Dairy cows under experimentally-induced Escherichia coli mastitis show negative emotional states assessed through Qualitative Behaviour Assessment

Roches, Alice de Boyer Des; Lussert, Alexandra; Fauré, Marion; Herry, Vincent; Rainard, Pascal; Durand, Denys; Wemelsfelder, Françoise; Foucras, Gilles

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2018.06.004

Cited by 35 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…It is likely that the ‘irritated’ demeanour in flystruck animals reflects the negative emotional state associated with the presence of painful cutaneous lesions or the active feeding of the maggots causing irritation, pain or discomfort. Disease and injury are generally considered to have emotional components and studies have suggested that QBA scores can reflect the deleterious effect that injury or disease has on emotional state in pigs [32], cattle [33] and sheep [34]. While we cannot directly observe or assess psychological welfare, it has been suggested that QBA offers insight into emotional (psychological) state by summarising how animals perceive and interact with their environment through assessments of body language or behavioural expression [35,36].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Identification of Sheep with Flystrike Using Behavioural Observations

Grant

Wickham

Anderson

et al. 2019

Animals

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Flystrike is a major problem affecting sheep in Australia. Identification of ‘flystruck’ individuals is crucial for treatment; but requires labour-intensive physical examination. As the industry moves toward more low-input systems; there is a need for remote methods to identify flystruck individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the behaviour of sheep with breech flystrike within a paddock setting. Video footage of sixteen Merino sheep; eight later confirmed with flystrike and eight without; was collected as they moved freely within the paddock with conspecifics. Quantitative behavioural measurements and a qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) were conducted and compared to their breech conditions (i.e., faecal/urine staining; flystrike severity). Both qualitative and quantitative assessments indicated behavioural differences between flystruck and non-flystruck animals. Flystruck sheep had a behavioural profile characterised by restless behaviour; abnormal postures and reduced grazing time (p < 0.05). Furthermore; flystruck sheep were scored to have a more ‘exhausted/irritated’ demeanour using QBA (p < 0.05). The behavioural responses also corresponded to the flystrike severity scores and condition of the breech area. We conclude that remotely assessed behaviour of flystruck sheep diverges markedly from non-flystruck sheep; and thus could be a low-input method for identifying and treating affected animals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Identification of Sheep with Flystrike Using Behavioural Observations

Grant

Wickham

Anderson

et al. 2019

Animals

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“…We also found an unexpected, if weak, positive correlation between SAA and social exploration, which may, at least partially, be explained by the presence of both preclinical and postclinical individuals among our subclinical group. de Boyer des Roches et al (2017Roches et al ( , 2018 report behavioral changes including reduced environmental attentiveness during the preclinical phase of an experimentally induced mastitis model (i.e., before SCC and serum SAA upregulation), and during the acute phase (coinciding with raised levels of SCC and SAA), but not during the postclinical remission phase (high levels of SCC and SAA persist). This suggests that serum SAA may peak during postclinical remission, rather than during the acute phase of inflammation.…”

Section: Changes In Luxury Behaviors and Correlations With Salivary Saamentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in social and feeding behaviors, activity, and salivary serum amyloid A in cows with subclinical mastitis

Caplen

Held

2021

Journal of Dairy Science

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The aim of this study was to identify detailed changes in behavior, and in salivary serum amyloid A (SAA), associated with subclinical mastitis. This included standard sickness behaviors, such as decreased activity, feeding and drinking (here labeled "core maintenance" behaviors), and less well-studied social, grooming, and exploratory behaviors (here labeled "luxury" behaviors). Luxury behaviors are biologically predicted to change at lower levels of mastitis infection and are, therefore, particularly relevant to detecting subclinical mastitis. Salivary serum amyloid A is a physiological marker of systemic inflammation, with levels in milk and serum already known to increase during subclinical mastitis. We investigated whether the same was true for SAA in cow saliva. Data were collected for 17 matched pairs of commercial barn-housed Holstein-Friesian cows. Each pair comprised a cow with subclinical mastitis (SCM) and a healthy control (CTRL), identified using somatic cell count (SCC; SCM: SCC >200 × 1,000 cells/mL; CTRL: SCC <100 × 1,000 cells/mL). SCM cows were selected for study ad hoc, at which point they were paired with a CTRL cow, based upon parity and calving date; consequently, the full data set was accrued over several months. Data were collected for each pair over 3 d: SCC (d 1), behavior (d 2), salivary SAA (d 3). All behaviors performed by the focal cows over a single 24-h period were coded retrospectively from video footage, and differences between the SCM and CTRL groups were investigated using the main data set and a subset of data corresponding to the hour immediately following morning food delivery. Saliva was collected using cotton swabs and analyzed for SAA using commercially available ELISA kits. We report, for the first time, that an increase in salivary SAA occurs during subclinical mastitis; SAA was higher in SCM cows and demonstrated a positive (weak) correlation with SCC. The behavioral comparisons revealed that SCM cows displayed reductions in activity (behavioral transitions and distance moved), social exploration, social reactivity (here: likelihood to be displaced following receipt of agonism), performance of social grooming and head butts, and the receipt of agonistic noncontact challenges. In addition, SCM cows received more head swipes, and spent a greater proportion of time lying with their head on their flank than CTRL cows. The SCM cows also displayed an altered feeding pattern; they spent a greater proportion of feeding time in direct contact with 2 conspecifics, and a lower proportion of feeding time at self-locking feed barriers, than CTRL cows. Behavioral measures were found to correlate, albeit loosely, with serum SAA in a direction consistent with predictions for sickness behavior. These included positive correlations with lying duration and the receipt of all agonistic behavior, and negative correlations with feeding, drinking, the performance of all social and all agonistic behavior, and social reactivity. We conclude that changes in salivary SAA, social behavior, and a...

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“…The semantic content of the concept of subjective terminology: At this point, QBA does not have a fixed set of terms or a unified methodology of creating them. Usually, emotional terms are used (Des Boyer Roches et al 2018;Minero et al 2018), but there is also research regarding temperament (Parham et al 2019), or terminology based on human mental medical conditions like depression (Harvey et al 2019). The processes by which sets of terms are compiled also differ: The terminology is either defined in the process of the actual behaviour assessment (Patel et al 2019) or based on a "pre-fixed list of descriptors" (Grosso et al 2016, 52), selected from existing ethological literature and revised by experts.…”

Section: Outlook On Current Framework Of Ethological Research In Animal Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

Methodological Signatures in Early Ethology: The Problem of Animal Subjectivity

Klassen

2021

J Gen Philos Sci

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What is the adequate terminology to talk about animal behaviour? Is terminology referring to mental or emotional states anthropomorphic and should therefore be prohibited or is it a necessary means to provide for an adequate description and should be encouraged? This question was vehemently discussed in the founding phase of Ethology as a scientific discipline and still is. This multi-layered problem can be grasped by using the concept of methodological signatures, developed by Köchy et al. (2016c). It is designed to analyse and systematically compare animal research approaches by examining their common parameters. By examining the works of Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989) and Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907–1988), this paper offers new insights both on a methodological and theoretical level. Methodologically, the application of the concept of methodological signatures is illustrated; theoretically, the principles of Classic Ethology are analysed. My aim is to illustrate how the problem of scientific access to animal subjectivity was addressed in the history of Ethology by analysing statements about animal sentience. For this purpose, I will first outline the general discussion about animal subjectivity and the tension between anthropomorphism and empirical adequacy. I introduce my own theoretical and methodological framework before presenting an analysis of Lorenz’ and Tinbergen’s methodological signatures. Thereby, I show how the question of terminology is deeply embedded in a network of epistemological, methodological and ontological concepts and establish key characteristics in regard to ethological approaches to animal subjectivity. Finally, I shed light on the possibility of using this typology to examine current frameworks of animal welfare research.

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Dairy cows under experimentally-induced Escherichia coli mastitis show negative emotional states assessed through Qualitative Behaviour Assessment

Cited by 35 publications

References 50 publications

Remote Identification of Sheep with Flystrike Using Behavioural Observations

Remote Identification of Sheep with Flystrike Using Behavioural Observations

Changes in social and feeding behaviors, activity, and salivary serum amyloid A in cows with subclinical mastitis

Methodological Signatures in Early Ethology: The Problem of Animal Subjectivity

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