Search

Social bonds are crucial to many animal species. To maintain these bonds, individuals must be able to differentiate the identity of conspecifics. Pair-bonding primates, in general, maintain close bonds with their selected mate. Little is known about visual preferences of pair-bonded primates. To characterize visual preference for images of familiar and unfamiliar faces, we assessed visual attention in coppery titi monkeys, Plecturocebus cupreus. Coppery titi monkeys, like many other pair-bonding species, show a behavioural partner preference when placed in a partner preference paradigm and maintain greater durations of physical proximity to their pair mate compared to an unfamiliar stranger. Using a previously validated noninvasive eye-tracking method, we investigated whether titi monkeys display visual partner preference. We presented adult titi monkeys with 10 static slides showing two conspecific faces side by side: either (1) their partner's face and a stranger's face, or (2) two strangers' faces. Face side was counterbalanced, and slide presentation order was randomized, across all subjects. We present five looking-behaviour outcome measures for a study of 40 titi monkeys. We found no evidence of a visual preference for still photographs of one's pair mate, but we did find that age, pair tenure and parenting experience predicted looking behaviour. Animals with longer pair tenures spent more time looking at facial images. Younger animals looked at the screen for the first time faster, spent less time looking and looked fewer times at the stimuli compared to older animals. Parenting status positively predicted fixation count, total visit duration and visit count, such that parents with more experience looked at the stimuli longer and more times than animals without parenting experience. This study is the first to characterize social looking in a pair-bonded monkey. • We investigated whether titi monkeys display visual partner preference. • We presented static slides of the pair mate vs a stranger or two strangers. • We found no evidence of a visual preference for one's pair mate. • Parents with more experience looked at stimuli longer and more times. • Age predicted shorter durations of looking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The study aimed to estimate growth curves and genetic parameters for Nellore cattle using a random regression methodology. The dataset included 6974 calves raised in Pantanal, MS, Brazil, and 53,233 weight records, with at least four weighings per individual. The model considered direct and maternal genetic additive effects and maternal permanent environmental effects at random. Cubic orthogonal Legendre polynomials were used to fit the growth curve, with fixed effects of sex, year of birth, farm, calf birth month, and cow age at calving. The mean weights at 120 and 205 days were 93.43 kg and 180.42 kg, respectively. Animals born in the dry season had higher average weights, leading to higher weights at 646 days. Direct heritabilities ranged from 0.35 to 0.75, while maternal heritabilities were low (0.03 to 0.08). Random regression effectively adjusts growth curves and aids in selecting superior animals for breeding. The objective was to estimate the growth curves and genetic parameters using random regression methodology for Nellore cattle raised in Pantanal, MS, Brazil (6974 calves; n = 53,233 weights), with at least four weighings per individual. The model considered direct and maternal genetic additives and maternal permanent environmental effects at random. Orthogonal Legendre polynomials of cubic order were used to fit the growth curve. Analyses of variance were performed using the GLM procedure. The model used contained the fixed effects of sex, year of birth, farm, and the covariates calf birth month (linear and quadratic) and cow age at calving (linear and quadratic). The adjusted mean weight at 120 days of age was 93.43 ± 19.78 kg, and for 205 days of age, it was 180.42 ± 26.58 kg. Animals born in the dry season had a higher average weight [kg] (219.57 vs. 211.78, 3.7% higher) and, consequently, had higher weights at 646 days of age. Estimates of direct heritabilities (h2a) ranged from 0.35 to 0.75 (high magnitudes), and maternal heritabilities (h2m) along the trajectory of low magnitudes ranged from 0.03 to 0.08, respectively. The use of random regression to evaluate beef animals allows for adjusting the growth curve and selecting the best animals to be the parents of future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of English animal-related terms used figuratively with reference to types of parenting. To be more precise, we make an attempt to investigate the scope of the conceptual metaphor PARENTS ARE ANIMALS. What ignited our interest was the ubiquity of linguistic metaphors featuring animal terms employed with reference to types of parenting present in everyday language, thus we have decided to delve into what types of animals are typical source domains in metaphors of this type. The methodology adopted is the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, originally proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and further developed in numerous subsequent publications, especially those by Kövecses (2003, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017a, 2017b). Our results are supported by evidence from the online Corpus of Contemporary American English and News on the Web Corpus, which may be said to corroborate not only the conceptual nature of metaphors as such, but also their impact on social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the risk of using genomically-tested, young Holstein sires (GYS) to produce progeny with a low Nippon Total Profit index (NTP). The risk was defined as the probability that the progeny had a true NTP lower than the dam's estimated NTP. The service sires available as of August 2023 in Japan were divided into three classes : daughter-proven sires with 60 or more daughters with milk records (BULL-OLD), daughter-proven sires with fewer than 60 recorded daughters (BULL-NEW), and GYS with no daughters (BULL-GYS). Two classes of dams were considered : cows born in 2020 (COW-2020) and genomically-tested heifers born in 2022 (HEI-2022). For each class, we assumed a hypothetical animal with the average published NTP. We then used these animals as parents for mating. The true NTP of progeny was assumed to follow a normal distribution, with the mean as the parent average of estimated NTP and the variance as the sum of the prediction error variance of the parent average of estimated NTP and the Mendelian sampling variance. For COW-2020 (or HEI-2022), the risk for BULL-OLD was 14.4% (23.2%), for BULL-NEW, 10.2% (17.1%), and for BULL-GYS, 2.1% (4.1%). The result suggests that the genomically-tested young sires are more effective than daughter-proven sires in improving the average of the true NTP in dairy herds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before you do, explain that each animal has a special type of eye that helps them to survive and that they are asked to create a page similar to the ones in the book that describes how that animal's eye helps it to survive. For example, ask all the students who have animals that bring food to their young to go to one corner while all of the animals who nurse their young to another. Structures and processes are two broad categories that provide information about animals and what helps them to survive. Which Animals Carry Their Babies: https://youtu.be/05MnG8Z1eFo How Animal Moms Help Their Babies Move: https://youtu.be/CeYrpijNVKc Best Animal Moms: (Protecting Their Babies): https://youtu.be/xZYAOuewbNo Ultimate Animal Moms - Teaching Lessons: https://youtu.be/bjEDaqpB8DM EXPLAIN Place the following words across the board: Teaching, Feeding, Caring for/Comforting and discuss what each means. [Extracted from the article]

For a few decades, animal models (AMs) in the form of best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) have been used for the genetic evaluation of animals. An equation system is set in the order of all the effects in the model, including all the animals in the pedigree. Solving these large equation systems has been a challenge. Reduced AM (RAM) was introduced in 1980, which allowed setting up equations for parents instead of all animals. That greatly reduced the number of equations to be solved. The RAM is followed by a back-solving step, in which progenies' breeding values are obtained conditional on parental breeding values. Initially, pedigree information was utilized to model genetic relationships between animals. With the availability of genomic information, genomic BLUP (GBLUP), single-step GBLUP (ssGBLUP), and single-step marker models were developed. Single-step methods utilize pedigree and genomic information for simultaneous genetic evaluation of genotyped and nongenotyped animals. There has been a shortage of studies on RAM development for genetic evaluation models utilizing genomic information. This study extended the concept of RAM from BLUP to the single-step methods. Using example data, three RAMs were described for ssGBLUP. The order of animal equations was reduced from the total number of animals to (1) genotyped animals and nongenotyped parents, (2) genotyped animals and nongenotyped phenotyped animals, and (3) genotyped animals and nongenotyped parents of phenotyped nongenotyped nonparents. Solutions for the remaining animals are obtained following a back-solving step. All the RAMs produced identical results to the full ssGBLUP. Advances in computational hardware have alleviated many computational limitations, but, on the other hand, the size of data is growing rapidly by the number of animals, traits, phenotypes, genotypes, and genotype density. There is an opportunity for a RAM comeback for the single-step methods to reduce the computational demands by reducing the number of equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that Allocare has been documented for both sexes in terrestrial, aquatic and avian species and may be linked to the evolution of an increased brain size in some social mammals. Topics include examines the behavior and potential reproductive development of a primiparous common bottlenose dolphin as related to allomaternal care.

One of the major events in animal morphogenesis is the emergence of a polar body axis. Here, we combine classic grafting techniques with live imaging to explore the plasticity of polarity determination during whole body regeneration in Hydra. Composite tissues are made by fusing two rings, excised from separate animals, in different configurations that vary in the polarity and original positions of the rings along the body axes of the parent animals. Under frustrating initial configurations, body axis polarity that is otherwise stably inherited from the parent animal, can become labile and even be reversed. Importantly, the site of head regeneration exhibits a strong bias toward the edges of the tissue, even when this involves polarity reversal. In particular, we observe head formation at an originally aboral tissue edge, which is not compatible with models of Hydra regeneration based only on preexisting morphogen gradients or an injury response. The site of the new head invariably contains an aster-like defect in the organization of the supra-cellular ectodermal actin fibers. While a defect is neither required nor sufficient for head formation, we show that the defect at the new head site can arise via different routes, either appearing directly following excision as the tissue seals at its edge or through de novo defect formation at the fusion site. Altogether, our results show that the emergence of a polar body axis depends on the original polarity and position of the excised tissues as well as structural factors, suggesting that axis determination is an integrated process that arises from the dynamic interplay of multiple biochemical and mechanical processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide that primarily functions as a hormone controlling female reproductive processes. Since numerous recent studies have shown that single and repetitive administrations of OT increase trust, social interaction, and maternal behaviors in humans and animals, OT is considered a key molecule that regulates social memory and behavior. Furthermore, OT binds to receptors for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), and it has been demonstrated that loss of RAGE in the brain vascular endothelial cells of mice fails to increase brain OT concentrations following peripheral OT administration. This leads to the hypothesis that RAGE is involved in the direct transport of OT, allowing it access to the brain by transporting it across the blood–brain barrier; however, this hypothesis is only based on limited evidence. Herein, we review the recent results related to this hypothesis, such as the mode of transport of OT in the blood circulation to the brain via different forms of RAGE, including membrane-bound full-length RAGE and soluble RAGE. We further review the modulation of brain function and social behavior, which seem to be mediated by RAGE-dependent OT. Overall, this review mostly confirms that RAGE enables the recruitment of circulating OT to the brain, thereby influencing social behavior. The requirement for further studies considering the physiological aspects of RAGE is also discussed. • The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) is an OT-binding protein and lacking RAGE on brain vascular endothelial cells in mice failed to increase brain OT concentrations after peripheral OT administration. • The hypothesis on the direct transport of OT with RAGE as a result of accessing to the brain across the blood–brain barrier is tested by overviewing recent publications. • This review may largely confirm that RAGE enables to recruit circulating OT to brain to function on social behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lanthanides are considered emerging contaminants but information on their long-term toxicity to aquatic species under environmentally relevant conditions is scarce. We aimed to fill this gap by evaluating the long-term adverse effects of gadolinium on the freshwater model—crustacean Daphnia magna. The exposure of D. magna for up to 39 days to 0.1 mg Gd/L (a 21-days chronic toxicity NOEC value derived by us formerly) in the lake water had no negative effect (p > 0.05) on vitality, size and reproduction of parent animals as well as their offspring. Thus, assumingly the current Gd contamination levels of surface waters pose no hazard to aquatic crustaceans that in general are very sensitive to various pollutants. Moreover, presence of 0.1 mg Gd/L in the lake water even mitigated the long-term toxic effect of 0.2 mg Ni/L (studied as a model co-contaminant) to D. magna's vitality and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP) is a method for genomic prediction that integrates matrices of pedigree (A) and genomic (G) relationships into a single unified additive relationship matrix whose inverse is incorporated into a set of mixed model equations (MME) to compute genomic predictions. Pedigree information in dairy cattle is often incomplete. Missing pedigree potentially causes biases and inflation in genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) obtained with ssGBLUP. Three major issues are associated with missing pedigree in ssGBLUP, namely biased predictions by selection, missing inbreeding in pedigree relationships, and incompatibility between G and A in level and scale. These issues can be solved using a proper model for unknown-parent groups (UPG). The theory behind the use of UPG is well established for pedigree BLUP, but not for ssGBLUP. This study reviews the development of the UPG model in pedigree BLUP, the properties of UPG models in ssGBLUP, and the effect of UPG on genetic trends and genomic predictions. Similarities and differences between UPG and metafounder (MF) models, a generalized UPG model, are also reviewed. A UPG model (QP) derived using a transformation of the MME has a good convergence behavior. However, with insufficient data, the QP model may yield biased genetic trends and may underestimate UPG. The QP model can be altered by removing the genomic relationships linking GEBV and UPG effects from MME. This altered QP model exhibits less bias in genetic trends and less inflation in genomic predictions than the QP model, especially with large data sets. Recently, a new model, which encapsulates the UPG equations into the pedigree relationships for genotyped animals, was proposed in simulated purebred populations. The MF model is a comprehensive solution to the missing pedigree issue. This model can be a choice for multibreed or crossbred evaluations if the data set allows the estimation of a reasonable relationship matrix for MF. Missing pedigree influences genetic trends, but its effect on the predictability of genetic merit for genotyped animals should be negligible when many proven bulls are genotyped. The SNP effects can be back-solved using GEBV from older genotyped animals, and these predicted SNP effects can be used to calculate GEBV for young-genotyped animals with missing parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Firat Universitesi Saglik Bilimleri Veteriner Dergisi is the property of Firat Universitesiu, Saglik Bilimleri Enstitusu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Context. A common problem in mixed model-based genetic evaluation schemes for livestock is that cohorts of animals differ systematically in mean genetic merit, for example, due to missing pedigree. This can be modelled by fitting genetic groups. Single-step genomic evaluation (ssGBLUP) combining information from genotyped and nongenotyped individuals has become routine, but little is known of the effects of unknown parents in this context. Aims. To investigate the effects of missing pedigrees on accuracy and bias of predicted breeding values for ssGBLUP analyses. Methods. A simulation study was used to examine alternative ways to account for genetic groups in ssGBLUP, for multi-generation data with strong selection and rapidly increasing numbers of genotyped animals in the most recent generations. Key results. Results demonstrated that missing pedigrees can markedly impair predicted breeding values. With selection, alignment of genomic and pedigree relationship matrices is essential when fitting unknown parent groups (UPG). Genomic relationships are complete; that is, they 'automatically' reference the genomic base, which typically differs from the genetic base for pedigreed animals. This can lead to biased comparisons between genotyped and nongenotyped animals with unknown parents when the two categories of animals are assigned to the same UPG. Allocating genotyped individuals to a separate UPG across all generations for each strain or breed was shown to be a simple and effective way to reduce misalignment bias. In contrast, fitting metafounders modified pedigree-based relationships to account for ancestral genomic relationships and inbreeding rather than the genomic relationship matrix. Thus, no bias due to different types of animals assigned to the same metafounders was apparent. Overall, fitting metafounders yielded slightly higher correlations between true and predicted breeding values than did UPG models, which assume genetic groups to be unrelated. Conclusions. Missing pedigrees are more problematic with ssGBLUP than for analyses considering pedigree-based relationships only. UPG models with separation of genotyped and non-genotyped individuals and analyses fitting metafounders yielded comparable predictions of breeding values in terms of accuracy and bias. Implications. A previously unidentified incompatibility between alignment of founder populations and assignment of genotyped and non-genotyped animals to the same UPG has been reported. Implementation of the proposed strategy to reduce 'double counting' is straightforward and can improve results of ssGBLUP analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hemagglutinin (HA) of A/H3N2 pandemic influenza viruses (IAVs) of 1968 differed from its inferred avian precursor by eight amino acid substitutions. To determine their phenotypic effects, we studied recombinant variants of A/Hong Kong/1/1968 virus containing either human-type or avian-type amino acids in the corresponding positions of HA. The precursor HA displayed receptor binding profile and high conformational stability typical for duck IAVs. Substitutions Q226L and G228S, in addition to their known effects on receptor specificity and replication, marginally decreased HA stability. Substitutions R62I, D63N, D81N and N193S reduced HA binding avidity. Substitutions R62I, D81N and A144G promoted viral replication in human airway epithelial cultures. Analysis of HA sequences revealed that substitutions D63N and D81N accompanied by the addition of N-glycans represent common markers of avian H3 HA adaptation to mammals. Our results advance understanding of genotypic and phenotypic changes in IAV HA required for avian-to-human adaptation and pandemic emergence. Author summary: Pandemic influenza A viruses (IAVs) originate from animal IAVs and always contain the envelope protein hemagglutinin (HA) of the animal parent. Molecular changes essential for the animal-to-human adaptation of the HA are not well defined. To address this problem, we studied phenotypic effects of eight amino acid substitutions that accompanied evolution of the HA of the 1968 pandemic IAV from its inferred avian precursor. We also analysed patterns of evolution of these HA positions of IAVs in birds and mammals. Our results predict that the 1968 pandemic IAV acquired its HA from a wild duck virus. We showed that two substitutions were primarily responsible for increased HA binding to human-type receptors and, in addition, marginally decreased stability of the HA, whereas three other substitutions reduced binding avidity of the HA. We demonstrated that substitutions accompanied by the addition of N-glycan at either position 63 or 81 represent a previously unrecognized common marker of avian-to-mammalian adaptation of IAVs. Our findings highlight the importance of the studies on previous pandemic IAVs for the influenza risk assessment and pandemic preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), due to its increasing use as an alternative to perfluooctane sulfonate (PFOS), is widely detected in humans and the environment, necessitating the evaluation of its potential ecotoxicological risk. We assessed the toxicity and bioaccumulation potential of PFBS in Caenorhabditis elegans, using lethality, locomotion, reproduction, life span, growth, and chemotactic behavior as the effect parameters. In addition, a total of 6 generations of exposed parent animals were monitored for locomotion, brood, and life span behaviors. Life span and brood size were significantly reduced in parent nematodes (P0) following exposure to ≥0.1 mM PFBS, but these negative effects did not transfer to the progeny. Although there was no remarkable effect on reproduction and life span in parent worms exposed to ≤0.01 mM PFBS, multigenerational exposure at 0.0005 mM significantly affected the F4 and F5 progeny. Furthermore, 0.01 to 2.0 mM of PFBS substantially retarded the locomotion behavior of P0 worms. At higher concentrations such as 1.0 mM, this negative effect on locomotion was transferred to the next generation (F1) but later recovered from F2 progeny onward. Our findings demonstrate for the first time that chronic exposure to PFBS at higher concentrations can cause behavioral toxicity and could be transferred to the progeny. These findings have significant implications for the environmental risk assessment of PFBS. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:1973–1982. © 2021 SETAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining the activity patterns and social relationships of animals can provide valuable information related to animal welfare. Bottlenose dolphins under professional care engage in a variety of social and solitary activities, which may be influenced by conspecifics, time of day, and maternal behaviors. This study examined the social, solitary, and maternal behaviors of eight dolphins at one zoological facility. Data about social and solitary behaviors, nursing occurrences, and mother-calf pair swimming were collected five days per week over a ten-month period. The simple ratio index was used to calculate association rates for all dyads. Affiliative behaviors were the dominant behavior class and all behavior categories and swim states showed temporal oscillations throughout the day. The high association values within the mother-calf dyads suggested these ties remain strong through the second and third years of life. Preferred associates remained the same for some individuals in both social group compositions, while they differed for others. However, no large reductions in associations were recorded, suggesting strong relationships in the subgroups continued when other individuals were present. Examining sociality and activity levels may be a useful tool in continuing to improve welfare as they may be related to social groupings and environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced models are equivalent models to the full model that enable reduction in the computational demand for solving the problem, here, mixed model equations for estimating breeding values of selection candidates. Since phenotyped animals provide data to the model, the aim of this study was to reduce animal models to those equations corresponding to phenotyped animals. Non-phenotyped ancestral animals have normally been included in analyses as they facilitate formation of the inverse numerator relationship matrix. However, a reduced model can exclude those animals and obtain identical solutions for the breeding values of the animals of interest. Solutions corresponding to non-phenotyped animals can be back-solved from the solutions of phenotyped animals and specific blocks of the inverted relationship matrix. This idea was extended to other forms of animal model and the results from each reduced model (and back-solving) were identical to the results from the corresponding full model. Previous studies have been mainly focused on reduced animal models that absorb equations corresponding to non-parents and solve equations only for parents of phenotyped animals. These two types of reduced animal model can be combined to formulate only equations corresponding to phenotyped parents of phenotyped progeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to clarify how bias in genomic predictions is created by investigating a relationship among selection intensity, a change in heritability (Δ h 2), and assortative mating (ASM). A change in heritability, resulting from selection, reflects the impact that the Bulmer effect has on the reduction in between-family variation, whereas assortative mating impacts the within-family variance or Mendelian sampling variation. A partial data set up to 2014, including 841K genotyped animals, was used to calculate genomic predictions with a single-step genomic model for 18 linear type traits in US Holsteins. A full data set up to 2018, including 2.3 million genotyped animals, was used to calculate benchmark genomic predictions. Inbreeding and unknown parent groups for missing parents of animals were included in the model. Genomic evaluation was performed using 2 different genetic parameters: those estimated 14 yr ago, which have been used in the national genetic evaluation for linear type traits in the United States, and those newly estimated with recent records from 2015 to 2018 and those corresponding pedigrees. Genetic trends for 18 type traits were estimated for bulls with daughters and cows with phenotypes in 2018. Based on selection intensity and mating decisions, these traits can be categorized into 3 groups: (a) high directional selection, (b) moderate selection, and (c) intermediate optimum selection. The first 2 categories can be explained by positive assortative mating, and the last can be explained by negative assortative or disassortative mating. Genetic progress was defined by genetic gain per year based on average standardized genomic predictions for cows from 2000 to 2014. Traits with more genetic progress tended to have more "inflated" genomic predictions (i.e., "inflation" means here that genomic predictions are larger in absolute values than expected, whereas "deflation" means smaller than expected). Heritability estimates for 14 out of 18 traits declined in the last 16 yr, and Δ h 2 ranged from −0.09 to 0.04. Traits with a greater decline in heritability tended to have more deflated genomic predictions. Biases (inflation or deflation) in genomic predictions were not improved by using the latest genetic parameters, implying that bias in genomic predictions due to preselection was not substantial for a large-scale genomic evaluation. Moreover, the strong selection intensity was not fully responsible for bias in genomic predictions. The directional selection can decrease heritability; however, positive assortative mating, which was strongly associated with large genetic gains, could minimize the decline in heritability for a trait under strong selection and could affect bias in genomic predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents raise children in consistent ways, and these parenting styles affect child wellbeing and societal adjustment. Recently, we identified such parenting styles in the owner–dog relationship. Dog owners of the authoritarian- correction orientated (AUC) type stand out for demandingness. Authoritative dog owners adopt either an intrinsic-value orientated style (AUI), of high responsiveness and attention to a dog's needs, or an authoritative-training orientated style (AUT) of high demandingness and responsiveness in teaching a dog how to behave socially. The causes for dog owners to favor certain dog- directed parenting styles are presently unknown. Orientations toward animals could play a role, and these have previously been determined in dog owners, capsulizing views on dog ownership. A dominionistic orientation values the dog for its utility, a humanistic orientation humanizes dogs, and a protectionistic orientation acknowledges the dog's species-specific interests. We wanted to know how these views on dog ownership are associated with dog-directed parenting styles. Therefore, orientations toward animals and dog-directed parenting styles were determined from dog-owner reports collected online (n = 518). The Likert-scale items regarding the orientations toward animals were grouped using data reduction techniques. The scores for our newly formed orientations were then rank correlated to the dog-directed parenting styles, with all scores expressed as percentages of the theoretical maximum. A dominionistic orientation was associated with AUC, indicating that combined demandingness and non-responsiveness in dog-directed parenting partly results from the owner's perceived need to dominate the dog. A humanistic/protectionistic orientation was associated with AUI, suggesting that the combination of parenting responsiveness and relatively low demandingness is an outcome of humanizing dogs. These findings support the idea that orientations toward animals partly underlie dog-directed parenting styles and may constitute a starting point for guiding owners away from less favorable dog-directed parenting styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedigree information is incomplete by nature and commonly not well-established because many of the genetic ties are not known a priori or can be wrong. The genomic era brought new opportunities to assess relationships between individuals. However, when pedigree and genomic information are used simultaneously, which is the case of single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP), defining the genetic base is still a challenge. One alternative to overcome this challenge is to use metafounders, which are pseudo-individuals that describe the genetic relationship between the base population individuals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of metafounders on the estimation of breeding values for tick resistance under ssGBLUP for a multibreed population composed by Hereford, Braford, and Zebu animals. Three different scenarios were studied: pedigree-based model (BLUP), ssGBLUP, and ssGBLUP with metafounders (ssGBLUPm). In ssGBLUPm, a total of four different metafounders based on breed of origin (i.e., Hereford, Braford, Zebu, and unknown) were included for the animals with missing parents. The relationship coefficient between metafounders was in average 0.54 (ranging from 0.34 to 0.96) suggesting an overlap between ancestor populations. The estimates of metafounder relationships indicate that Hereford and Zebu breeds have a possible common ancestral relationship. Inbreeding coefficients calculated following the metafounder approach had less negative values, suggesting that ancestral populations were large enough and that gametes inherited from the historical population were not identical. Variance components were estimated based on ssGBLUPm, ssGBLUP, and BLUP, but the values from ssGBLUPm were scaled to provide a fair comparison with estimates from the other two models. In general, additive, residual, and phenotypic variance components in the Hereford population were smaller than in Braford across different models. The addition of genomic information increased heritability for Hereford, possibly because of improved genetic relationships. As expected, genomic models had greater predictive ability, with an additional gain for ssGBLUPm over ssGBLUP. The increase in predictive ability was greater for Herefords. Our results show the potential of using metafounders to increase accuracy of GEBV, and therefore, the rate of genetic gain in beef cattle populations with partial levels of missing pedigree information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Determining patterns of habitat use is key to understanding of animal ecology. Approximately 1% of bird species use brood parasitism for their breeding strategy, in which they exploit other species' (hosts) parental care by laying eggs in their nests. Brood parasitism may complicate the habitat requirement of brood parasites because they need habitats that support both their host and their own conditions for breeding. Brood parasitism, through changes in reproductive roles of sex or individual, may further diversify habitat use patterns among individuals. However, patterns of habitat use in avian brood parasites have rarely been characterized. In this study, we categorized the habitat preference of a population of brood parasitic lesser cuckoos (Cuculus poliocephalus) breeding on Jeju Island, Korea. By using compositional analyses together with radio-tracking and land cover data, we determined patterns of habitat use and their sexual and diurnal differences. Results: We found that the lesser cuckoo had a relatively large home range and its overall habitat composition (the second-order selection) was similar to those of the study area; open areas such as the field and grassland habitats accounted for 80% of the home range. Nonetheless, their habitat, comprised of 2.54 different habitats per hectare, could be characterized as a mosaic. We also found sexual differences in habitat composition and selection in the core-use area of home ranges (third-order selection). In particular, the forest habitat was preferentially utilized by females, while underutilized by males. However, there was no diurnal change in the pattern of habitat use. Both sexes preferred field habitats at the second-order selection. At the third-order selection, males preferred field habitats followed by grasslands and females preferred grasslands followed by forest habitats. Conclusions: We suggest that the field and grassland habitats represent the two most important areas for the lesser cuckoo on Jeju Island. Nevertheless, this study shows that habitat preference may differ between sexes, likely due to differences in sex roles, sex-based energy demands, and potential sexual conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress-coping styles dictate how individuals react to stimuli and can be measured by the integrative physiological parameter of resting heart-rate variability (HRV); low resting HRV indicating proactive coping styles, while high resting HRV typifies reactive individuals. Over 5 successive breeding seasons we measured resting HRV of 57 lactating grey seals. Mothers showed consistent individual differences in resting HRV across years. We asked whether proactive and reactive mothers differed in their patterns of maternal expenditure and short-term fitness outcomes within seasons, using maternal daily mass loss rate to indicate expenditure, and pup daily mass gain to indicate within season fitness outcomes. We found no difference in average rates of maternal daily mass loss or pup daily mass gain between proactive and reactive mothers. However, reactive mothers deviated more from the sample mean for maternal daily mass and pup daily mass gain than proactive mothers. Thus, while proactive mothers exhibit average expenditure strategies with average outcomes, expenditure varies much more among reactive mothers with more variable outcomes. Overall, however, mean fitness was equal across coping styles, providing a mechanism for maintaining coping style diversity within populations. Variability in reactive mothers' expenditures and success is likely a product of their attempts to match phenotype to prevailing environmental conditions, achieved with varying degrees of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, feed naturally containing Fusarium mycotoxins was fed to gilts during the perinatal period, and the effects on the thymus were investigated in one-week-old piglets. Twenty gilts were divided into equal control (0.26 mg deoxynivalenol, DON) and experimental (5.08 mg DON, 0.09 mg zearalenone and 21.61 mg fusaric acid per kg of feed) groups. One suckling piglet from each litter (n = 20) was sacrificed at one week of age to obtain thymus samples for further analysis. The cortex to medulla ratio of the thymus was morphometrically analysed using NIS Elements BR (Nikon) software. Paraffin-embedded thymus sections were stained to quantify apoptosis (with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling – TUNEL method), cellular proliferation (Ki-67) and macrophages (MAC 387). The results showed that the thymus cortex (P = 0.023) to medulla (P = 0.023) ratio was significantly lower in the experimental group. The number of apoptotic cells (cortex, P = 0.010, medulla, P = 0.001) and the number of proliferating cells in the thymus cortex (P = 0.001) and medulla (P < 0.001) were significantly higher in the experimental group. Our results indicate that feeding Fusarium mycotoxins to a parent animal during the perinatal period induces significant alterations in the thymus of one-week-old piglets, which indicates an immunosuppressive effect in piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]