Publications

Nosing around: Play in pigs

The predominant method of measuring welfare in swine focuses on overt physical ailments, such as skin lesions, lameness, and body condition. An alternative metric for assessing welfare in swine can be to measure the frequency and duration of positive behavioral...

Year Published: 2014Topics: Natural Behavior, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Horback, K. 2014. Nosing around: Play in pigs. Animal Behavior and Cognition 2(2), 186.

Examining dog–human play: The characteristics, affect, and vocalizations of a unique interspecific interaction

Despite the growing interest in research on the interaction between humans and dogs, only a very few research projects focus on the routines between dogs and their owners. In this study, we investigated one such routine: dog–human play. Dyadic interspecific...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Horowitz, A., Hecht, J. 2016. Examining dog–human play: The characteristics, affect, and vocalizations of a unique interspecific interaction. Animal Cognition 19(4), 779–788.

Overlooked and under-studied: A review of evidence-based enrichment in varanidae

Enrichment has become a key aspect of captive husbandry practices as a means of improving animal welfare by increasing environmental stimuli. However, the enrichment methods that are most effective varies both between and within species, and thus evaluation underpins successful...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Lizard, Reptile

Citation: Howard, D., Freeman, M. S. 2022. Overlooked and under-studied: A review of evidence-based enrichment in varanidae. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 3(1), 32–43.

Investigating emotional contagion in dogs (Canis familiaris) to emotional sounds of humans and conspecifics

Emotional contagion, a basic component of empathy defined as emotional state-matching between individuals, has previously been shown in dogs even upon solely hearing negative emotional sounds of humans or conspecifics. The current investigation further sheds light on this phenomenon by...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, VocalizationAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Huber, A., Barber, A. L. A., Faragó, T. et al. 2017. Investigating emotional contagion in dogs (Canis familiaris) to emotional sounds of humans and conspecifics. Animal Cognition 20(4), 703–715.

Determination of a safe sedative combination of dexmedetomidine, ketamine and butorphanol for minor procedures in dogs by use of a stepwise optimization method

In veterinary practice, most minor procedures such as radiographs, skin biopsies, and wound treatments require sedation. The combination of butorphanol, ketamine, and dexmedetomidine is commonly used, but the ideal dosages for this combination have not been defined. This randomized prospective...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Anesthesia & SedationAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Imboden, T. J., Pownall, W. R., Rubin, S. et al. 2023. Determination of a safe sedative combination of dexmedetomidine, ketamine and butorphanol for minor procedures in dogs by use of a stepwise optimization method. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 65(1), 41.

Dog identification method based on muzzle pattern image

Currently, invasive and external radio frequency identification (RFID) devices and pet tags are widely used for dog identification. However, social problems such as abandoning and losing dogs are constantly increasing. A more effective alternative to the existing identification method is...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Identification MethodAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Jang, D.-H., Kwon, K.-S., Kim, J.-K. et al. 2020. Dog identification method based on muzzle pattern image. Applied Sciences 10(24), 8994.

Return of sound production as a biomarker of bottlenose dolphin emergence from anesthesia

(1) Background: When a human or animal is recovering from general anesthesia, their medical team uses several behavioral and physiological parameters to assess their emergence from the unconscious state to complete wakefulness. However, the return of auditory and acoustic behaviors...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Anesthesia & SedationAnimal Type: Marine Mammal

Citation: Jones, B. L., McClain, A. M., Sportelli, J. J. et al. 2023. Return of sound production as a biomarker of bottlenose dolphin emergence from anesthesia. Animals 13(15), 2531.

A system for monitoring acoustics to supplement an animal welfare plan for bottlenose dolphins

Animal sounds are commonly used by humans to infer information about their motivations and their health, yet, acoustic data is an underutilized welfare biomarker especially for aquatic animals. Here, we describe an acoustic monitoring system that is being implemented at...

Year Published: 2021Topics: VocalizationAnimal Type: Marine Mammal

Citation: Jones, B. L., Oswald, M., Tufano, S. et al. 2021. A system for monitoring acoustics to supplement an animal welfare plan for bottlenose dolphins. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 2(2), 222–233.

Social transmission of Pavlovian fear: Fear-conditioning by-proxy in related female rats

Pairing a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (CS; e.g., a tone) to an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US; e.g., a foot-shock) leads to associative learning such that the tone alone will elicit a conditioned response (e.g., freezing). Individuals can also acquire fear...

Year Published: 2014Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Jones, C. E., Riha, P. D., Gore, A. C. et al. 2014. Social transmission of Pavlovian fear: Fear-conditioning by-proxy in related female rats. Animal Cognition 17(3), 827–834.

Influences of rearing environment on behaviour and welfare of captive Chilean flamingos: A case study on foster-reared and parent-reared birds

Behaviour signals the internal states that relate to an individual's welfare and its development is influenced by the early social environment that an animal experiences. Husbandry practices can alter this early social environment, for example different rearing conditions (e.g., foster...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Bird, Other Bird

Citation: Kidd, P., Rose, P. 2021. Influences of rearing environment on behaviour and welfare of captive Chilean flamingos: A case study on foster-reared and parent-reared birds. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 2(2), 174–206.