2011 seems to have been an exciting year for research in animal behaviour and welfare.
image from http://www.chickencare.net/
More studies emerged that found evidence of empathy in nonhuman species. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to feel his or her emotions. Scientists in Britain, cited by the Telegraph, found that when mother hens see their chicks experience something scary (having their feathers ruffled with puffs of air), they display the same signs of distress as the little chicks themselves. Meanwhile, a research group from the University of Chicago found that rats not only get “infected” by a trapped cagemate’s anxiety, but also gradually learn how to free their friend, with no training at all, and will choose to open his door rather than eat chocolate. (more…)
I am writing an article about recent discoveries in the field of animal welfare and animal psychology. The wealth of new information is staggering; scientific papers are being churned out by the dozen every month. I just have to pick out a few juicy bits here and there: nothing easier than that. And yet, the moment came when I stopped dead in my tracks. “Wait a minute. What if people find this silly? You know, the way you shrug your shoulders at the millionth newspaper article which proclaims that 2+2=4 and calls it science?”
A pause for reflection is in order, then. I have to admit that in animal welfare science, a lot of the new evidence hardly amounts to a discovery but is mere validation of truths we know intuitively – or knew once but have forgotten in our post-industrial age. It is a little sad that we need statistical measurements of heart rates and cortisol levels to accept that cows have friends in their herd and get stressed when the farmer separates them, as reported in the Daily Mail. Another study which measured the heart rates of dairy cows showed that when one cow licks the face of another, the effect is profoundly calming.1
Two studies looked at the activity of seal hunting with a view to determine suffering. One was done by the International Federation for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and another by Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA). Even though both studies indicated that the current method of seal hunting involved suffering, the recommendations of both the studies varied. The IFAW suggested drastic intervention such us immediate stopping of the hunt where as the CVMA study suggested better management of the hunt.
One of the issues of contention regarding seal hunt, is identifying suffering during the hunt. After a seal is shot or clubbed, the seal shows some active movement of various body parts before the cessation of all its behaviour. There are different opinions on whether the animal is suffering during this period or not. Some feel that once the seal is shot or clubbed, it is unconscious and thus the animal does not feel pain even if body movements are visible. They feel that all animals show some movements before death even in an unconscious state. Others opine that the seal is conscious and thus is able to feel pain and is suffering.
Assessing how conscious a seal is after being shot or clubbed, needs the expertise of animal welfare specialists with understanding in physiology, neuroscience and animal behavior rather than pure mathematicians or statisticians. Science is a pursuit of truth. More often than a single line of enquiry, a multidisciplinary approach often gets the benefit of bringing together different viewpoints, allowing scientists to work together and come to a conclusion.
Such an approach will help the people and government of Canada get a deeper understanding of the pros and cons of this seal hunting activity and take appropriate decisions. It’s our personal opinion, in the interest of all animals and humans, that we should refrain from killing any animal. But a consistent science-based approach also has its merits in bringing people of diverse cultures together to a common platform on contentious issues like this.
Owen and Mzee are a hippopotamus and a tortoise, respectively, that became the subject of much media attention after forming a unique bond of friendship.
A baby hippopotamus, Owen, was orphaned in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya near Malindi during the Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004. The baby hippo, weighing 600 pounds (270 kg), was stranded on a large rock not far from shore. He was finally rescued during a day long effort by nearly 1,000 villagers using shark nets.
Owen was taken to Haller Park, a restored limestone quarry near Mombasa. He was released into a large wooded penned-in area that included a pond and a co-inhabitant − a 700-pound (320 kg), 130-year-old Aldabran tortoise named Mzee (Swahili for “wise old man”).
Owen immediately bonded to Mzee and would crouch behind him. However, Mzee initially resisted Owen’s overtures. Over time, the old tortoise came to accept the young hippo, who began to mimic his adoptive parent. Gradually, Mzee taught Owen what to eat and where to sleep.
In the first year, the two became inseparable companions who ate, slept, swam, and played together. Owen often played with the old tortoise by jumping on Mzee’s back, scratching the old tortoise on the neck, and in many other ways. They surprised scientists with the strength of what appeared to be a genuine bond, as well as with the unique vocal communication that developed between them.
Now they have a whole website and books dedicated to their special friendship. If you are interested in learning more about Owen and Mzee, click here.
Christian was a lion cub born in to a life of captivity and sold to the exclusive department store Harrods, for sale in their pet department back in 1969! John Rendall and Ace Bourke purchased him and what happened next became a beautiful story of friendship that ultimately saw Christian return to his rightful place in the wilds of Africa.
At first he lived with John and Ace in their London home and went to work with them at their furniture store but they soon came to realise that he was getting too big and growing to love him, they now wanted a better- more natural life for Christian!
Luckily for Christian, Virginia McKenna (founder of Bornfree) happened to visit their furniture store and suggested that Christian go to live with conservationist George Adamson in Kenya, where he could hopefully be rehabilitated back in to the wild.
Christian went to Africa to start a new life and joined 2 other rescued lions, Boy and Katania, forming a close bond with the older lion, Boy. When Boy later died Christian sat by his grave for days.
In 1972, Rendall and Bourke went back to visit Christian after a year apart. They were prepared for him not to remember them at all. What happened that day was caught on film and with the explosion of video sharing became the most watched video on Youtube in 2008. The film shows the lion at first cautiously approach and then quickly leap playfully onto the two men, standing on his hind legs and wrapping his front legs around their shoulders, nuzzling their faces. The documentary also shows the female lions, Mona and Lisa, welcoming the two men.
Rendall and Bourke returned to see Christian again in 1973. They had been told not to bother coming because Christian hadn’t returned to the reserve for 9 months and they probably wouldn’t see him. As fate would have it, Christian returned to the reserve the day before their arrival and they were reunited for a final time.
‘We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly. Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.’
This renunion lasted all night with the men drinking beer and Christian lounging around and playing with them. The next day he left and never returned to the reserve.
If you are interested in reading more about Christian’s life, there are several films, biographies and even a children’s book about this incredible true story, demonstrating the power of friendship and importance of animal conservation.
Even as late as the eighties, surgeons operated on new born human infants without anaesthetic wrongly believing them not to feel pain because of their age. This view is still widely believed when it comes to young animals, for example new born sheep are castrated and tail-docked and chicks are beak-trimmed. However the science has proven that young animals do feel pain and this view is slowly changing. Now science has asked the same question of fish and the evidence once again proves that they too have feelings and are capable of experiencing pain and suffering. This may come as a surprise to many, even some ‘vegetarians’ believed it was ok to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings.
Mammals have special pain detectors in their skin known as nociceptors. The nociceptors transmit signals to the brain when pain occurs. It is now known that fish have these pain detectors too.
Not even this was enough to silence the skeptics though. They argue that just because fish feel pain, it doesn’t mean they experience it consciously. However recent experiments by Dr Peter Laming, have gone some way to answering this criticism. He showed that a fully developed pain ‘pathway’ is present in goldfish, linking receptors in the skin, via the spinal cord, to the brain.
We don’t know how to tell for certain whether other humans are consciously aware let alone animals of other species. For both human and non-human animals we can only look for behavioural clues that suggest that others are conscious. Fish have been shown to display behavioural signs that they are not just sensing pain but also experiencing it. Dr Braithwaite has shown that fish which have been injected with ‘painful’ stimulants around the mouth react very differently to those that have not – rubbing the affected area and losing interest in their food until the poison had worn off.
Fish are not a stupid as ’some’ thought either. Scientists in Madrid have discovered that goldfish have the ability to learn and remember their way around mazes. And male cichlids, aggressive freshwater tropical fish, have been found to be able to gauge the fighting abilities of potential rivals simply by watching earlier bouts. This ability – to create a mental ranking – is called transitive inference, and humans cannot do it until they are four years old.
This is an amusing video of a school of goldfish following the instructions of their human trainer.
Source
Braithwaite, V (2010) Do fish feel pain. Oxford University Press.
