Download PowerPoint Presentation - ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
TERMS TO KNOW
• Instinct – (reflexes and responses) what the
animal has at birth. Ex. Nursing, searching
for food.
• Habituation – learning to respond without
thinking, response to certain stimulus is
established as a result of habituation.
• Conditioning – learning to respond in a
particular way to a stimulus as a result of
reinforcement when the proper response is
made.
TERMS TO KNOW
• Reinforcement – a reward for making the
proper response.
• Reasoning – the ability to respond correctly
to a stimulus the first time that a new
situation is presented.
• Intelligence – the ability to learn to adjust
successfully to certain situations. Both
short-term and long-term memory are part
of intelligence.
MAJOR TYPES OF ANIMAL
BEHAVIOUR
• Sexual
• Feeding
• Maternal
• Eliminative
• Communicative • Shelter-Seeking
• Social
• Investigative
• Agonisitic
• Allelomimetic
SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR
Useful in implementing breeding programs
Examples of Sexual Behaviour
o Cows that are in heat, allow themselves to be mounted
by others
o Bulls, rams and stallions smell the vagina and urine to
detect pheromones
o Flehmen – Male animal lifts head and curls its upper lip
o Rams chase ewes that are coming into heat
o Sows seek out boars for mating
o Mares in heat squat and urinate when stallion
approaches and vulva winks
MATERNAL BEHAVIOUR
Females taking care of newborn and young
animals
Examples of Maternal Behavior
o Mothers clean young by licking them
o Mothers fight off intruders
o Become aggressive in protecting their young
after birth
Cows
• Maternal behavior begins at parturition
(time of birth) and continues to weaning
• Cows giving birth
• Will seek seclusion, usually in a depression or
trees
• Cow will inspect calf and lick it clean
• Calf stands and starts to nurse after ~ 1 hour
• Cow eats the placenta (so as to not alert
predators)
• Cow and calf rejoin herd after 2-4 days
• Cow is very possessive throughout nursing
period
• Will come to rescue calf very quickly
• Cows identify young primarily by smell
• Sight and sound also contribute to identification
• Time of calf removal in beef herds is very
noisy
• Dairy herds – calf is immediately removed
from the mother
Pigs
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Sows build nest ~ 18 hours before birth
Time of farrowing - ~ 4 hours
A few sows become agitated and kill piglets
Cross fostering is possible within first few days
Frequently each piglet adopts a single teat
• /www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBB4jEIjGH
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Other animals
• Sheep behave similarly to cattle in many
way around birth
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5VHea4h4PQ
• Ewes will accept orphan goats to nurse
• Mares also behave in a similar manner
COMMUNICATIVE BEHAVIOUR
When some type of information is exchanged
between individual animals
Examples of Communicative Behaviour
o Distress Calls – Lambs bleat, calves bawl, pigs
squeal and chicks chirp
o Dams recognize offspring by smell
o Farm animals respond to calls or whistles of the
producer
o Bulls bellow deeply to communicate aggressive
behaviour
SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Includes “fight or flight” and aggressive and
passive behaviours between animals
Includes interactions with other animals, humans
and behaviour during handling and restraint
Examples of Social Behaviour
o Males of all farm animals fight when they meet other
unfamiliar males of the same species
o Cows, sows and mares develop a pecking order, but
fight less intensely than males
o Cows withdraw from the herd to a secluded spot just
before calving
o Almost all animals withdraw from the herd if they are
sick
Social Dominance
• Advantage – gives mating preference to
strongest males (important for sustaining
genetic merit for strength in a species)
• Disadvantage – weaker individuals are
sometimes deprived of food if it is limited
• Genetic contribution – appears to be
moderately heritable
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5t2bIdN51U
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0u5RK_IL6s
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIggQ9-fpDw
AGONISITC BEHAVIOUR
• Agonistic behaviours are those behaviours
which cause, threaten to cause or seek to
reduce physical damage.
• Agonistic behaviour is comprised of
threats, aggression and submission.
Types of Aggression Seen in
Livestock Animals
Here are some reasons why livestock animals may
become aggressive:
• Pain Induced – An animal gets aggressive when in
pain, particularly if someone tries to touch the
painful area.
• Maternal Aggression – Most female domesticated
animals are protective of their young and wary of
strangers coming near.
• Territorial Aggression – While horses may share a
feeding site, they retain control of their home
range.
• Female rabbits are very territorial in captivity.
They will attack a male rabbit put into her cage,
so for mating purposes, the female is taken to the
buck's cage.
• Inter male Aggression – This can occur between
stud animals, particularly boars.
• Sexually Induced Aggression – Females in oestrus
have been known to fight.
• Dominance Aggression – Species housed in
groups develop as hierarchy. Even horses have a
‘pecking order’.
Aggression in Cattle
• With cattle it is the bull that is of concern.
Pawing the ground with forefeet and
snorting while holding its head up are signs
of aggressive behaviour.
• An aggressive bull will knock down a person
and continue to knock him down or toss
him about which could result in being
gored if the bull has horns
• Aggressive behaviour in the heifer is more
related to breed and socialization. Cows that
are handled frequently, such as dairy cows,
are usually docile.
• It is the cows that aren’t handled regularly,
such as beef cattle, particularly in large herds,
that may become aggressive.
• The cattle fight or flight response varies
considerably on how often they are handled.
A herd of dairy cows will veer away if a human
gets into their personal space, however, high
country cattle are more likely to run to get
further away from the encroaching human.
To read about aggression in
other animals
• http://suite101.com/article/aggressivebehaviour-of-livestock-animals-a147397
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dYVv5FIQNI
Classification of aggressive behaviours
common to food animals
BEHAVIOURAL CATEGORY
Interspecific aggression
1. Maternal defence
2. Defence of territory
3. Predation
DEFINITION AND EXAMPLE
Mother defends young against
potential predator
Ewe with lamb attacks dog.
Animal attacks intruder-grazing bulI
attacks human.
Animal attacks, kills and eats another
animal-hen catches and eats an insect.
J ANIM SCI 1986, 62:1130-1139.
Intraspecific aggression
4. Aggression after grouping
5. Inter-male fighting
6. Resource defence
7. Inter-gender fighting
8. Aberrant aggression
Previously unfamiliar animals are brought
together; they fight and a social structure or
hierarchy results -pigs sorted by size, they
fight.
Adult males generally fight to win mates or
territory – rams fight during breeding
season.
When resources become limited, aggression
increases cattle fight with limited feed bunk
space.
Males attempt to mount non-oestrous
females, aggressive behaviour ensues-nonoestrous sows attack a boar who attempted
a mount.
Wool-biting in sheep, naval sucking (all
mammals, especially those early-weaned),
ear and tail chewing in pigs, fence and pen
chewing (all mammals), cannibalism
or killing of young, feather and vent picking
in hens and, possibly, hen hysteria.
FEEDING BEHAVIOUR
Exhibited by animals when eating and
drinking
(Ingestive Behaviour)
Examples of Feeding Behavior
o Cattle graze 4-9hrs/day, ruminate 4-9hrs/day,
regurgitate 300-400 boluses of feed per day
o Sheep and goats graze 9-11hrs/day, ruminate 710hrs/day, regurgitate 400-600 boluses of feed
per day
o Cattle usually don’t go more than 2kms away
from water
o Sheep may travel as much as 5kms a day
Feeding Management
• The feeding behaviour of livestock has a
significant influence on growth rates and
milk production, health and the quality
and quantity of the product being
produced on farms
Browsing for feed
• If given the opportunity livestock like to browse
and forage for feed. They will take advantage of
open gates or holes in fences, this can be
hazardous.
• RISKS
– Exposure to bovine tuberculosis TB
– Injury and death
• They will investigate anything strange in the
paddock
• This could include hydrants, vehicles etc
TB and production
• Carriers
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• Possums , ferrets, wallabys, wild deer and pigs
Cattle will investigate the strange dead
thing and this could be a TB infected
organism
This can mean herd movement is restricted
and production can be affected.
TB testing of cattle
Disease control in cattle and deer - Animal
Health Board
Selective grazing
• Cattle like to select the best pasture
available to them
• The most palatable
• The most nutritious
• Intensive grazing systems are based on
perennial ryegrass and white clover
pastures. They need careful management
to remain palatable and nutritious.
Managing Pasture
• Cattle left to selective graze would lead to stalky
long unproductive pasture. Leading to a drop in
production.
• Strip grazing is often used to manage pasture
quality and ensure high milk production.
• Shape of the breaks????
Which is best?
• Rotational Grazing is monitoring
• grass growth and how fast stock are eating it.
• Spreading Feed out to reduce conflict
behaviour, subordinate animals will not get
their share if they have to fight dominant
animals for it.
ELIMINATIVE BEHAVIOUR
Elimination of faeces and urine
Examples of Eliminative Behaviour
o Cattle, sheep, horses, goats and chickens eliminate faeces & urine
indiscriminately
o Pigs eliminate faeces in definite areas of a pasture or pen
o Cattle, sheep, goats and swine defecate while standing or walking,
urinate while standing, but not walking
o Cattle defecate 12-18 times/day, urinate 7-11 times/day
o Horses defecate 5-12 times/day, urinate 7-11 times/day
o Animals defecate & urinate more when stressed or excited
o Animals lose 3% of their live weight when transported to & from
market points (Shrink)
SHELTER-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR
Examples of Shelter-Seeking Behaviour
o Animals crowd together in snow and cold winds
o Animals seek shelter of trees when it rains
o Cattle and sheep seek shady area for rest and
rumination if weather is hot
o Pigs find a wet area if weather is hot
o In extreme situations, animals pile up to the
extent that some get smothered
INVESTIGATIVE BEHAVIOUR
Examples of Investigative Behaviour
o Pigs, horses and dairy goats are highly curious,
investigate any strange object, approach
carefully, slowly, sniffing and looking as they
approach
o Sheep are less curious and more timid
ALLELOMIMETIC
Animals of a species tend to do the same thing
at the same time
Important in that a producer may observe the
herd with little difficulty, also useful in driving
groups of animals from one place to another
Examples of Allelomimetic Behaviour
o Cattle and sheep tend to graze at the same time and
rest and ruminate at the same time
o High Country cattle gather at the watering place
about the same time each day because one follows
the other
• http://woolshed1.blogspot.co.nz
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyyDq19Mi3
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