Filial attachment in sheep: Similarities and differences between ewe-lamb and human-lamb relationships
Animals develop relationships with intra- and interspecific partners, including humans. In some cases this can lead to strong emotional bonds indicating the existence of attachment. The sheep is well known to develop various forms of social attachment (mothers towards young, lambs towards siblings). The relationship they can develop with humans is much less understood. In […]
Gentle interactions decrease the fear of humans in dairy heifers independently of early experience of stroking
The relationship of farmed animals with humans has important implications for animal welfare and productivity. To investigate the short- and long-term effect of gentle interactions (stroking, talking in a gentle voice) during different life stages on the fear of humans, we tested heifers that had or had not experienced gentle interactions as calves in a […]
Positive perception of human stroking by lambs: Qualitative behaviour assessment confirms previous interpretation of quantitative data
Qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) was used to validate previous published interpretation whether human stroking has beneficial effects on lambs prematurely separated from their mothers. For a period of 8 weeks a familiar human (FH) subjected 22 Romane lambs to a gentling treatment based on strokes. At the age of 8 weeks each lamb was placed […]