Ethology

Ethology

Scientific study of behavior

Behavior

Any movement an animal makes

Influences of behavior

Survival, reproduction, interaction

Why learn ethology?

Avoid getting hurt, decrease patient stress, regognize abnormal vs. normal behavior, learn displacement behaviors, understand normal behaviors that require modification, shape pet owners, prevent unwanted pets, reduce euthanasia

Biophilia

Innate tendancy to focus on life and life-like processes
E.O. Wilson

Principles of biophilia

Share life with others, know our self worth, express ourselves, worry less about being judged/ rejected, unconditional love

Canis familiaris domestication

10,000 BC; wolves became camp scavengers; orphans?; neotany

Neotany

Infantile features, big eyes, round forehead, little sounds
(why we love babies)

Origin of dog

East Asian; abot 15,000 years ago

Bonds

Attachment; depth influenced by duration of time & activity with the animal and the animal's response

How do you know you have a bond?

You miss its presence when involunarily separated

When are bonds strongest?

When pet owners rescued pets from death/ disease; believed the pet "saw them through" a difficult time, rely on pet for most of their support, antropomorphise their pet, provided long term medical care, see pet as lnk to person who's no longer around

Factors that influence bond

Domestication, anthropomorphism, neotany, social support, companionship, protection, status symbol

Medical benefits of bond

Increased survival after myocardial infarction, less occurance of coronary disease, lower systolic BP, less stress, less medical visits, less pre/post-operative anxiety, less analgesic use in hospital

Physiological benefits of bond

Less loneliness, ease stressful transitions, ability to nurture, sense of well-being, language & verbal skills, non-judgemental affection

Social benefits of bond

Identity, social lubricant, health benefits, emotional development

Negative aspects of bond

Property destruction, physical injury, behavioral problems, neg. physciological problems sometimes, animal collectors

Animal Collectors

Love animals but can't properly care for them, hero-martyr complex, controlling, against euthanasia, high rate of return, blinded by animals being sick

H-A Bond in vet practice

1 yr., 3% of animals treated will die
Cause is euthanasia 2/3 of the time

Observation

Systematic process, analysis of behavior, diagnostic decisions, management decisions, document or modify behavior

Characteristic

Predisposition to act certain way, behavior can be predicted, patterns/ clusters of behaviors

To study patterns of behavior

settings, stimulus, description, sequence, interpretation

Recording behavior

Be specific when decribing; at end interpret, draw conclusion, make decision

Interpretation

Depends on description; conclusion depends on interpretation

Infant-mother bond influences

Infant needs (warmth, food, shelter), Mother (homromonal changes, newborn sights, smells)

Flexor/ Extensor

At birth, flexor dominance; Extensor dominance by 4-5 days

Examples that inuce infant-mother bond weakness

Single pup litters, overly involved owners

Nursing-Suckling Influences

Attraction to heat & teat olfactory cues; Crawling- head motins side to side; rooting reflex (come up to teat & nudge it)

3 Phases of Nursing

Day 1-21- bitch initiates; 21-30- pup initiates (can see & walk upright); day 30-weaning

4 Periods of Normal Puppy Behavior

Infantile/ Neonatal (0-13 days); Transition (14-21 days); Socialiation (4 -12/14 weeks); Juvenille (12 weeks- maturity)

Infantile/ Neonatal

0-13 days; Interactions / mom mostly, No vision, poor hearing, nose works; suckling & need anogenital stimulation for elimination; Slow crawling & moving head from side to side; Vocalization if hungry, cold, or hurt

Transition

14-21 days; Eyes open, ears open, & movement in environment; begin control of elimination; adult social patterns develop

Socialization

4-(12-14) weeks; Critical/ Sensitive Period, rapid physical changes; must learn its a dog; littermate interactions; Species-specific behaviors include facial-inguinal & facial-linguinal

Peak approach of socialiation

5-8 weeks; want pup to socialize w/ dif't animals & ppl; learns species ID best; ideal time to place in new home

Best time for bonding to humans

7-12 weeks

Peak avoidance

12 weeks; too late for socialization; "Isolated Syndrom" w/ limited contact or repeated severe punishment

Fear Period

8-10 weeks; Avoidance & Approach; Avoid physical punishment; grab scruff, close its paws, push it gently to floor

Social Bond

Environment, genetics

Juvenille

12 weeks to maturity; hiercharchy established; untrained = destructive nature = euthanasia

Stimuli for urination

fresh urine, oil, tobacco

Primary sense in dog

Olfactory; 1000x more sensitive than ours; 220 million olfactory receptors; flehmen response; Pheremones change smeller's behavior

Vision

Not well developed; respond to shape & motion; fewer cones; motion detection & dim light vision important

Communication

Barking; excessive is abnormal
Non-Verbal: Body posture, hair, lip, ears, tail

Distance Reducing Communication

Approach me; Passive submission (walk away w/ head down, lays down & exposes genitals), active submission (appraches but lowers head/ tail), play bow

Distance Increasing

Get away; direct stare; bigger (hackles); may urinate; tail at 45 degree angle & may flag

Pursuit of prey

Must be present to discourage chasing

When do behavioral problems develop?

Not trained properly, not enough exercise, not enough interaction w/ ppl/ animals, harsh punishment

4 options for behavioral problems

tolerate, train, find new home, euthanize

Behavioral problems misdirected in terms of:

Place, time, target/ recipient

Human deaths

Pitts & rotts account for 1/2; most from unrestrained dogs

Pure breeds

4x more behavioral problems

Most common behavioral problem

aggression

Types of aggression

Dominance, territorial, fearful, predatory, interdog

Territorial aggression

Dogs that growl, snarl, & lunge w/o first posturing, staring, & wating; acts aggressive regardless of whether there is actual threat

What to do for fearful aggression?

counterconditioning

What should kids do in case of predatory aggression?

Stop, act like tree or log, cover eyes

What helps prevent interdog aggression?

Early neutering

Prognosis for aggression

Worse w/ more types, earlier onset, longer duration, more intense, & more frequent bouts

Treatment for aggression

Risk analysis done 1st; no drugs approved; if vicious, euthanasia appropriate

Separation anxiety

Home alone syndrome; caused by boredom, confinement & lack of exercise

Cat communication

Visual (posture, ears, pupils, hair, tail, scratch marks); Auditory (growl, meow, yowl/ howl, chitter, hiss, purr); Olfactory (feces, urine, anal secretions, pheremones)

Cat ears

Alert: Ears pointed in direction of interest; Relaxed: sideways, upright; upset: sideways, flattened; Angry: back, flattened

Pupils

Dilated: aroused- fight or flight

Alert cat

lateral or dorsal recumbency, inguinal area exposed (not submissive!)

Development of service dog

Puppy Raised: 8 weeks-18 months; Training: 18 mos - 2 yrs; Team trainibg: 1-2 weeks; Follow up; Retirement: 8-12 yrs

Minimal Standards of Service dogs

120 hrs training; 3+ physical tasks, 13 days team training

Therapy dogs

Don't have rights of service dogs; usually pets

Combat/ Agonistic Behavior of Boars

Boars try to slash opponents - thrust their head and neck upward and sideways
Jaws click and champ producing frothy appearance around the mouth

Sow aggression

Attack udders, flank, and vulva
Often after weaning & remixing of sows

How to stop fighting pigs

Eye contact important; avoid it; space for retreat; keep head to inguinal area

Vision

Floppy ears- more skiddish b/c vision blocked
Pigs can't look up easily- don't stand over them & pet

Vision

Floppy ears- more skiddish b/c vision blocked
Pigs can't look up easily- don't stand over them & pet

Allelomimetic Behavior

Eat more when together
Nurse at same time; cyclical; every 55 min

Ingestive Behavior

Teeth in upper & lower jaws
Rooting
Take mouthfuls of grain, chew, & swallow

Gregarious Behavior

Herding behavior 5-10 sows in wild
Domestication & confinement eliminate this

Care giving/ seeking

Sow protective, especially if pig squels; commercially weaned 3-5 weeks, but if up to her 3-4 mos; fostering can occur first 2 days after farrowing

Elimination

Clean habits
Eliminate in corner away from sleeping area

Investigative

Alarm "woof" --> scattering
Soon regroup & investigate

Abnormal behavior

Tail biting
Chewing on crate bars prior to farrowing
Cannibalsim
Headmovements

Sexual Behavior

Females are gilts until farrow, then sows
Puberty 6-8 mos
Polyestrous-cycle 19-21 days for 24-72 hrs; coitus lasts 3-12 min; gestation 3-3-3 = 114 days; sows in heat 4-7 days post weaning

Preceptive Phase

Hyperemia & edema of vulva; restlessness, female seeks boar; aggression; less avoidance of boar; may last 24 hours- courtship or 40-80 sec if hand breeding

Receptive Phase

Immobility response
May shift lefs to adjust to wt

Prepartuint behavior

Wander from herd; Nest made 7-14 hrs b4 farrowing;

Confinement management

Sows in farrowing crates 5-7 days b4 farrowing

Partuition

Interval 15 min per pig; pigs come out "running"; 60% at night

Postpartum behavior

Fostering easy 1st 2 days; recognize pigs by nest

Teat Seeking

Locate in 3 min; nurse w/in 25-35 min; colostrum imp; after 10 hrs, milk becomes cyclic, not continual

Suckling behavior

Nurse 20-30 times/ day (25-30%, no milk); noise may disrupt; larger pigs have anterior teets

Pig space requirements

15-30 lbs 1.7-2.5 sq.ft.
30-60 lbs 3-4 sq.ft.
60-100 lbs 5 sq.ft.
100-150 lbs 6 sq.ft.
150-market 8 sq.ft.

Small Ruminants away from group

sign of illness

Flight zone

space around an animal that will elicit movement when invaded
when a person enters the flight zone the animal will move
if the flight zone is penetrated too deeply, the animals will scatter

Movement

A) Approach - animals become alert and start to group, try to gauge what the group’s response will be, move slowly
B) Flight distance - animals move away as a group in a controlled manner
C) Escape - lose control of the group, scatter

Reproduction

Does & ewes in estrous seek out males; flehman response, pawing, mounting

Mothering Behavior

Paw at baby- if excessive, could kill
Grafting of orphans must be done soon after birth (mask odors, grafting pens, fetal fluids)

Teat sucking

Seek teat in 30 minutes; must nurse shortly to prevent hypothermia; healthy babies nurse 30x a day

Eating

Goats- browsers; may eat poisonou plants
Sheep eating cattle mineral may have Cu problems

Passeriformes

songbirds

Columbiformes

pidgeons, doves

Galliformes

fowl

Anseriformes

Waterfowl

Falconiformes

Hawks, falcons, eagles

Strigiformes

Owls

Flocking

Some flock in spring; then segregrate to mate & are territorial; flock again in fall

Mating/ Courtship

Monogamy (pair bonding) in some; polygyny or polyandry in others

Altricial

Chicks must be reared by parents until fledge

Precocial

Chicka find food for selves but typically protected by parents

Parastic species

Have other parents raise young --> siblicide

Pssitoforms

Parrots, parrolets; 2 yrs old; obsessive complulsive

Modfying bird behavior

Positive reinforcemnt best; regular schedule; environmental enrchment