Social proximities of developing gorilla males (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in European zoos: the consequences of castration and social composition
In the European captive population of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), the harem social structure and an even sex ratio at birth result in a surplus of males and consequent management difficulties. This study seeks to assess the socialization differences between captive juvenile and adolescent male gorillas according to their fertility status (intact vs […]
Comparison Between Plasma Substance P and Cortisol Concentrations Following Castration in Beef Calves
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An ethological definition of animal welfare with special emphasis on pig behaviour
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Behavioural responses of lambs to common painful husbandry procedures
The behavioural responses of groups of 10 lambs were examined for 90min following a range of commonly used husbandry procedures. The treatment groups were, control handling only (control); ear tagging (ET); tail docking by hot docking iron (HD); tail docking by rubber rings (RRT); castration by rubber rings (RRC); tail docking and castration by rubber […]
Validation of a method for assessment of an acute pain in lambs
Acute pain following different methods of rubber ring castration and tail docking (CTD) was assessed using behavioural and physiological methods. Validity was determined by showing how accurately lambs were allocated, to their appropriate treatment groups. Six groups of seven lambs, 5–6 days old, were subjected to treatments, ranked before the experiment, by the amount of […]
Sex differences in learning processes of classical and operant conditioning
Males and females learn and remember differently at different times in their lives. These differences occur in most species, from invertebrates to humans. We review here sex differences as they occur in laboratory rodent species. We focus on classical and operant conditioning paradigms, including classical eyeblink conditioning, fear-conditioning, active avoidance and conditioned taste aversion. Sex […]
Castration does not decrease nonreproductive aggression in yearling male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)
In the nonbreeding season, some bird species express high levels of aggression despite basal plasma testosterone (T) concentrations. Consequently, nonreproductive aggression is believed to be independent of plasma T. In the present study, we investigated the effect of castration on nonreproductive aggressive behavior in yearling male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). We paired castrated (Cx) with […]
Vocal response to pain in piglets
Three experiments were performed attempting to establish the validity of vocal measures as an indicator of the immediate response to pain in domestic piglets. Vocalisations were measured while piglets were subjected to the routine farm practice of castration without anaesthetic, or restrained identically but not castrated (i.e., sham-castrated). In Experiment 1 we measured how calling […]
Differences induced by incubation temperature, versus androgen manipulation, in male leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius)
A fundamental tenet of sexual selection is that in sexually dimorphic traits, there is variation within a sex. In leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius), a species with temperature-dependent sex determination, embryonic temperature contributes both to sex determination and polymorphisms within each sex. In this study we report that males from different incubation temperatures, one hitherto untested, […]
Does the timing of estrogen administration after castration affect its ability to preserve sexual interest in male rats? — Exploring the critical period hypothesis
Abstract Loss of libido is a major side effect that reduces the quality of life of prostate cancer patients on androgen-deprivation therapy. Estrogen restores sexual interest to some extent in castrated male mammals; however, the beneficial effects of estrogen vary greatly among different studies. We investigated whether the timing of estrogen treatment after castration affected […]