Sheep cognition and its implications for welfare

Doyle, Rebecca

doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-100718-1.00004-2

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Although previous studies in cylinder detour tasks or Y mazes reported that neither goats nor sheep displayed a lateral bias at the population level, they observed individual side biases (e.g. in goats, [37] and sheep, [53]), i.e. a consistent preference to detour to the left or right side, that might also have affected the accuracy results in the current study.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

Goats show higher behavioural flexibility than sheep in a spatial detour task

et al. 2021

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The ability to adapt to changing environments is crucial for survival and has evolved based on socio-ecological factors. Goats and sheep are closely related, with similar social structures, body sizes and domestication levels, but different feeding ecologies, i.e. goats are browsers and sheep are grazers. We investigated whether goats' reliance on more patchily distributed food sources predicted an increased behavioural flexibility compared to sheep. We tested 21 goats and 28 sheep in a spatial A-not-B detour task. Subjects had to navigate around a straight barrier through a gap at its edge. After one, two, three or four of these initial A trials, the gap was moved to the opposite end and subjects performed four B trials. Behaviourally more flexible individuals should move through the new gap faster, while those less behaviourally flexible should show greater perseveration. While both species showed an accuracy reduction following the change of the gap position, goats recovered from this perseveration error from the second B trial onwards, whereas sheep did so only in the fourth B trial, indicating differences in behavioural flexibility between the species. This higher degree of flexibility in goats compared to sheep could be linked to differences in their foraging strategies.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

Goats show higher behavioural flexibility than sheep in a spatial detour task

et al. 2021

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“…It has been proposed that the differences in results between previous judgement bias studies may be due to the duration of the applied stressors, where chronic stress has more consistently caused a shift towards pessimism, while acute stress has yielded mixed results 14,73 . This theory is not supported by the findings of the current study, which found no evidence of a pessimistic judgement bias after chronic stress, or an optimistic bias after acute stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmacologically-induced stress has minimal impact on judgement and attention biases in sheep

Monk

Belson

2019

Sci Rep

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The emotional impact of exposure to stressors has not been well quantified in animals. We hypothesised that exogenous induction of stress in sheep would induce a pessimistic judgement bias and increased attention towards a threatening stimulus, suggestive of a negative emotional state. Stress was induced pharmacologically by administering synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone. Judgement bias was assessed using a spatial go/no-go task after exposure to acute stress (one injection), chronic stress (21 daily injections) and acute-on-chronic stress (2 min isolation after 28 daily injections). Attention bias was assessed during chronic stress only (22 daily injections). In contrast with our hypotheses, there was no strong evidence that Synacthen administration altered judgement bias or attention bias at any stage of the experiment. Stressed sheep were more likely to approach ambiguous locations than saline Control animals, however, statistical evidence for models fitting treatment group was very weak. Overall, our findings suggest that elevated levels of cortisol may not fully explain changes to judgement bias observed in previous studies after environmentally-induced stress. Further studies are required to better understand which aspects of environmentally-induced stress alter judgement bias and to further validate cognitive methods of assessing affect in sheep.

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“…We did not find any lateral preference in detouring the obstacle at the population level, however, side preferences were found at the individual level, with four sheep preferring to detour on the right side and the remaining four on the left side. Several studies have used behavioural tasks to assess lateralization in sheep, but until now, a consistent lateral preference across breeds was not proven in sheep [29].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Sheep Anticipatory Response to a Food Reward by Means of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Chincarini

Qiu

Spinelli

et al. 2018

Animals

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Simple SummaryAnticipatory behaviour to an oncoming food reward can be triggered via classical conditioning, implies the activation of neural networks, and may serve to study the emotional state of animals. This work aimed to investigate how the anticipatory response affects cerebral cortex activity in sheep. Eight ewes were conditioned to associate a neutral auditory stimulus (water bubble) to a food reward (maize grains). Then, sheep were trained to wait 15 s before accessing the food (anticipatory phase). Behavioural reaction and changes in cortical oxy-haemoglobin ([ΔO2Hb]) and deoxy-haemoglobin ([ΔHHb]) concentration were recorded by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). During the anticipatory phase, sheep increased their active behaviour together with a cortical activation (increase of [ΔO2Hb] and a decrease of [ΔHHb]) compared to baseline. Sheep showed a greater response of the right hemisphere compared to the left hemisphere, possibly indicating frustration. Behavioural and cortical changes observed during anticipation of a food reward reflect a learnt association and an increased arousal, but no clear emotional valence of the sheep subjective experience.AbstractAnticipatory behaviour to an oncoming food reward can be triggered via classical conditioning, implies the activation of neural networks, and may serve to study the emotional state of animals. The aim of this study was to investigate how the anticipatory response to a food reward affects the cerebral cortex activity in sheep. Eight ewes from the same flock were trained to associate a neutral auditory stimulus (water bubble) to the presence of a food reward (maize grains). Once conditioned, sheep were trained to wait 15 s behind a gate before accessing a bucket with food (anticipation phase). For 6 days, sheep were submitted to two sessions of six consecutive trials each. Behavioural reaction was filmed and changes in cortical oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentration ([ΔO2Hb] and [ΔHHb] respectively) following neuronal activation were recorded by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Compared to baseline, during the anticipation phase sheep increased their active behaviour, kept the head oriented to the gate (Wilcoxon’s signed rank test; p ≤ 0.001), and showed more asymmetric ear posture (Wilcoxon’s signed rank test; p ≤ 0.01), most likely reflecting a learnt association and an increased arousal. Results of trial-averaged [ΔO2Hb] and [ΔHHb] within individual sheep showed in almost every sheep a cortical activation during the anticipation phase (Student T-test; p ≤ 0.05). The sheep showed a greater response of the right hemisphere compared to the left hemisphere, possibly indicating a negative affective state, such as frustration. Behavioural and cortical changes observed during anticipation of a food reward reflect a learnt association and an increased arousal, but no clear emotional valence of the sheep subjective experience. Future work should take into consideration possible factors affecting the accurateness of measures, such a...

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Sheep cognition and its implications for welfare

Cited by 12 publications

References 72 publications

Goats show higher behavioural flexibility than sheep in a spatial detour task

Goats show higher behavioural flexibility than sheep in a spatial detour task

Pharmacologically-induced stress has minimal impact on judgement and attention biases in sheep

Evaluation of Sheep Anticipatory Response to a Food Reward by Means of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

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