Exclusion Performance in Dwarf Goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) and Sheep (Ovis orientalis aries)

Using a comparative approach, we investigated the ability of dwarf goats and sheep to use direct and indirect information about the location of a food reward in an object-choice task. Subjects had to choose between two cups with only one covering a reward. Before making a choice, subjects received information about the baited (direct information) or nonbaited cup (indirect information). Both goats and sheep were able to use direct information (presence of food) in the object choice task. After controlling for local enhancement, we found that goats rather than sheep were able to use indirect information (i.e., the absence of food) to find a reward. The actual test setup could not clarify whether individual goats were able to inferentially reason about the content of the baited cup when only shown the content of the non-baited cup or if they simply avoided the empty cup in that situation. As browsing species, feral and wild goats exhibit highly selective feeding behaviour compared to the rather unselective grazing sheep. The potential influence of this species-specific foraging flexibility of goats and sheep for using direct and indirect information to find a food reward is discussed in relation to a higher aversion to losses in food acquisition in goats compared to sheep

A Note on Pigs’ Knowledge of Hidden Objects

Object permanence is the notion that objects continue to exist even when they are out of observer’s sight. This ability is adaptive for free ranging animals who have to cope with a dangerous and highly changeable environment and allows them to be aware of predators sneaking in their proximity or to keep track of conspecifics or food sources, even when out of sight. Farm animals might also benefit from object permanence because the ability to follow the trajectory of hidden food or objects may lead to a higher predictability of subjects’ environment, which in turn might affect the level of stress under husbandry conditions. We conducted two experiments to examine the ability of object permanence in young domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica). For this purpose, we used a test setup that was formerly developed for primates and adopted it to the behavioural constraints of pigs. A rewarded object was hidden in one of three hiding locations with an increasing complexity of the object’s movement through successive test sessions. Subjects were confronted with visible and invisible displacement tasks as well as with transpositions of hidden objects in different contextual settings. Pigs solved visible, but not invisible displacements or transpositions, indicating that they have difficulties to keep track of once hidden and then moved objects. This should be taken into account when designing husbandry environments or studying designs

Object Permanence in the Dwarf Goat (Capra aegagrus hircus): Perseveration Errors and the Tracking of Complex Movements of Hidden Objects

Object permanence is the notion that objects continue to exist even when they are out of an observer’s sight. In mammals, the highest stage of object permanence (Stage 6) has been observed only in primates, whereas other species have shown difficulty in following once-hidden objects, particularly when complex movements are involved. We conducted four experiments to examine the ability of dwarf goats to mentally represent once-hidden objects. In Experiment 1, we investigated whether dwarf goats are prone to commit the A-not-B or perseveration error which is commonly used as a measure for self-control. Subjects here continue to search for an object that was repeatedly hidden and successfully found at location A in previous trials at that position, even if it has been hidden then in full sight at location B. Experiments 2-4 investigated their ability to track the movements of hidden objects in a crossed transposition task. Here, a reward was hidden in one of two hiding locations. After baiting, both of the locations were changed in a crossed manner to see if the subjects were able to follow the baited one and choose it at the new position. The setup of Experiments 2-4 varied to examine which strategies and modifications may influence the performance of the subjects. The results of Experiment 1 suggest that dwarf goats only show a small prevalence to commit the A-not-B error. In the transposition tasks, the goats showed little to moderate success when both of the hiding locations were identical (Experiment 2 and 4) but a number of goats solved the task when the two hiding locations varied in colour and shape (Experiment 3). Although other factors, such as the movement and the side of the baited cup influenced the goats´ decision making, the results provide the first evidence that dwarf goats might be able to keep track of hidden objects that cross paths during transposition by encoding visual feature cues

Juvenile Domestic Pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) Use Human-Given Cues in an Object Choice Task

Research on the comprehension of human-given cues by domesticated as well as non-domesticated species has received considerable attention over the last decade. While several species seem to be capable of utilizing these cues, former work with domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) has shown inconclusive results. In this study, we investigated the use of human-given cues in an object choice task by young domestic pigs (N = 17; seven weeks of age) who had very limited human contact prior to the experiments. Subjects had to choose between two bowls of which only one was baited with a reward. Over the course of five experiments, pigs were able to use proximal and, with some constraints, also distal pointing cues presented in both a dynamic-sustained and in a momentary manner. When the experimenter was pointing from the incorrect bowl towards the correct one, most of the subjects had problems solving the task – indicating that some form of stimulus/local enhancement affected pigs´ decision making. Interestingly, pigs were able to utilize the body and head orientation of a human experimenter to locate the hidden reward but failed to co-orient when head or body orientation of the experimenter was directed into distant space with no bowls present. Control trials ruled out the possibility that other factors (e.g., odour cues) affected subjects´ choice behaviour. Learning during experiments played a minor role and only occurred in three out of twelve test conditions. We conclude that domestic pigs, even at a very young age, are skillful in utilizing various human-given cues in an object choice task - raising the question wether pigs only used stimulus/local enhancement and associative learning processes or if they were able to comprehend the communicative nature of at least some of these cues

Do young domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) rely on object- 1 specific cues in a simultaneous discrimination task? 2 Christian Nawroth PrePrints

Abstract 26 Finding and relocating food sources is not only crucial for individuals in changing natural 27 environments -it is also of importance in domestic animals under husbandry conditions, for 28 instance to reduce stress when transferring animals into new housing conditions. This study 29 makes a first attempt by investigating young pigs´ use of conflicting spatial and feature cues 30 in a simultaneous discrimination task. In a training phase, subjects (n = 9) first learned to 31 approach a food container with distinct spatial and feature cues. In a subsequent test phase

Farm Animal Cognition—Linking Behavior, Welfare and Ethics

Farm animal welfare is a major concern for society and food production. To more accurately evaluate animal farming in general and to avoid exposing farm animals to poor welfare situations, it is necessary to understand not only their behavioral but also their cognitive needs and capacities. Thus, general knowledge of how farm animals perceive and interact with their environment is of major importance for a range of stakeholders, from citizens to politicians to cognitive ethologists to philosophers. This review aims to outline the current state of farm animal cognition research and focuses on ungulate livestock species, such as cattle, horses, pigs and small ruminants, and reflects upon a defined set of cognitive capacities (physical cognition: categorization, numerical ability, object permanence, reasoning, tool use; social cognition: individual discrimination and recognition, communication with humans, social learning, attribution of attention, prosociality, fairness). We identify a lack of information on certain aspects of physico-cognitive capacities in most farm animal species, such as numerosity discrimination and object permanence. This leads to further questions on how livestock comprehend their physical environment and understand causal relationships. Increasing our knowledge in this area will facilitate efforts to adjust husbandry systems and enrichment items to meet the needs and preferences of farm animals. Research in the socio-cognitive domain indicates that ungulate livestock possess sophisticated mental capacities, such as the discrimination between, and recognition of, conspecifics as well as human handlers using multiple modalities. Livestock also react to very subtle behavioral cues of conspecifics and humans. These socio-cognitive capacities can impact human-animal interactions during management practices and introduce ethical considerations on how to treat livestock in general. We emphasize the importance of gaining a better understanding of how livestock species interact with their physical and social environments, as this information can improve housing and management conditions and can be used to evaluate the use and treatment of animals during production

Exclusion Performance in Dwarf Goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) and Sheep (Ovis orientalis aries)

Using a comparative approach, we investigated the ability of dwarf goats and sheep to use direct and indirect information about the location of a food reward in an object-choice task. Subjects had to choose between two cups with only one covering a reward. Before making a choice, subjects received information about the baited (direct information) or non-baited cup (indirect information). Both goats and sheep were able to use direct information (presence of food) in the object choice task. After controlling for local enhancement, we found that goats rather than sheep were able to use indirect information (i.e., the absence of food) to find a reward. The actual test setup could not clarify whether individual goats were able to inferentially reason about the content of the baited cup when only shown the content of the non-baited cup or if they simply avoided the empty cup in that situation. As browsing species, feral and wild goats exhibit highly selective feeding behaviour compared to the rather unselective grazing sheep. The potential influence of this species-specific foraging flexibility of goats and sheep for using direct and indirect information to find a food reward is discussed in relation to a higher aversion to losses in food acquisition in goats compared to sheep

Stress and welfare in farm animals

Stress and welfare in farm animal

Juvenile Domestic Pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) Use Human-Given Cues in an Object Choice Task

Research on the comprehension of human-given cues by domesticated as well as non-domesticated species has received considerable attention over the last decade. While several species seem to be capable of utilizing these cues, former work with domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) has shown inconclusive results. In this study, we investigated the use of human-given cues in an object choice task by young domestic pigs (N = 17; seven weeks of age) who had very limited human contact prior to the experiments. Subjects had to choose between two bowls of which only one was baited with a reward. Over the course of five experiments, pigs were able to use proximal and, with some constraints, also distal pointing cues presented in both a dynamic-sustained and in a momentary manner. When the experimenter was pointing from the incorrect bowl towards the correct one, most of the subjects had problems solving the task – indicating that some form of stimulus/local enhancement affected pigs´ decision making. Interestingly, pigs were able to utilize the body and head orientation of a human experimenter to locate the hidden reward but failed to co-orient when head or body orientation of the experimenter was directed into distant space with no bowls present. Control trials ruled out the possibility that other factors (e.g., odour cues) affected subjects´ choice behaviour. Learning during experiments played a minor role and only occurred in three out of twelve test conditions. We conclude that domestic pigs, even at a very young age, are skillful in utilizing various human-given cues in an object choice task - raising the question wether pigs only used stimulus/local enhancement and associative learning processes or if they were able to comprehend the communicative nature of at least some of these cues

Object Permanence in the Dwarf Goat (Capra aegagrus hircus): Perseveration Errors and the Tracking of Complex Movements of Hidden Objects

Object permanence is the notion that objects continue to exist even when they are out of an observer’s sight. In mammals, the highest stage of object permanence (Stage 6) has been observed only in primates, whereas other species have shown difficulty in following once-hidden objects, particularly when complex movements are involved. We conducted four experiments to examine the ability of dwarf goats to mentally represent once-hidden objects. In Experiment 1, we investigated whether dwarf goats are prone to commit the A-not-B or perseveration error which is commonly used as a measure for self-control. Subjects here continue to search for an object that was repeatedly hidden and successfully found at location A in previous trials at that position, even if it has been hidden then in full sight at location B. Experiments 2-4 investigated their ability to track the movements of hidden objects in a crossed transposition task. Here, a reward was hidden in one of two hiding locations. After baiting, both of the locations were changed in a crossed manner to see if the subjects were able to follow the baited one and choose it at the new position. The setup of Experiments 2-4 varied to examine which strategies and modifications may influence the performance of the subjects. The results of Experiment 1 suggest that dwarf goats only show a small prevalence to commit the A-not-B error. In the transposition tasks, the goats showed little to moderate success when both of the hiding locations were identical (Experiment 2 and 4) but a number of goats solved the task when the two hiding locations varied in colour and shape (Experiment 3). Although other factors, such as the movement and the side of the baited cup influenced the goats´ decision making, the results provide the first evidence that dwarf goats might be able to keep track of hidden objects that cross paths during transposition by encoding visual feature cues