Thursday 11th October 2018 - Applied Ethology Flashcards
What is applied ethology?
(5 Aspects)
• Animal welfare.
– Assessing welfare.
– Maximising production.
• Animal management.
– Breeding.
– Captive animals.
• Animal training.
– Husbandry.
– Working animals.
• Behaviour modification.
– Problematic behaviours.
– Risky behaviours.
• Wildlife.
– Conservation of protected species.
– Control of pest species.
What is fear?
Perception of stimuli associated with danger, and subsequent withdrawal from and avoidance of those stimuli.
- Emotional reaction.
- Adaptive – defensive and protective function.
– ‘Sensible’ for animals to be afraid of harmful things.
- Can aid survival.
– Can be maladaptive in some circumstances.
• E.g., chronic fear or exaggerated responses.
Fear-inducing stimuli can be social/physical, may include:
- Novel items (neophobia).
- Intense stimuli.
- Social (agonistic) signals.
- Stimuli animals have learned to be fearful of (e.g., whips).
Behavioural responses
• Reduction of other behaviours (e.g., foraging).
• ‘Flight or flight’ responses.
– Sympathetic nervous system.
• E.g., increased heart rate, blood pressure, adrenaline, glucocorticoids, sweating, pupil dilation, etc.
• Mania/panic, catatonia, aggression, decreased sensitivity to pain/other stimuli.
• Impairs functioning of the animal.
Hard to measure an animal’s subjective experiences of fear.
- (Individual variation.) – E.g., fear of public speaking, spiders, heights … ?
- There are objective measures.
- Generally considered to be harmful.
What are the 3 procedures commonly used to change problematic behaviours in animals, including fear response.
• Systematic desensitisation.
• Counter-conditioning.
• Flooding.
Procedure: Systematic Desensitisation
Systematic desensitisation = ?
Systematic desensitisation = gradual introduction of fear-eliciting stimuli.
• The stimulus is introduced in gradually increasing intensities.
– Gradient.
– Multiple stimuli may be involved.
- Lack of fear response should be seen before proceeding.
- Aims to increase the threshold at which the animal reacts.
– Threshold
– intensity of stimulus.
Procedure: Systematic Desensitisation
The fear-eliciting stimuli can be introduced graduation in various ways.
Scenario 1: Captive animal at zoo scared of quadbike at Zoo. How can ‘distance stimulus’ be applied to decrease fear response?
Start really far away and gradually move closer and closer
Start with stimulus that elicits fear at a far distance and gradually get closer and closer and closer in the absence of fear response.
If fear response is seen, depending on severity you may stay at that level and try again but if you’re still seeing a fear response you would go back a step and increase distance to reduce or remove fear response.
Fear related behaviour to loud noises such as fireworks, plates clinking etc, how would you set up a systematic desensitisation procedure using volume.
Start with low volume and work up
Clippers for example you could muffle to reduce noise
Fireworks are difficult to simulate so perhaps to a recording
Scenario 3:
Over arrousal in specific situations such as car journeys and visiting the vet.
Visual similarity.
Expose them to similar situations, set up similar situations that looki similar and gradually work towards your goal.
Procedure: Systematic Desensitisation 11 General model of how to implement this procedure.
• Question: what [human] skills are important here?
– Hint: think of labs in this course.
Procedure: Systematic Desensitisation
Example: the lead of a therapy dog-in-training accidently became tangled in a wheelchair and the dog was trapped. She then became fearful of wheelchairs and other moving things with wheels.
Exercise: put the steps of this desensitisation procedure in order.
- (D.) Empty wheelchair placed 10 m away.
- (A.) Empty wheelchair placed 6 m away.
- (H.) Empty wheelchair placed 3 m away.
- (E.) Dog taken to approach empty wheelchair.
- (F.) Person sitting in wheelchair 3 m away.
- (J.) Dog taken to see person in wheelchair.
- (B.) Person in wheelchair, 10 m away, moves towards dog.
- (G.) Person in wheelchair, 6 m away, moves towards dog.
- (C.) Person in wheelchair, 3 m away, moves towards dog.
- (I.) Person in wheelchair moves closely past dog.
Procedure: Counter-conditioning
Classical counter-conditioning = ?
Classical counter-conditioning = an association is made between a feareliciting stimulus and a new stimulus (that elicits a fear-incompatible response).
- Creates a new conditioned response, incompatible with the original fear response.
- Classical conditioning association.
- The previously-feared stimulus becomes associated with a fear-incompatible response (e.g., appetitive).
Procedure: Counter-conditioning In practice:
• Pair highly-motivating stimuli with the fear-eliciting stimulus.
– E.g., food, play.
• Frequently used in tandem with systematic desensitisation.
– You will read/hear about both procedures being used together.
http://drsophiayin.com/resources/video_full/training_a_dog_to_enjoy_toenail_trims
Procedure: Flooding Flooding =?
fear-eliciting stimulus is presented full-strength, no escape allowed until animal’s response stops.
The idea is that fear will be extinguished quickly.
• E.g., if the wheelchair-fearing dog were brought close to wheelchair and immediately the person in the wheelchair moved towards the dog.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/animal-planet/49908-my-extreme-animal-phobia-woman-freaks-out-over-birds-video.htm
Procedure: Flooding Behavioural responses to flooding can include?
(Three things)
• Habituation.
• Sensitisation.
• Learned helplessness.
What is ‘learned helplessness’ ?
Learned helplessness.
– An animal experiences inescapable punishment, they stop trying to escape. When provided with opportunity to escape, fail to do so.
– Often interpreted as behavioural improvements.
– Actually indicates severely compromised welfare :(
Comparison of Methods
Christensen et al. (2006) compared three methods in reducing horses’ fear response to a moving plastic bag.
• Habituation.
– Exposed to stimulus until low/no response (see ethogram: 1-2).
- Full strength exposure.
- Systematic desensitisation.
– Stimulus gradually introduced.
- Slower speed, moved part-way.
- Counter-conditioning.
– Stimulus presented with food.
• Each:
– 5 sessions/day.
• 26 horses, similar rearing.
Noise Fears Sudden loud noises can elicit fear in many animals.
• Dogs
– most common fear-eliciting stimuli are fireworks, thunderstorms and gun shots.
• There is less information on cats.
Noise Fears Wildlife also show fear responses to anthropogenic events:
• Birds (Shamoun-Baranes et al., 2011):
‒ Netherlands, important winter staging grounds for many spp.
‒ At midnight, New Years eve, radar measured a huge increase in bird activity – esp. around wetlands.
‒ Consequences include use of energy, sleep disruption, possibly displacement from foraging sites upon resettlement.
Noise Fears Wildlife also show fear responses to anthropogenic events:
• Sea lions (Pedreros et al., 2016):
‒ Chile, gravid females beach in December, birth early Jan.
‒ Measured significant decrease in number of animals present, and cessation of vocalisations, following fireworks after midnight.
‒ Changes in postures
– alert.
‒ Potential negative consequences for reproduction, given their responses and timing.
Noise Fears Common noise fear/phobia reactions:
• Dogs:
‒ Panting, pacing, vocalising, shaking, cowering, elimination, escape.
• Cats:
‒ Cowering, hiding, displacement grooming.
‒ Passive responses may be misinterpreted by owners as lack of fear.
Noise Fears Dale et al. (2010) surveyed 1,007 NZ dog and cat owners (3,527 pets) on issues regarding fireworks.
• 46% of pets considered fearful of fireworks; dogs considered worse than cats.
• Most common behaviours:
– Dogs = shivering/trembling, hiding, cowering, escape/run away, vocalising.
– Cats = hiding, escape/run away, shivering/trembling, cowering.
• Owner interventions: inside, comfort, curtains shut, music/TV, confined to one room.
– Cat owners less likely to do anything.
• Only 15.8% owners sought professional help.
– From veterinarians, perceived as ineffective.
• Only 13 owners tried desensitisation.
Treatment options for noise phobias (fireworks, thunderstorms, gunshots): • Desensitisation and counterconditioning.
– CDs.
– May help only mildly-affected dogs.
• Behaviour modification, training animals to be calm and relax under normal conditions, and then increasingly noisy conditions.
• Medication.
