Studying Animal Behavior

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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.
• resting
• eating
• locomotion, etc.
• A good stockperson knows these features even if
  they dont know the official names

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• Analyzing the evolutionary ecology of the animal
  can tell us a great deal about the animals
  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 animals behavior tends to adapt to its
  physiology (or visa versa).
• For example, the wild Przewalskis 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
• 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
• 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 animals 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...
• 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 didnt 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

• 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 post-weaning
  weight loss

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Pigs

• Many studies (Mendl et al., Zanella et al.,
  Lawrence et al.) have examined nest-building
  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 peoples opinions about the appropriate
  ways to manage our domestic species.