Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Julia Eidsmo, Lone Madsen, Lars-Flemming Pedersen, Alfred Jokumsen, Manuel Gesto
Summary: Enriching the living environment of captive fish can improve their welfare, but studies on the feasibility of implementation in real farming scenarios are limited. This study tested the feasibility of using plastic shelters to improve rainbow trout welfare in an organic fish farm. The shelters had no negative effects on fish performance, health, or mortality, but there were no clear shelter-seeking behavioral responses from the fish when disturbed. It is recommended to test enrichment strategies in real scenarios for a relevant part of the fish's life cycle to fully understand their potential for improving welfare in aquaculture.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Borbala Foris, Negar Sadrzadeh, Joseph Krahn, Daniel M. Weary, Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk
Summary: Indoor housed dairy cows are highly motivated to scratch themselves using mechanical brushes. Many farms provide brushes to cows, yet no commercial brushes to date capture how the brushes are used by the cows in the pen. We developed an automated brush and tested how much cows use it at four different group sizes (60, 48, 36, and 24 cows) and with different brush locations in the pen. We found that cows used the brush for longer when it was close to the feed and water and when they were housed in smaller groups.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Peta S. Taylor, Paul H. Hemsworth, Jean-Loup Rault
Summary: Increased environmental complexity can improve chicken welfare, depending on the resources provided and use by the animals. Providing physical items or additional visual human contact can reduce fear of humans in chickens. However, the effects of additional human contact on general fearfulness are not significant. The provision of physical items did not show clear improvement in the chickens' behavioral time budget, fear, physiological stress, or production.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
P. Tatemoto, G. Valenca-Silva, Mariana R. Queiroz, Donald M. Broom
Summary: Research has shown that keeping animals in barren environments for long periods can lead to poor welfare, while maintaining them in enriched environments helps improve their emotional states and welfare.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Kirsten Donald, Amanda Benedetti, Vinicius Donisete Lima Rodrigues Goulart, Alissa Deming, Hendrik Nollens, Grey Stafford, Sabrina Brando
Summary: This pilot study demonstrated the importance of environmental enrichment devices (EEDs) for pinnipeds in rehabilitation centers, as they can reduce undesired behaviors and improve the animals' quality of life.
Article
Fisheries
Zhe Li, Shanshan Zhou, Jingjing He, Jie Ying, Kaida Xu
Summary: Environmental enrichment can improve the welfare and survival of hatchery fish, but the effectiveness depends on species, life stage, and specific enrichment structures. This study found that a low-level interference structure reduced anxiety and increased flexibility in juvenile rock bream, while a high-level interference structure resulted in oxidative damage. However, none of the enrichment structures improved growth performance or mitigated stress responses.
JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Chunsen Xu, Miaomiao Hou, Liangxia Su, Ning Qiu, Fandong Yu, Xinhua Zou, Chunling Wang, Jianwei Wang, Yongfeng He
Summary: Environmental enrichment is an important aspect of animal welfare and can improve animal well-being. However, the effect of habitat enrichment on laboratory fish, particularly rare minnows, is poorly understood. This study investigated the effect of environmental enrichment on the growth, physiological status, and anxiety-like behavior of rare minnows. The results showed that there were no significant differences in growth, anxiety-like behavior, and dopamine levels between the control and enriched groups. However, the enriched group had higher cortisol and serotonin levels. This suggests that the living environment can influence rare minnows and that further studies should consider the effects of environmental enrichment.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Maria Costanza Galli, Martyna E. E. Lagoda, Flaviana Gottardo, Barbara Contiero, Laurac A. A. Boyle
Summary: This study investigates the effect of providing sows with an improved pen environment (straw in racks and ropes) on reducing aggressive behavior after mixing, as well as the role of backfat thickness and parity order. The results showed that the sows in the control group exhibited more fighting and initiated more aggressive behaviors than the sows in the improved group, especially three weeks after mixing. Low backfat thickness was associated with more aggressive behaviors, while parity order had no significant effect. These findings suggest that while aggression is necessary for establishing dominance, implementing environmental improvements can help reduce its frequency.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Milene de Paula Figueira, Ita de Oliveira E. Silva, Vanner Boere
Summary: Wild animals in captivity require stimuli to improve their well-being. Canids, particularly hoary foxes, have a strong sense of smell and are responsive to environmental stimuli through scent. An olfactory enrichment method was tested on five hoary foxes, adapted from a successful method used on another canid species. The individuals showed indifferent reactions to the stimuli, possibly due to their insectivorous diet.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Robert Kelly, Paul E. Rose
Summary: The implementation of environmental enrichment (EE) can promote zoo animal welfare, but research on its effects is biased towards larger mammalian species and neglects lesser-known species like armadillos. This study aimed to evaluate how the implementation of physical object-based EE could affect the behaviors of armadillos. The results showed that the plastic ball and cardboard box increased exploratory behaviors in armadillos, but the scatter feed did not increase overall activity. Visitor presence had no effect on armadillo activity, and higher environmental temperatures reduced their activity. The use of physical object-based EE promoted natural behaviors, but environmental conditions also influenced armadillo activity.
Review
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Emily J. Elwell, Stefano Vaglio
Summary: Zoos have an important role in conservation, but the mismatch between wild and zoo environments can cause health issues and reduce breeding success in primates. To improve animal welfare, zoos often use environmental enrichment, including scent enrichment, which has been understudied. Despite traditional beliefs, olfaction plays a larger role in primates than previously thought.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Francoise Pol, Adeline Huneau-Salaun, Sarah Gallien, Yannick Ramonet, Nicolas Rose
Summary: The algae-based cylinder enrichment material did not have any negative effects on pig health, performance, or body condition, and did not significantly improve pig welfare compared to metal chains. Despite being categorized as suboptimal, algae cylinders showed similar results to metal chains and wood logs in terms of welfare indicators.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Maria Padrell, Federica Amici, Maria Pau Cordoba, Albert Giberga, Antonio Broekman, Susana Almagro, Miquel Llorente
Summary: The use of an artificial termite-fishing task has been shown to positively impact captive chimpanzees, increasing tool use and feeding behavior, reducing inactivity, and enhancing social proximity. However, no significant changes were observed in abnormal, self-directed, affiliation-related, or aggression-related behaviors.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Alissa Cisneros, Dorothy Litwin, Lee Niel, Anastasia C. Stellato
Summary: This study explored the influence of owner management strategies, owner characteristics, and cat characteristics on unwanted scratching behavior in cats. The results suggest that providing appropriate scratching surfaces, enrichment items, outdoor access, and positive reinforcement training can reduce reports of unwanted scratching. Older cats and restricting access to items not to be scratched were also associated with fewer reports of unwanted scratching.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
L. Jacobs, R. A. Blatchford, I. C. De Jong, M. A. Erasmus, M. Levengood, R. C. Newberry, P. Regmi, A. B. Riber, S. L. Weimer
Summary: This paper discusses the impact of environmental enrichment on poultry welfare through four themes and emphasizes the importance of considering enrichment strategies from the birds' perspective. It also suggests methods for improving play behavior and activity levels. Although previous research has shown that environmental complexity can increase poultry activity levels and behavior, more studies are needed on birds' resilience, the effects in commercial conditions, and slower-growing strains.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Yulan Ubeda, Jaume Fatjo, Carles Rostan, Dietmar Crailsheim, Alba Gomara, Javier Almunia, Miquel Llorente
Summary: The study focused on diagnosing psychopathologies in nonhuman primates, specifically chimpanzees, with an adapted version of the DSM. A questionnaire was created based on the inclusion-exclusion adaptation of the DSM for assessing psychopathologies in rescued chimpanzees. The study aims to promote research on psychopathology in chimpanzees and other animals, highlighting the importance of diagnosing psychiatric disorders in chimpanzees for species-related awareness, legal implications, welfare, and comparative psychopathology.
JOURNAL OF VETERINARY BEHAVIOR-CLINICAL APPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Yulan Ubeda, Sara Ortin, Todd R. Robeck, Miquel Llorente, Javier Almunia
Summary: This study demonstrated the utility of assessing killer whale welfare using a multi-trait questionnaire, finding correlations between personality, subjective well-being, and welfare ratings. The findings suggest that welfare questionnaires can be reliable tools for monitoring and improving the welfare of cetaceans in captivity, with potential evolutionary convergence between Orders observed in the correlations.
APPLIED ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Zoology
Marzia Baldachini, Barbara Regaiolli, Miquel Llorente, David Riba, Caterina Spiezio
Summary: The study found that there was a greater tendency for hand preference when interacting with inanimate targets compared to animate targets. At the group level, there was no preference for either inanimate or animate targets in general, but there was a bias towards using the right hand for affiliative behaviors. Social rank did not have an effect on hand preference.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Martina Cubi, Miquel Llorente
Summary: Our study revealed strong individual-level hand preferences but no group-level lateralisation in two primate species from Vietnam, with no sex differences detected. The index finger was predominantly used during the bimanual task, either alone or in combination with other fingers. Additionally, hatinh langurs showed a greater hand preference strength compared to grey-shanked douc langurs, indicating a possible higher manual specialisation during leaf-eating. These results contribute to our limited understanding of manual laterality in Asian colobine monkeys and validate the bimanual tube task as a reliable measure for assessing manual laterality in non-human primates.
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
(2021)
Article
Zoology
Clara Hernandez Tienda, Bonaventura Majolo, Teresa Romero, Risma Illa Maulany, Putu Oka Ngakan, Victor Beltran Frances, Elisa Gregorio Hernandez, Jose Gomez-Melara, Miquel Llorente, Federica Amici
Summary: When studying animal behavior in the wild, habituation is commonly used to ensure that animals do not perceive researchers as a direct threat and do not alter their behavior in their presence. However, habituation can have significant effects on the welfare and conservation of the animals. This study systematically described the habituation of moor macaques to assess the factors that facilitate habituation and reduce impact on animal behavior.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Maria Padrell, Federica Amici, Maria Pau Cordoba, Miquel Llorente
Summary: This study assessed the behavioral effects of a novel tool-based enrichment on chimpanzees, indicating that participation varied among individuals and had both positive and negative effects on behavior.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Valeria Albanese, Roberta Berardi, Miquel Llorente, Michael A. Huffman, Jean-Baptiste Leca
Summary: Stone handling behavior varies between captive macaque groups, with some groups exhibiting the behavior while others do not. The age structure of the group may play a role in determining the occurrence of stone handling behavior.
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
(2022)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Cristina Soto, Jose M. M. Gazquez, Miquel Llorente
Summary: This study conducted a meta-analysis to examine hand preferences in non-human primates and humans, revealing individual-level laterality in non-human primates but no population-level asymmetry in humans. The importance of standardized testing methodologies across species and institutions was emphasized.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Carolina Soben, Miquel Llorente, Paula Villariezo, Katja Liebal, Federica Amici
Summary: In a wild group of male philopatric spider monkeys, we studied maternal investment in offspring. Maternal investment showed a sex bias, and this relationship was influenced by maternal age and social integration.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sara Valdivieso-Cortadella, Chiara Bernardi-Gomez, Filippo Aureli, Miquel Llorente, Federica Amici
Summary: A study found that yawning and scratching contagion exists in a wild group of Geoffroy's spider monkeys. Individuals who observed others yawning or scratching were more likely to exhibit the behavior themselves. This finding is important for understanding the origins of behavioral contagion in primates.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Carolina Soben, Miquel Llorente, Paula Villariezo, Katja Liebal, Federica Amici
Summary: Research showed that social behavior differences between sexes in primates emerge during the first six years of life, with mothers playing an important role in this process. Observations of spider monkeys revealed no sex difference in body contact and grooming, but males showed a higher propensity for play starting at around age two. Additionally, maternal investment had varying effects on social integration for male and female immatures, increasing the likelihood of play for sons but not for daughters.
Article
Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism
Raquel Costa, Rafaela S. C. Takeshita, Masaki Tomonaga, Michael A. A. Huffman, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Fred Bercovitch, Misato Hayashi
Summary: Tourism can have significant impacts on the behavior of mountain gorillas, such as increasing prosocial and human-directed behavior, and increasing rates of self-scratching. It was found that tourists often approached gorillas within a 3-meter distance, contrary to guidelines. Adult males were more likely to increase self-scratching rates when tourists came closer. It is recommended to follow IUCN guidelines and maintain a minimum 7-meter distance when viewing gorillas.
JOURNAL OF ECOTOURISM
(2023)
Article
Zoology
Chiara Bernardi-Gomez, Sara Valdivieso-Cortadella, Miquel Llorente, Filippo Aureli, Federica Amici
Summary: In this study, the researchers investigated the factors influencing vigilance behavior in a wild group of spider monkeys. They found that subgroup size, fusion events, subgroup activity, and the presence of immatures all influenced the proportion of time spent in vigilance. Additionally, females spent more time in vigilance when subgroups included more adult and subadult males.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Maria Padrell, Federica Amici, Yulan Ubeda, Miquel Llorente
Summary: Questionnaires based on the PEN model were used to assess the personality of 37 chimpanzees. The study confirmed the potential of the PEN model in describing the personality structure of chimpanzees.
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Raquel F. P. Costa, Valeria Romano, Andre S. Pereira, Jordan D. A. Hart, Andrew MacIntosh, Misato Hayashi
Summary: Gorilla tourism helps protect the ecosystem and benefits both humans and wildlife populations. A study was conducted to assess how the presence and proximity of tourists affect gorilla social cohesion. The study found that gorillas spent more time in closer association after tourists arrived and when tourists were within 3 meters of them, indicating that they perceive tourists as a risk.
CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
(2023)
