Transcript Studying Animal Behavior (Using the horse as a model)

Studying Animal Behavior
Camie Heleski
Department of Animal Science
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In order to better understand animals, we need to
carefully study their behavior.
The study of animal behavior is referred to as
ethology.
– “pure” behaviorists, such as in zoology, tend to study
animals in their native state; e.g. mate selection in bird
species or foraging strategies in antelope species
– “applied” ethologists tend to study the domestic
species, or exotics kept in captivity and might examine
how housing influences behavior, or what behaviors
represent an animal experiencing pain
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Ethogram - the complete description of
behaviors shown by an animal.
 Time Budget - how the animal divides up
its day into component behaviors.
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– resting
– eating
– locomotion, etc.
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A good stockperson knows these features
even if they don’t know the official names
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Analyzing the evolutionary ecology of the
animal can tell us a great deal about the
animal’s behavior.
 For example, the horse evolved as a
creature of prey and has a tremendously
strong flight response. It also evolved on
the great plains where running first and
“asking questions” later was very effective.
Donkeys evolved in mountainous terrain
and rarely run in panic.
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An animal’s behavior tends to adapt to its
physiology (or visa versa).
 For example, the wild Przewalski’s horse
can survive in regions that cannot sustain
ruminant animals.
 Though ruminants are more efficient than
horses in extracting usable energy per given
weight of food , there is a limit to how
much poor quality feed a ruminant can
move through its system per 24 hr.
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Horses lie down less than most ruminants
(about 5-8% in most studies).
 Energy expenditure in horses is about 10%
less when standing/ resting than when lying
down. By contrast, sheep & cattle use 10%
more energy standing than lying.
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The domesticated species have a greater
range of acceptable management that suits
their behaviors. The horse, cow, chicken,
sheep & pig are very adaptable and many
years ago, made a “decision” to form an
alliance with man, while many of their
counterparts became extinct.
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Herd animals (like horses) and pack animals
(like dogs) are easier to “dominate” and
train because of their desire to keep
harmony in the group. If the trainer learns
to read their body language, it is a fairly
easy process. (Some say they bond with us
for lack of better company .)
 More solitary animals (such as cats) have
much less desire to keep the peace of a
pecking order.
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Play behavior...
 primarily in juvenile animals
 supposedly preparatory for life skills
 some species (e.g. dog) seem to be in
arrested development
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What does it mean when we do not observe
play behavior in juveniles?
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Important to understand the senses of the
animal you work with
 For example, vision in horses is mainly
monocular, but field of vision is very large
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about 65 degrees binocular in front
about 150 degrees monocular on each side
about 3-5 degrees blind spot directly behind
has direct application to safely working with
them
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Most animals have much better senses of
smell and hearing than we do.
 Again has implications for safely working
with them. Sometimes we have to
anticipate what they will find frightening.
 Dr. Temple Grandin, CSU, has done a great
deal of work in slaughter houses trying to
put herself in the animal’s place to minimize
fear and distress.
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They used to say most of our domestic
animals were color blind, we now realize
through various research projects that their
color vision is not as keen as ours, perhaps,
but is definitely more than black and white
– e.g. horses discriminating different colors for
food rewards
– dairy cattle discriminating different color
uniforms for type of treatment
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Back to some specific studies...
 Ethogram of weanling horses...
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lying down sternally
lying down recumbent
standing, dozing
standing alert
eating hay or grain
grazing
drinking
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defecating
urinating
investigating
friendly social interaction
aggressive social interaction
mutual fly swatting
mutual grooming (has actual HR effect)
rolling
scratching
playing with an object
aberrant behavior: pawing, biting wall, licking
wall, bucking/rearing
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Stalled weanlings laid down much more
than paddock-reared weanlings (about 20%
compared to about 5%). This correlated
with a decrease in bone density in the
stalled weanlings. (probably due to less
loading on their legs)
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Paddock reared weanlings spent about 18%
of their day grazing (even when hardly
anything worth eating); they spent about 4%
of their day in social encounters (such as
mutual grooming) and spent more time
moving around. Stalled weanlings looked
better from the standpoint of showring
standards, and didn’t care when they were
separated from horses stalled next to them
(which made them a bit easier to handle).
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Another MSU study looked at 2 year olds
kept in stalls or out at pasture and compared
ease of “breaking out.” The pastured horses
took shorter times to accept the saddle and
the rider and were less fractious during the
ride. Was this because the more enriched
environment enhanced the learning
pathways or because the pastured horses
“burnt” off more energy prior to being
ridden each day?
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This past summer we looked at weanlings
and collected blood and saliva to determine
if saliva could replace blood for analyzing
cortisol levels. Heart rates related to level
of distress they displayed during the
restraint and collection procedure. An
anesthetic cream was found to make
significant differences on their perception of
pain/pressure during the bleeding process.
(Data still being analyzed but looks
promising.)
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Beef calves
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A study by Haley & Stookey
(Saskatchewan) found that beef calves
initially treated with Kant-Suk nose plates
vocalized 84% less than controls, walked
79% less, spent 24% more time eating dry
food and consequently showed less postweaning weight loss
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Pigs
Many studies (Mendl et al., Zanella et al.,
Lawrence et al.) have examined nestbuilding frustration pre-parturition in gilts
 They show an increase in plasma cortisol
and ACTH if compared to gilts in larger,
straw-bedded pens
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Chickens
Study by Yue & Duncan found that thwarted
nest-building behavior in layer hens
manifests itself as stereotyped pacing
 Furthermore it contributes to increased
calcium deposition on egg shells (not
observable in white eggs, but noticeable in
brown eggs)
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In conclusion, the work of the ethologists
will be important in establishing the
priorities for optimizing production while
maintaining appropriate welfare standards.
 Quantifiable science is needed to back up or
refute people’s opinions about the
appropriate ways to manage our domestic
species.
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