization--as judged by a marked and continuous
rigor-like stiffening and often a toppling of the entire body--was
imposed for 5 s.
• Mechanical restraint
– Squeeze-tilt table
– Held for 15 s in the table while positioned horizontally.
Ewes choose?
• Clear preference for being restrained on the
squeeze table rather than being electro –
immobilized
• First pass:
– 13 % immobilized
– 79 % table
– 4 % no choice
• Second pass
– 0 % immobilized
– 100 % table
– 0% no choice
Social learning
• Learned helplessness
– Animal thwarted to get to a reward
– Animal can not get away from a frustrating
stimulus
– Animal can not control its environment
– Animal can never predict and outcome
• Zoo animals
– Excessive rocking
• Dogs in kennels
– Excessive sitting / lack of response to outside stimuli
Extinction
• Stimulus or behavior is no longer
followed by a reinforcer
• Burst of activity
• Eventual stops responding to a
stimulus
Extinction
Pavlov
Factors affecting learning
• Timing
– Hen hears noise and worm appears in 5 seconds
• Strength of reinforcer
– Big fat and juicy worm!
• Strength of stimulus
– Whistle and command a dog – a lot of attention
– Whistle when walking dog – less effective as less
predictive value to a command
Other challenges and positives for
these tests and tools
Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Weight
Interference of behaviors
Longevity
Cost
Features
Lost?
Downloading
Use of data afterwards
Stage of animal
Past experiences
Positives
• Non interference with the animal
• Go places that you would otherwise be
unable to do
• Begin to ask the animal and involve the
animal
Reading material
No extra reading this week
Homework Assignment
• I will allocate each of you a tool or test
and I want you to write your abstract on
(1) what this is and (2) the challenges
and positives associated with this.
• Send you abstracts out to the class by
Monday 5th March 2007 by Noon Central
• Students to present their abstracts in
class on Thursday 1st March 2007
Homework Assignment
• Papers can be found on the class home
page:
– Class home page
Name
Crystal
Lindsey
Ashley
Justin
Paper - subject
Fear tests
T-maze test
Vocalization tool
Jaw movement tool
Position
No position this
week – please write
as the Primary
reviewer
Homework Assignment
• Needed for the abstract
– Describe the objective (s)
– Brief materials and methods
– Detail on the tool or test used (maybe link to a
web page if useful)
•
•
•
•
What does it measure
How does it measure?
How can the information be downloaded and used?
How is the item fixed onto the animals etc.,
– Identify in your opinion one challenge and one
positive for this tool or tests as your conclusion
statement
Homework assignment
• I do not want you this week to report the
results…
• Please follow the guidelines for writing style
as if you are a PRIMARY Reviewer – these
can be found in the class syllabus
• Any concerns e-mail me:
[email protected]
Thanks !