Domestic animal welfare at the zoo: The impact of an animal visitor interaction program on chickens
Many modern zoos strive to create connections between guests and animals through animal visitor interaction (AVI) programs. However, there has been relatively little research into the effect of AVI programs on the welfare of program animals. Previous research has revealed three factors that may affect AVI program animal welfare: species differences, handling and transport, and […]
Domestic animal welfare at the zoo: The impact of an animal visitor interaction program on chickens
Many modern zoos strive to create connections between guests and animals through animal visitor interaction (AVI) programs. However, there has been relatively little research into the effect of AVI programs on the welfare of program animals. Previous research has revealed three factors that may affect AVI program animal welfare: species differences, handling and transport, and […]
Associations between welfare indicators and environmental choice in laying hens
Animal welfare is usually assessed by measuring animals’ responses to different environments or procedures. The alternative approach examines animal decision making, assuming that even domestic animals in artificial environments are able to integrate all relevant inputs and select in their own best interests. These two approaches to animal welfare assessment have been pursued largely in […]
Effects of domestication on filial motivation and imprinting in chicks: comparison of red junglefowl and White Leghorns
Domestication has been reported to reduce learning ability and to alter social behaviour. We compared the development of filial behaviour of domestic chickens, Gallus gallus domesticus, and the ancestral red junglefowl, Gallus gallus. We investigated the tendency of naïve chicks to approach conspicuous stimuli, as a measure of filial motivation, and the development of a […]
Noise-dependent vocal plasticity in domestic fowl
Since acoustic communication is considerably constrained by environmental noise, some animals have evolved adaptations to counteract its masking effects. Humans and New World monkeys increase the duration of brief vocalizations (below a few hundred milliseconds) as the background noise level rises, a behaviour that increases the detection probability of signals in noise by temporal summation. […]
What’s in a peck? Using fixed action pattern morphology to identify the motivational basis of abnormal feather-pecking behaviour
Like many captive animals, hens, Gallus gallus, used for agricultural production perform abnormal behaviours. They are particularly prone to feather pecking, the severest form of which involves the pecking at and removal of feathers, which can cause bleeding and even stimulate cannibalism. The two main hypothesized explanations for feather pecking concern frustrated motivations to forage […]
Effects of domestication on food deprivation-induced behaviour in red junglefowl, Gallus gallus, and White Leghorn layers
Domestication and selection for high production have selected animals with less energy-demanding behaviour. In the natural environment of the ancestors, fitness (reproductive success) is often favoured by an ability to locate and remember food sites, whereas in captivity, fitness may be more related to the ability to grow and reproduce efficiently under stable food conditions. […]
Affiliation and Aggression As Related to Gender in Domestic Chicks (Gallus gallus)
Social discrimination in male and female domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) was investigated by using (1) latencies of approach response, (2) simultaneous free choice, and (3) intersubject aggressive-pecking tests. In approach-response tests, females showed shorter latencies when tested with cagemates than when tested with strangers, whereas males showed shorter latencies when tested with strangers than when […]
Optical Flow, Flock Behaviour and Chicken Welfare
We used a combination of inexpensive camera equipment and statistical analysis of optical flow patterns to analyse the behaviour of 24 commercial broiler (meat) chicken flocks, Gallus gallus. Individual birds were not tracked or marked but the skew and kurtosis of flow patterns produced by the collective movements of the flocks were significantly correlated with […]