Welfare Assessment

Facial expressions and other behavioral responses to pleasant and unpleasant tastes in cats (Felis silvestris catus)

The goal of the present study was to assess how cats react to tastes previously reported to be preferred or avoided relative to water. To this end, the facial and behavioral reactions of 13 cats to different concentrations of l-Proline...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Hanson, M., Jojola, S. M., Rawson, N. E. et al. 2016. Facial expressions and other behavioral responses to pleasant and unpleasant tastes in cats (Felis silvestris catus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 181, 129-136.

Response to novelty as an indicator of reptile welfare

Whilst a great deal of research has been focused on identifying ways to assess the welfare of captive mammals and birds, there is comparatively little knowledge on how reptilian species are affected by captivity, and the ways in which their...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Lizard, Reptile, Turtle & Tortoise

Citation: Moszuti, S. A., Wilkinson, A., Burman, O. H. P. 2017. Response to novelty as an indicator of reptile welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 193, 98-103.

Chimpanzees with positive welfare are happier, extraverted, and emotionally stable

Facilities housing captive animals are full of staff who, every day, interact with the animals under their care. The expertise and familiarity of staff can be used to monitor animal welfare by means of questionnaires. It was the goal of...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Chimpanzee, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Robinson, L. M., Altschul, D. M., Wallace, E. K. et al. 2017. Chimpanzees with positive welfare are happier, extraverted, and emotionally stable. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 191, 90-97.

The association between infrared thermal imagery of core eye temperature, personality, age and housing in cats

Understanding individual responses to stress is a key aspect of maintaining optimal animal welfare. This is especially important where animals are being kept in sub-optimal environments or where the species may not clearly demonstrate stress. Therefore, the aim of this...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Social Housing & Companionship, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Foster, S., Ijichi, C. 2017. The association between infrared thermal imagery of core eye temperature, personality, age and housing in cats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 189, 79-84.

Housing conditions do not alter cognitive bias but affect serum cortisol, qualitative behaviour assessment and wounds on the carcass in pigs

Measures of animal emotions are essential to assess animal welfare. Recently, the cognitive bias technique has been proposed as a measure of animal affective state. This technique is based on the premise that subjects in negative affective states make more...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Carreras, R., Mainau, E., Arroyo, L. et al. 2016. Housing conditions do not alter cognitive bias but affect serum cortisol, qualitative behaviour assessment and wounds on the carcass in pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 185, 39-44.

Playful pigs: Evidence of consistency and change in play depending on litter and developmental stage

Play behaviour in pre-weaned piglets has previously been shown to vary consistently between litters. This study aimed to determine if these pre-weaning litter differences in play behaviour were also consistent in the post-weaning period. Seven litters of commercially bred piglets...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Brown, S.M., Peters, R., Nevison, I.M. et al. 2018. Playful pigs: Evidence of consistency and change in play depending on litter and developmental stage. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 198, 36-43.

Why do dogs play? Function and welfare implications of play in the domestic dog

Play is an enigmatic behaviour, the function of which is still debated, despite more than a century of research. We discuss the evolutionary function of play behaviour, focusing on the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a unique species due to its...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Sommerville, R., O'Connor, E. A., Asher, L. 2017. Why do dogs play? Function and welfare implications of play in the domestic dog. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 197, 1-8.

Tail and ear movements as possible indicators of emotions in pigs

A better understanding of animal emotions is an important goal in disciplines ranging from neuroscience to animal welfare science, but few reliable tools exist for measuring these emotions. Play behaviour is generally recognized as a trigger of positive emotions in...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Rius, M. M., Pageat, P., Bienboire-Frosini, C. et al. 2018. Tail and ear movements as possible indicators of emotions in pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 205, 14-18.

Selection of putative indicators of positive emotions triggered by object and social play in mini-pigs

Positive welfare is more than the absence of negative experiences. Nevertheless, there are few feasible animal-based measures for positive welfare. This study aimed to investigate whether object and social play behaviours in pigs, which is believed to trigger positive emotions,...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Rius, M. M., Cozzi, A., Bienboire-Frosini, C. et al. 2018. Selection of putative indicators of positive emotions triggered by object and social play in mini-pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 202, 13-19.

Evidence of ‘sickness behaviour’ in bats with white-nose syndrome

Many animals change behaviour in response to pathogenic infections. White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal skin disease causing rapid declines of North American bats. Infection with Pseudogymnoascus destructans causes hibernating bats to arouse from torpor too often, potentially causing starvation....

Year Published: 2016Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Other Animal

Citation: Bohn, S. J., Turner, J. M., Warnecke, L. et al. 2016. Evidence of 'sickness behaviour' in bats with white-nose syndrome. Behaviour 153(8), 981-1003.