Human-Animal Interaction

Assessing choice ability and preferences of five Leopard Tortoises (Stigmochelys pardalis) for three stimuli through a novel two-phase preference test

Preference testing has long been used in ethology and animal welfare science to assess the preferences that animals have for different resources and stimuli. The study conducted herein assessed the choice-making ability of five leopard tortoises Stigmochelys pardalis in a...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Reptile, Turtle & Tortoise

Citation: Learmonth, M. J., Sherwen, S., Hemsworth, P. 2021. Assessing choice ability and preferences of five Leopard Tortoises (Stigmochelys pardalis) for three stimuli through a novel two-phase preference test. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 9(2), 94-101.

Gently handled foals generalize responses to humans

Equines perform tasks along humans, and there are evidences and controversies that they are able to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar humans. This study assessed whether foals can discriminate between humans in terms of familiarity and human experience in equine...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Schmidek, A., Nogueira de Oliveira, B., Trindade, P. et al. 2018. Gently handled foals generalize responses to humans. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 6(1), 1-5.

Effects of human-animal relationship on animal productivity and welfare

This is a literature review of the effects of humans' relationships with farm animals on animal productivity and welfare, including the following topics: definition of the concept and description of different tests that have been developed to measure human-animal relationship...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cattle, Chicken, Equine, Fowl, Goat, Pig, Sheep

Citation: Rojas, D., Broom, D. M., Orihuela, A. et al. 2020. Effects of human-animal relationship on animal productivity and welfare. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 8(3), 196-205.

The urinary hormonal state of cats associated with social interaction with humans

Research to assess the relationship between cats and humans is in a nascent stage. Some studies have assessed the stress status in cats using physiological indicators, such as the cortisol hormone, but have not focused on the social interaction with...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Human-Animal Interaction, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Nagasawa, T., Ohta, M., Uchiyama, H. 2021. The urinary hormonal state of cats associated with social interaction with humans. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 680843.

Crying with laughter: Adapting the tickling protocol to address individual differences among rats in their response to playful handling

In this Opinion paper, we consider whether current methods of tickling overemphasize the use of pinning (Figure 1) to which there may be a wider response variation than commonly acknowledged. We do not dispute that tickling can be a positive...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Bombail, V., Brown, S. M., Hammond, T. J. et al. 2021. Crying with laughter: Adapting the tickling protocol to address individual differences among rats in their response to playful handling. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 677872.

Enhanced understanding of horse–human interactions to optimize welfare

Horses (Equus caballus) have been domesticated for millennia and are regularly utilized for work, sport, and companionship. Enhanced understanding of human–horse interactions can create avenues to optimize their welfare. This review explores the current research surrounding many aspects of human–horse...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Merkies, K., Franzin, O. 2021. Enhanced understanding of horse–human interactions to optimize welfare. Animals 11(5), 1347.

Positive human contact and housing systems impact the responses of piglets to various stressors

This experiment studied the effects of lactation housing systems and human interaction on piglets' responses to routine stressors. Forty litters of piglets were reared in either a standard farrowing crate (FC) or a loose farrowing and lactation pen (LP; PigSAFE...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Housing, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Hayes, M. E., Hemsworth, L. M., Morrison, R. S. et al. 2021. Positive human contact and housing systems impact the responses of piglets to various stressors. Animals 11(6), 1619.

Animal-centric Care and Management – Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research

The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and management, Animal-centric Care and Management:...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Animal Training, Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, Handling, Housing, Human-Animal Interaction, Husbandry & Management, Natural Behavior, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: All/General, Dog, Fish, Macaque, Marmoset, Mouse, Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate, Pig, Rabbit, Rat, Rodent, Zebrafish

Citation: Sørensen, D., Cloutier, S., Gaskill, B. (Eds.). 2021. Animal-centric Care and Management - Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

Rams recognize and prefer the human who regularly brushed them

Brushing produces a relaxing effect and improves the welfare of ewes and lambs and the human-animal relationship. Lambs gently handled during rearing are less fearful to humans in their adulthood, but there are few studies on the development of a...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Sheep

Citation: Chaumont, S., Freitas-de-Melo, A., Pinto-Santini, L., Menant, O. et al. 2021. Rams recognize and prefer the human who regularly brushed them. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105250.

Positive reinforcement training as physiotherapy for a brown capuchin (Sapajus apella)

Physiotherapy can be used to treat an animal following surgery, to help correcting abnormal gait and for treating tendon, bone or ligament damage. […] Of course, an animal can't just be given a set of exercises to follow. To carry...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Animal Training, Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Capuchin, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Coventry, C. 2020. Positive reinforcement training as physiotherapy for a brown capuchin (Sapajus apella). RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 47(2), 16-17.