Animals and society: Striking the right balance through ethology. Preface for the special issue of the 57th congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology

Highlights of published papers in Applied Animal Behaviour Science in 2025

New article types in Applied Animal Behaviour Science

Highlights of published papers in Applied Animal Behaviour Science in 2024

Citizen science has become a popular means to collect data in many research fields, including animal behaviour science. Using this approach has numerous potential benefits (e.g. larger sample sizes, decreased strain on resources, increasing the public’s engagement in science), but there are also issues and assumptions relating to data quality that should be considered. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of a battery of game-like tests developed to assess behavioural flexibility in dogs. The battery was administered to samples of shelter dogs and owned dogs who had remained in homes long-term. From the two populations, four test groups were created: shelter dogs assessed by the principal investigator (n=85), shelter dogs assessed by shelter staff/volunteers (n=34), long-term owned dogs assessed by the principal investigator (n=21), and long-term dogs assessed by their owners (n=29). Shelter staff/volunteers and dog owners participated as “citizen scientists”. It is accepted that using less skilled “citizen” researchers increases the error within the data, but often claimed that this is offset by larger sample sizes. This implies that the increased error is random and not systematic. Whether who (citizen versus trained researcher) tested the group in a given context was associated with overall test item outcomes was evaluated. In two of the tests, the Alone Time Test and the Three-Toy Test, tester was found to be associated with outcomes. In the Alone Time Test, tester was associated with four items in the shelter dog samples and with three in the long-term owned dog samples. In the Three Toy Test, a series of subsequent items were contingent on the first, and the outcome of that initial item was related to tester. These results demonstrate that it is unwise to assume that the increased error from citizen science work is largely random and thus evened out by the use of a large sample of researchers. Unexpected systematic error might arise within citizen science projects so controls need to be introduced to test for these effects, so that unsound assumptions are not made. There may also be relatively unique factors, beyond researcher objectivity, to consider when using a citizen science approach to study domestic dogs, such as the bidirectional influence on behaviour of any emotional bond between the owner or shelter staff/volunteer and the dog being tested. These results highlight the need for quality checks and preliminary analysis to ensure the identification of any relevant tester effects.

How to stay within the scope of Applied Animal Behaviour Science when conducting research on ‘laboratory animals’?

An international perspective on ethics approval in animal behaviour and welfare research

Freeing the hens: Workshop outcomes for applying ethology to the development of cage-free housing systems in the commercial egg industry

Castration and alternatives in pig: advantages and disadvantages

ABSTRACT Interhemispheric laterality has often been linked to different behavioural styles. This study investigates the link between limb preference and personality in donkeys. The sample consisted of 47 donkeys (Equus asinus), 30 males and 17 females. Limb preference was determined using observation of the leading limb in a motionless posture and personality was measured using the Donkey Temperament Questionnaire (French, J. M. (1993). Assessment of donkey temperament and the influence of home environment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 36(2), 249–257. doi:10.1016/0168-1591(93)90014-G) completed by the donkeys’ keepers. A Principal Component Analysis obtained two components: Agreeableness and Extraversion. Age showed a positive relationship with Agreeableness, echoing trends in humans Donkeys did not show a population-level preference towards either side. Limb preference significantly predicted the trait difficult to handle: donkeys with a preference to keep the right foot forward when motionless were harder to handle. This study presents the first investigation into limb preference and personality in donkeys, although more research is needed to clarify whether there is a population-level limb preference bias in donkeys, and the relationship between limb preference and Agreeableness.

Article Details: Received: 2020-10-20 | Accepted: 2020-11-27 | Available online: 2021-01-31 https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2021.24.mi-prap.62-66 Abstract Attractivity of two different enrichment objects was investigated in paper. Eight piglets were housed in pen with slatted floor. Pen environment was enriched with two hanging objects – PET bottle and horseshoe. Interactions with enrichment objects were evaluated during two consecutive days. PET bottle was more attractive, total number of interactions was 600 on day 1 and 451 on day 2. Horseshoe has very low attractiveness, number of interactions on day 1 was only 64 and 74 on day 2. Exploration of more attractive object was decreasing between days. Exploration of less attractive object was increasing. We recommend use of different enrichment objects for prolonged duration of exploration and occupation by manipulation, but both objects should be attractive for piglets. Keywords: environment, enrichment, piglets, keyword, keyword References Averós, X., et al. (2010). A meta-analysis of the combined effect of housing and environmental enrichment characteristics on the behaviour and performance of pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science , 127(3-4), 73–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2010.09.010 Bolt, S. L. and George, A. J. (2019). The use of environmental enrichment on farms benefits animal welfare and productivity. Livestock, 24(4), 183–188. https://doi.org/10.12968/live.2019.24.4.183 Buijs, S. and Muns, R. (2019). A Review of the Effects of Non-Straw Enrichment on Tail Biting in Pigs. Animals , 9(10), 824. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9100824 Chen, Ch. et al. (2020). A computer vision approach for recognition of the engagement of pigs with different enrichment objects. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture , 175, 105580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2020.105580 Council directive 2008/120/EC of 18 December 2008 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs. Available online: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/120/2019-12-14 (accessed on 15 October 2020). Elkmann, A. and Hoy, S. (2009). Frequency of occupation with different simultaneously offered devices by fattening pigs kept in pens with or without straw. Livestock Science, 124(1-3), 330–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2008.12.008 Ernst, K. et al. (2018). Play behavior and environmental enrichment in pigs. Available online: https://www.wur.nl/upload_mm/e/f/b/6af2e2db-430e-4771-8f7d-6f5b974eab5e_final%20report%20ACT%202060%20juli%202018%20op%20website%20.pdf (accessed on 10 October 2020). Godyń, D. et al. (2019). Effects of environmental enrichment on pig welfare-A Review. Animals , 9(6), 383. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9060383 Jensen, P. (2002). The ethology of domestic animals . New York: CABI Publishing. Wood-Gush, D. G. M. and Beilharz, R. G. (1983). The enrichment of a bare environment for animals in confined conditions. Applied Animal Ethology , 10(3), 209–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3762(83)90142-6 Young, R. J. (2003). Enrichment for captive animals . Oxford, UK: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Sources of variation of antimicrobial use in Charolaise and Limousine beef breeds in Veneto region (Italy)

We established positive influence of granulated alfalfa feed on the growth, development intensity, and sport qualities of the race horses. We registered the increase in live weight of young horses, which consumed the full granulated alfalfa feed by 8.0-9.8%. These animals had a more pronounced constitutional breed type. Thus, at the age of 18 months, they outclassed their peers in main linear dimensions: they had higher values of thoracic development (by 4.6%), higher thoracic diameter (by 4.5%), higher body length (by 5.7%). At the age of 24 months, these advantages were 6.4, 8.2, and 6.0% respectively. We found that the colts and fillies in the experimental group at the age of 12 months outperformed the same year horses from the control group by 1.1% by the index of format. Further, at the age of 18 and 24 months, the animals of the experimental group outperformed their counterparts from the control group by 0.2 and 0.4%, respectively. In terms of breast circumference index, the advantage of the exerimentary group animals at the age of 12 months was 0.1%, at the age of 18 months - 1.7%, at the age of 24 months - 1.8%, respectively. Similar results were recorded for the compactness index, where the advantage at the age of 12 months was 1.2%, at 18 months - 1.9%, at 24 months - 2.3% respectively. The effective use of environmentally friendly feed is confirmed by the results of hematological blood tests. It was found that for the vast majority of indicators they correspond to the physiological norm. This blood composition naturally characterizes changes in horses during the whole period of research. The received hematological profile is the basic characteristic of the state of health of horses in the research enterprise.

Research into the conditions that promote good animal welfare is essential to equip zoos and aquariums with the knowledge to create environments in which animals thrive. In order to collate the empirical information that is available regarding animal welfare in zoos and aquariums with regard to topics, methods and species, a systematic literature review was conducted of the primary peer-reviewed journals publishing zoo-based and welfare-based research. Journals included Animal Welfare, Animals, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, International Zoo Yearbook, Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, and Zoo Biology. The literature review spanned 2008–2017 and revealed that 7.6% (n=310) of reviewed publications (n=4,096) in these journals were zoo- or aquarium-based and animal-welfare focused. The main topics studied included enrichment, social conditions and enclosure design, while understudied topics included the welfare of ambassador animals, and the welfare impacts of sound and light. Behaviour was by far the dominant welfare parameter used and the use of hormonal measures declined over this period. Taxonomic representation in these publications was notably skewed. Mammals were the focus of 75% of studies, and 82% of studies were vertebrate-focused (great apes being the dominant taxa). This study considers potential reasons for these patterns and highlights research areas for future emphasis that could serve to fill gaps in current knowledge regarding zoo and aquarium animal welfare, including more research into affective states that underlie an animal’s welfare status.

Abstract A bibliometric analysis was undertaken to chart the development of animal welfare (AW) science as a whole, and of the individuals, organisations and countries that have had most academic impact to date. Publication data were collected from the Web of Science for the year range 1968-2017 and by-hand pre-processing of the data was undertaken to identify reviews and original research articles on AW. VOSviewer was used to create bibliometric networks. There has been a 13.3% annual growth in AW publications in the last 50 years with Animal Welfare and Applied Animal Behaviour Science the most frequent publishers of AW publications. Farm animals continue to dominate the subject of AW research and comparison of network visualisations for five key species suggested possible gaps in the research, such as relatively little emphasis on emotion research for some farm animals and little research on inherited disorders in dogs. However, keyword analysis indicated a recent broadening of AW findings to include other international contexts, such as conservation and sustainability. Highly cited review articles were grouped into five clusters with affective state (ie emotions, moods) and fish welfare the most recent topics. Almost all core authors of original research articles study farm animals, though in the last ten years other topics, such as consumer attitudes and wildlife, have emerged as highly cited areas of original research articles. Network analysis of organisations revealed the University of Bristol, UK as the main publisher of original research articles. Citation analysis indicated that many low-cited articles were originating from Germany and were published in German journals, suggesting that many worthwhile results and opinions on AW may be being missed by other researchers due to a language barrier. Several limitations of bibliometric analysis to generate an overview of AW science were identified, including the challenge of how to search and extract all the relevant publications in this discipline. In conclusion, animal welfare science is still in an exponential phase of growth which will bring opportunities, such as for the publication of new journals, but also challenges. The insights generated by this study suggest bibliometric analysis to be a useful addition to other approaches investigating the trends and concepts of animal welfare.

応用動物行動学における統計解析の進展(前編) : 一般線形モデル

応用動物行動学における統計解析の進展 後編：一般化線形モデル

Environmental enrichment in zoos and aquariums is often evaluated at two overlapping levels: published research and day-to-day institutional record keeping. Several authors have discussed ongoing challenges with small sample sizes in between-groups zoological research and have cautioned against the inappropriate use of inferential statistics (Shepherdson, , International Zoo Yearbook, 38, 118-124; Shepherdson, Lewis, Carlstead, Bauman, & Perrin, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 147, 298-277; Swaisgood, , Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102, 139-162; Swaisgood & Shepherdson, , Zoo Biology, 24, 499-518). Multi-institutional studies are the typically-prescribed solution, but these are expensive and difficult to carry out. Kuhar ( Zoo Biology, 25, 339-352) provided a reminder that inferential statistics are only necessary when one wishes to draw general conclusions at the population level. Because welfare is assessed at the level of the individual animal, we argue that evaluations of enrichment efficacy are often instances in which inferential statistics may be neither necessary nor appropriate. In recent years, there have been calls for the application of behavior-analytic techniques to zoo animal behavior management, including environmental enrichment (e.g., Bloomsmith, Marr, & Maple, , Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102, 205-222; Tarou & Bashaw, , Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102, 189-204). Single-subject (also called single-case, or small-n) designs provide a means of designing evaluations of enrichment efficacy based on an individual's behavior. We discuss how these designs might apply to research and practice goals at zoos and aquariums, contrast them with standard practices in the field, and give examples of how each could be successfully applied in a zoo or aquarium setting.

Opinion of applied ethologists on expectation bias, blinding observers and other debiasing techniques

Reactions of sheep towards three sets of emotional stimuli: (In)Consistency in respect to stimulus valence and sheep identity