Animal Behaviour and Welfare

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students should
be able to: (particularly for farm animals)

Describe different animal behaviours and welfare issues

Mange animals based on welfare guidelines and their

behaviour

Developing the knowledge and skills needed to

understand animal behaviour and welfare when working
with farm animals
 Explain how the innate and the environment
influence the different behaviours of animals

Know how animals interact and communicate with

each other

Understand the welfare of farm animals during

handling, transportation and slaughtering

Understand the five freedoms of animals

 1. Introduction to Animal Behaviour
1.1. Definition and concept of behaviour

1.2. Importance of studying animal behaviour

1.3. Types of animal behaviour

1.4. Factors influencing animal behaviours

 2. Behaviour and the Ecological Environment
2.1. Behaviour and ecology
2.2. Evolution of behaviour

2.3. Adaptation of animals to their environment

2.3.1. Behavioural adaptation
2.3.2. Structural /physical/ adaptation and behavioural diversity
2.3.3. Natural selection

2.4. Learning and memory in farm animals

2.4.1. Associative learning
2.4.2. Non-associative learning
2.4.3. Complex learning
3. Feeding Behaviour in Farm Animals

3.1. Grazing and browsing

3.2. Patterns of feeding

4. Social Behaviour in Farm Animals

4.1. Sexual and reproductive behaviour

4.1.1.Courtship and mating

4.1.2. Mate selection

4.2. Pecking order

4.3. Aggression and cannibalism

4.4. Behaviour towards predators and social

attackers

4.5. Communication and learning in animals

4.5.1. Why do animals need to communicate?

4.5.2. Types of communication in animals

4.5.3. Learning and learned behaviours in animals

4.5.4. Ethology and instinctive animal behaviours

4.5.5. Motivation for communication and learning

behaviours in animals
 5. Homing Behaviour
5.1. Definition of homing

5.2. Methods

5.3. Compass orientation

5.4. Classification of homing phenomena

5.5. Habitat selection

5.6. Migration

5.7. Territoriality
 6. Animal Welfare
6.1. Definition and concept of animal welfare

6.2. The five freedoms

6.3. The interplay between animal behaviour and

welfare

6.4. Assessment of animal welfare

6.4.1. Animal based indicators

6.4.2. Resource based indicators

6.5. Animal welfare in animal farms

6.5.1. Handling and routine activities (dehorning,

disbudding, castration, teathering)

6.5.2. Transportation and slaughtering

6.5.3. Power utilization

6.6. Health and welfare implications of mutilations
(damage, injury, etc)

6.7. Welfare issue in fishing and fish farming

6.8. Animal welfare issues in Ethiopia and the

world

6.9. International organizations working with

Animal welfare
 Group assignment

Farm animals
Dairy cattle
Beef cattle
Sheep and goat
Chicken
 Terminology/Terms
 Beheviour== all the ways animals interact
Involves investigating the relationship with other organisms
(species, with organisms of other species) and the physical
environment/with their env’t

 As change in the activity of an organism in response to

a stimulus an external or internal cue or combination of cues

 AB is the scientific study of the interaction of animals

with each other, with other living beings, and with the
environment
Welfare- the state of doing well especially in respect to
good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity

all of the mechanisms for coping: involving physiology,

behaviour, feelings and pathological responses

• Animal welfare the state of the individual as regards

its attempts to cope with its environment

 Normal biological functioning (healthy and well-

nourished)
 Emotional state- pain
 Ability to express certain normal behaviours
 Reinforcement= a reward for making the proper response

In behavioral psychology
 a consequence applied that will strengthen an animal's
future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a
specific antecedent stimulus

 Reasoning= the ability to respond correctly to a stimulus

the first time that a new situation is presented

 Intelligence = the ability to learn to adjust successfully to

certain situations
Both short-term and long-term memory are part of
intelligence
 Instinct – reflexes and responses what the animal has at birth
Ex. Nursing, searching for food

 Habituation – learning to respond without thinking, response

to certain stimulus is established as a result of habituation

 Conditioning – learning to respond in a particular way to a

stimulus as a result of reinforcement when the proper response
is made
 Stimulus
 Any change in the biotic and abiotic environments capable
of eliciting or causing some sort of reaction or response in a
living organism

Behavioral biology
is the study of the biological and evolutionary bases
for behavior

Associative learning is a learning principle that states

that ideas and experiences reinforce each other and can
be mentally linked to one another
Ethology
Study (scientific) of animal behavior
Is a broad field, encompassing both instinctual and
learned behaviors as well as abnormal behaviors

Systematic study of the function and evolution of

behavior

 It focuses on the behaviors of diverse organisms in their

natural environment

 A field of basic biology, like ecology or genetics

Learning
 Learning produces changes in the behavior of an
individual that are due to experience

 Learning is adaptive because it allows an animal to

respond quickly to changes in its environment

Ecology
‘Oikos’ meaning 'house' or ' a place to live' to designate
the study of organisms in their natural homes

Interactions of organisms with one another and with the

physical and chemical environment
 Study of the relationships between living organisms, and
their physical environment

 Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population,

community, ecosystem, and biosphere level

 Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of

acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought,
experience, and the senses
Behavioral Ecology
 Studies how animals interact with environment, and how
specific behaviors promote survival

Sociobiology
 Applies principles of evolutionary biology to the study
of social behavior in animals
Imprinting
 During imprinting, a young animal develops an attachment
toward another animal or object

 The attachment usually forms only during a specific

critical period soon after hatching or birth and is not
reversible

 Imprinting is a rapid learning process that apparently

occurs without reinforcement

Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of

biological populations over successive generations
 Innate vs learned behaviors
 Innate behaviors are genetically hardwired and are
inherited by an organism from its parents

 Learned behaviors are not inherited

Develop during an organism's lifetime as the result
of experience and environmental influence

Behavioral biologists have found that many behaviors

have both an innate and a learned component

So, it's generally most accurate for us to ask to what

extent a behavior is innate or learned
Ethnologists have so far tried to answer questions
about animal behaviour from four major areas

1. The evolutionary history/phylogeny-gradual change

2. Development/ontogeny
3. Causation
4. Function/adaptive advantage

Tinbergen’s
 Proximate =Causal and developmental factors

 Ultimate =adaptive advantage and evolution

The evolutionary history
 How did various forms of behaviour evolved? i.e.
(Innate/instinctive/genetic or learned?

 How does the behaviour compare with similar behaviour

in related species?

 The evolution of behaviour relates to the origins of

behavioural patterns and how these change over
generations
How does behaviour change with age?

How does the behavior develop?

What are the early experiences necessary for the

behaviour to be expressed?

e.g. How does courtship behaviour develop during the

individual’s life?

Does the male in domestic fowl learn the waltz dance?

 Causation
 What causes the behavior? What triggers the behavior, and
what body parts, functions?

What are the stimuli that elicit the response?

How has it been modified by recent learning?

The causes of behaviour include both the external stimuli

that affect behaviour, and the internal hormonal and neural
mechanisms that control behaviour
 Function
How does the behaviour impact on the animal?

How does the behavior affect fitness?

The functions of behaviour include its immediate effects

on animals and its adaptive value in helping animals to
survive or reproduce successfully in a particular
environment
 and animals in their natural or
captive environment

• Why animals do what they do and recognize limitations

in their ability to adapt to different environments

• Studying animal behaviour is relevant and necessary for

animal production enterprises to be carried out
effectively and economically
• An appreciation of how to handle animals necessitates
knowledge of behaviour which in the past has just been
gradually acquired through personal experience

• This information can be more

easily if general principles of

• Behaviour assessment is the major method of oestrus

detection in dairy cows and pigs
• social behaviour
• Knowledge of animal behaviour has a lot of benefits in
veterinary/ animal medicine
• Situation in which such expertise is important includes

 Handling animals
 Using behaviour as a sign in diagnosis
 Advising on animal husbandry methods
 Dealing with behavioural problems and assessing
welfare
 ANIMAL BEHAVIOR (types)

Sexual Eliminative
Maternal Shelter-seeking
Communicative Investigative
Social Allelomimetic
Feeding Maladaptive

Instinct
Imprinting
Conditioning
Imitation
 Sexual Behavior
 Useful in implementing breeding programs

 Cows that are in heat, allow themselves to be mounted by

others

 Rams chase ewes that are coming into heat

 Sows seek out boars for mating

 Maternal behavior

Females taking care of newborn and young

animals

Mothers clean young by licking them

Mothers fight off intruders

Become aggressive in protecting they young after

birth
 Communicative behavior
 When some type of information is exchanged
between individual animals

Examples of communicative Behavior

 Distress calls – Lambs bleat, calves bawl, pigs squeal and

chicks chirp

 Dams recognize offspring by smell

 Farm animals respond to calls or whistles of the producer

 Bulls bellow deeply to communicate aggressive behavior

 Social behavior
 Includes “fight or flight” and aggressive and passive
behaviors between animals

 Includes interactions with other animals, humans and

behavior during handling and restraint

Examples of social behavior

 Males of all farm animals fight when they meet other

unfamiliar males of the same species
 Cows, sows and mares develop a pecking order, but fight
less intensely than males

 Cows withdraw from the herd to a secluded spot just

before calving

 Almost all animals withdraw from the herd if they are

sick
 Feeding behavior
 Exhibited by animals when feeding/eating and drinking (Ingestive
Behavior)

Examples of feeding behavior

 Cattle graze 4-9hrs/day, ruminate 4-9hrs/day, regurgitate 300-400

boluses of feed per day

 Sheep and goats graze 9-11hrs/day, ruminate 7-10hrs/day,

regurgitate 400-600 boluses of feed per day

 Cattle usually don’t go more than 3 miles away from water

 Sheep may travel as much as 8 miles a day

 Eliminative behavior
 Elimination of feces and urine

Examples of eliminative behavior

 Cattle, sheep, horses, goats and chickens eliminate feces & urine
indiscriminately

 Hogs eliminate feces in definite areas of a pasture or pen

 Cattle, sheep, goats and swine defecate while standing or walking;

urinate while standing, but not walking
 Cattle defecate 12-18 times/day, urinate 7-11 times/day

 Horses defecate 5-12 times/day, urinate 7-11 times/day

 Animals defecate & urinate more when stressed or excited

 Animals loose 3% of their live weight when transported to

& from market points (Shrink)

 Shelter-Seeking Behavior
Examples of shelter-seeking behavior

 Animals crowd together in snow and cold winds

 Animals seek shelter of trees when it rains

 Cattle and sheep seek shady area for rest and rumination if
weather is hot

 Hogs find a wet area if weather is hot

 In extreme situations, animals pile up to the extent that some

get smothered
 Investigative Behavior

Examples of investigative behavior

 Pigs, horses and dairy goats are highly curious,

investigate any strange object, approach carefully,
slowly, sniffing and looking as they approach

o Sheep are less curious and more timid

 Allelomimetic
 Animals of a species tend to do the same thing at the
same time

 Important in that a producer may observe the herd with

little difficulty, also useful in driving groups of animals
from one place to another

 Examples of allelomimetic behavior

 Cattle and sheep tend to graze at the same time and rest and
ruminate at the same time

 Range cattle gather at the watering place about the same time
each day because one follows the other
 Maladaptive behavior

Animals that cannot adapt to their environment,

exhibit inappropriate or unusual behavior

Examples of maladaptive behavior

 Chickens and swine in extensive management

(confinement) systems resort to cannibalism, removal
of tails is a prevention method

 Buller-steer syndrome – steers that have been castrated

before puberty demonstrate masculine behavior
1.4. Factors influencing animal behaviours

Genes and the environment influence behavior,

and scientists studying behavior focus on the
interaction between these two factors
 Summary (C1)
1. Which one is/are not correct about bahaviour?
A) Involves investigating the relationship with species, with
organisms of other species and their env’t

B) External and internal cue activities

C) Action produced in organisms in response to stimulus from a

given situation

D) Change in the biotic and abiotic environments capable of

eliciting or causing some sort of reaction or response in a
living organism

E) Genetically hardwired and develop during an organism's

lifetime
F) All
G) None of the above
 2. Define the following terms
a. Ethology
b. Instinct
c. Welfare
d. Behaviour (farm animal)

3. Differentiate
 Innate and learned behavioiur?
 Common behaviour from farm animal (list and explain)
3. What is the implication of evolutionary history, development,
causation and function in relation with animal bhr (particularly
in farm animals)?

In simple animals, behavior is governed almost entirely by

instinct, meaning that it is preprogrammed by an animal's genes.

In more complex animals, instinctive behavior is often modified

by learning, producing more-flexible responses to the outside
world
The fundamental explanation of behavioural
activity must begin with a stimulus and end
with a response

How animals find and defend resources avoid

predators, choose mates and reproduce, and care
for their young

Ethology is the science that studies animal

behavior, its cause and biological function
 2. Behaviour and the Ecological Environment
2.1. Behaviour and ecology

 Behavioural ecology: The study of the ecological and

evolutionary basis of animal behaviour

 An animals behavioural decisions play a critical role in

activities
Obtaining food
Finding mates
Avoiding predators
 Group dynamics
 Adaptation
 Ad---toward
 Aptus---fit for some role

 Any structural, physiological, or behavioral character

that increases organism’s survival fitness as well as their
reproduction ability in existing environment

 The ability of any living organism to survive and

reproduce success-fully under the existing environment
Adaptations are unique characteristics that allow animals to
survive in their environment

Structural
Physiological
Behavioral
Structural adaptations are how the animal’s body functions or
looks on the outside
Body parts (like feet and ears) and body coverings (like fur
and scales) are structural adaptations

Physiological adaptations are how the animal’s body

functions on the inside
changes in the cells, chemicals, and processes inside an
animal’s body
 Behavioral Adaptations
Innate behaviors
Learned behaviors

 Do not have to be learned  Learning is a change in

or practiced behavior that occurs as a
result of experience.
 Called instinctive behaviors  Compared with innate
behaviors, learned behaviors
are more flexible
 An instinct is the ability of an  They can be modified to suit
animal to perform a behavior changing conditions
the first time it is exposed to
the proper stimulus
1. Migration - seasonal or periodic movement of animals
in response to changes in climate or food availability,
or to ensure reproduction

 Migration most commonly involves movement from one

area to another and then back again

2. Hibernation – adaptive winter survival technique where

animal becomes inactive and all body processes slow
down

 In cold weather most animals must eat large quantities

of food to obtain the energy needed to carry on normal
body activities
3. Living in a group – more eyes in a group to watch out
for prey or predator, protection

4. Tool use - any object manipulated by an animal in order

to perform a specific task (monkeys, otters, birds)

5. Playing Dead - By pretending that they are dead, some

animals escape bodily harm (snakes, possums)

6. Calling – Communication between animals

7. Threatening Gestures – scares off potential predators
 Natural Selection
 Applied to behavioral traits as well as morphological,
anatomical, and developmental traits
Evolutionary history Development Causation Function

 How did various  How does behaviour  What are the  How does
forms of behaviour change with age? stimuli that the
evolved? i.e. elicit the behaviour
(Innate/instinctive/ge response? impact on
netic or learned?) the animal’s
chances of
 How does the  What are the early  How has it
survival and
behaviour compare experiences necessary for been modified
reproductio
with similar the behaviour to by recent
n?
behaviour in related expressed? learning?
species?
e.g. How does courtship
behaviour develop during
the individuals’s life?
 Does the male in
domestic fowl learn the
waltz dance?
 Does he practice
dancing?
 Is he successful in
directing the female?
 Components (types) of Behaviour

Nature/innate Nurture/learned

Instinct or genes Experience and

determine behaviour learning influence
behaviour
 Learned behaviour
 Adaptive change in individual behaviour as a result of
experience

 The degree of permanence of newly acquired learned

behaviour patterns depends on memory storing
information gained from the experience

 Learning alters the range of behaviours shown by an

individual, and allows it to adapt to and control its
environment
 Types of learned behaviours
Habituation
Associative learning
Latent or exploratory learning
Insight learning
Observational learning
Sensitization
Imprinting
 Associative learning
In animal behaviour, any learning process in which a new
response becomes associated with a particular stimulus

Simply means that an animal learns to associate an event

with a result

Type
A. Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning-Involves the
association of events over which the animal has no
control ===able to gain prediction of events in its
environment
Learning processes can be broadly categorized into
associative and non-associative

Associative learning-- occurs through the pairing of two

previously unrelated stimuli

Non-associative --learning occurs in response to a single

stimulus

NAL- the simplest yet fundamental form of learning that

does not require stimuli association or pairing
Animal species alter their response upon exposure to a single
event or stimulus
They change their response to a stimuli without association
with a positive or negative reinforcement
 The salivary reflex in dogs, Pavlov presented food right
after the sound of a bell

 After a number of such presentations, the dogs were

conditioned-they associated the sound of the bell with
food

 It was then possible to elicit the dog’s usual response to

food-salivation-with just the sound of the bell
 B. Instrumental (operant or trial-and-error) conditioning
 Trial-and-error activities give rise to responses which are
reinforced either by rewarding (positive) or punishment
(negative)

 The association of outcome of a response in terms of

reward or punishment increases or decreases respectively
in future responses

 Instrumental conditioning therefore involves association

of events with control
Complex learning
 Is the integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes;
coordinating qualitatively different constituent skills; and
often transferring what was learned in school or training
to daily life and work
 Types of Adaptations
 Structural Adaptations

 Physiological Adaptations (Hibernation-decrease in body

temperature, slow breathing, and reduced metabolic rate;
Movement/Migration)

 Behavioral Adaptations

Any adaptation that affect animal’s actions are called

behavioral adaptations

These may include what an animal can eat, how they

mate, or how they protect themselves
 Animal Adaptations
 All animals live in habitats

 Habitats provide food, water, and shelter which animals

need to survive, but there is more to survival than just the
habitat

 Animals also depend on their physical features to help

them get food, keep safe, build homes, withstand
weather, and attract mates

Physical features are called physical adaptations

 Physical adaptations do not develop during an animal's
life but over many, many generations

Shape of a bird's beak

The number of fingers
Color of the fur
The thickness or thinness of the fur
The shape of the nose or ears are all
examples of physical adaptations which help
different animals to survive
A structural adaptation involves some part of an animal's
body, such as the size or shape of the teeth, the animal's
body covering, or the way the animal moves

 Teeth- Eat d/t things

 Body coverings-Hair, scales, spines, and feathers grow
from the skin
 Movement
 Behavioral Adaptation
 Some animals also need to change their behaviors in order
to survive in their environment

 May occur in a very short time span or over longer

periods

 The more intelligent an animal is the faster it can learn to

make behavioral changes in order to survive

Learned
Instinctive
Ex
Social behavior - Some animals live by themselves,
while other live in groups

Behavior for protection - An animal’s behavior

sometimes helps to protect it from predators

Moving in large groups helps protect the members of the

group from predators

Going underground, hibernating or migrating protects an

animal from harsh environmental factors
 Migration is a behavioral adaptation that involves an
animal or group of animals moving from one region to
another and then back again

• Animals migrate for different reasons

Better climate
Better food
Safe place to live
Safe place to raise young
To go back to where they were born
• Hibernation is another behavioral adaptation

During hibernation

 Animals go into a deep sleep in which an animal's body

temperature drops to about the temperature of the
environment

 Body activities, such as heartbeat and breathing are

slowed causing the animal to need very little food
Some animals that hibernate actually wake up
for short periods of time to find food, and then
go back to hibernating

During the hibernation the animals live off of

the fat that is stored in their body
3. Feeding Behaviour in Farm Animals

3.1. Grazing and browsing

3.2. Patterns of feeding

 Feeding Behaviour in Farm Animals
 Feeding behaviour, through both diet selection and feed
intake, is the predominant way that an animal attempts to
fullfil its metabolic requirements and achieve
homeostasis

 FB- any action of an animal that is directed toward the

procurement of nutrients

 Energy production (catabolism) and as material for

processes of maintenance and growth (anabolism)

 Grazing and browsing are feeding habits that are

common to herbivorous animals
4. Social Behaviour in Farm
Animals
 Social behavior
 A phenomenon exhibited in varying degrees by all higher
animals

 Herding characteristics, migratory movements, courtship

behavior, etc.,
 Contactual behavior
 Ingestive behavior
 Eliminative behavior
 Sexual behavior
 Epimeletic behavior
 Et-epimeletic behavior
 Agonistic behavior
 Allelomimetic behavior
 Investigative behavior
Contactual Behavior - behavior related to seeking
affection, protection or other benefits by contact
with other animals

Communication behavior is sometimes

considered as a separate category

Ingestive Behavior - behavioral activities

associated with eating and drinking

 Ingestive behaviors encompass all eating and drinking

behaviors
 Eliminative behaviors -- the acts of defecation and
urination and the behaviors surrounding these acts

 Understanding the eliminative behaviors of dairy cattle

is important for animal welfare and pertains to excreta
management
 Sexual Behavior
 Without reproduction, life would come to an end!

 In production situations, it is economically important to

have “good breeders”

 Must control both desirable and undesirable sexual

behaviors in domestic animals
 Factors Affecting Sexual Behaviors
Genetic factors
Sex is genetically determine
• Mammals: Male- XY
• Mammals: Females –XX

Perinatal hormone influences

 Sex hormones play an important role in sexual behavior
 Neonatal androgens “defeminize” males

 Perinatal is the period of time become pregnant and up to a

year after giving birth

 Antenatal or pre-natal meaning 'before birth'

 Postnatal or postpartum meaning 'after birth'
 Adult Hormonal Status
 Hormones have a permissive role in adult animals

 Normal sexual behavior requires a certain level of

hormones

 Varying administrations of estrogen and progesterone

will elicit estrous behavior

Sexual behaviors can be altered by castration

 Experience affects castration effects
 Anatomical problems
 Inability to mate
Anatomical Factors
Absence of spine
• Inability of intromission
• Will not induce ovulation

Attractiveness of potential mate

• Based on innate preferences and past experience

Previous social and sexual experience

External environment
 High temperature
 Slippery floor
 Time of day
 Stress
 Lack of sexual experience can have a greater
influence than hormonal imbalance
Raised in isolation (Lack of socialization)

 Estrous Cycle Variations

 Central Nervous System Control of Male Sexual
Behavior
Reproductive Behavior

 The behavior of animals plays an important role in

reproduction, affecting both the success of mating and
survival of the young

 Reproductive behavior refers to the orderly sequence of

behavioral events that are associated with reproduction,
and it includes courtship, copulation, nest building,
oviposition, incubation, and parental behavior
 Epimeletic behavior
Refers to the behavior of an adult that, sometimes
assisted by one or a few others, consistently stays near
a distressed, injured, or dead individual (often a calf),
keeping it afloat, carrying it, protecting it from
apparent danger and engaging in rescue attempts

Relating to altruistic behaviour towards an injured

animal

Et epimeletic
 Of animal behaviours: aimed at receiving care from
others
Agonistic behaviors === those behaviors which cause,
threaten to cause or seek to reduce physical damage

 One type of social behavior--agonistic behavior--is

commonly observed among food animals

 Agonistic behavior is comprised of threats, aggression

and submission
Allelomimetic Behavior– Doing the same thing

 Animals tend to follow the actions of other animals

Investigative behavior
 Courtship and mating

 Courtship can be defined as the behavior used to obtain

copulation with a partner, or to maintain reproductive
interactions with an existing partner

 Courtship displays are particular behavioral patterns that

reappear within an individual animal in the reproductive
context, with different individuals of the same species
exhibiting similar behavior
Courtship, in animals, behaviour that results
in mating and eventual reproduction

 Courtship may be rather simple, involving a

small number of chemical, visual, or auditory
stimuli; or it may be a highly complex series of
acts by two or more individuals, using several
modes of communication
Courtship consists of special forms of behaviour
performed by male and female as preliminaries to
mating and has the function of ensuring that the latter
results in fertilisation or successful establishment of
pregnancy in the female

Courtship can be defined as the behavior used to obtain

copulation with a partner, or to maintain reproductive
interactions with an existing partner
 Mechanism of Courtship
Courtship fulfils 4 major functions

1. Mate finding
2. Persuation
3. Synchronization
4. Reproductive isolation

Mate finding
 For sexually reproducing animals, the location of
suitable mate is necessary for their survival
 Recognition of receptive partner is the first link in the
chain of events leading to fertilization
Persuation: In some animals mating immediately happens
when female and male meet

 In few species, male is more ready than the female

 After recognition of potent mate, the next barrier for

male is to bring the female into close proximity which
happens either by physical dance performance, singing,
stunt performance etc. which is termed as persuation
 Synchronization: The occurrence of same behaviour in
different individuals (males and females) at the same
time is called synchronization

 Reproductive isolation: The role of courtship ensures

that animal mate only with a member of their own
species which is called reproductive isolation

 Mate selection is the process of choosing a partner with

whom to form a marriage bond or long-term marriage-
like relationship
 Animal communication is the transfer of
information from one or a group of animals (sender
or senders) to one or more other animals (receiver or
receivers) that affects the current or future behavior
of the receivers

 Communication behaviors can help animals find

mates, establish dominance, defend territory,
coordinate group behavior, and care for young
Pecking order

Aggression and cannibalism

Behaviour towards predators and social

attackers

Ethology and instinctive animal behaviours

Motivation for communication and learning

behaviours in animals
 Types of communication in animals
Visual
Olfactory(chemical)
Auditory
Tactile/By touch
Electrical\Electro-communication
Visual communication
 Posture
⮚Gesture
⮚Movement
⮚Light
visual signals
 Innate behavioural patterns or types
1. Agonistic behaviour
 Defined as a group of behavioural adjustments associated with
fighting, which includes attack, escape, threat, defense and
appeasement

 Threat
 Submission
 Aggression
Maternal defense
Territorial defense
Predation
Aggression after grouping
Inter-male fighting
Inter-gender fighting
Aberrant aggression
2. Dominance status
3. Territorial behaviour
4. Altruistic behaviour

The principle and moral practice of concern for the

welfare and/or happiness of other human beings or
animals, resulting in a quality of life both material
and spiritual
 Homing behaviour of animals

Review Article Farm Animal Welfare and

Handling in the Tropics: The Ethiopia Case

Farm Animal Welfare and Handling in the

Tropics: The Ethiopia Case
 Homing
 Zoology relating to the ability to return home after
travelling great distances-homing instinct

 Is the inherent ability of an animal to navigate towards

an original location through unfamiliar areas

 This location may be either a home territory, or a

breeding spot

 What is homing in animal Behaviour?

 Ability of certain animals to return to a given place when
displaced from it, often over great distances
 Habitat selection/preference
• Natural selection will favour individuals which utilize
those habitats in which the greatest number of
successful offspring can be raised

• Ultimately, habitat selection emerges only because

organisms are better adapted to live and reproduce in
some places than they are in others

Migration
The regular (annual) movement of animal over long
distances
• The migration cycle is often annual and thus closely
linked with the cyclic pattern of the seasons

• Most migrations involve horizontal travel

• Some migrations take a vertical direction and involve

no appreciable horizontal movement
• The food resources of some regions would not be
adequately exploited without moving populations

• The sequence of migratory movement is closely

integrated in the annual cycle of ecosystems
characterized by productivity fluctuations

Territoriality
Territoriality is a type of intraspecific or interspecific
competition that results from the behavioral exclusion of
others from a specific space that is defended as territory
 Animal welfare
 is a worldwide issue that is under more focus now than
ever before

 The western countries outline strict animal welfare

regulations and organisations are fighting for animals’
rights in a society where economics is often deemed the
most important factor

 In Ethiopia there are no animal welfare regulations or any

constitution that protects animals from suffering
 The animal’s normal biological functioning

 Ensuring that the animal is healthy and well-nourished

 Its emotional state (including the absence of negative

emotions, such as pain and chronic fear)

 Its ability to express certain normal behaviours

Welfare generally refers to “the quality of an animal’s life

as it is experienced by an individual anima
The three main views (below) are each needed in
combination for good animal welfare

1. Physical Wellbeing: The extent an animal’s

biological processes can cope with their environment
(eg. their physical health)

2. Mental Wellbeing: An animal’s emotions and how

they feel (eg. fearful, in pain, stressed, happy)

3. Natural Living: The extent to which an animal lives

and behaves as it would in the wild
overall
wellbeing and quality of life

Animal welfare in its holistic sense, encompasses not

only the health and physical wellbeing of the animal, but
the animal’s psychological wellbeing and the ability to
express its own important behaviour
 Unified definition of three desirable welfare state has not
yet been adapted

 However, the term animal welfare can be looked at from

three different perspectives

1. Biological state: describes welfare of an individual as

good when the animal is healthy and grows and reproduces
well
2. Affective state: stresses potential for animals to suffer or
to have positive experiences

3. Natural state: explains differences between captive

animals and the wild state where they origin from, and to
what extent they are able to express natural behaviours
 From the animals’ perspective, the most important aspect
is how it manages to cope with environmental stressors

 When behavioural and physiological stress responses are

thwarted or if it fails to maintain homeostasis, it is likely
that the animal will express chronic stress

 Welfare of an animal is said to be good when stress

responses are not chronically activated and when the
individual can cope with them successfully
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
implemented the first international guidelines for animal
welfare in 2005

167 countries accepted these (OIE, 2005) (in total)

Still a lack of guidelines and regulations for animal

welfare in Ethiopia

Five freedoms were outlined in the 1970s in England and

have since then been a fundamental basis for animal
welfare all over the world
1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst: by providing constant
access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and
vigour

2. Freedom from Discomfort: by providing an appropriate

environment including shelter and a comfortable resting
area

3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease: by prevention or

rapid diagnosis and treatment

4. Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour: by providing

sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the
animal’s own kind

5. Freedom from Fear and Distress: by ensuring conditions

and treatment which avoid mental suffering
 Animal welfare is the ability of an animal to cope
Physiologically
Behaviorally
Cognitively
Emotionally with its physiochemical and socio-
life environment

The term welfare assessment applies not only to

monitoring animals for signs of pain, suffering and
distress associated with procedures, but also to the
routine assessment of all animals to check for any health
or welfare problems
Welfare assessment is a component of the scientific
method, because physiological and psychological
responses to suffering can significantly affect data
quality

Assessment of animal welfare

 Animal welfare assessment uses intrinsic study data

to provide a clear visualization of the stresses
involved during the animal’s life history

 Welfare assessments for animals require the use of

specific indicators
 Animal based indicators
Animal welfare indicators can be sorted in three
categories

 Indicators assessed by observation or examination of

animals (animal-based)

 Indicators that assess animal-related provisions such as

housing and grazing (resource-based)

 Indicators that relate to farmers’ policies and management

practices (management-based)
Animal handling
 Term animal handling originates from when humans
started to domesticate animals and handling of animals to
some extent became a daily routine

 Handling routines that are stressful for animals can

reduce their immune function and most likely result in
lowered productivity (e.g. growth rate, meat production,
milk production etc.)
 Animal handling in Ethiopia
 Stakeholders in Ethiopia handle animals in an aversive
way, which has been shown to increase prevalence of
death and injuries

 By measuring behavioural or physiological conditions,

animal handling can be explained to a higher extent and a
welfare concept implemented
 Animal markets
 Four major aspects that need to be considered when
selling animals on markets

1. The difficulties with tracing meat back to original farm;

2. The transmission of disease on markets

3. The effect on animal hygiene

4. The compromised welfare of those animals sold on

markets compared to welfare of animals transported
directly to abattoirs
 Animal markets in Ethiopia
 Animal trading is carried out only on special markets in
Ethiopia

 These markets could be fenced or without fencing, and

trading occurs mostly with farm animals

 They are usually of local breeds and trading with male

animals dominates over females
 Factors that influence animal welfare
during handling and transport

1. The attitudes of stakeholders and their driving skills

2. Laws and codes of practice

3. Genetic differences between breeds, and different

selection pressure

4. The design of vehicle for transport and design of

equipment used for loading
5. The stocking density of animals and mixing of
unfamiliar animals

6. Payment of persons working with animals

7. The actual physical condition such as temperature,

humidity and risk of disease transmission

8. The methods used during handling, loading and

unloading
 Animal transport in Ethiopia
 The most common way of transporting animals in Africa
is by foot since there is a great lack of vehicles with
sufficient capacity

 Walking animals by foot often leads to injured, dead or

stolen animal

 Lameness and injuries such as swelling of legs

commonly occur

 Proven to be a problem when animals are transported by

vehicle
 Health and welfare implications of mutilations
(damage, injury, etc)

 Welfare issue in fishing and fish farming

 Animal welfare issues in Ethiopia and the world

 International organizations working with Animal

welfare
Additional ppt
 Reading assignment on
The General Status of Animal Welfare in Developing
Countries: The Case of Ethiopia

https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/68640/
1/Unit-13.pdf

What are the causes of cannibalism in poultry

flocks?

• How can an outbreak of cannibalism be

prevented in your flock?
• Individuals, during their progression from infancy to
adulthood

Experience a variety of changes

Physical cognitive behavioural psychosocial

Successfully navigating the transition from juvenile, to

meet the demands of adulthood, remains one of the
trickiest tasks any individual will likely face
 Cont....
• The changes in behavioural repertoire that occur during
puberty are reflected in the

• Behaviour exist on a continuum from being to a large

extent contingent on genetic factors to others which are
mostly acquired through experience

• Instinctive components are those that are exhibited

without the benefit of, or need for, prior experience
 Origin and Evolution of behaviour
Behaviours can have a genetic basis
Genetic characteristics are those that are to a large extent
determined by genes

The external environment exerts a strong influence on

how all genes are expressed in behaviour via a
development of nervous and hormonal mechanisms
• All animals live in habitats

• Depend on their physical features to help them obtain

food, keep safe, build homes, withstand weather, and
attract mates

• Physical adaptations do not develop during an animal's

life but over many generations

• Adaptations are any behavioural or physical

characteristics of an animal that help it to survive in its
environment
Cont...
 Cont....
• Animals have evolved their adaptations(a long period of
slow change resulted in an animal's adaptation(s))

• Actions of animals
• Every individual of a given species is somehow able to
perform without first having to experience them
performed by others, and without being in any way
guided or instructed in them

• Type of behaviour consists of acts that appear to be

influenced by an animal’s own particular experiences
 Cont...
• Learned Behaviour
• Types of learned behaviours
• Habituation
• Associative learning
• Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning (conditioned
reflex)
• Operant conditioning (trial-and-error learning)
• Latent or exploratory learning
• Insight learning
• Imprinting
• The living cell depends on a virtually uninterrupted
supply of materials for its metabolism

 Foraging behaviour
 Foraging tactics
 Social foraging: Social foraging can be divided into
three distinct types, which are separated by the level of
actual cooperation

 Uninvited guests during foraging

 Cooperative hunting
 Extreme cooperation in eusocial animals
 Social behaviour of animals
• Cooperation, Altruism, and Sociality
• Many animals and humans show a startling flair for
exhibiting kindness, cooperation, and altruistic behaviour
• Cooperation
• Altruism
• Social behaviour
• unsociality
• Synergistic Benefits
• Delayed Benefits
• Reciprocity
 Consequences
• The complex needs for group-living may have driven
members towards a surprising degree of intelligence

• Individuals of many species are able to keep track of

each other's social status, correctly attribute each other’s
mental states, and successfully engage in each other's
deception
 Communication as a social process
• Social behaviour commonly includes communication

• communication is employed by animals to attract or

repel other individuals of particular groups

• Communicative acts, known as displays,

•
• various posturing and movements; sounds; particular
ways of making contact among individuals; the release
of specialized chemicals called pheromones; and even
electrical discharges
 Sexual and reproductive behaviour of animals

• Reproduction is the sole method through which a species

may continue, and reproduction manifests itself in
numerous deviations throughout nature

• Predation pressures, resource accessibility, and

competition with the species for attracting mates greatly
influence the likelihood of an individual within a species
producing viable offspring and donating genes to
subsequent generations
  4.4.1.1 Mate selection
• Occurs when individuals differ in their ability to
compete with others for mates or to attract members of
the opposite sex".

• By heavy courtship, fighting, or large territorial

possession, males heavily compete for females
• Females choose mates based on many factors
• One important factor is male adornments, or
ornaments
 Pecking order
• colloquial term for a hierarchical system of social
organization in animals

• The original usage of "peck order" referred to

expression of dominance of birds

• It is a basic concept in social stratification and social

hierarchy that has its counterpart in other animal
species, including humans

• The first studied example of the social hierarchy among

animals
 Courtship and mating

• Courtship behavior is used to find an appropriate mate

• It varies widely among the animal kingdom and can

include several forms of communication, from
pheromones to dancing

• What is the purpose of courtship behavior?

• Courtship is important for the following reasons

 Cont...
Attract Potential Mates
Recognize Mates
Establish Bond

4.4.2 Aggression and cannibalism

Aggression is a forceful behaviour, or attitude that is
expressed physically, vocally or symbolically occurs as
a defense mechanism
• Behaviour that serves to injure an opponent or a prey
animal or to cause an opponent to retreat is usually
considered aggressive

• Mammals show two basic aggressive patterns

Attack defensive threat
 Cont...
• The behavioural problem of cannibalism in the poultry industry can
include
 Toe picking in chicks , Feather pulling in older birds from the head,
tail or body
 Vent picking in older birds

 Cannibalism can also take a number of forms

• A dominant bird pecking at a more submissive member of
the flock

• Mutual pecking where birds in close proximity peck at each

other
• On rare occasions young chicks may peck their own toes
 Behaviour and welfare of farm animals
• Domestic animals have to contend with a complex
environment and they have a variety of methods for
attempting to cope with it

• That environment includes physical conditions, social

influences and predators, parasites or pathogens that may
attack the individual

• The coping methods include physiological changes in the

brain, adrenal glands and immune system and linked to
some of these, behavioural changes
 cont...
• The welfare of an animal is its state as regarded its
attempts to cope with its environment

• welfare is characteristics of the individual animal, which

varies on a continuum from poor to good

• Behaviour has a number of major advantages in welfare

studies
Five freedoms of farm animal

• The welfare of an animal includes its and

and considered that good animal
welfare implies
• Freedom from hunger and thirst: by ready access
to fresh water a diet to maintain full health and
vigour

• Freedom from discomfort: by providing an

appropriate environment including shelter and a
comfortable resting area

• Freedom from pain, injury or disease: by

prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment
• Freedom of expressing normal behaviour: by
providing sufficient space, proper facilities and
company of the animal’s own kind

• Freedom from fear and distress: by ensuring

conditions and treatment which avoid mental
suffering