Search Behavior in Goat (Capra hircus) Kids From Mothers Kept at Different Animal Densities Throughout Pregnancy

Abstract

Individual differences in cognitive performance are often reported but factors related to variation within species are rarely addressed. Goats (Capra hircus) have been subjects of many cognitive studies recently but without focus on individual variation. Among others, factors such as prenatal stress and sex of the individual have been proposed as possible explanations for individual variation in cognitive skills. We aimed to study whether prenatal environment, prenatal stress, litter size, sex, and birth weight influences search behavior skills of goat kids. Pregnant Norwegian dairy goats were exposed to different spatial allowance (namely 1.0, 2.0, or 3.0 m 2 per animal) within the commercially applied range during pregnancy and their serum cortisol levels were measured six times within this period. Twenty-six of the kids born entered a three-stage searching task with increasing difficulty when they were 6 weeks old. The tasks included finding a bucket of milk: while moving (stage 1), after moving and disappearing behind a curtain (stage 2), and moving behind a displacement device and the device moving behind a curtain while hiding the bucket (stage 3). We found that prenatal animal density had no effect on the search skills of the offspring, while kids with higher prenatal maternal cortisol levels performed better at the highest stage tested: finding an object after single invisible displacement. At this stage, singleton kids and males performed better than twins and females. Birth weight had no effect at this stage. The findings suggest that maternal cortisol in the observed range had a facilitating effect on cognitive development of goat kids.

Horses Solve Visible but Not Invisible Displacement Tasks in an Object Permanence Paradigm

“…Previous results suggest a full understanding of object permanence up to Stage 6 in several non-human species, including primates (e.g., Neiworth et al, 2003;Mendes and Huber, 2004; Barth and Call, 2006), corvids (Corvidae, e.g., Bugnyar et al, 2007;Hoffmann et al, 2011), psittacids (Psittacidae, e.g., Pepperberg et al, 1997;Auersperg et al, 2014;Bastos and Taylor, 2019), pigeons (Columba livia domestica, Zentall and Raley, 2019), and goats (Capra aegagrus hircus, Nawroth et al, 2015;Vas et al, 2019). Other species succeeded in tasks involving Stage 5, but not 6.…”

The level of reproductive hormones of Boer goats based on type of birth: triplets and singles

“…The results showed that FSH requirement expected to produce more than one dominant follicle was 1.4 -18.1 mlU/ml [25,33]. In this study, FSH and LH levels of Boer goats broods, specifically those with multiple birth type, were still within the reference range, as shown in Figure 1.…”

“…Follicle Stimulating Hormone was one of the reproductive hormones of the gonadotropins group [25], synthesized and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland. In each oestrus cycle, specifically before ovulation, adult female goats had fluctuating FSH levels and the peak occured around the estrus or shortly before ovulation [26].…”

Level Of FSH And LH Of Boer Goat Based On The Type Of Birth: Triplets And Single

“…Kondisi temperatur lingkungan yang kurang menguntungkan bagi kambing ini diperkirakan tidak nyata menyebabkan terjadinya gangguan terhadap laju pertumbuhan ternak, karena secara genetik lebih tahan udara panas. Follicle stimulating hormone atau FSH adalah salah satu hormon reproduksi kelompok gonadotropins (Vas et al 2019), di sintesis dan disekresikan oleh glandula pituitary anterior. Pada setiap siklus estrusnya, terutama sebelum terjadi ovulasi, kambing betina dewasa mempunyai kadar FSH yang berfluktuasi dan pun-caknya terjadi di sekitar estrus atau beberapa saat sebelum ovulasi (Kang et al 2021).…”