Behaviour

Question 1

Influences of Behaviour

Answer 1

Influences handling and restraint methods. Consistently bad experiences will lead to consistently bad interactions which leads to poor animal welfare, behaviour and outcomes.

Question 2

Concepts of Animal Behaviour

Answer 2

Include spacing and social behaviour, aggression and conflict and how an animal explores, maintains and uses an area in order to fulfil its physical and social requirements.

Question 3

Home range

Answer 3

Area in which animal normally lives and includes all its resources. Not necessarily defended. Size varies with season, resources, sex and type of animal.

Question 4

Territory

Answer 4

Fixed space which is defended by individuals. It confers priority of access to resources. Considerations of territory include time as it ma vary with season and time of day, space as it may be individual or group territory and trespass which depends on tolerance, defence and degree of avoidance. In territorial fights, owner usually wins as they are fitter due to resources, have more to fight for and have home ground advantage.
Importance of territory includes limiting population density, favouring fittest animal, regulating food acquisition and affecting mating success.

Question 5

Personal Space

Answer 5

Area of safety around that animal, actively maintianed. Varies with emotions, physiology, time of day, season, experience, age and sex.

Question 6

Crowding

Answer 6

Is when animals are forced into personal space of their neighbours. This causes interactions which are often violent and causes welfare problems.

Question 7

Social Behaviour

Answer 7

Is the way animals react and associate with each other.
Is comprised of physical structure including size and composition, social structure including relationships and group cohesion which means association.

Question 8

Dominance

Answer 8

Is system of space sharing in a group arranged on a priority basis which keeps friction to a minimum. Once complete, no challenge to order. Properties include describes and ignores some aspects of social relationships, deals only with antagonistic interactions and is linear but not always so. Consequences of dominance hierarchy include animals are culled on productivity if they are subordinate, facilities must be placed where animals can all access, dominant usually has mating and resource advantages.

Question 9

Social Facilitation

Answer 9

Tendency for animals to join in. Consequences for this include increased space needed, increased competition and may lead to crowding stress.

Question 10

Fighting

Answer 10

Most overt form of competition. Reasons for fighting include territorial, sex, dominance and fear. Fighting may be restrained or unrestrained. Restrained fighting includes territorial, sex and dominance. Unrestrained is out of fear.