A video and acoustic methodology to map bite placement at the patch scale

Griffiths, Wendy; Alchanatis, V.; Nitzan, R.; Ostrovsky, V.; Yonatan, Rafi; Brener, Shimon; Baram, H.; Genizi, Avraham; Ungar, Eugene D.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2005.10.006

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…It is difficult to observe a foraging animal's bite by visual inspection in wild animals, so we extracted information on bite density from a video record of the zebra feeding activities (Griffiths et al 2006). Focal animals were filmed from a parked vehicle during their active feeding times.…”

Section: Bite Density and Diet Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation in foraging behaviour of plains zebra (Equus quagga) may alter contact with the anthrax bacterium (Bacillus anthracis)

2014

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Pathogens transmitted via the environment are often aggregated in space, and seasonal variation in wildlife foraging behaviour may alter contact rates with environmental pathogens. The soil-borne bacterium Bacillus anthracis Cohn, 1872 causes anthrax, and herbivores acquire gastrointestinal anthrax by ingesting spores. Therefore host foraging behaviour could be a fundamental component of anthrax epidemiology. This study investigated seasonal changes in bite density and diet of plains zebras (Equus quagga Boddaert, 1785) in relation to anthrax seasonality in Etosha National Park, Namibia, where most zebra anthrax cases are observed in wet seasons. The diet of zebras shifted from more short grasses during the wet season to more tall grasses in the dry season, suggesting a greater potential for soil ingestion in wet seasons. Zebras also foraged most intensively in the wet season with the number of bites/step declining through the dry season. This higher bite density in wet seasons may lead individuals to ingest greater concentrations of the pathogen if foraging in a localized infectious area. Although sex and reproductive state affected bite density, no sex difference in anthrax occurrence was observed. This study demonstrates how considering variation in host foraging behaviour may enhance our understanding of disease seasonality for pathogens with foraging-dependent transmission.

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Section: Bite Density and Diet Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation in foraging behaviour of plains zebra (Equus quagga) may alter contact with the anthrax bacterium (Bacillus anthracis)

2014

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“…These differences can be attributed to the different tiller densities between the studies (>2000 tillers m À2 in the present study vs. 808 tillers m À2 in Hongo, 1998), suggesting that animals in our study repeatedly took herbage from the same area in the swards because of the high tiller and bulk density. Note that grazing ruminants mostly bite the upper stratum in grazing swards before reaching a lower stratum (Griffiths et al, 2006;Ungar et al, 1991Ungar et al, , 2001, and grazing in the vertical direction requires extra effort. Previous studies (Benvenutti et al, 2006(Benvenutti et al, , 2009 showed that the bite dimension and bite mass of cattle decreased with the increase in stem density in grasses of high tensile resistance, but no effect of stem density was detected on these bite parameters when cattle grazed grasses of low tensile resistance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bite placement was determined by frame-by-frame examination using slow-motion replay. There was a relatively little head movement during the frames that immediately preceded the audio peak of a bite (Griffiths et al, 2006). The grid square at which the front and lateral side views intersected was taken as the location of bite placement.…”

Section: Measurement Of Ingestive Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, bite placement influences bite volume, bite mass, and bite rate because bite placement, which is a composite of the distance from a bite to the subsequent bite, that is, inter‐bite distance, and degree of bite overlapping, may relate to sward and animal characteristics and therefore biting time and volume. However, because of methodological difficulty, very few studies have measured animal bite placement (Griffiths et al, 2006; Hongo, 1998; Ungar & Ravid, 1999), and to our knowledge, no studies have investigated interspecies differences in bite placement. Differences in the morphology of the buccal cavity, including the incisor arcade and muzzle width, and in the preference for physical and chemical characteristics of plant tissues among animal species (Clauss et al, 2009) are hypothesized to cause differences in the pattern of bite placement among the species, which would be the case for species with relatively similar sizes such as goats and sheep.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differences in ingestive behavior between grazing goats and sheep at the bite scale

Yayota

Hotokebuchi

Kawata

et al. 2023

Animal Science Journal

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This study aimed to clarify the differences in ingestive behavior between goats and sheep at the bite scale. Animals were allowed to graze a feeding station of bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flügge) with two sward heights (short and tall) to two levels of bite depletion (20 and 40 bites). Ingestive behavior variables, which represent the rate and mass of bites and chews, intake rate, bite dimensions, and bite placement characteristics, were quantified. The interspecies difference in ingestive behavior became obvious at the short sward. Goats reduced the inter‐bite distance and maintained bite overlapping but took deeper bites than sheep at the short sward, resulting in slightly greater bite mass. These behavioral changes with efficient chewing may be helpful to maintain the intake rate at the short sward. Sheep maintained their inter‐bite distance regardless of the sward height and decreased overlapping bites at the short sward. These behavioral characteristics in sheep in response to sward height may partly compensate for the decrease in the bite mass at the short sward, although it may not always maintain the intake rate. Thus, the present study suggests that goats and sheep implement different bite scale ingestive behaviors, including bite placement, when they eat short swards.

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Acoustic monitoring system to quantify ingestive behavior of free-grazing cattle

Clapham¹,

Fedders²,

Beeman³

et al. 2011

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

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A video and acoustic methodology to map bite placement at the patch scale

Cited by 4 publications

References 15 publications

Seasonal variation in foraging behaviour of plains zebra (Equus quagga) may alter contact with the anthrax bacterium (Bacillus anthracis)

Seasonal variation in foraging behaviour of plains zebra (Equus quagga) may alter contact with the anthrax bacterium (Bacillus anthracis)

Differences in ingestive behavior between grazing goats and sheep at the bite scale

Acoustic monitoring system to quantify ingestive behavior of free-grazing cattle

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