The ability of miniature pigs to discriminate between a stranger and their familiar handler

Tanida, Hajime; Nagano, Yoshito

doi:10.1016/s0168-1591(97)00095-6

Cited by 70 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Previous studies have shown that piglets use auditory, visual and olfactory information to discriminate one person from another (Tanida and Nagano, 1998). In this study, although the use of voice cues was an important component of the treatments, both humans remained silent during the avoidance tests, which allows us to conclude that auditory information is not essential for recognition of humans by pigs, corroborating findings of Koba and Tanida (2001).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Therefore, aversive treatment of pigs early in life may influence their behaviour in a particularly harmful way, and have negative effects on interactions with humans later in life. Young pigs have the ability to recognise humans that handled them previously in a gentle way, choosing their presence (Tanida and Nagano, 1998) or interacting more with them than with a person they do not know (Tanida et al, 1995). Other farm animals may recognise handlers based on an aversive treatment (De Passillé et al, 1996;Rushen et al, 1999a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Piglets’ weaning behavioural response is influenced by quality of human–animal interactions during suckling

Sommavilla

Hötzel

Costa

2011

Animal

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The aim of this study was to compare the short-term post-weaning behaviour of piglets treated either neutrally or aversively during the suckling period. A total of 24 lactating sows and their litters were housed in different rooms according to treatment. A female experimenter (P1) was in charge of feeding and cleaning from days 10 to 27 after birth. For the aversive treatment (Aver), P1 was noisy, moved harshly and unpredictably and shouted frequently during routine cleaning of facilities and animal handling. For the neutral treatment (Neut), P1 used a soft tone of voice and was careful during the same routine. At weaning, the avoidance response of piglets to an approaching experimenter in a novel place was assessed in four piglets from each litter. Scores ranged from 1 (experimenter could touch piglet) to 4 (piglet escaped as soon as person moved). The test was repeated twice, with a 1-h interval, with P1, who wore blue trousers and white T-shirt, and a second handler unfamiliar to the piglets (P2, who wore blue coveralls). Thereafter, litters from the same treatment were mixed and housed in separate rooms, balanced for gender and live weight (n 5 12 groups of 4 piglets/treatment). Behaviour time budgets were registered by scan sampling every 2-min, for 4 h per day, for 4 days. Piglets were weighed at birth, at weaning and on day 5. Effects of treatment and handler on responses to the avoidance test were analysed with non-parametric tests and effects of treatment with a mixed model for repeated measures. Avoidance score was higher for Aver than Neut piglets when tested with P1 (P 5 0.04) but not with P2 (P 5 0.8). When piglets' responses to the different handlers were compared within each treatment, no significant differences were found. Frequencies of resting were lower (P , 0.001), whereas escape attempts (P , 0.03), agonistic interactions (P , 0.02) and frequency of presence at feeder (P , 0.001) were higher in the Aver than in the Neut groups. Feed and water intake and weight gain did not differ between treatments. We conclude that 4-week-old piglets can discriminate a handler according to the nature of treatment received during suckling. In addition, piglets treated aversively seem to have more difficulty adapting to weaning than those treated neutrally during the suckling period.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piglets’ weaning behavioural response is influenced by quality of human–animal interactions during suckling

Sommavilla

Hötzel

Costa

2011

Animal

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“…Dogs are able to classify color photographs of natural stimuli (Range, Aust, Steurer, & Huber, 2008). And complex object discrimination has been demonstrated in other farmed animals (e.g., pigs, Sus scrofa; Croney, Adams, Washington, & Stricklin, 2003;Hemsworth, Verge, & Coleman, 1996;Tanida & Nagano, 1998). Pigeons (Columbia livia) and other bird species are capable of categorizing and differentiating various stimuli as well (e.g., Huber, Apfalter, Steurer, & Prossinger, 2005).…”

Section: Learning and Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Psychology of Cows

Marino¹,

Allen²

2017

ABC

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-Domestic cows (Bos taurus) are consumed worldwide as beef and veal, kept as dairy product producers, employed as draft animals in labor, and are used for a long list of other products, including leather and manure. But despite global reliance on cows for thousands of years, most people's perception of them is as plodding herd animals with little individual personality and very simple social relationships or preferences. Yet, a review of the scientific literature on cow behavior points to more complex cognitive, emotional and social characteristics. Moreover, when cow behavior is addressed, it is almost entirely done within the framework of and applied to their use as food commodities. Therefore, there is relatively little attention to the study of cow intelligence, personality and sociality at a basic comparative level. In this review, we examine the current state of scientific knowledge about cows within an objective comparative framework, describing their cognitive, emotional, and social characteristics. Our aim is to provide a more veridical and objective current summary of cow psychology on its own terms and in ways which will facilitate better-informed comparisons with other animals. Moreover, an understanding of the capabilities and characteristics of domestic cows will, it is hoped, advance our understanding of who they are as individuals.

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“…To our knowledge, there are no systematic studies which examined mammalian farm animals tested for object permanence (but see for domestic chicken: Etienne 1973, Regolin et al 1995. Although pigs heavily rely on olfactory and spatial cues and despite their poor visual acuity (Zonderland et al 2008), they are able to visually discriminate large stimuli like humans (Tanida & Nagano 1998), conspecifics (McLeman et al 2008 or arbitrary symbols (Gieling et al 2012). Taking this into account, an experimental setting similar to that of de Blois et al (1998) and Call (2001) was adapted to the behavioural abilities and constraints of domestic pigs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A note on pigs’ knowledge of hidden objects

2013

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Object permanence is the notion that objects continue to exist even when they are out of observer's sight. This ability is adaptive for free ranging animals who have to cope with a dangerous and highly changeable environment and allows them to be aware of predators sneaking in their proximity or to keep track of conspecifics or food sources, even when out of sight. Farm animals might also benefit from object permanence because the ability to follow the trajectory of hidden food or objects may lead to a higher predictability of subjects' environment, which in turn might affect the level of stress under husbandry conditions. We conducted two experiments to examine the ability of object permanence in young domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica). For this purpose, we used a test setup that was formerly developed for primates and adopted it to the behavioural constraints of pigs. A rewarded object was hidden in one of three hiding locations with an increasing complexity of the object's movement through successive test sessions. Subjects were confronted with visible and invisible displacement tasks as well as with transpositions of hidden objects in different contextual settings. Pigs solved visible, but not invisible displacements or transpositions, indicating that they have difficulties to keep track of once hidden and then moved objects. This should be taken into account when designing husbandry environments or studying designs.

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The ability of miniature pigs to discriminate between a stranger and their familiar handler

Cited by 70 publications

References 15 publications

Piglets’ weaning behavioural response is influenced by quality of human–animal interactions during suckling

Piglets’ weaning behavioural response is influenced by quality of human–animal interactions during suckling

The Psychology of Cows

A note on pigs’ knowledge of hidden objects

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