Assessment of Indoor Air Quality for Group-Housed Macaques (Macaca spp.)
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is strongly associated with animal health and wellbeing. To identify possible problems of the indoor environment of macaques (Macaca spp.), we assessed the IAQ. The temperature (°C), relative humidity (%) and concentrations of inhalable dust (mg/m3), endotoxins (EU/m3), ammonia (ppm) and fungal aerosols were measured at stationary fixed locations in indoor […]
The use of olfactory and other cues for social recognition by juvenile pigs
Social recognition is essential for the maintenance of a stable group structure. Failure to recognise familiar conspecifics in social groups of juvenile pigs may initiate agonistic encounters that can compromise welfare and productivity. Current housing systems may allow build up of atmospheric ammonia that might, in turn, interfere with the olfactory system and compromise olfactory […]
The impact of chronic environmental stressors on growing pigs, Sus scrofa (Part 1): stress physiology, production and play behaviour
Commercially farmed animals are frequently housed in conditions that impose a number of concurrent environmental stressors. For pigs housed indoors, elevated levels of mechanical noise, atmospheric ammonia and low light intensities are commonplace. This experiment examined the effects on growing pigs of chronic exposure to combinations of commercially relevant levels of these potential stressors. Four-week-old […]
The impact of chronic environmental stressors on growing pigs, Sus scrofa (Part 2): social behaviour
The effects of common and concurrent environmental stressors on the social behaviour of farm animals are poorly understood. Here, we report the results of a multifactorial experiment designed specifically to examine the individual, additive or interactive effects of elevated ammonia, noise and low light (LL) levels on the social behaviour of growing pigs. Social behaviour […]