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4 results on '"Jeff Rushen"'

1. Recumbence Behavior in Zoo Elephants: Determination of Patterns and Frequency of Recumbent Rest and Associated Environmental and Social Factors.

Author

Matthew R Holdgate, Cheryl L Meehan, Jennifer N Hogan, Lance J Miller, Jeff Rushen, Anne Marie de Passillé, Joseph Soltis, Jeff Andrews, and David J Shepherdson

Subjects
Medicine, Science
Abstract

Resting behaviors are an essential component of animal welfare but have received little attention in zoological research. African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) rest includes recumbent postures, but no large-scale investigation of African and Asian zoo elephant recumbence has been previously conducted. We used anklets equipped with accelerometers to measure recumbence in 72 adult female African (n = 44) and Asian (n = 28) elephants housed in 40 North American zoos. We collected 344 days of data and determined associations between recumbence and social, housing, management, and demographic factors. African elephants were recumbent less (2.1 hours/day, S.D. = 1.1) than Asian elephants (3.2 hours/day, S.D. = 1.5; P < 0.001). Nearly one-third of elephants were non-recumbent on at least one night, suggesting this is a common behavior. Multi-variable regression models for each species showed that substrate, space, and social variables had the strongest associations with recumbence. In the African model, elephants who spent any amount of time housed on all-hard substrate were recumbent 0.6 hours less per day than those who were never on all-hard substrate, and elephants who experienced an additional acre of outdoor space at night increased their recumbence by 0.48 hours per day. In the Asian model, elephants who spent any amount of time housed on all-soft substrate were recumbent 1.1 hours more per day more than those who were never on all-soft substrate, and elephants who spent any amount of time housed alone were recumbent 0.77 hours more per day than elephants who were never housed alone. Our results draw attention to the significant interspecific difference in the amount of recumbent rest and in the factors affecting recumbence; however, in both species, the influence of flooring substrate is notably important to recumbent rest, and by extension, zoo elephant welfare.

Published
2016
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2. Minor stall modifications and outdoor access can help improve dairy cow welfare in tie-stalls

Author

Santiago Palacio, Steve Adam, Renée Bergeron, Doris Pellerin, Anne Marie de Passillé, Jeff Rushen, Derek Haley, Trevor J. DeVries, and Elsa Vasseur

Subjects
Food Animals, Animal Science and Zoology
Abstract

Tie-stalls are the most confining method of housing for dairy cows and remain commonly used to house cows in many countries. Finding methods to improve animal welfare through housing modifications and alternative management strategies are of increasing importance. Twelve tie-stall dairy farms in Ontario and Quebec, Canada were visited four times in a 12 month period. Visits were spread to observe the effects of pasture (visit 1), short-term effects of stall modifications (visit 2), effects of winter confinement (visit 3), and final measures after 1 year (visit 4). Lameness, injuries, cow cleanliness, lying and rising behaviors, and production parameters were assessed at each visit. Outdoor access had the largest effect: cows with access to pasture had a lower prevalence of various outcome measures throughout all four visits. Also, cows in modified stalls had a higher prevalence of dirty udders compared to cows in unmodified stalls, but only on farms that provided outdoor access. Although applying minor stall modifications to tie-stalls can help improve aspects of animal welfare, providing year-round outdoor access may represent a more effective method; the continued provision of time outside the stall helps maintain the positive impact of outdoor/pasture access on the welfare of tie-stall dairy cows.

Published
2023

4. Explaining Peck Order in Domestic Chickens

Author

Jeff Rushen

Subjects
Microbiology (medical), Probability of success, Veterinary medicine, Dominance (ethology), Peck (Imperial), Immunology, Immunology and Allergy, Discrimination learning, Psychology, Cognitive psychology
Abstract

Dominance interactions and dominance relationships between chickens can be explained by assuming that the birds decide to fight or submit in an interaction by assessing their probability of success. This is achieved by examining cues that indicate an opponent's dominance ability. Chickens may learn to make assessments through discrimination learning but do not attempt to maximise the accuracy of this assessment. Two alternative descriptions of the process of dominance establishment can be derived, depending on whether chickens seek to make increasingly accurate assessments over repeated encounters with a given individual or accept the winner of the first encounter as dominant. The literature supports the latter model.-Author

Published
1985

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