24 results on '"Wemelsfelder, F."'
Search Results
2. Potential risk factors associated with contact dermatitis, lameness, negative emotional state, and fear of humans in broiler chicken flocks
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Bassler, A.W., Arnould, C., Butterworth, A., Colin, L., De Jong, I.C., Ferrante, V., Ferrari, P., Haslam, S., Wemelsfelder, F., and Blokhuis, H.J.
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- 2013
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3. The correlation of Qualitative Behavior Assessments with Welfare Quality® protocol outcomes in on-farm welfare assessment of dairy cattle
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Andreasen, S.N., Wemelsfelder, F., Sandøe, P., and Forkman, B.
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- 2013
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4. Behavioural and physiological measures following treadmill exercise as potential indicators to evaluate fatigue in sheep
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Cockram, M.S., Murphy, E., Ringrose, S., Wemelsfelder, F., Miedema, H.M., and Sandercock, D.A.
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- 2012
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5. The spontaneous qualitative assessment of behavioural expressions in pigs: first explorations of a novel methodology for integrative animal welfare measurement
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Wemelsfelder, F, Hunter, E.A, Mendl, M.T, and Lawrence, A.B
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- 2000
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6. Welfare assessment in dogs: Reducing the invasiveness of welfare assessment methodology through trial and validation of a qualitative, behavioral-based approach
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Walker, J.K., Dale, A.R., D'Eath, R.B., and Wemelsfelder, F.
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- 2009
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7. Qualitative behavioural assessment of the motivation for feed in sheep in response to altered body condition score.
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Stockman, C. A., Collins, T., Barnes, A. L., Miller, D., Wickham, S. L., Verbeek, E., Matthews, L., Ferguson, D., Wemelsfelder, F., and Fleming, P. A.
- Abstract
Qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) has been used to quantify the expressive behaviour of animals, and operant tests have been used to quantify measures of behavioural need. In this study we compared measures of behavioural expression and behaviour in operant tests. We examined the behavioural expression of pregnant ewes of body condition score (BCS) 2 and 3. The ewes were exposed to a feed motivation test in which they received a food reward. Pregnant ewes (48-70 days gestation) were assessed during a food motivation test after they had been maintained at BCS 3 (n = 7) or given a decreasing plane of nutrition that resulted in slow loss of 1 BCS unit (over 10-12 weeks; n = 7) or a fast loss of 1 BCS unit (over 4-6 weeks; n = 7). The feed motivation test involved ewes having the opportunity to approach a food reward and then being moved a given distance away from the reward by an automatic gate; they could then subsequently return to the feeder. Continuous video footage of each ewe during one cycle of the gate (approaching and returning from the food reward) was shown in random order to 11 observers who used their own descriptive terms (free-choice profiling methodology; FCP) to score the animals using QBA. Data of the assessment were analysed with generalised Procrustes analysis (GPA), a multivariate statistical technique associated with FCP. The research group also quantified the feeding behaviour of sheep in the same clips. These behaviours included how sheep approached the feeder, behaviours exhibited at the feeder, and how sheep returned from the feeder. There was consensus amongst observers in terms of their assessment of behavioural expression of the sheep (P < 0.001). The GPA found three main dimensions of assessed behavioural expression in the sheep, which together explained 44% of the variation observed. GPA dimension 1 differed between the three treatment groups (P < 0.05): ewes maintained at BCS 3 scored low on GPA dimension 1 (i.e. were described as more calm/bored/comfortable) compared with ewes that had a slow declining BCS (described as more interested/anxious/excited). GPA dimension 2 scores were not significantly different between treatment groups. However, quantitative behaviours exhibited by sheep during the clips were correlated with qualitative behavioural assessments made by the observers. Animals that spent more time 'sniffing and looking for more feed' were attributed lower GPA 2 scores (described as more hungry/searching/excited) (P < 0.05), and animals that 'did not walk directly to the food reward (but stopped along the way)' were attributed significantly higher GPA 2 scores (more curious/intimidated/uneasy) (P < 0.01). GPA dimension 3 scores also did not differ between the treatment groups; however, sheep that had a higher number of feeding events during the entire 23-h feed motivation test were attributed lower GPA dimension 3 scores (they were described as more hungry/bold/interested) (P < 0.05), and sheep that consumed a larger amount of the feed reward were attributed higher GPA dimension 3 scores (more curious/concerned/reserved) (P < 0.05). We conclude that QBA is a valuable method of assessing sheep behavioural expression under the conditions tested, in that it provided an integrative characterisation of sheep behavioural expression that was in agreement with quantitative behavioural measures of feeding. Qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) has been used to quantify the expressive behaviour of pregnant ewes at varying body condition score. Animals were assessed through QBA during a feed motivation test. Ewes maintained at BCS 3 scored low on GPA dimension 1 (i.e. were described as more calm/bored/comfortable) compared with ewes that had a slow declining BCS (described as more interested/anxious/excited). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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- 2014
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8. Applying ethological and health indicators to practical animal welfare assessment.
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Wemelsfelder, F. and Mullan, S.
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- 2014
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9. Qualitative behavioral assessment of transport-naïve and transport-habituated sheep.
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Wickham, S. L., Collins, T., Barnes, A. L., Miller, D. W., Beatty, D. T., Stockman, C., Blache, D., Wemelsfelder, F., and Fleming, P. A.
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SHEEP behavior ,BEHAVIORAL assessment ,PHYSIOLOGICAL stress ,BODY temperature ,HEART beat ,BLOOD sampling ,CATTLE - Abstract
Objective and issue-neutral qualitative assessments of livestock behavior could provide a powerful assessment of welfare, augmenting quantitative measures such as autonomic and endocrine changes, which are often difficult to assess under many commercial livestock conditions. We set out to validate the use of qualitative behavioral assessment (QBA) in sheep using controlled experimental conditions (transport as a challenge) and comparing assessments against physiological variables. The behavioral expression of 14 Merino wethers, which had never experienced land transport, were assessed during their first road event (naïve to transport), and then again on their seventh event, 8 d later (habituated to transport). Blood samples were collected immediately before loading and after unloading, and heart rate and core body temperature were measured continuously throughout each event. Continuous video footage recorded during each event was used to provide clips of individual animals that were shown to observers for QBA. There was significant consensus (P < 0.001) amongst 63 observers in terms of their assessment of the behavioral expression of the sheep. Transport-naïve sheep were assessed as being more 'alert', 'anxious', and 'aware', whereas transport-habituated sheep were more 'comfortable', 'tired', and 'confident' (P = 0.015). Heart rate and heart rate variability, core body temperature and a stress leuk-ogram were greater (P < 0.05) in sheep during the first (naïve) event compared with the habituated event, and were significantly correlated with the QBA scores (P < 0.05). In conclusion, QBA is a valid, practical and informative measure of behavioral responses to transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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- 2012
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10. Assessing pig body language: Agreement and consistency between pig farmers, veterinarians, and animal activists.
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Wemelsfelder, F., Hunter, A. E., Paul, E. S., and Lawrence, A. B.
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SWINE farms , *ANIMAL specialists , *ANIMAL rights activists , *BODY language , *FARMERS , *BEHAVIORAL assessment , *ANIMAL science , *ANTHROPOMORPHISM - Abstract
This study investigates the interobserver and intraobserver reliability of qualitative behavior assessments (QBA) of individual pigs by 3 observer groups selected for their diverging backgrounds, experience, and views of pigs. Qualitative behavior assessment is a whole animal assessment approach that characterizes the demeanor of an animal as an expressive body language, using descriptors such as relaxed, anxious, or content. This paper addresses the concern that use of such descriptors in animal science may be prone to distortion by observer-related bias. Using a free-choice profiling methodology, 12 pig farmers, 10 large animal veterinarians, and 10 animal protectionists were instructed to describe and score the behavioral expressions of 10 individual pigs (Sus scrofa) in 2 repeat sets of 10 video clips, showing these pigs in interaction with a human female. They were also asked to fill in a questionnaire gauging their experiences with and views on pigs. Pig scores were analyzed with Generalized Procrustes Analysis and effect of treatment on these scores with ANOVA. Questionnaire scores were analyzed with a x² test or ANOVA. Observers achieved consensus both within and among observer groups (P < 0.001), identifying 2 main dimensions of pig expression (diml: playful/confident-cautious/timid; dim2: aggressive/nervous-relaxed/bored), on which pig scores for different observer groups were highly correlated (Pearson r > 0.90). The 3 groups also repeated their assessments of individual pigs with high precision (r > 0.85). Animal protectionists used a wider quantitative range in scoring individual pigs on dimension 2 than the other groups (P < 0.001); however, this difference did not distort the strong overall consistency of characterizations by observers of individual pigs. Questionnaire results indicated observer groups to differ in various ways, such as daily and lifetime contact with pigs (P < 0.001), some aspects of affection and empathy for pigs (P < 0.05), and confidence in the validity of personal QBA descriptors (P < 0.02). The main finding of this study is that despite such differences in background and outlook, the 3 observer groups showed high interobserver and intraobserver reliability in their characterizations of pig body language. This supports the empirical nature of QBA in context of the wider anthropomorphism debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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- 2012
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11. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment as a welfare indicator for farmed Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar) in response to a stressful challenge.
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Wiese TR, Rey Planellas S, Betancor M, Haskell M, Jarvis S, Davie A, Wemelsfelder F, and Turnbull JF
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Animal welfare assessments have struggled to investigate the emotional states of animals while focusing solely on available empirical evidence. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) may provide insights into an animal's subjective experiences without compromising scientific rigor. Rather than assessing explicit, physical behaviours (i.e., what animals are doing, such as swimming or feeding), QBA describes and quantifies the overall expressive manner in which animals execute those behaviours (i.e., how relaxed or agitated they appear). While QBA has been successfully applied to scientific welfare assessments in a variety of species, its application within aquaculture remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to assess QBA's effectiveness in capturing changes in the emotional behaviour of Atlantic salmon following exposure to a stressful challenge. Nine tanks of juvenile Atlantic salmon were video-recorded every morning for 15 min over a 7-day period, in the middle of which a stressful challenge (intrusive sampling) was conducted on the salmon. The resultant 1-min, 63 video clips were then semi-randomised to avoid predictability and treatment bias for QBA scorers. Twelve salmon-industry professionals generated a list of 16 qualitative descriptors (e.g., relaxed, agitated, stressed) after viewing unrelated video-recordings depicting varying expressive characteristics of salmon in different contexts. A different group of 5 observers, with varied experience of salmon farming, subsequently scored the 16 descriptors for each clip using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Principal Components Analysis (correlation matrix, no rotation) was used to identify perceived patterns of expressive characteristics across the video-clips, which revealed 4 dimensions explaining 74.5% of the variation between clips. PC1, ranging from 'relaxed/content/positive active' to 'unsettled/stressed/spooked/skittish' explained the highest percentage of variation (37%). QBA scores for video-clips on PC1, PC2, and PC4 achieved good inter- and intra-observer reliability. Linear Mixed Effects Models, controlled for observer variation in PC1 scores, showed a significant difference between PC1 scores before and after sampling ( p = 0.03), with salmon being perceived as more stressed afterwards. PC1 scores also correlated positively with darting behaviours ( r = 0.42, p < 0.001). These results are the first to report QBA's sensitivity to changes in expressive characteristics of salmon following a putatively stressful challenge, demonstrating QBA's potential as a welfare indicator within aquaculture., Competing Interests: AD was employed by Aquascot Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wiese, Rey Planellas, Betancor, Haskell, Jarvis, Davie, Wemelsfelder and Turnbull.)
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- 2023
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12. Digital Livestock Technologies as boundary objects: Investigating impacts on farm management and animal welfare.
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Schillings J, Bennett R, Wemelsfelder F, and Rose DC
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Digital Livestock Technologies (DLTs) can assist farmer decision-making and promise benefits to animal health and welfare. However, the extent to which they can help improve animal welfare is unclear. This study explores how DLTs may impact farm management and animal welfare by promoting learning, using the concept of boundary objects. Boundary objects may be interpreted differently by different social worlds but are robust enough to share a common identity across them. They facilitate communication around a common issue, allowing stakeholders to collaborate and co-learn. The type of learning generated may impact management and welfare differently. For example, it may help improve existing strategies (single-loop learning), or initiate reflection on how these strategies were framed initially (double-loop learning). This study focuses on two case studies, during which two DLTs were developed and tested on farms. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders involved in the case studies (n = 31), and the results of a separate survey were used to complement our findings. Findings support the important potential of DLTs to help enhance animal welfare, although the impacts vary between technologies. In both case studies, DLTs facilitated discussions between stakeholders, and whilst both promoted improved management strategies, one also promoted deeper reflection on the importance of animal emotional well-being and on providing opportunities for positive animal welfare. If DLTs are to make significant improvements to animal welfare, greater priority should be given to DLTs that promote a greater understanding of the dimensions of animal welfare and a reframing of values and beliefs with respect to the importance of animals' well-being., Competing Interests: None., (© The Author(s) 2023.)
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- 2023
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13. Once bitten, twice shy: Aggressive and defeated pigs begin agonistic encounters with more negative emotions.
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Oldham L, Arnott G, Camerlink I, Doeschl-Wilson A, Farish M, Wemelsfelder F, and Turner SP
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Aggression between unfamiliar commercial pigs is common and likely invokes strong emotions in contestants. Furthermore, contest outcomes affect subsequent aggressive behaviour, suggesting a potential lasting influence on affective state. Here we used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the emotional expression of pigs in agonistic encounters. We investigated how recent victory or defeat influences emotions expressed in a subsequent contest, and the role of aggressiveness as a personality trait in emotional expression. We observed the pre-escalation contest behaviour (second contest; age 13 wks) in animals of different aggressiveness (categorised using two resident intruder tests as Agg+ or Agg-, age 9 wks), which had recently won or lost a contest (first contest; 10 wks). We measured gaze direction and ear position. Observers watched video clips of the initial 30 s of the second contest and evaluated the emotional expression of 57 pigs (25 contest 1 winners, 32 contest 1 losers) using qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) with a fixed list of 20 descriptive terms. QBA identified three principal components (PCs), accounting for 68% of the variation: PC1 (agitated/tense to relaxed/content), PC2 (fearful/aimless to confident/enjoying) and PC3 (listless/ indifferent). Agg- pigs and males showed a more positive emotionality (PC2). PC1 and PC3 were unaffected by first contest outcome and aggressiveness. Agg+ pigs were more likely to hold their ears back (X
2 =7.8, p = 0.005) during the early contest period. Differences in attention were detected in the contest outcome × aggressiveness interaction (χ2 4.3, p = 0.04), whereby approaching the opponent was influenced by winning and losing in the Agg- pigs only. QBA and gaze behaviour reveal differences in emotional valence between pigs of different aggressiveness: less aggressive pigs may be more susceptible to the emotional impact of victory and defeat but overall, more aggressive pigs express more negative emotionality at the start of agonistic encounters., (© 2021 The Authors.)- Published
- 2021
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14. Qualitative Behavioral Assessment in Juvenile Farmed Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar ): Potential for On-Farm Welfare Assessment.
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Jarvis S, Ellis MA, Turnbull JF, Rey Planellas S, and Wemelsfelder F
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There is a growing scientific and legislative consensus that fish are sentient, and therefore have the capacity to experience pain and suffering. The assessment of the welfare of farmed fish is challenging due to the aquatic environment and the number of animals housed together. However, with increasing global production and intensification of aquaculture comes greater impetus for developing effective tools which are suitable for the aquatic environment to assess the emotional experience and welfare of farmed fish. This study therefore aimed to investigate the use of Qualitative Behavioral Assessment (QBA), originally developed for terrestrial farmed animals, in farmed salmon and evaluate its potential for use as a welfare monitoring tool. QBA is a "whole animal" approach based on the description and quantification of the expressive qualities of an animal's dynamic style of behaving, using descriptors such as relaxed, agitated, lethargic, or confident. A list of 20 qualitative descriptors was generated by fish farmers after viewing video-footage showing behavior expressions representative of the full repertoire of salmon in this context. A separate, non-experienced group of 10 observers subsequently watched 25 video clips of farmed salmon, and scored the 20 descriptors for each clip using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). To assess intra-observer reliability each observer viewed the same 25 video clips twice, in two sessions 10 days apart, with the second clip set presented in a different order. The observers were unaware that the two sets of video clips were identical. Data were analyzed using Principal Component (PC) Analysis (correlation matrix, no rotation), revealing four dimensions that together explained 79% of the variation between video clips, with PC1 (Tense/anxious/skittish-Calm/mellow/relaxed) explaining the greatest percentage of variation (56%). PC1 was the only dimension to show acceptable inter- and intra-observer reliability, and mean PC1 scores correlated significantly to durations of slow and erratic physical movements measured for the same 25 video clips. Further refinements to the methodology may be necessary, but this study is the first to provide evidence for the potential of Qualitative Behavioral Assessment to serve as a time-efficient welfare assessment tool for juvenile salmon under farmed conditions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The handling editor declared a past co-authorship with one of the authors SR., (Copyright © 2021 Jarvis, Ellis, Turnbull, Rey Planellas and Wemelsfelder.)
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- 2021
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15. High-starch diets alter equine faecal microbiota and increase behavioural reactivity.
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Bulmer LS, Murray JA, Burns NM, Garber A, Wemelsfelder F, McEwan NR, and Hastie PM
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- Animals, Bacteroidetes, Cross-Over Studies, Dietary Fiber, Firmicutes, Horses, Multivariate Analysis, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Animal Feed, Behavior, Animal, Brain metabolism, Feces, Gastrointestinal Microbiome drug effects, Intestines physiology, Starch administration & dosage
- Abstract
Gut microbiota have been associated with health, disease and behaviour in several species and are an important link in gut-brain axis communication. Diet plays a key role in affecting the composition of gut microbiota. In horses, high-starch diets alter the hindgut microbiota. High-starch diets are also associated with increased behavioural reactivity in horses. These changes in microbiota and behaviour may be associated. This study compares the faecal microbiota and behaviour of 10 naïve ponies. A cross-over design was used with experimental groups fed high-starch (HS) or high-fibre (HF) diets. Results showed that ponies were more reactive and less settled when being fed the HS diet compared to the HF diet. Irrespective of diet, the bacterial profile was dominated by two main phyla, Firmicutes, closely followed by Bacteroidetes. However, at lower taxonomic levels multivariate analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing data showed diet affected faecal microbial community structure. The abundance of 85 OTUs differed significantly related to diet. Correlative relationships exist between dietary induced alterations to faecal microbiota and behaviour. Results demonstrate a clear link between diet, faecal microbial community composition and behaviour. Dietary induced alterations to gut microbiota play a role in affecting the behaviour of the host.
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- 2019
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16. Development of a fixed list of terms for the Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of shelter dogs.
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Arena L, Wemelsfelder F, Messori S, Ferri N, and Barnard S
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- Animals, Dogs, Female, Humans, Male, Animal Welfare, Behavior, Animal physiology
- Abstract
The shelter environment may have a severe impact on the dogs' quality of life, and there is thus a need to develop valid tools to assess their welfare. These tools should be sensitive not only to the animals' physical health but also to their mental health, including the assessment of positive and negative emotions. Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is a 'whole animal' measure that captures the expressive quality of an animal's demeanour, using descriptive terms such as 'relaxed', 'anxious', and 'playful'. In this study, for the first time, we developed and tested a fixed-list of qualitative QBA terms for application to kennelled dogs. A list of 20 QBA terms was developed based on literature search and an expert opinion survey. Inter-observer reliability was investigated by asking 11 observers to use these terms to score 13 video clips of kennelled dogs. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to extract four main dimensions explaining 70.9% of the total variation between clips. PC1 characterised curious/playful/excitable/sociable demeanour, PC2 ranged from comfortable/relaxed to anxious/nervous/stressed expression, PC3 described fearful demeanour, and PC4 characterised bored/depressed demeanour. Observers' agreement on the ranking of video clips on these four expressive dimensions was good (Kendall's W: 0.60-0.80). ANOVA showed a significant effect of observer on mean clip score on all PCs (p<0.05), due to few observers scoring differently from the rest of the group. Results indicate the potential of the proposed list of QBA terms for sheltered dogs to serve, in alignment with other measures, as a non-invasive assessment tool. However, the observer effect on mean PC scores points towards the need for adequate observer training, particularly in live scoring conditions. The QBA scoring tool can be integrated with existing welfare assessment protocols for shelter dogs and strengthen the power of those protocols to evaluate the animals' experience in shelters., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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- 2019
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17. Using Qualitative Behaviour Assessment to Investigate Human-Animal Relationships in Zoo-Housed Giraffes ( Giraffa camelopardalis ).
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Patel F, Wemelsfelder F, and Ward SJ
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Human-Animal Relationships (HAR) in zoos develop from repeated interactions between animals and their caretakers. HAR have been shown to affect health and welfare in farm animals, but limited zoo-based studies exist. This study investigates the association between the qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) of emotional expression in giraffes and keeper action score in four types of keeper-animal interaction (KAI). Three giraffes generating 38 clips. QBA, using a free-choice profiling methodology, was applied instructing 18 observers to assess giraffe expressions shown in these clips. QBA scores were analysed using Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Keeper actions during each KAI event were rated by an independent marker, resulting in cumulative scores for keeper action quality. The association between QBA and the keeper action was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlations. Two main QBA dimensions were identified explaining 59% of the variation between clips. There were significant effects of giraffe and KAI type on QBA dimension 2 (inquisitive/impatient-calm/distracted), and significant positive associations between keeper action quality rating and QBA dimensions 1 and 2, indicating that positive keeper actions resulted in calm and confident giraffes with a willingness to interact. This is the first successful application of QBA for empirically addressing HARs in zoos, however given the small sample size of giraffes in this study, it can be regarded as a pilot study only, and further research is needed to validate the use of QBA in this context.
- Published
- 2019
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18. Evaluation of Animal-Based Indicators to Be Used in a Welfare Assessment Protocol for Sheep.
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Richmond SE, Wemelsfelder F, de Heredia IB, Ruiz R, Canali E, and Dwyer CM
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Sheep are managed under a variety of different environments (continually outdoors, partially outdoors with seasonal or diurnal variation, continuously indoors) and for different purposes, which makes assessing welfare challenging. This diversity means that resource-based indicators are not particularly useful and, thus, a welfare assessment scheme for sheep, focusing on animal-based indicators, was developed. We focus specifically on ewes, as the most numerous group of sheep present on farm, although many of the indicators may also have relevance to adult male sheep. Using the Welfare Quality
® framework of four Principles and 12 Criteria, we considered the validity, reliability, and feasibility of 46 putative animal-based indicators derived from the literature for these criteria. Where animal-based indicators were potentially unreliably or were not considered feasible, we also considered the resource-based indicators of access to water, stocking density, and floor slipperiness. With the exception of the criteria "Absence of prolonged thirst," we suggest at least one animal-based indicator for each welfare criterion. As a minimum, face validity was available for all indicators; however, for many, we found evidence of convergent validity and discriminant validity (e.g., lameness as measured by gait score, body condition score). The reliability of most of the physical and health measures has been tested in the field and found to be appropriate for use in welfare assessment. However, for the majority of the proposed behavioral indicators (lying synchrony, social withdrawal, postures associated with pain, vocalizations, stereotypy, vigilance, response to surprise, and human approach test), this still needs to be tested. In conclusion, the comprehensive assessment of sheep welfare through largely animal-based measures is supported by the literature through the use of indicators focusing on specific aspects of sheep biology. Further work is required for some indicators to ensure that measures are reliable when used in commercial settings.- Published
- 2017
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19. The Assessment of Landscape Expressivity: A Free Choice Profiling Approach.
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Harding SP, Burch SE, and Wemelsfelder F
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- Humans, Spain, United Kingdom, Choice Behavior, Visual Perception
- Abstract
In this paper we explore a relational understanding of landscape qualities. We asked three independent groups of human observers to assess the expressive qualities of a range of landscapes in the UK and in Spain, either by means of personal visits or from a projected digital image. We employed a Free Choice Profiling (FCP) methodology, in which observers generated their own descriptive terminologies and then used these to quantify perceived landscape qualities on visual analogue scales. Data were analysed using Generalised Procrustes Analysis, a multivariate statistical technique that does not rely on fixed variables to identify underlying dimensions of assessment. The three observer groups each showed significant agreement, and generated two main consensus dimensions that suggested landscape 'health' and 'development in time' as common perceived themes of landscape expressivity. We critically discuss these outcomes in context of the landscape assessment literature, and suggest ways forward for further development and research., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
- Published
- 2017
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20. Validating the use of qualitative behavioral assessment as a measure of the welfare of sheep during transport.
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Wickham SL, Collins T, Barnes AL, Miller DW, Beatty DT, Stockman CA, Blache D, Wemelsfelder F, and Fleming PA
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- Animal Welfare standards, Animals, Female, Floors and Floorcoverings, Humans, Male, Sheep blood, Stress, Physiological, Ventilation, Video Recording, Western Australia, Behavior, Animal physiology, Sheep physiology, Sheep psychology, Stress, Psychological blood, Stress, Psychological physiopathology, Stress, Psychological psychology, Transportation
- Abstract
We tested the application of qualitative behavioral assessment (QBA) as a welfare assessment tool. Sheep were exposed to road transport treatments, and behavioral expressions were compared between experimental treatments and validated by correlation with physiological measures. We compared journeys differing in ventilation (closed vs. open-sided trailer), flooring (grip vs. nongrip flooring), and driving styles (stop-start vs. continuous driving). Blood samples were collected immediately before loading and after unloading; heart rate and core body temperatures were recorded continuously. Continuous video footage was edited to show individual sheep to observers for QBA using free-choice profiling (observers used their own descriptive terms). There was significant consensus in observers' scores for the sheep in each experiment (p < .001). Observers distinguished between sheep exposed to flooring (p = .014) or driving-style (p = .005) treatments, but not between ventilation treatments. QBA scores were compared (p < .05) with plasma leptin, glucose, and insulin-like growth factor-1 concentrations; white blood cell profiles; red blood cell counts; hematocrit; body temperatures; and heart rate variability. Observer assessments reflected treatment differences, and correlations between behavioral expression and physiological responses were found.
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- 2015
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21. Applying ethological and health indicators to practical animal welfare assessment.
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Wemelsfelder F and Mullan S
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- Animals, Emotions, Observer Variation, Reproducibility of Results, Time Factors, Animal Husbandry methods, Animal Welfare standards, Behavior, Animal physiology
- Abstract
There is a growing effort worldwide to develop objective indicators for animal welfare assessment, which provide information on an animal's quality of life, are scientifically trustworthy, and can readily be used in practice by professionals. Animals are sentient beings capable of positive and negative emotion, and so these indicators should be sensitive not only to their physical health, but also to their experience of the conditions in which they live. This paper provides an outline of ethological research aimed at developing practical welfare assessment protocols. The first section focuses on the development and validation of welfare indicators generally, in terms of their relevance to animal well-being, their interobserver reliability, and the confidence with which the prevalence of described features can be estimated. Challenges in this work include accounting for the ways in which welfare measures may fluctuate over time, and identifying measures suited to monitoring positive welfare states. The second section focuses more specifically on qualitative welfare indicators, which assess the 'whole animal' and describe the expressive qualities of its demeanour (e.g. anxious, content). Such indicators must be validated in the same way as other health and behaviour indicators, with the added challenge of finding appropriate methods of measurement. The potential contribution of qualitative indicators, however, is to disclose an emotional richness in animals that helps to interpret information provided by other indicators, thus enhancing the validity of welfare assessment protocols. In conclusion, the paper emphasises the importance of integrating such different perspectives, showing that new knowledge of animals and new ways of relating to animals are both needed for the successful development of practical welfare assessment tools.
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- 2014
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22. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of emotionality in pigs.
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Rutherford KM, Donald RD, Lawrence AB, and Wemelsfelder F
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Scientific assessment of affective states in animals is challenging but vital for animal welfare studies. One possible approach is Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA), a 'whole animal' methodology which integrates information from multiple behavioural signals and styles of behavioural expression (body language) directly in terms of an animal's emotional expression. If QBA provides a valid measure of animals' emotional state it should distinguish between groups where emotional states have been manipulated. To test this hypothesis, QBA was applied to video-recordings of pigs, following treatment with either saline or the neuroleptic drug Azaperone, in either an open field or elevated plus-maze test. QBA analysis of these recordings was provided by 12 observers, blind to treatment, using a Free Choice Profiling (FCP) methodology. Generalised Procrustes Analysis was used to calculate a consensus profile, consisting of the main dimensions of expression. Dimension one was positively associated with terms such as 'Confident' and 'Curious' and negatively with 'Unsure' and 'Nervous'. Dimension two ranged from 'Agitated'/'Angry' to 'Calm'/'Relaxed'. In both tests, Azaperone pre-treatment was associated with a more positive emotionality (higher scores on dimension one reflecting a more confident/curious behavioural demeanour) than control pigs. No effect of drug treatment on dimension two was found. Relationships between qualitative descriptions of behaviour and quantitative behavioural measures, taken from the same recordings, were found. Overall, this work supports the use of QBA for the assessment of emotionality in animals.
- Published
- 2012
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23. Diversity of behaviour during novel object tests is reduced in pigs housed in substrate-impoverished conditions.
- Author
-
Wemelsfelder F, Haskell M, Mendl MT, Calvert S, and Lawrence AB
- Abstract
Modern intensive farming conditions lack the diversity of substrates present in more natural environments and offer young animals fewer opportunities for interaction. Evidence exists that this may affect the organization of interactive patterns of behaviour, but shifts in behavioural diversity have not been measured directly. We investigated the effect of the substrate in the home pen on the diversity of behaviour in young growing pigs, Sus scrofa. Over 5 months, 26 pigs were housed singly in either substrate-impoverished (SI) or substrate-enriched (SE) conditions. Once every month we recorded the behaviour of these pigs in detail both in the home pens and in two novel object tests. In addition, we calculated the diversity of behaviour shown by SI and SE pigs in the home pen and in the novel object tests, using a relative behavioural diversity index. In the two novel object tests, SI pigs were less mobile than SE pigs and focused their behaviour on particular substrates. In addition, SI pigs showed less diverse behaviour than SE pigs. Our results show that the less diverse behaviour of SI pigs previously recorded in their home pens persists under novel conditions, supporting the hypothesis that substrate-impoverished housing conditions structurally affect the organization of behaviour in young growing pigs. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
- Published
- 2000
- Full Text
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24. [Limitations of scientific study methods with reference to the welfare policy for agricultural domestic animals].
- Author
-
Wemelsfelder F
- Subjects
- Animals, Netherlands, Animal Husbandry standards, Animal Welfare, Animals, Domestic
- Published
- 1985
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