About
87
Publications
54,658
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,985
Citations
Citations since 2017
Publications
Publications (87)
Sex pheromones are chemical substances secreted into the environment that affect the physiology and behavior of recipients. Females use these compounds during oestrus to attract males, which leads to attempts of mating. This study evaluates the influence of manual semen collection in male dogs, in the presence or absence of a female in estrus, on t...
The aim of the experiment was to test the effect of an elevated level of glucocorticoids on the mouse hippocampal transcriptome after 12 h of treatment with corticosterone that was administered during an active phase of the circadian cycle. Additionally, we also tested the circadian changes in gene expression and the decay time of transcriptomic re...
During the ovarian cycle in domestic dogs, females do not accept males during the first days of estrus but become attractive to males from the beginning of proestrus, with this attractiveness persisting until the end of the estrus phase. It is believed that increased estradiol is responsible for the female attractiveness to the males. In this paper...
Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may affect the lives of pet animals. We aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the welfare of pet cats across countries, as well as the owners' experience in relation to their cat(s). An online survey containing 21 questions was distributed internationally. Questions were related to informat...
The COVID-19 pandemic affects human health, movement and behaviour, and this may consequently influence the behaviour and health of their pets. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pet dogs’ behaviour, as reported by their owners, as well as the owners’ experience in relation to their dogs. We hypothesized that...
This study aimed to assess the mechanisms of semiochemical signal detection in dogs. In the first experiment, five males were exposed to volatile semiochemicals emitted by a live female in estrus and the female’s urine sample collected during estrus. The odor of canine food and clean air were used as controls. In the second experiment, 25 males cou...
This study sought to determine whether mice can differentiate, through urine odors, conspecifics with melanoma in early stages, when no clinical signs are detectable, from healthy animals. Forty male mice of the B57BL6 strain were urine donors before and after orthotopic inoculation with melanoma cells. Another group (35 males and 31 females), divi...
A scent lineup is generally a procedure whereby a dog's alerting behavior is used to establish that the dog detects two scents, one from a crime scene and one from a suspect, as deriving from the same person. The aim of this article is to compare methodologies of using dogs in scent lineups as a means of identifying perpetrators of crimes. It is ho...
The aim of this study was to identify candidate genes that could be useful predictors of better detection performance in drugs and explosives detection dogs. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in selected canine olfactory receptor genes responsible for olfactory acuity (OR1P2-like, OR51H5-like, OR52N9-like,OR52P3-like, OR9S13-like), and genes related...
This study assessed the most suitable behavioral test for discrimination of the odor of female dog urine during estrus and anestrus, to identify chemical compounds acting as female pheromones. Twelve male dogs were used for testing. Urine samples were collected from 16 females in estrus, 5 females in anestrus, 5 spayed females, and 8 males. In test...
More than hundred urine samples, vaginal secretions, vulval and anal imprints as well as anal sac secretions, collected during various phases of the ovarian cycle, were evaluated with the HS-SPME/GC-MS technique. The results indicate there were differences among samples of urine collected during particular phases of the ovarian cycle. Unequivocally...
The aim of the study was to assess whether adult stallions differentiate their olfactory and marking behaviour towards the excreta of their potential male rivals and mares. Four Konik polski stallions were individually exposed simultaneously to their own and each others' faeces as well as faeces of mares in oestrus vs. dioestrus. Five series of 30m...
This book contains 15 chapters that describe the physiological, behavioural and welfare parameters of smell and odour detection and processing in animals.
Husbandry procedures are necessary for different purposes in horse breeding. The aim of the present study was to assess the aversiveness and effects on the horse-human relationship of a range of common husbandry procedures, in pre-weaned non-habituated Konik polski foals. Our measures included commonly and previously validated behavioural and physi...
Reproduction is one of the basic biological functions in animals and humans. Due to the high biological relevance of reproduction and energy investment in their rearing offspring need to be of the best genetic quality and tness to ensure preservation of the species. Both males and females employ mating strategies that would promote reproduction suc...
The aim of this study was to examine whether and how different odorants placed on the bodies of female mice, but having no reward value for the males, affect courtship and mating behaviour of male mice towards females in oestrus and thus emitting female pheromones. In this manner, certain consequences of concurrent activation of the main olfactory...
Equine behaviour is crucial for all kinds of equestrian activities, and therefore behavioural traits are considered as selection criteria in horse breeding programs in many countries. Since neither a desired profile of equine personality for particular riding disciplines nor detailed preferences of different groups of equestrians have been clearly...
Environmental enrichment is the stimulation of the brain, which involves the enhancement of an animal’s physical or social environment. It influences brain plasticity, stimulates neurogenesis, increases neurotrophic factor expression, and protects against the effects of brain injury[1]. Environmental enrichment reduce the incidence or severity of u...
So, how can the study and use of odors in applied ethology and animal welfare science be advanced? First, all studies should bear in mind the potential impact of odors. The invisible influence of odors, undetected by the human experimenter may explain unexpected results. Second, if odors are to be used to improve the way we manage animals, then the...
Blood plasma profiles of equine sex steroids are useful in diagnose and for different scientific purposes. The aim of this study was to monitor oestradiol, testosterone and androstenedione blood plasma profiles in foals of age between 6 and 18 months, in order to establish the reference levels for male and female of young Konik Polski horses. The e...
Blood plasma profiles of equine sex steroids are useful in diagnose and for different scientific purposes. The aim of this study was to monitor oestradiol, testosterone and androstenedione blood plasma profiles in foals of age between 6 and 18 months, in order to establish the reference levels for male and female of young Konik Polski horses. The e...
Experimental studies using trained dogs to identify breath odour markers of human cancer, published in the recent decade, have been analyzed and compared with the authors' own results. Particular published studies differ as regards the experimental setup, kind of odour samples (breath, urine, tumor tissue, serum), sample collection methods, dogs' c...
The aim of this preliminary study was to assess whether adult stallions differentiate their olfactory and marking behavior towards the excreta of potential rivals depending on their age, libido, hormonal status and the season of the year. Five Konik stallions were individually exposed to their own and each others’ feces in a round pen during eight...
During the illness are released volatile organic compounds with specific smell which could have in diagnosis of diseases. The first aim of the study was qualitative and quantitative analysis of exhaled breath samples obtained from patients with lung cancer, healthy volunteers and people with other lung diseases by gas chromatography-mass spectromet...
Breath analysis is a young field of research with great clinical potential. As a result of this interest, researchers have developed new analytical techniques that permit real-time analysis of exhaled breath with breath-to-breath resolution in addition to the conventional central laboratory methods using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Breath...
Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was applied for determination of concentrations volatile organic compounds present in human breath samples. The technique allows to rapid determination compounds in human air, at the level of parts per billion. It showed linear correlations ranging from 0.83-234.05 ppb, limit detection in the range o...
Some recent publications claim that the effectiveness of police canine drug detection is uncertain and likely minimal, and that the deterrent effect of dogs on drug users is low. It is also claimed that more scientific evidence is needed to demonstrate to what extent dogs actually detect drugs. The aim of this research was to assess experimentally,...
High populations of various insect species, especially common in the summer, may adversely affect farm animal health because of the transmission of contagious and parasitic diseases and the induction of insect allergies. Blood-sucking insects may compromise animal welfare and cause economic losses due to the annoyance and distress suffered by the a...
Police dogs handlers' and trainers' opinions on Labrador retrievers (n=87) and German shepherds (n=96) trained for drugs vs. explosives detection have been compared. As most important traits in both specialties the responders indicated: (1) willingness to sniff objects, (2) concentration (focusing) ability, (3) acuity of smell and (4) willingness t...
Animal welfare has become a growing concern affecting acceptability of agricultural systems in many countries around the world. An earlier Judeo-Christian interpretation of the Bible (1982) that dominion over animals meant that any degree of exploitation was acceptable has changed for most people to mean that each person has responsibility for anim...
Scent identification lineups using dogs are a potentially valuable forensic tool, but have been dismissed by some critics because of cases where a false identification was shown to have occurred. It is not known, however, why dogs appear to make more false indications to the odors of some persons than of others. In this study, human genders were co...
The aim of this study was to assess the progress in operant conditioning of dogs during 3 training phases up to a level where the dogs performed a minimum of 40 correct indications without false alerts and hesitations in at least 100 trials in each phase, and to compare the training results with the working phase. Breath samples from 57, 45, and 11...
The aims of the present study were as follows: (1) to identify the particular characteristics of a horse that are important to riders, and (2) to examine which of these properties are significant for different categories of riders. The participants (197; 78.7% females) were surveyed using the Ideal Horse Questionnaire (IHQ), which contains items th...
The aim of the present paper was to examine in field conditions the feasibility of the experimentally developed behavioural tests for assessment of two temperamental traits of cold blood horses: fearfulness and reactivity to humans. The predictive, convergent and discriminant validity of the tests was evaluated. Fifty-three Polish Cold Blood Horses...
Sport horse studbooks frequently use performance tests to identify, evaluate and approve stallions for future breeding programmes. The aim of this study was to analyse behaviour-related traits of Polish Warmblood stallions participating in studbook 100-day performance tests. Both relatedness and differences of traits and their contribution to overa...
Prompted by these studies and by recent evidence showing that the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) has complex cog-nitive skills in interacting with humans, we: i) discuss the possibility that this species may have developed the capacity to empathize with humans at a level beyond emotional contagion; ii) briefly refer to the available evidence suppo...
Scent lineups are a powerful tool in the investigation of crimes. With proper procedures, both forensic and judicial, scent lineups can be valuable evidence for a jury to consider. Unfortunately, many courts have been willing to admit poorly conducted procedures, even if giving lip service to the fact that the scent lineup was deficient by saying t...
Training of dogs to distinguish individual human scent has no well-established scientific basis. The aim of the study was to evaluate the progress made over three consecutive training phases and to compare the training results with those of the working phase. Six naive German Shepherd dogs (4 males and 2 females) were trained to match one target hu...
Present study was aimed at testing the possible breed differences in behaviour-related traits evaluated in performance tests of stallions. The results as regards the traits labelled "character", "temperament", "trainability" and "rideability" were examined. The results of 326 three-years old stallions submitted to the 100-days training at two train...
Twenty males were used from generation 8 of rabbits divergently selected for high (line H, n=10) vs. low (line L, n=10) locomotor activity in the open-field (OF-test). At the age of 98 days, blood samples were withdrawn from the ear vein and the rabbits were killed. Immediately, liver, kidney and the left femoral muscle samples were excised. In lys...
The outstanding sensitivity of the canine olfactory system has been acknowledged by using sniffer dogs in military and civilian
service for detection of a variety of odors. It is hypothesized that the canine olfactory ability is determined by polymorphisms
in olfactory receptor (OR) genes. We investigated 5 OR genes for polymorphic sites which migh...
Original Papers Qualitative and quantitative changes in dogs' information-seeking behaviours during the subsequent phases of operant conditioning training using a scent lineup, were investigated. Particular interest was paid to behaviours which may have an impact on errors committed by dogs at work in a scent lineup and thus on the reliability of t...
The relationship between facial hair whorl position and reactivity, as assessed by behavioural measures (handling score=HS; startle reaction to a suddenly appearing novel object=SR; latency to touch a novel object=LNO) and heart rate measures (mean HR; increase in heart rate=IHR) were studied using 55 Konik horses reared either under conventional s...
The natural protective behaviour displayed by Konik Polski horses against flies was investigated. The factors considered were age (adults versus foals), management system (forest reserve versus pasture), weather conditions and type of horse activity. Twenty-five Konik Polski adults and 18 foals were observed between 0800 and 2000h during two summer...
The intensity with which the horse reacts to novelty is crucial for safety of both horse and human. The aim of the study was to examine: (1) whether horses' fear reactions to a startling novel object diminish with successive test days and (2) whether the active human handling leads to the decrease of the fear-related responses of the horse. Eight a...
There are studies on the relationship between the position and shape of hair whorls on bovine forehead and phenotypic traits. According to anecdotal beliefs by horse users and handlers, temperamental traits may be related to the position of hair whorls in horses. No previous research on the mechanisms of inheritance of hair whorls has been performe...
Lung and breast cancers are leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Prior exploratory work has shown that patterns of biochemical markers have been found in the exhaled breath of patients with lung and breast cancers that are distinguishable from those of controls. However, chemical analysis of exhaled breath has not shown suitability for individ...
It was examined whether the divergent genetic selection for activity in open-field influences the motivation of rabbits to enlarge cage size, using operant conditioning technique. Twenty New Zealand White rabbits of both sexes, chosen randomly from two lines selected over nine generations for high (H, n=10) and low (L, n=10) locomotor activity in t...
Weak or equivocal expression of oestrous behaviour, related to different level of mares’ reactivity, may cause problems in oestrus detection and thus influence the reproductive efficiency. The aim of the study was to test whether a breed characterised by low pregnancy rate and high emotional reactivity (Thoroughbreds) differs in oestrous behaviour...
The genetic structure of Polish Arabian horses over 50 years of breeding was studied based on founder contribution analysis. Data from 1032 brood mares and 154 sires in national studs, between 1948 and 1997, were analysed. Postwar Arabs are descended from 213 founders. During 50 years of breeding, there were increases in both the average number of...
Two lines deriving from the same rabbit stock were selected for 8 generations for high (H) or low (L) locomotor activity score in the open field (OFS). The divergent selection was most effective up to the 3rd generation in the H line and up to the 4th generation in the L line. In further generations a decrease of OFS in the H line and a "floor effe...
White New Zealand male rabbits (n = 12) were fed by high-cholesterol diet for 7 weeks. The activity of some lysosomal enzymes in blood plasma and in the liver was determined. The cholesterol-enriched diet resulted a significant of AP, LL, BGAL and BGLU activity up increase in the blood plasma to 131%, 186%, 308% and 184% as compared with those in c...
Thirty foals and young Konik horses born in 3 consecutive years and reared up to weaning either in a forest reserve (R) or conventional stable (S) were compared with respect to behavioural reactions and heart rate (HR) during handling manipulations. The foals were randomly allocated within sex and rearing group to one of two handling treatments. In...
White New Zealand male rabbits were fed a high-cholesterol (1%) diet for 7 weeks. The activity of alkaline phosphatase (AP), alanine (AlaAT), aspartate (AspAT) aminotransferases and level of glucose in the blood plasma of rabbits was determined and compared with those of a control group of animals. The cholesterol-enriched diet resulted in increase...
The aim of the experiment was to investigate the relationship between consumption of cholesterol-enriched diet and plasma and tissue cholesterol content as well as the degree of atherosclerosis in rabbits, to make further investigations on the role of emotional and behavioural factors in diet induced atherosclerosis more conclusive. The experimenta...
The effect of handling of rabbit pups and juveniles on their mortality rate and weight gains was investigated. Thirty-two litters of White New Zealand rabbit does were used for the experiment. One or two pups were chosen at random from each litter to be in the handled group (H, n = 40) and the remaining pups were used as controls (C, n = 72). The h...
Atherosclerosis was induced in rabbits by feeding them a 2% cholesterol diet (CHOL) during a 5-week period. Twelve rabbits were fed with increasing amounts of CHOL food until the ad libitum level was reached, whereas in 24 other rabbits the food was limited to the amount eaten by the lowest consumer of the group to reduce individual variability in...
Superovulation was induced in 37 Black-and-White dairy cows by injections of PGF2alpha-analogue (Cloprostenol) and FSH as hormone treatment (HT). As controls 120 herd-mates without any HT were observed. The frequencies of mountings and vulva sniffings during a total of 275 estrous cases after which cows conceived, and 238 diestrous periods precedin...