Transcript Animal Behavior

Animal Behavior
What is Behavior?
• Webster’s Definition
– Conduct or Action
• The individual and group actions which
take place in animals in order to allow them
to live and function in their environment.
Animal Behaviors
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Environmental Comfort
Social Behavior
Mating behavior
Nest building
Post-partum behavior
Environmental Comfort
• Environment is too cold
– huddling
– piling up
• Environment is too hot
– cattle & sheep seek shady areas for rest &
rumination
– Pigs seek wet areas
• Why?
Environmental Comfort
• Examples of discomfort behavior?
– Tail biting & ear chewing (swine)
– feather picking & cannibalism (poultry)
Social Behavior
• Male animals of all species fight when they
meet other unfamiliar males
• Cows, sows, & mares develop a pecking
order, but fight less intensely
– Ewes seldom fight
Social Behavior - Cows
• Social order in cow herds are influenced by:
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Age
Size
Strength
Presence of horns
Previous experience
Social Behavior - Pigs
• Develop a social order at birth
• Closely confined pigs in pens of greater
than 30 head per pen have some difficulty
establishing social order
Social Behavior - Poultry
• Pecking order found in:
– Feeding
– Nesting
– Roosting
• Low status individuals often:
– get less feed
– appear nervous & frightened
– feed early in the morning & later at dusk while
dominant birds roost
Mating Behavior - Threat
Displays
• Bulls
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Arching of the neck
Protrusion of the eyeballs
Erection of the hair along the back
Pawing the ground
Turning of the shoulder toward the threatened
individual
Mating Behavior - Threat
Displays
• Stallions
– Rearing on the hind legs
– Laying back the ears
• Rams
– Vigorous stamping of the forefoot
Nest Building - Sows
• Three days before labor most of the time is
spent sleeping & feeding
• As labor draws near:
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Attempt to clean & dry the nesting site
Chew long grass or straw to provide bedding
Use forelegs to build nest by pawing
Resist any human attempt to move her bedding
• The amount of nesting time varies with the
individual
Post-Partum Behavior
• Mares
– Following birth mare will lay exhausted for 2030 minutes
– Do not eat the afterbirth, but will groom their
foals
Post-Partum Behavior
• Cows
– Will lick the uterine discharge from herself
– Will rest for a period of time & then lick the
fetal membranes & fluids from her calf
– Usually will eat the placenta & sometimes any
bedding that is contaminated by fetal &
placental fluids
Post-Partum Behavior
• Ewes
– Chews & eats parts of the fetal membranes, but
do not consume the entire afterbirth
– Recognition of both ewe & lamb is very
important
• Often will reject their young if they are taken away
immediately after birth & returned later