Marthe Kiley-Worthington

Centre d'eco-etho recherche et education

An introduction to acoustic and vibrational communication in animals is presented in this chapter. Starting with the origins of communication and ritualization of vocal and vibrational signals to produce a clear message or broadcast. A summary of communication concepts is presented describing behaviors such as displays. The chapter continues by unr...

Mammals' mental homologies include that they look after their young, suckle and protect them; they acquire information about the world by learning. They have five types of sensory receptors and a brain to analyze the information and they feel: that is they are sentient. Mental homologies have been largely ignored by behavioural scientists since Dar...

This book was conceived as an activity of the Network on Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Agriculture, an EU funded network of researchers from 13 countries, and most of the authors were drawn from the network. A problem identified by the authors is the diversity that occurs inevitablyin organic agriculture, as it must adapt to the local condit...

The problems of beef production, including concerns about animal welfare, undesirable environmental effects, inability to be economically viable without subsidies from the public purse, and, recently, in the light of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (B.S.E.) crisis, possible concern for public health, are discussed. The criteria for improved an...

It is widely believed that beef production fulfilling the majority of the criteria for ethological and ecological husbandry is less productive and less economic than conventional beef production. It is commonly believed that organic ethologically and ecologically sound beef production must rely on premium prices. The management, production and econ...

It is widely believed that (i) there must be a conflict between food production and conservation, and (ii) that development must be related to economics. Both these beliefs are questioned. It is suggested that ecological agriculture, which includes ethologically and ecologically sound animal management (the criteria for which are outlined) can redu...

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Self-sustaining, diversified, high net yielding, economically viable agriculture, integrating aesthetic, ethical, conservation and recreational needs with food production is termed Ecological Agriculture; the criteria of which are outlined. Whether such a system could work in a marginal area is the subject of this paper.The area chosen was a “wet d...

There are inconsistencies in the treatment and attitudes of human beings to animals and much confusion in thinking about what are appropriate conditions for using and keeping animals. This article outlines some of these considerations and then proposes guidelines for designing animal management systems. In the first place, the global and local ecol...

The criteria of an ecological farm are discussed. These criteria are that it should be self-sustaining; diversified; show large net yields; cause neither ethical nor aesthetic concern; be economically viable; integrate wildlife conservation and forestry with production; require only moderate capital investment; and employ more people directly on th...

The aspect of cattle behaviour that has received most attention to date is the distribution of their behaviour patterns through the day. Grazing patterns vary according to the availability and type of pasture, but studies such as those of Hancock (1953) show that cattle graze for about eight to ten hours in every twentyfour and they ruminate for a...

As far as we know, the ancestors of cattle lived on the plains at the edge of forest (Chapter 1), and there is little doubt that they were social, herd-living mammals. In order to retain their social cohesion they, like other species, had to communicate, that is, convey information about themselves and the environment to each other. Forms of commun...

Having come to some conclusions concerning the relationship between mother and calf, we will now look at the cohesion of the herd as a whole by noting which animals associated with one another over a period of time.

A study of the behaviour of a species must be tied to an appreciation of the morphology, physiology and evolution that have given rise to it. In this chapter therefore, we examine the species specific characteristics of the sense organs of cattle, in order to understand their potential performance. To try to evaluate the extent to which this potent...

To obtain an accurate record of the changes in the behaviour of calves and their dams it was essential to note practically everything they did. We watched eighteeen cows and eighteen calves from the birth until the calves were six months old (see page 17 et seq. for deails of method) for a total of over 5000 hours. The observations were always made...

If one idly watches a large-uddered dairy cow rubbing itself on a fence post, it is difficult to imagine that cattle were once wild-eyed, quick-acting creatures. The ancestors of domestic cattle were the large Aurochs which roamed around on the edges of the post-glacial forests. These long-legged beasts (Bos primigenius) stood up to 2 metres at the...

We have until now in the majority of this monograph considered the behaviour of beef cattle in as natural a situation as possible: out all year and raising their own calves. In modern farming, however, there is a tendency to intensify animal husbandry which usually entails housing the animals and, in beef production, introducing the intensive feed-...

There are two main reasons why we have studied and described the behaviour of cattle in detail. The first, as we have explained, is to understand how cattle normally behave when left largely to their own devices, with a view to being able to improve management techniques, building design and so on to avoid some current problems which may well be th...

It was, of course, necessary to study the mother and calf from the moment of birth. This proved surprisingly difficult since calving time was often on freezing nights in October to November, or between February and March. In our own interests, therefore, we became quite skilled at predicting approaching parturition. These observations may be of use...

Although there are a number of observational and anecdotal studies on how and when the dam recognizes her calf, there is very little experimental work. There have been studies on maternal behaviour and recognition of the young in sheep (e.g. Alexander & Shillito 1977) and goats (e.g. Hersher et al. 1963). Cowley & Darby 1970 have worked on fosterin...

The Behaviour of Horses in Relation to Management and Training is a unique and important work, being a fascinating mixture of scientific fact and original thinking which will stimulate all horse owners to look more closely into patterns of behaviour resulting in a greatly improved understanding of equine species. The book covers: * Feeding behaviou...

The problems of modern high input agriculture are presently causing some concern. The fundamental problem is an undermining of the energy efficient self-sustaining character of a biological system. The purpose of this paper is to suggest an alternative system called Ecological Agriculture.This has seven requirements: 1.(1) It must be self-sustainin...

Conventional high-input agriculture gives rise to biological problems related to the breakdown of the selfsustaining recycling characteristic, normal to living systems, by reducing saprophytes, humus return and nitrogen fixing organisms. Thus, the system becomes increasingly dependent on greater inputs. In addition, reduced diversification often le...

Ways are suggested in which both classical and instrumental conditioning could be more widely used in farm animal management to decrease labour-time and/or increase productivity.One method of using auditory conditioning in cattle is described. The cattle learned to respond to the sound of an alarm within seven trials and move to the milking byre, b...

The social organisation of a captive herd of 13 eland, 1 adult male roan antelope, and one adult male cape oryx was studied at a limited food resource in a confined area. The importance of a

Postures and movements of possible communicative value are described. These were recorded from a group of 12 captive eland. Further observations were made on 3 other populations. The normal division of activities into motivational categories is considered unsatisfactory, and they are therefore grouped according to particular reflexes with which the...

This paper describes the tail movements of ungulates, canids and felids, and the situations which elicit them. In this way the cause and function of tail movements for communication are considered. Tail movements can be divided into dorso-ventral (that is elevation and depression) which are closely associated with changes in postural tonus, and lat...

A combination of both reviewed scientific knowledge (called the 3rd person approach) and knowledge gathered from philosophy of mind, critically assessed anecdotes & centuries of folk knowledge concerning the cognition of other mammals is termed Conditional Anthro-pomorphism. It is proposed as a rational method to begin to outline species subjectivi...

Etude de la distribution spatiale et du comporteincnt sexuel du Cobe defassa dans le Pare National de Nairobi. Les individus sont répéls d'apres les marques distinctives de leur pelage. L'activité journaliere est décrite, ainsi que les caractéristiques essentielles de l'habitat préférentiel. Cartographic, pour les mÂles, de territoires rigoureuseme...