Welfare Assessment

The effect of stabling routines on potential behaviour indicators of affective state in horses and their use in assessing quality of life

Increasing interest in equine welfare has emphasised the need for objective and reliable behavioural indicators of horses' affective state. However, research has yielded mixed results regarding behaviours suited for industry use largely because they are subject to anthropomorphic interpretation. Stabling...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Husbandry & Management, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Bradshaw-Wiley, E., Randle, H. 2023. The effect of stabling routines on potential behaviour indicators of affective state in horses and their use in assessing quality of life. Animals 13(6), 1065.

Social behaviors as welfare indicators in teleost fish

Animal welfare is a key issue not only for aquaculture industry and food production, but also for daily husbandry practices in research topics related to physiology in wild and farmed animals. In this context, teleost fish constitute interesting models to...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Fish, Other Fish

Citation: Cavallino, L., Rincón, L., Scaia, M. F. 2023. Social behaviors as welfare indicators in teleost fish. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10, 1050510.

Review of rat (Rattus norvegicus), Mouse (Mus musculus), Guinea pig (Cavia procellus), and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) indicators for welfare assessment

The monitoring and assessment of animals is important for their health and welfare. The appropriate selection of multiple, validated, and feasible welfare assessment indicators is required to effectively identify compromises or improvements to animal welfare. Animal welfare indicators can be...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Guinea Pig, Mouse, Rabbit, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Cohen, S., Ho, C. 2023. Review of rat (Rattus norvegicus), Mouse (Mus musculus), Guinea pig (Cavia procellus), and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) indicators for welfare assessment. Animals 13(13), 2167.

Investigating attentional scope as a novel indicator of emotional state in animals

In humans, contrasting emotional states can lead to a broadening or narrowing of attentional scope. Whether this is also the case in animals has yet to be investigated. If confirmed, measurement of attentional scope has potential as a novel cognitive...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General, Dog

Citation: Hamlaoui, A., Keeling, L., Burman, O. et al. 2022. Investigating attentional scope as a novel indicator of emotional state in animals. Scientific Reports 12(1), 17452.

Harmonisation of welfare indicators for macaques and marmosets used or bred for research

Background: Accurate assessment of the welfare of non-human primates (NHPs) used and bred for scientific purposes is essential for effective implementation of obligations to optimise their well-being, for validation of refinement techniques and novel welfare indicators, and for ensuring the...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Macaque, Marmoset, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Prescott, M. J., Leach, M. C., Truelove, M. A. 2022. Harmonisation of welfare indicators for macaques and marmosets used or bred for research. F1000Research 11, 272.

Nonhuman Primate Welfare: From History, Science, and Ethics to Practice

This volume reviews the broad topic of welfare in nonhuman primates under human care. Chapters detail the history of primates in captivity, ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of nonhuman primates as entertainment or in research, the different approaches...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Animal Training, Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Husbandry & Management, Personality, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Baboon, Capuchin, Chimpanzee, Lemur, Macaque, Marmoset, Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate, Owl Monkey, Squirrel Monkey, Vervet (African Green Monkey)

Citation: Robinson, L. M., Weiss, A. (Eds.) 2023. Nonhuman Primate Welfare: From History, Science, and Ethics to Practice. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. 671 p.

Olfactory enrichment using a maternal pheromone improved post-weaning pig performance and behavior

The post-weaning environment in commercial pig nursery buildings is typically devoid of both the sow and her semiochemicals. Among other factors, the loss of maternal odors may contribute to post-weaning stress. In this work, we report four studies (studies 1-4)...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Archer, C., Garcia, A., Henderson, M. et al. 2022. Olfactory enrichment using a maternal pheromone improved post-weaning pig performance and behavior. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 965370.

Evaluating depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in non-human primates

Depression and anxiety are some of the most prevalent and debilitating mental health conditions in humans. They can present on their own or as co-morbidities with other disorders. Like humans, non-human primates (NHPs) can develop depression- and anxiety-like signs. Here,...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Baboon, Capuchin, Chimpanzee, Lemur, Macaque, Marmoset, Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate, Owl Monkey, Squirrel Monkey, Vervet (African Green Monkey)

Citation: Ausderau, K. K., Colman, R. J., Kabakov, S. et al. 2023. Evaluating depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in non-human primates. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16, 1006065.

Automated recognition of pain in cats

Facial expressions in non-human animals are closely linked to their internal affective states, with the majority of empirical work focusing on facial shape changes associated with pain. However, existing tools for facial expression analysis are prone to human subjectivity and...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Feighelstein, M., Shimshoni, I., Finka, L. R. et al. 2022. Automated recognition of pain in cats. Scientific Reports 12(1), 9575.

Investigating subtle changes in facial expression to assess acute pain in Japanese macaques

Changes in facial expression provide cues for assessing emotional states in mammals and may provide non-verbal signals of pain. This study uses geometric morphometrics (GMM) to explore the facial shape variation in female Japanese macaques who underwent experimental laparotomy. Face...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Gris, V. N., Broche, N., Jr, Kaneko, A. et al. 2022. Investigating subtle changes in facial expression to assess acute pain in Japanese macaques. Scientific Reports 12(1), 19675.