Temperament in preweanling horses: development of reactions to humans and novelty, and startle responses.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development and the stability across situations and over time of three temperament traits in young foals: propensity to react to humans, propensity to react to novelty, and propensity to react to suddenness. In a comparative study, we examined the reactions of animals in three independent groups (N = 27) tested at 3, 12, and 24 weeks of age, respectively. We observed that human avoidance and novel object approach behaviors are quasi inexistent in the group tested at 3 weeks, but are more and more present in the groups tested at subsequent ages.

Responses of weaned lambs to fear-eliciting situations: origin of individual differences.

The aims of this study were 1) to develop methods of objectively measuring fear in weaned lambs, and 2) to evaluate the effects of age, sex, breed, and rearing conditions on fear reactions. Four hundred forty-one lambs, aged 3 to 6 months, were submitted to three fear-eliciting situations (isolation, surprise effect, and human presence). Factor analysis revealed a first factor, interpreted in terms of fear, that accounted for 40% of total variance in the three tests.

[Factors of domestic behavior variation in farm animals species].

Fear response and domestic behavior of sheep, cattle, horses, and pigs were studied using four different variants of experimental stress conditions. As standard aversive stimulus, the factor of human presence during the feeding time was used under the following conditions: animals were starved for 12-14 or 2 h before the exposure and fed individually or in a group. In the animal species studied, these conditions were found to reveal phenotypic and genotypic differences in fear response to humans, which is correlated with feeding behavior by regulatory mechanisms.

The development of equestrianism from the baroque period to the present day and its consequences for the welfare of horses.

Many saddle horses are slaughtered at a young age which could be indicative of a welfare problem. Bad riding is probably an underestimated source of poor welfare. Widespread knowledge of 'academic' riding should be encouraged and should be beneficial to all horses, at all schooling levels, for all purposes.

Pregnancy is associated with low fear reactions in ewes.

The aims of the study were: (1) to test the influence of pregnancy on responses of ewes to several fear-eliciting situations, (2) to compare the first and latest stages of pregnancy, and (3) to investigate possible correlations between fear reactions and progesterone levels. Fear reactions of nonpregnant (NP; N=22) and pregnant (P) Ile-de-France ewes (day 40 of pregnancy: N=43; day 140 of pregnancy: N=19) were compared during three situations classically reported to induce fear in sheep: isolation, surprise, and the presence of a human. P ewes displayed significantly lower fear reactions than NP ewes when isolated and when confronted with a surprise effect combined with the appearance of a novel object.

Behavioural characteristics of two dairy breeds of cows selected (Hérens) or not (Brune des Alpes) for fighting and dominance ability.

Two breeds of dairy cattle, one selected for intra-specific fighting and dominance ability (Hérens, H), the other not selected for this behavioural trait (Brune des Alpes, BA), submitted to the same management techniques, were compared with respect to their social behaviour (dominance, agonistic behaviour, social tolerance, social motivation, social distance), fear reactions, ease of handling and physiological correlates.As expected, cows from the H breed were dominant over the BA cows, they were also less fearful either in response to novel objects or in surprise effect tests and had higher social distances at pasture.On the contrary, H cows were less aggressive in undisturbed groups and more tolerant in a food-competition test than BA cows.

Discriminative responsiveness by lambs to visual images of conspecifics.

A series of experiments was conducted to assess whether lambs are discriminatively responsive to visual images of conspecifics. Lambs (3-4-week-old) consistently responded with more interest and less avoidance when exposed to a life-like image of an unfamiliar lamb, a ewe or the silhouette of a ewe, than to a meaningless mosaic of the same conspecific stimulus. In each instance, lambs preferentially sniffed the head region of the conspecific image.

Effects of an enriched environment of subsequent fear reactions of lambs and ewes.

The effects of an enriched environment (EE, permanent presence of a humanlike model plus colored mobile objects) during the rearing period (from birth to weaning at 3 months) were assessed on subsequent fear reactions of lambs and their mothers. Behavioral tests involved isolation, surprise effect, and the presence of a human. Fear reactions of dam-reared (DR) lambs from the EE did not differ from controls.

Influence of a conspecific image of own vs. different breed on fear reactions of ewes.

We observed the influence of slide images of conspecifics on fear reactions of 12 Romanov and 12 Ile-de-France ewes. Each ewe was individually tested twice in isolation: once in the presence of the projected image of an unfamiliar ewe of its own breed, and once when exposed to an image of a ewe of a different breed. Ewes' responses to a slide of an individual of their own breed differed consistently from their responses to a slide of the other breed (i.

Long-term effects of androgen treatment on fear reactions in ewes.

We have previously demonstrated that testosterone treatment reduces fear reactions of ewes subjected to daily injections of testosterone propionate (10 mg/day) for 56 days. The long-term effects of this treatment were studied in the same ewes and using the same battery of fear-eliciting tests (isolation from conspecifics, surprise, and presence of a human) 4 and 8 months after the injections were terminated. Twenty-six behavioral items related to fear were recorded.

Fear reactions of domestic sheep confronted with either a human or a human-like model.

Fear reactions of ewes towards a human, a human-like model or a control (plastic cylinder 1.95 m high) were studied using a test previously designed and validated, in which 16 behavioural parameters have been interpreted as indicators of fear (e.g.

Fear reactions of ewes to photographic images.

The aim of this study was to analyse fear reactions of 18 adult Romanov ewes individually confronted with 3 visual stimuli, namely pictures of a human, of a sheep or of a traffic cone (control). These pictures were projected in real size on a wall of the test pen by means of a slide projector. Twenty-six behavioural items related to fear were recorded.

Effects of androgen treatment on behavioral and physiological responses of heifers to fear-eliciting situations.

Sex steroids are known to influence dominance relationships in cattle. This effect seems due to a reduction of fear in response to conspecifics. In order to determine if gonadal steroid can also modulate fear reactions in nonsocial situations, testosterone-treated heifers were exposed to various events reported to elicit fear in cattle.

Effect of androgen treatment on fear reactions in ewes.

The effects of prolonged androgen treatment (testosterone propionate, 10 mg/day for 56 days) on fear reactions in ewes were studied using a battery of tests previously designed and validated. These tests involved situations classically reported to induce fear in sheep: isolation from conspecifics, surprise, and presence of a human. Testosterone-treated ewes differed from controls in a number of behavioral characteristics which indicate that they are less fearful in the various test situations.

Effects of estrogen treatment on dominance relationships in cows.

The effects of prolonged estrogen treatment were studied in two groups of eight ovariectomized heifers. In Group I, four animals were treated with increasing doses of estradiol benzoate (300 micrograms/day to 1.5 mg/day) for 180 days.

Androgens, aggressive behaviour and social relationships in higher mammals.

This paper reviews the relationships between androgen levels, aggressive behaviour and social relationships in ungulates and primates. In these and most other mammalian species, aggressive behaviour is sexually dimorphic with males being generally more aggressive than females. This difference is evident very early in play behaviour.