Long-Term Socialization with Humans Affects Human-Directed Behavior in Goats.

Throughout their evolutionary history, humans have tried to domesticate a variety of wild terrestrial mammals, resulting in a limited number that has been successfully domesticated. Among these domesticated species, domestic goats () are a useful model species to study the effects of ontogenesis on the socio-cognitive abilities of domestic non-companion animals in their interactions with humans. To this end, the behavioral responses of two groups of goats with a different background of human socialization (high and low socialization) were compared in the impossible task test, an experimental paradigm aimed to study socio-cognitive skills and the tendency to interact with humans.

Use of Mini-FLOTAC and Fill-FLOTAC for rapidly diagnosing parasitic infections in zoo mammals.

Animals reared in restricted environments are highly susceptible to gastrointestinal infection by helminths and protozoa and therefore zoos are characterized as being parasite-rich environments. Successful implementation of control programs of these parasites in zoo environment depends upon precise and rapid diagnosing of gastrointestinal infections. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the role of the Mini-FLOTAC technique in combination with Fill-FLOTAC for rapidly diagnosing parasitic infections in zoo mammals.

Performance of two portable blood glucose meters for measuring blood glucose concentration in tigers (Panthera tigris) and lions (Panthera leo).

OBJECTIVE To investigate the performance of a portable blood glucose meter (PBGM) designed for use in humans (hPBGM) and a PBGM designed for use in dogs and cats (vPBGM) when measuring blood glucose (BG) concentration in tigers (Panthera tigris) and lions (Panthera leo). DESIGN Method comparison and diagnostic accuracy study. SAMPLES 53 blood samples from tigers (n = 27) and lions (26).