Human-Animal Interaction

Thoughtful or distant farmer: Exploring the influence of human-animal relationships on rabbit stress, behaviour, and emotional responses in two distinct living environments

Both the nature of the human-animal relationship (HAR) and housing conditions significantly impact the welfare of farmed animals. To evaluate the influence of HAR on the behaviour, emotions and stress of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in two distinct outdoor living environments,...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rabbit

Citation: Fetiveau, M., Savietto, D., Janczak, A. M. et al. 2024. Thoughtful or distant farmer: Exploring the influence of human-animal relationships on rabbit stress, behaviour, and emotional responses in two distinct living environments. Animal Welfare 33, e47.

Exploring pet rat care: A comprehensive survey of husbandry, health, behavior, and the associations between caretaker attitudes, attachment, and husbandry practices

Pet rats are still understudied in terms of animal welfare and human-animal interaction research. An extensive online survey targeting German-speaking rat caretakers was conducted (n = 978). One of the study's goals was to investigate husbandry practices, health indicators, rat...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat

Citation: Schneidewind, S., Lesch, R., Heizmann, V. et al. 2024. Exploring pet rat care: A comprehensive survey of husbandry, health, behavior, and the associations between caretaker attitudes, attachment, and husbandry practices. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 75, 1–19.

Horses can learn to identify joy and sadness against other basic emotions from human facial expressions

Recently, horses and other domestic mammals have been shown to perceive and react to human emotional signals, with most studies focusing on joy and anger. In this study, we tested whether horses can learn to identify human joyful and sad...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Jardat, P., Menard--Peroy, Z., Parias, C. et al. 2024. Horses can learn to identify joy and sadness against other basic emotions from human facial expressions. Behavioural Processes 220, 105081.

Rat tickling: A systematic review of applications, outcomes, and moderators

Year Published: 2017Topics: Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: LaFollette, M. R., O'Haire, M. E., Cloutier, S. et al. 2017. Rat tickling: A systematic review of applications, outcomes, and moderators. PLOS ONE 12(4), e0175320. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175320

Laughing rats are optimistic

Emotions can bias human decisions- for example depressed or anxious people tend to make pessimistic judgements while those in positive affective states are often more optimistic. Several studies have reported that affect contingent judgement biases can also be produced in...

Year Published: 2012Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Rygula, R., Pluta, H., Popik, P. 2012. Laughing rats are optimistic. PLOS ONE 7(12), e51959.

Human social buffer in goats and dogs

The primary goal of this study was to explore the social buffering effect that humans offer to goats and dogs with limited exposure to human socialization, particularly in situations involving interactions with unfamiliar humans. A total of 13 dogs and...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Dog, Goat

Citation: Scandurra, A., D'Aniello, B., Pero, M. E. et al. 2024. Human social buffer in goats and dogs. Animal Cognition 27(1), 1.

Laboratory animal welfare meets human welfare: A cross-sectional study of professional quality of life, including compassion fatigue in laboratory animal personnel

Laboratory animal personnel may experience significant stress from working with animals in scientific research. Workplace stress can be assessed by evaluating professional quality of life, which is comprised of compassion fatigue (i.e., burnout and secondary traumatic stress) and compassion satisfaction....

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Euthanasia, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: LaFollette, M. R., Riley, M. C., Cloutier, S. et al. 2020. Laboratory animal welfare meets human welfare: A cross-sectional study of professional quality of life, including compassion fatigue in laboratory animal personnel. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 114.

The protective effect of social support: Can humans reassure pigs during stressful challenges through social learning?

Farm animals can socially learn to trust a human after observing that human handling a familiar conspecific gently, even if they never positively interacted with the human themselves. This study aimed to evaluate whether pigs are reassured by a human...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Luna, D., Calderón-Amor, J., González, C. et al. 2024. The protective effect of social support: Can humans reassure pigs during stressful challenges through social learning? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 273, 106221.

An exploratory interview study of researchers’ and technicians’ perceptions of rat tickling

This paper highlights the main themes which emerged from a study carried out with Animal Technicians and researchers to better understand: - perceptions of rat tickling - potential drivers and barriers to the uptake of tickling in a laboratory environment

Year Published: 2023Topics: Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Beechener, S., Brown, S., Bombail, V. et al. 2023. An exploratory interview study of researchers' and technicians' perceptions of rat tickling. Animal Technology and Welfare 22(3), 201–209.

Feline faces: Unraveling the social function of domestic cat facial signals

Lately, there has been a growing interest in studying domestic cat facial signals, but most of this research has centered on signals produced during human-cat interactions or pain. The available research on intraspecific facial signaling with domesticated cats has largely...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Human-Animal Interaction, Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Scott, L., Florkiewicz, B. N. 2023. Feline faces: Unraveling the social function of domestic cat facial signals. Behavioural Processes 213, 104959.