What we (don't) know about parrot welfare: Finding welfare indicators through a systematic literature review.

Parrots are popular companion animals but show prevalent and at times severe welfare issues. Nonetheless, there are no scientific tools available to assess parrot welfare. The aim of this systematic review was to identify valid and feasible outcome measures that could be used as welfare indicators for companion parrots.

On your terms or mine: pigs' response to imposed gentle tactile contact vs. free form interaction with a familiar human.

Positive human-animal interactions (HAIs) can be intrinsically rewarding and facilitate positive human-animal relationships. However, HAI paradigms vary across studies, and the influence of different interaction paradigms on the animal's response has been overlooked. We compared the behavioural responses of pigs (n = 28) individually tested with two types of gentle tactile interactions with a familiar human: 'free form (FF)' where the pig could voluntarily approach and interact as they normally would, and 'imposed contact (IC)' where the human imposed tactile contact on the pig according to a standardised protocol.

Do pet dogs reciprocate the receipt of food from familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics?

Reciprocity is one of the most prominent explanations for the evolution of stable cooperation. Although reciprocity has been studied for decades in numerous animal species and behavioural contexts, its underlying proximate mechanisms remain unclear. Domestic dogs provide a useful model species for the study of proximate mechanisms, though there are currently inconsistent findings regarding dogs' propensity to reciprocate.

Dairy cows' motivation to nurse their calves.

When weaning offspring, female mammals limit nursing opportunities. This study aimed to investigate whether imposing a gradual reduction in daily contact time, by separating cows from their calves as an attempt to stimulate weaning, reduced dairy cows' motivation to nurse their calves. For seven weeks, 84 Holstein-Friesian cow-calf pairs were housed with either full-time (23 h contact/d), part-time (10 h contact/d), or no contact.

Do cows see the forest or the trees? A preliminary investigation of attentional scope as a potential indicator of emotional state in dairy cows housed with their calves.

A positive mood in humans tends to broaden attentional scope while negative mood narrows it. A similar effect may be present in non-human animals; therefore, attentional scope may be a novel method to assess emotional states in livestock. In this proof-of-concept exploratory study, we examined the attentional scope of dairy cows housed with their calves either full-time, part-time (during daytime only), or with no calf contact (enrolled  = 10 each).

Assessing the emotional states of dairy cows housed with or without their calves.

The practice of keeping dairy cows with their calves continues to gain interest. Cow-calf contact, or lack thereof, is expected to affect emotional states, but this requires empirical testing. Different types of cow-calf contact may also affect the emotional states of cows.

Spontaneous helping in pigs is mediated by helper's social attention and distress signals of individuals in need.

Helping behaviour is of special interest for prosociality because it appears to be motivated by the needs of others. We developed a novel paradigm to investigate helping in pigs () and tested 75 individuals in eight groups in their home pens. Two identical compartments were attached to the pen, equipped with a window, and a door that could be opened from the outside by lifting a handle.

Development and evaluation of an animal health and welfare monitoring system for veterinary supervision of pullet farms.

Regular welfare monitoring throughout rearing of pullets may help to identify problems early and take counteractions timely, which helps in guaranteeing good welfare. The aims of our observational study were (i) to establish and test a welfare monitoring system that can be used during (short) routine veterinary and technical staff visits for pullet flocks, (ii) to use the monitoring system to investigate variability between flocks and (iii) to analyse factors that potentially affect pullets' body weight, uniformity in body weight and mortality. The developed monitoring system tries to minimise the time required while not losing important information.

Improving young pig welfare on-farm: The Five Domains Model.

Considering welfare through the "neonatal and nursery pig perspective" is an exciting approach and one that resonates with consumers. Overlaying this with the Five Domains Model, as we suggest in this review, points to practical on-farm improvements that provide each pig the opportunity to experience positive mental states. The Five Domains Model is broken into physical and functional states, which include Domain 1: Nutrition, Domain 2: Physical Environment, Domain 3: Health, and Domain 4: Behavioral Interaction, and Domain 5: Mental State.

Environmental Complexity: Additional Human Visual Contact Reduced Meat Chickens' Fear of Humans and Physical Items Altered Pecking Behavior.

Increased environmental complexity can improve animal welfare, depending on the resources provided and use by the animal. We provided chickens either with physical items that posed no biosecurity risk and were inexpensive (balls, chains, perches and rope) (P; = 36) or additional visual human contact (10 min daily) (HC; = 36) compared to farm-like standard control groups (C; = 36) with 3 pens per treatment. Additional human contact reduced fear of humans at 35 days of age, but not general fearfulness.

The Joint Log-Lift Task: A Social Foraging Paradigm.

Behavioural cooperation is under intense research. Yet, popular experimental paradigms often employ artificial tasks, require training, or do not permit partner choice, possibly limiting their biological relevance. We developed the joint log-lift task, a social foraging paradigm in which animals have to jointly lift a log to each obtain a food reward.

Maternal deprivation affects goat kids' stress coping behaviour.

Maternal deprivation early in life has been shown to disrupt neonates' development. Nevertheless, separating the young animals from their dams soon after birth remains a common practice in dairy farm husbandry. This study investigated the effects of different rearing conditions on goat kids' stress coping abilities.

Contactless Video-Based Heart Rate Monitoring of a Resting and an Anesthetized Pig.

Heart rate (HR) is a vital bio-signal that is relatively easy to monitor with contact sensors and is related to a living organism's state of health, stress and well-being. The objective of this study was to develop an algorithm to extract HR (in beats per minute) of an anesthetized and a resting pig from raw video data as a first step towards continuous monitoring of health and welfare of pigs. Data were obtained from two experiments, wherein the pigs were video recorded whilst wearing an electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring system as gold standard (GS).

Effects of Human Presence and Voice on the Behaviour of Shelter Dogs and Cats: A Preliminary Study.

Reading books to shelter animals combining auditory enrichment with human presence is increasingly used although its effects on animal welfare have not yet been investigated. This study compared the behaviour of single-housed shelter dogs and cats during a prerecorded reading condition in the absence or presence of an unfamiliar human (without direct physical contact). Fourteen dogs and twenty-one cats were observed in their enclosure in the two conditions in a counterbalanced order.

Effects of Positive Human Contact during Gestation on the Behaviour, Physiology and Reproductive Performance of Sows.

Previous positive interactions with humans may ameliorate the stress response of farm animals to aversive routine practices such as painful or stressful procedures, particularly those associated with stockpeople. We studied the effects of positive handling by providing younger (parity 1-2) and older (parity 3-8) sows housed in pens of fifteen ( = 24 pens in total) with either positive human contact (+HC) or routine human contact (control) during gestation. The +HC treatment involved a familiar stockperson patting and scratching sows and was imposed at a pen-level for 2 min daily.

The Power of a Positive Human-Animal Relationship for Animal Welfare.

Domestic animals often seek and enjoy interacting with humans. Positive human-animal relationships can elicit positive emotions and other positive welfare outcomes. Nevertheless, our understanding of the underlying processes that govern the positive perception of humans by animals is incomplete.

Wireless 'under the skull' epidural EEG and behavior in piglets during nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide gas euthanasia.

Consciousness is central to animal welfare concerns. Its assessment is most often conducted based on behavior, with a poor understanding of the correspondence between behavior and the neurobiological processes that underlie the subjective experience of consciousness. Recording of brain electrical activity using electrodes placed under the skull improves EEG recording by minimizing artifacts from muscular or cardiac activities, and it can now be combined with wireless recording in free-moving animals.

Positive Welfare and the Like: Distinct Views and a Proposed Framework.

Positive welfare and related terms such as good welfare, happiness, and a good life are increasingly used in the animal welfare science literature. Overall, they highlight the welfare benefits of providing animals opportunities for positive experiences, beyond the alleviation of suffering. However, the various terms remain loosely defined and are sometimes used interchangeably, resulting in discrepancy.

Behavioral Response of Weaned Pigs during Gas Euthanasia with CO, CO with Butorphanol, or Nitrous Oxide.

The swine industry is often forced to euthanize pigs in the first few weeks of life due to injuries, hernias, or unthriftiness. The majority of pigs are euthanized using carbon dioxide (CO) gas asphyxiation but concerns as to the humaneness of CO are increasing. This study compared the euthanasia of weaned pigs using NO (NO; = 9) or CO ( = 9), at 50% and 25% min exchange rate, respectively.

Salivary oxytocin in pigs, cattle, and goats during positive human-animal interactions.

Research on oxytocin (OT) has provided crucial insight into the neuroendocrine mechanisms of social behavior and human-animal interactions. Nonetheless, this peptide hormone remains challenging to sample, usually requiring invasive measures in the brain or blood, which limits its use. We conducted an analytical validation of the measurement of OT in the saliva of three common farm animal species: pigs, cattle and goats.

The welfare and productivity of sows and piglets in group lactation from 7, 10, or 14 d postpartum.

Transferring sows and their litters to group lactation (GL) after an initial period of farrowing crate (FC) housing could enhance the viability of GL for commercial production. Group lactation from 7 d postpartum would reduce the time sows spend in confinement, but the effects of early mixing on animal welfare and productivity require examination. Two experiments were conducted on sows and piglets kept in GL from 7, 10, or 14 d postpartum, compared with FC.

Insensitivity to reward shifts in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and implications for assessing affective states.

Theory and empirical findings predict that individuals in a negative affective state are more sensitive to unexpected reward loss and less sensitive to unexpected reward gain compared to individuals in a neutral or positive affective state. We explore the use of sensitivity to reward shifts measured during successive contrast tasks as an indicator of affect in zebrafish (Danio rerio). In line with the assumption that exposure to rewarding stimuli induces a relatively positive affective state compared to exposure to stimuli that they do not prefer, we confirmed that zebrafish prefer enriched over barren environments, suggesting that the enriched environment is associated with positive affective states.

Sow-Piglet Nose Contacts in Free-Farrowing Pens.

Nose contact is a frequent form of social behaviour in pigs, but the motivational reasons underlying this behaviour remain unclear. We investigated the frequency, direction and type of sow-piglet nosing behaviour and its association with sow and piglet traits. Social nosing behaviour was recorded by live observations and video recordings in 22 sows and their 249 piglets in free-farrowing pens once weekly during the first three weeks after farrowing (3 times 30 min of observations per litter).