• Title/Summary/Keyword: Animal Behaviour

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Development of Continuous Water Quality Monitoring System using the Daphnid Daphnia sp. (국내산 물벼룩 Daphnia sp.를 이용한 연속적인 수질모니터링 장치 개발)

  • Yoon, Sungjin;Lee, Sungkyu;Park, Hanoh
    • Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.36-43
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    • 2008
  • To develop the continuous water quality monitoring system using the daphnid Daphnia sp., the growth of test animal, sensitivity, and behaviour response of toxicants were observed. Growth of test animal significantly increased with increasing the food density under the 90~105 mg/L ($CaCO_3$) hardness, except the concentration of food (Chrollela sp.) was exceeded than optimal food supply. Behaviour responses of test animals were continuously analyzed by changes of fractal dimension value (FDV). The FDV sharply decreased after exposure to the concentrations of 0.13 mg/L copper, 0.06 mg/L lead, and 0.38 mg/L cadmium. In these concentrations, mortality and abnormal behaviour of daphnids exhibited within ca. 1.0-h after exposure. Comparison of 24-h $LC_{50}$ values with other zooplankton species indicated that sensitivity of the Daphnia sp. was higher than most zooplankton for lead, and brain shrimp, rotifer, and water flea (Ceriodaphnia dubia, D. magna) for copper, and brain shrimp, water flea (D. lumholzi), and amphipod for cadmium. Based on the above experimental results, significant relationship between toxicity and behaviour response of Daphnia sp. was supported the high potential of water quality monitoring system. Consequently, behavioural monitoring method in this study suggests a good estimation tool for detection of the discharged toxicants in water body and for ecotoxicological assessment aquatic organisms.

Growth Performance and Behaviour in Grouped Pigs Fed Fibrous Diet

  • Bakare, A.G.;Madzimure, J.;Ndou, S.P.;Chimonyo, M.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.27 no.8
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    • pp.1204-1210
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    • 2014
  • The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of feeding fibrous diets on growth performance and occurrence of aggressive behaviours in growing pigs. Sixty healthy castrated pigs (initial body weight: $46.7{\pm}4.35$ kg) were used. A basal diet was diluted with maize cobs to two levels (0 and 160 g/kg dry matter). Behavioural activities were observed using video cameras for three weeks, 8 h/d starting at 0800 h. Pigs subjected to control diet gained more weight compared to pigs receiving fibrous diet in week 1 (0.47 vs 0.15 kg, respectively) and 2 (1.37 vs 1.04, respectively) (p<0.05). Average daily gain was not affected by treatment diet in the third week. Pigs on high fibrous spent more time eating, lying down, standing, walking and fighting (p<0.05) compared to pigs on control diet. Time spent eating increased as the weeks progressed whilst time spent lying down decreased. Time of day had an effect on time spent on different behavioural activities exhibited by all pigs on different treatment diet (p<0.05). Inactivity was greatest in 5th (1200 to 1300 h) hour of the day for all the pigs on different dietary treatments. Skin lesions appeared the most on neck and shoulder region followed by chest, stomach and hind leg region, and finally head region (p<0.05). Pigs on high fibre diet had more skin lesions in all body regions compared to pigs on control diet (p<0.05). It can be concluded that the high fibrous diet with maize cobs did not affect growth performance and also did not reduce aggressive behaviours. Aggressive behaviours emanated out of frustration when queuing on the feeder. The findings of this study suggest that maize cobs can be included at a level of 160 g/kg in diets of pigs. However, to reduce the level of aggression more feeding space should be provided.

Interaction effects of pen environment and sex on behavior, skin lesions and physiology of Windsnyer pigs

  • Mkwanazi, Mbusiseni Vusumuzi;Kanengoni, Arnold Tapera;Chimonyo, Michael
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.32 no.3
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    • pp.452-458
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    • 2019
  • Objective: The study was carried to determine the interaction effects of pen enrichment and sex on behavioral activities, skin lesions and physiology of Windsnyer pigs. Methods: Forty-eight growing Windsnyer pigs of both sex, with an average initial body weight of 21.6 (${\pm}9.01$) kg were used. Four pigs were randomly assigned to either enriched or barren pens at a stocking density of $0.35m^2/pig$. Enriched pens contained 2 L bottles filled with stones and suspended at head level on ropes stretching across the pens. In addition, two plastic balls (90 mm in diameter) and 500 mL bottles (235 mm long) were placed on the floor of each enriched pen. Results: Pigs in barren environments had higher heart rates (p<0.001) than those in enriched pens. There was an interaction of pen environment and sex on rectal temperature (p<0.001). Females in enriched pens had higher rectal temperatures (p<0.05) than females in barren pens. There was no interaction of pen environment and sex on time spent eating and drinking (p>0.05). Time spent bullying was influenced (p<0.05) by pen environment and sex. Female pigs in barren environment spent more time on bullying than females in enriched pens. There was an interaction of pen environment and sex on time spent lying down and walking (p<0.05). Female pigs in enriched pens spent more time lying down than females in barren pens. Males in barren pens spent more time walking than males in enriched pens while no effect of pen environment was observed in females. There was an interaction of pen environment and sex on the number of skin lesions in the head, neck and shoulder region and other parts of the body (p<0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that pen enrichment reduced the number of skin lesions and anti-social behaviors, especially for female pigs. There is a need, therefore of housing indigenous pigs under confinement.

The Effect of Stocking Density on the Behaviour of Broiler Chickens

  • Thomas, David G.;Son, Jang-Ho;Ravindran, Velmurugu;Thomas, Donald V.
    • Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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    • v.38 no.1
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    • pp.1-4
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    • 2011
  • A 35-day trial was conducted to examine the influence of floor density on the behaviour of broiler chickens. Day-old male broilers (n=756) were randomly assigned to one of four stocking densities (6 replicates of n=13, 25, 38 and 50) in 24 identical 2.6 $m^2$ pens. These stocking densities were coded very low (VL), low (L), medium (M) and high (H) and contained a floor space allowance per bird of 2,000 $cm^2$, 1,000 $cm^2$, 667 $cm^2$ and 500 $cm^2$, respectively. Scan sampling of all groups was carried out at 15-min intervals during two 1-h periods (10.00 h~11.00 h and 14.00 h~15.00 h) for five days each week. The numbers of birds engaged in different behavioural activities were recorded. It was found that the most common behaviour in all densities was lying. There was no clear effect of density during wks 1~4 of the trial, but in wk 5 birds in the L, M and H groups showed lower levels (P=0.07) of lying behaviour when compared to birds in the VL group suggesting that an increase in animal density results in decreased opportunities for undisturbed rest. This observation is supported by standing and walking behaviour, which was lower (P<0.05) in the VL group in wk 5. Foraging behaviour measured in the study by the numbers of birds pecking the ground declined as the trial progressed, but scratching increased in 2 wk then decreased. Birds in the VL group showed higher (P<0.05) level of pecking the ground behaviour compared to birds in the L, M and H groups, but scratching behaviour higher (P<0.05) and lower (P<0.05) in VL of 1 wk and 2 wk respectively. However, a peak in aggressive behaviour was observed in wk 2 and birds in the VL group showed less (P<0.05) agonistic behaviour than birds in the H and M groups. Other behaviours (dustbathing, preening, eating or drinking) were not influenced (P>0.05) by stocking density.

Growth, Feed Efficiency, Behaviour, Carcass Characteristics and Meat Quality of Goats Fed Fermented Bagasse Feed

  • Ramli, M.N.;Higashi, M.;Imura, Y.;Takayama, K.;Nakanishi, Y.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.18 no.11
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    • pp.1594-1599
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    • 2005
  • The effects of long-term feeding of diets based on bermudagrass hay supplemented with lucerne hay cube (LH) or fermented bagasse feed (FBF) on the growth rate, feed efficiency, behaviour, gut development, carcass characteristics and meat quality of goats were investigated. Six spring-born 8-month-old male crossbred (Japanese Saanen${\times}$Tokara native goats) bucks weighing mean 21.6 kg were allotted to 2 treatment groups (3 animals each) and each animal had ad libitum access to feeds, i.e. bermudagrass hay (basal diet)+LH or FBF throughout the experiment. The FBF was produced by the solid-state fermentation of substrates containing dried sugarcane bagasse mixed with wheat bran in a ratio of 1:3 (w/w DM) with Aspergillus sojae. The live body weight, final weight and average daily gain were not different between treatments. Average basal diet intake of goats fed FBF diet was significantly higher than that fed LH diet (p<0.05), but average dry matter intake (DMI; g/day and g/$W^{0.75}$), feed conversion ratio, digestible crude protein (DCP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) intake of experimental diets were not significantly different between treatments. Goats fed on LH and FBF diets had similar eating, rumination, resting and drinking behaviours, and blood constituents except for phosphorus content. Slaughter and carcass weights, net meat percentage [(total meat/carcass weight)${\times}$100], loin ratio [(loin/total meat)${\times}$100] and rib-eye area were not different between treatments. However, goats fed FBF diet had lower dressing percentage and higher bone/muscle ratio compared with goats fed LH diet (p<0.01). Empty gut and guts fill of goats fed FBF diet were significantly greater (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively) than those fed LH diet. The weights of rumen and abomasum were also significantly heavier in goats fed FBF diet (p<0.05), but the length and density of papillae of rumen in goats were not different between treatments. Although meat composition of loin was not different in both groups, the meat of goats fed FBF diet was superior to that of LH diet in flavor, aroma and overall quality of loin (p<0.01). In conclusion, the nature of the diet consumed voluntarily did not affect subsequent growth, nutrient intake and behaviour of goats but had an influence on carcass traits and sensory evaluation of meat partly, when either of LH or FBF was fed with bermudagrass hay.

Experiment on the Anomalous Animal Behaviors by Electric Field Effects for Detecting Earthquake Precursors

  • Kyung, Jai-Bok;Yoon, Jang-Keun
    • Journal of the Korean earth science society
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.112-118
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    • 2002
  • The anomalous behaviour of animals prior to a large earthquake has been frequently reported from many places throughout the world since ancient times. This study is to experimentally testify what relations exist between the anomalous animal behavior and electric field effect, which is reported due to the piezo-electric effects in a basement rock before earthquake occurrences. We investigated the electric field effects on behaviors of two kinds of rats and birds. Rats show more sensitive anomalous behavior than birds. Even though the current applied to the experimental birds and rats is just a few ${\mu}$A, they show various abnormal behaviors. The anomalous animal behaviors under the small ground electric field may have some relations to the actual phenomena before great earthquake.

Ram Mating Behaviour under Different Social Conditions

  • Patel, M.;Das, N.;Pandey, H.N.;Yadav, M.C.;Girish, P.S.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.112-118
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    • 2007
  • The present study was conducted to investigate the attributes of ram sexual behaviour under different social conditions. Six intact rams and eight overiectomized ewes were used in this experiment. Ewes were artificially brought into oestrus. All mating traits were recorded every 10 sec during a 1 h mating session under five social conditions viz., ram exposed to single oestrus ewe, ram exposed to single oestrus ewe and audience ram, ram exposed to multiple oestrus ewes, ram exposed to single oestrus ewe with competitor ram and ram exposed to multiple oestrus ewes with competitor ram. Mean intensity of the mating activities during the 1 h mating session under five social conditions was compared. Either vocalization or leg kicking was found to be the predominant teasing activity under all five conditions. Sniffing differed significantly (p<0.05) between different social conditions. Vocalization, leg kicking, and leg kicking with vocalization did not differ significantly (p<0.05) between different social conditions. Mounts/h in the multiple oestrus ewe condition was higher and differed significantly (p<0.05) from other social conditions. Ejaculations/h for the experimental ram was higher when exposed to multiple oestrus ewes in comparison to other social conditions. Mounts/ejaculation was low in the audience ram condition in comparison to the other four social conditions.

Eating Behaviour, VFA Production, Passage Rate and Nutrient Digestibilities in Cattle Fed on Wheat Straw Supplemented with Different Levels of Berseem

  • Das, A.;Singh, G.P.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.12 no.7
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    • pp.1040-1048
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    • 1999
  • Four ruminally fistulated crossbred $(Sahiwal{\times}Holstein\;Friesan)$ adult (~6 yr.) cattle of about $318{\pm}16kg$ body weight were randomly assigned in an experiment based on $4{\times}4$ latin square design to study the effect of different level of barseem (Trifolium alexendrinum) supplementation to wheat straw based diet on intake, digestion, VFA production, eating behaviour and passage rate. Four dietary treatments were wheat straw ad lib. (I), supplementation to wheat either 15(II), 30(III) or 45(IV)% of berseem. Mean total volatile fatty acids (TVFA) concentration in rumen liquor was 58.45, 66.14, 77.92 and 78.64 mmol/l. TVFA concentration in rumen liquor increased significantly (p<0.01) with increased level of berseem supplementation upon 30% level of breseem. Two peaks of TVFA concentration was observed at 4 and 8 h post feeding. Brseem supplementation showed no significant effect on daily time spent for eating, ruminating or idling, chews per minute or number of rumination boli ingested per minute. Time spent for eating and ruminating one kg neutral detergent fibre (NDF) was significantly (p<0.05) less in breseem supplemented groups. Animals in groups I, II, III and IV consumed 26, 34, 47 and 57% of DM within 1st 4 h and 64, 70, 70 and 77% of total DM within 1st 8 h of offering. All the animals consumed more than 90% of their DMI within 12 h. Active period of rumination was observed 8h post feeding reached the peak at 16 h post feeding, then declined and animals spend considerable time idling in last 4 h of 24 h feeding cycle. Berseem supplementation showed no significant effect on eating and rumination time. It is concluded that berseem supplementation upon 30% increases the efficiency of chewing during eating and rumination, which results in increase intake and TVFA production and nutrient digestibility.

Mating and Incidental Activities of Ram (Ovis aries) When Exposed to Ewe(s) and Competitor Ram in Pen Mating Condition

  • Patel, M.;Das, N.;Pandey, H.N.;Yadav, M.C.;Girish, P.S.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.463-469
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    • 2005
  • An attempt was made to analyze the factors affecting mating performance of rams in pen mating systems. Due to many types of social interactions, mating performance of rams may decrease or increase. Six intact Muzaffarnagari rams were used and divided into three dominant subordinate pairs by food and ewe competition test. For dominant rams subordinate ram became competitor and vice versa. In the first experiment, ram was exposed to ewe but the competitor ram was kept outside the pen with the facility of visibility only. In the second experiment each ram was exposed to ewe along with the competitor ram and in third experiment ram was exposed to ewes (two) along with competitor ram in observation pen. Recordings of different mating and agonistic behaviour were done in all the experiments. It was found that subordinate ram's mating behaviour was inhibited by mere presence of a dominant ram out side without physical contact. However, when ram exposed to oestrus ewe(s) along with competitor ram, both dominant and subordinate rams spent much of their time in guarding activities instead of mating. In addition dominant ram tried to curtail the subordinate ram mating by agonistic interaction like fight and butting. Different guarding activities were observed either as active or passive type depending on level of dominanace. It was concluded that in a limited space the interaction of two or more rams might affect the number of services adversely.

Effects of Environmental Factors on Growth Performances and Behavioural Patterns of Weanling Pigs (環境條件이 仔豚의 成長과 行動에 미치는 影響)

  • 김두환;김철욱;송영민;진상근
    • Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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    • v.1 no.2
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    • pp.137-144
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    • 1995
  • This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of non-climatic environmental factors on growth performances and behavioural patterns of weanling pigs. Three hundred and sixty weanling pigs were contained and carried out with three levels of spaces per pig(0.18, 0.23 and 0.30$m^2$) and three different numbers of pigs per pen(15, 20 and 25 pigs) up to 30kg body weight. Designed by using a 3 $\times$ 3 factorial arrangement(three levels of spaces $\times$ three different numbers of pigs). This experiment investigated the effects of main factors and the relationship between each factors. The result of this experiment were summarized as follows ; 1. The reduction of floor space caused the reduction of feed/gain in the weanling pigs. Pigs responded with the increased feed intake(p<0.01) and with no change in body weight gain. 2. There were no significant differences in the body weight gain and feed/gain in weanling pigs by changing group sizes, but group size affected the feed intake significantly(p<0.01). 3. Space allowance affected the behavioural patterns significantly(p<0.01) of weanling pigs. The reduction of floor space caused the increment of aggressive behaviour and weanling pigs responded with the decreased resting, non aggressive social and play behaviour. 4. There were no significant differences in the resting, eating, aggressive and non aggressive social behaviour in weanling pigs by changing group sizes, but the large group size caused the reduction of play behaviour in the weanling pigs(p<0.01). 5. Therefore we concluded that weanling pigs require 0.23$m^2$ per pig and 20~25 pigs per pen for the better environment condition.

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