Human-Animal Interaction

Looking forward to interacting with their caretakers: dolphins’ anticipatory behaviour indicates motivation to participate in specific events

Anticipatory behaviour describes the actions taken to prepare for an upcoming event. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in captivity are known to display anticipatory behaviours before feeding sessions, but it is unknown whether they would anticipate non-alimentary events. Furthermore, there is...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Marine Mammal

Citation: Clegg, I. L. K., Rödel, H. G., Boivin, X. 2018. Looking forward to interacting with their caretakers: dolphins' anticipatory behaviour indicates motivation to participate in specific events. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 202, 85-93.

The effects of positive human contact by tactile stimulation on dairy cows with different personalities

The understanding of the ways in which cows with different personalities perceive human contact is essential for improving the quality of the human-animal relationship and therefore the welfare of dairy cows. The general objective of this study was to evaluate...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Shahin, M. 2018. The effects of positive human contact by tactile stimulation on dairy cows with different personalities. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 204, 23-28.

Effects of human contact and intra-specific social learning on tonic immobility in guinea pigs, Cavia porcellus

Social learning is the capacity of animals to acquire adaptive information from others. In the case of fear responses, animals can learn fearful or non-fearful responses by observing the behavior of conspecifics. Tonic immobility (TI) is an anti-predatory behavior elicited...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Guinea Pig, Rodent

Citation: de Lima Rocha, A. D., Menescal-de-Oliveira, L., da Silva, L. F. S. 2017. Effects of human contact and intra-specific social learning on tonic immobility in guinea pigs, Cavia porcellus. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 191, 1-4.

Can you spare 15?min? The measurable positive impact of a 15-min petting session on shelter dog well-being

It is well established that human interaction has positive effects on shelter dogs. This work set out to answer the question: “Does one 15-min petting session make a difference for shelter dogs?” Fifty-five dogs were subject to one 15-min petting...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: McGowan, R. T. S., Bolte, C., Barnett, H. R. et al. 2018. Can you spare 15?min? The measurable positive impact of a 15-min petting session on shelter dog well-being. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 203, 42-54.

A happier rat pack: The impacts of tickling pet store rats on human-animal interactions and rat welfare

Rats find initial interactions with humans frightening, which can lead to negative affect, and poor welfare. A handling technique called “tickling”, which mimics rat rough-and-tumble play, can be used to reduce these negative effects. When tickled, rats produce 50 kilohertz...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: LaFollette, M. R., O'Haire, M. E., Cloutier, S. et al. 2018. A happier rat pack: The impacts of tickling pet store rats on human-animal interactions and rat welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 203, 92-102.

A review of over three decades of research on cat-human and human-cat interactions and relationships

This review article covers research conducted over the last three decades on cat-human and human-cat interactions and relationships, especially from an ethological point of view. It includes findings on catcat and cat-human communication, cat personalities and cat-owner personalities, the effects...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Turner, D. C. 2017. A review of over three decades of research on cat-human and human-cat interactions and relationships. Behavioural Processes 141, 297-304.

Social interaction, food, scent or toys? A formal assessment of domestic pet and shelter cat (Felis silvestris catus) preferences

Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) engage in a variety of relationships with humans and can be conditioned to engage in numerous behaviors using Pavlovian and operant methods Increasingly cat cognition research is providing evidence of their complex socio-cognitive and problem...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Vitale Shreve, K. R., Mehrkam, L. R., Udell, M. A. R. 2017. Social interaction, food, scent or toys? A formal assessment of domestic pet and shelter cat (Felis silvestris catus) preferences. Behavioural Processes 141, 322-328.

The effects of exercise and calm interactions on in-kennel behavior of shelter dogs

Over-activity, or excessive locomotion and barking in the kennel, may be unattractive to adopters and an indicator of poor welfare of kenneled dogs. The study assessed the efficacy of two common enrichment strategies, providing calm interaction and additional exercise, on...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Protopopova, A., Hauser, H., Goldman, K. J. et al. 2018. The effects of exercise and calm interactions on in-kennel behavior of shelter dogs. Behavioural Processes 146, 54-60.

Are domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) able to use complex human-given cues to find a hidden reward?

Understanding human-animal interactions in livestock production systems is crucial for improving animal welfare. It is therefore of general interest to investigate how livestock animals obtain information from humans. By using an object-choice paradigm, we investigated whether domestic pigs (Sus scrofa)...

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

Citation: Nawroth, C., Ebersbach, M., von Borell, E. 2016. Are domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) able to use complex human-given cues to find a hidden reward? Animal Welfare 25(2), 185-190.

Literary fiction influences attitudes toward animal welfare

Literary fiction has been credited with considerable power to improve attitudes toward outgroups. It was even argued that it has been an important factor behind the global decline of violence against various minorities in the last centuries. Could it also...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Małecki, W., Pawłowski, B., Sorokowski, P. 2016. Literary fiction influences attitudes toward animal welfare. PLOS ONE 11(12), e0168695.