Effects of human contact and intra-specific social learning on tonic immobility in guinea pigs, Cavia porcellus

Rocha, Alan Douglas de Lima; Menescal-de-Oliveira, Leda; Silva, Luis Felipe S. da

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2017.02.001

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 30 publications

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“…Recent research has revealed that domestic animals can acquire a positive perception of humans through the observation of an experienced conspecific (termed "demonstrator"), while she/he is being gently handled by the human, a phenomenon attributed to observational social learning (guinea pigs: [10]; horses: [11]; cows: [12]; pigs: [6]. Social learning refers to the ability of an animal to acquire information from the social environment by observing or interacting with a more experienced individual [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Demonstrator Social Rank on the Attentiveness and Motivation of Pigs to Positively Interact with Their Human Caretakers

Luna

González

Byrd

et al. 2021

Animals

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In this study, we addressed the social attentiveness, as well as the phenomenon of social facilitation and inhibition in the context of a positive human–pig relationship. Specifically, we investigated whether the social rank of an experienced pig (termed “demonstrator”) has an effect on the attentiveness of the remaining pen mates (N = 40) when they observe the demonstrator being gently handled by a stockperson from behind an acrylic panel. We found that pigs preferentially attended to dominant demonstrators rather than subordinate demonstrators during their gentle handling sessions with the stockperson. Additionally, we also examined whether the presence of a demonstrator pig of different social rank, who previously established a positive relationship with the stockperson in presence of conspecifics, affects the behavior and motivation of their pen mates to positively interact with the stockperson. To test for the effect of the presence and demonstrator’s social rank on pen mate interactions with the stockperson, we evaluated the behavior of domestic pigs (N = 65) toward the stockperson using a human-approach test in their home-pen. Pigs showed a decrease in their motivation to positively interact with the stockperson when a socially dominant demonstrator was present, behaving similarly to animals receiving minimal human contact (control group). Overall, they exhibited a greater latency to physical contact, a lower acceptance of stroking, and spent more time looking at the stockperson compared to pigs exposed to subordinate demonstrators. Taken together, these findings expand our current understanding of pigs’ cognition and social behavior, and the nature of social attention bias in farm animals. Our findings indicate that positive handling of previously selected subordinate demonstrators seems to be the best strategy to reduce the level of fear in large groups of pigs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Demonstrator Social Rank on the Attentiveness and Motivation of Pigs to Positively Interact with Their Human Caretakers

Luna

González

Byrd

et al. 2021

Animals

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A review of thanatosis (death feigning) as an anti-predator behaviour

Humphreys

Ruxton

2018

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

168

138

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Thanatosis—also known as death-feigning and, we argue more appropriately, tonic immobility (TI)—is an under-reported but fascinating anti-predator strategy adopted by diverse prey late on in the predation sequence, and frequently following physical contact by the predator. TI is thought to inhibit further attack by predators and reduce the perceived need of the predator to subdue prey further. The behaviour is probably present in more taxa than is currently described, but even within well-studied groups the precise taxonomic distribution is unclear for a number of practical and ethical reasons. Here we synthesise the key studies investigating the form, function, evolutionary and ecological costs and benefits of TI. This review also considers the potential evolutionary influence of certain predator types in the development of the strategy in prey, and the other non-defensive contexts in which TI has been suggested to occur. We believe that there is a need for TI to be better appreciated in the scientific literature and outline potentially profitable avenues for investigation. Future use of technology in the wild should yield useful developments for this field of study.Significance statementAnti-predatory defences are crucial to many aspects of behavioural ecology. Thanatosis (often called death-feigning) has long been an under-appreciated defence, despite being taxonomically and ecologically widespread. We begin by providing much-needed clarification on both terminology and definition. We demonstrate how apparently disparate observations in the recent literature can be synthesised through placing the behaviour within a cost-benefit framework in comparison to alternative behavioural choices, and how aspects of the ecology differentially affect costs and benefits. Extending this, we provide novel insights into why the evolution of thanatosis can be understood in terms of coevolution between predators and prey. We offer further novel hypotheses, and discuss how these can be tested, focussing on how emerging technologies can be of great use in developing our understanding of thanatosis in free-living animals.

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Guinea pig for meat production: A systematic review of factors affecting the production, carcass and meat quality

et al. 2018

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Effects of human contact and intra-specific social learning on tonic immobility in guinea pigs, Cavia porcellus

Cited by 4 publications

References 30 publications

The Effect of Demonstrator Social Rank on the Attentiveness and Motivation of Pigs to Positively Interact with Their Human Caretakers

The Effect of Demonstrator Social Rank on the Attentiveness and Motivation of Pigs to Positively Interact with Their Human Caretakers

A review of thanatosis (death feigning) as an anti-predator behaviour

Guinea pig for meat production: A systematic review of factors affecting the production, carcass and meat quality

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