Using anticipatory behavior as preference test in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
The preference tests have made a great contribution to promoting animal welfare. However, they are not always easily applicable and have some criticalities. Recently the anticipatory behavior has been used to detect the animals’ preference. In this study, we attempted to investigate the relationship between preference and anticipatory behavior. To this end, we tested on […]
Using Anticipatory Behavior as Preference Test in The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Tools to measure and improve animal welfare: reward-related behaviour
There is an increasing requirement for tools to assess and improve animal welfare in an objective and scientifically based manner. In our research a concept of welfare is applied which states that welfare is determined by the balance between positive and negative experiences. This concept implies that an interaction exists between stress systems and reward […]
Assessing Animal Welfare with Behavior: Onward with Caution
An emphasis on ensuring animal welfare is growing in zoo and aquarium associations around the globe. This has led to a focus on measures of welfare outcomes for individual animals. Observations and interpretations of behavior are the most widely used outcome-based measures of animal welfare. They commonly serve as a diagnostic tool from which practitioners […]
Assessing and Enhancing the Welfare of Animals with Equivocal and Reliable Cues
The actions of human caretakers strongly influence animals living under human care. Here, we consider how intentional and unintentional signals provided by caretakers can inform our assessment of animals’ well-being as well as help to support it. Our aim is to assist in further developing techniques to learn animals’ affective state from their behavior and […]
Simple but temporally unpredictable puzzles are cognitive enrichment
Provision of problem solving opportunities as enrichment for animals considered highly intelligent has increased over the last twenty years, but this emphasis on animals considered intelligent may overlook the need for cognitive challenge in species not typified as problem solving animals. Commonly used foraging challenges, such as puzzle feeders, may occupy more of an animal’s […]
Access to enriched housing is rewarding to rats as reflected by their anticipatory behaviour
We tested the general assumption that enrichment of the housing environment is rewarding to laboratory rats, Rattus norvegicus. We used the behavioural response in anticipation of a forthcoming reward as a measure of the rewarding property of a simple enriched cage. For this, a Pavlovian conditioning schedule was applied to announce the oncoming transfer to […]
Effects of haloperidol, a dopamine D2-like receptor antagonist, on reward-related behaviors in laying hens
In order to investigate the involvement of dopaminergic transmission in the regulation of reward-related behaviors in laying hens, the effects of systemic injections of dopamine D2-like receptor antagonist haloperidol (0.3, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg s.c.) 30 min prior to a conditioned cue signaling a reward were tested and compared to the effects of a saline injection. […]
Anticipatory behavior in captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): A preliminary study
This study examined whether a group of captive dolphins displayed anticipatory behaviors before shows. In general, anticipation occurs when an event is being predicted. Anticipatory behavior is defined by Spruijt et al. as “responses elicited by rewarding stimuli that lead to and facilitate consummatory behavior (Spruijt et al., 2001, Appl Anim Behav Sci 72: 145–171).” […]
Environmental conditions associated with repetitive behavior in a group of African elephants
Repetitive movement patterns are commonly observed in zoo elephants. The extent to which these behaviors constitute a welfare concern varies, as their expression ranges from stereotypies to potentially beneficial anticipatory behaviors. Nevertheless, their occurrence in zoo animals is often viewed negatively. To better identify conditions that prompt their performance, observations were conducted on six African […]