From: IN%"SALONIEM@ekk1.vetmed.fi" 2-JAN-1994 23:48:54.51 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: suckling heifers Dear all My name is Hannu Saloniemi. I am a veterinarian and working in the Department of Animal Hygiene, College of Veterinary Medicine, Helsinki. The research in the department is now focused on the calf, its behaviour and immunology. By the way, does someone know a practical method for detecting if a heifer has been suckled by her boxmates? Some dye maybe? Hannu =============================================================================== From: IN%"GONYOU@sask.usask.ca" 3-JAN-1994 09:00:42.89 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: e-mail network, newsletter and journal Network members, Following the discussion on the network in December, I have been in communication with Jeff Rushen about the possibilities of using e-mail for more formal communication. I have asked him, as ISAE editor, to prepare some suggestions for our next council meeting, in Denmark. The ISAE Council briefly discussed the idea of a fairly formal newsletter being distributed on e-mail last July. As Jeff and Joe investigated the possibilities, it seemed that the much less formal network which we now have in place was the best way to start using e-mail. I proposed to Jeff that we proceed in 3 phases. The first, which has essentially been completed, is the e-mail network. The second is a newsletter. The newsletter would be more formal, with material being submitted through the ISAE Editor or Secretary. Most announcements would be made in the newsletter, freeing up the network for more discussionIf an e-mail newsletter can replace the paper newsletter of the ISAE, substantial savings could be achieved. However, we must ensure that all members do receive the newsletter in some form. An e-mail newsletter could be sent more frequently. The third step would be an e-mail journal. This is a possibility and we have already made some enquries concerning it. I have asked Jeff to bring a proposal concerning an e-mail newsletter to the Council meeting in Denmark. Please send any comments you have about this matter to him. This should include both your ideas on how it might operate, what should be in it, and how we communicate with non e-mail subscribers. Thank you for your input on this and other matters. The network seems to be an effective way of getting feedback from the members. Sincerely, Harold Gonyou ISAE President =============================================================================== From: IN%"ESA346@ESAVAX.EDINBURGH.AC.UK" 4-JAN-1994 10:16:32.22 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" "APPLIED-ETHOLOGY" CC: Subj: primiparous mothers Dear All With regard to discussion of gilts savaging piglets and the possible involvement of experience of neonates, Sharon Cregier tells me of a horse- breeder she knows who always ensures that she has a pony due to foal before any primiparous thoroughbred, and then pens the latter next to the former so that she can see the pony foaling before she does so herself. The opinion of the breeder is that this prevents any problems; I don't know whether this is based on any hard information. Mike Appleby =============================================================================== From: IN%"STOOKEY@sask.usask.ca" 10-JAN-1994 21:47:09.69 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: References on signaling/smelling fear Dear All, Recently a student has approached me with an interest in pursuing a summer research project investigating whether cattle are capable of smelling specific odors (originating from cattle) which might illicit a fear response. His question originates from his personal experiences at home, when their bull displayed pawwing, head rubbing and vocalizations at the location and sight of blood from a butchered animal. He has been unable to locate any references, on any animal species, which mentions the ability to signal fear, smell fear, communicate fear, "fear-pheromones", fear response to blood, etc. Is anyone aware of any scientific investigation along these lines. There are plenty of anecdotes about horses or pack horses being upset with the sight/smell of blood when encountered on hunting trips, but we have not been able to locate any scientific evidence confirming this in horses or any other species. Any helpful leads along this line (in any species) would be appreciated. (I would even be pleased to have a poultry reference!). Thank you for your comments and I wish you all the best in '94. Joe Stookey =============================================================================== From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT2.AGR.CA" 11-JAN-1994 08:35:56.54 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: SMELLING FEAR Some random references: Vieuille-Thomas, C. and J. P. Signoret, Pheromonal transmission of an aversive experience in domestic pigs. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 1992, vol 18 pages 1551-1557. Williams, J. L. Influence of conspecific stress odors and shock controllabil ity on conditioned defensive burying Animal Learning and Behavior, 1987, 15, 333-341. Williams, J. L. Ethoexperimental analysis of stress, contextual odors, and defensive behaviors. In R. J. Blanchard, P. F. Brain, C. C. Blanchard, S. Parmigiano (Eds) Ethoexperimental approaches to the study of behavior. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1988 pp214-228 McGlone, J. Olfactory cues and pig agonistic behavior: evidence for a submissive pheromone. Physiology and Behavior 1985, 34 p 195 (although this paper claims to find a submissive pheromone, I believ a better interpretation is that some forms of stress induce a change in the odor of pig urine which can be detected by a conspecific and increasses their tendency to attack) Jeff Rushen ============================================================================== From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT2.AGR.CA" 11-JAN-1994 08:41:19.09 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: SMELLING FEAR A few more randomly discovered references (I think there are quite a lot!) Zalaquett, C. and Thomas, D. D. The effects of odors from stressed mice on conspecific behavior. Physiology and Behavior, 1991, 50:221-227 Valenta, J. G. and Rigby, M. K. Discrimination of the odour of stressed rats. Science, 1968, 161:599-600 McKay-Sim, A. and Lang, D. G. Discrimination of odors from stressed rats by nonstressed rats. Physiology and Behavior, 1980, 24:699-704 ============================================================================= From: IN%"William_R_STRICKLIN@umail.umd.edu" 11-JAN-1994 13:36:32.42 To: IN%"applied-ethology-error@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: References on signaling/smelling fear Ron Kilgour (1975; Anim Behav 23:615) reported that some subjects in an open field test of dairy cows "move to areas where dung has been dropped earlier in the day, they have sniffed, pawed the shavings, and defecated. This type of structured cow response might suggest that either the establishment of territory or the provision of a familiar ordour are as cogent an explanation of some cattle defecation responses in this study as it being an autonomic response to fear." Not long after this publication came out, Ron visited Saskatchewan and he and I discussed the paper in some detail. One point that I think is important, and maybe is not clear in the paper, is that sniffing followed by defecation occurred even when the dung and immediate surrounding-shavings were removed between trials. It is my recollection that in the discussion, Kilgour leaned toward accepting an "alarm cell substance" or fear pheromone explanation. However, this may have been in part a courtesy to his host, as I no doubt was lobbying for the fear viewpoint. Joe, I find it ironic that one of your students has this interest in fear responses of cattle. When I taught the undergraduate course on Applied Animal Behaviour at Saskatoon, I required that students conduct a term project as part of the credit. One student's project involved obtaining blood from the kill-floor of the packing house, taking the blood to the university beef feedlot and observing the response of the steers to the blood. As I recall, the student obtained blood from cattle, sheep and hogs and reported that the feedlot cattle showed only mild interest, followed by licking in at least one instance. I did not immediately supervise the project, and I believe Harold Gonyou was the teaching assistant for the class at the time. Thus, he would have been more involved with supervising the project, and I would trust his memory more than mine on the results of the project. However, I would suggest that the project is worthy of being repeated, with some modifications as implied below. I have a bias (some would call it an hypothesis) that cattle do show fear responses (and possibly even stronger responses) to blood and(or) other body fluids or parts associated with death of other cattle. It is my bias that there is mental "recognition" beyond chemical and neuronal "hard-wiring" involved in the eliciting of the fear response that is based on social group association. Odor plays a strong role in recognition and bonding among cattle, which leads me to speculate that the odor of a kin or group-mate's blood (after traumatic death?) triggers the fear response in its group-mates. This bias is based primarily on recollections from my childhood. I remember at least three instances when the family beef herd was moved past a tree we used to hang steers during butchering. I recall seeing and hearing the fear response shown by bulls, cows and some of the younger heifers and steers, similar to that your student, Joe, described to you. I recall that the time gap between the observed behavior and slaughter as being weeks in length. (My father says that it is only days afterward). I also remember seeing a group of cows show this response to the offal of a slaughtered steer that had been discarded into their pasture. Other anecdotal information comes from my father. During a visit during this past Christmas season, he told me of how frightened he felt as very young child after being awakened at night by the sounds of cattle that had come the location where his father had recently butchered cattle. My grandfather frequently slaughtered cattle and sold the meat, and there were no fence laws at the time. The behavior that I remember involved much more than what I would identify as just a fear response. The vocalizations were low, guttural, rolling (almost moaning) sounds of several seconds in duration. To be completely anthropopathic, I would say that the vocalizations imitated moaning-type or mourning sounds sometimes made by grieving humans. There was pawing of the ground and dust was thrown over the shoulder using the front feet. The head and shoulders were pushed and rubbed over the ground area where the blood had been, while these vocalizations were made. This activity typically involved several (maybe 5-10) cattle and attracted the attention of the larger group. Bulls often engaged in head pushing bouts. The herd ran from the area when they moved on, with considerable frolicking and "play- fighting." The "mourning" behavior I described above involved cattle smelling the location where an animal, once a herd-mate, was bleed-out and butchered. Joe, the recollections of your student from his time on the home farm likely involved cattle that had also been herd-mates. If it is social group association that plays a role in the behavior, then one might expect the response to be greatest between mother and offspring (possibly older offspring of near weaning age?). I know of one anecdote that would appear to contradict group association (and even species) as a factor. While Janice Swanson was conducting her dissertation research, she lived at the Univ of Maryland Beef Farm. She told me of one Sunday morning when she heard loud and unusual sounds from one group of cows. When she went to investigate, she found offal from a deer that someone had thrown over the fence into the pasture. The behavior and vocalizations she described were similar to what I described above. Sometime around 1987, I obtained the offal from a cull dairy cow that had been butchered at a local slaughter facility. I took the offal to the Beef Farm and placed the pieces, starting with the head and ending with the tail in the approximate original order. The pieces were laid out in a linear manner over a distance of about 20 meters. The head was placed at a location near the gate where the cattle coming into the pasture would pass nearby, but far enough inside for the entire group of 50-75 head to enter through the gate before the first cow made contact with the head of the offal. The cattle observed were mature Angus, Hereford and reciprocal crossbred cows and their calves. I videotaped the cattle as they entered the pasture and continued for about 30-40 minutes. The lead cow approached the head as if she was unaware of its presence to within 1-2 steps distance and then showed a jump-step startle response (movement of only 1-2 steps) which caused other cattle near her to respond in a similar manner. The lead cow then slowly extended her head downward and toward the head with her ears forward. She then sniffed the head and surrounding area. For some time she moved between sniffing the offal and raising her head to view the surrounding area. Other cows approached the head and showed similar sniffing and "vigilance" activities. A cow that had not been near the front of the group approached the head and showed a startle response. Other cows moved on to investigate the intestines and other organs. Some smelled and then showed a wide mouth-opening response with the lower jaw extended to one side. This appeared to be a type of gagging response. Some cows smelled the intestines, raised their heads and then extended their tongues downward with the mouth open widely, similar to tongue-rolling behavior in confined cattle. During the 30-40 minutes that I filmed and the next 3-4 hours that I observed the group, the most "common non-typical" behavior (a true oxymoronic phrase) was what I would call vigilance behavior. This behavior of the adult cows appeared to be similar to that I have seen in wildlife films of wild ungulate groups that have experienced a kill by a lion or other large predator. The cows frequently stood erect with their heads raised and surveyed the immediate horizons. At no time did the cows vocalize or show any of the other "mourning" behaviors, as I described above. (I maybe should point out that this filming all took place only a few miles from where Edgar Allen Poe drank, wrote and is buried.) I submitted a research proposal within my institution to investigate the possible responses of cattle to death of group- mates. I wanted to use the offal from cattle that were routinely culled from the herd for slaughter. The written response from University administrators was that I could continue "only if used body parts that could not be recognized." In the years hence, I have laid awake many nights trying to determine which are the body parts that I am supposed to be unable to recognize, and I did not continue the observations on cattle. Now that these eccentricities and perversions of mine are known to the world at large, and not just recognized by my administrators, I hope that someone will attempt to follow up. I don't believe that cattle recognize death per se, and I base this bias on the behavior of cattle at slaughter houses, which I acknowledge has been only casually and not systematically observed. (However, if I could digress even more, I believe that dogs have some ability to conceptualize death. I again base this on personal experience. I remember once when my father, my brothers and I were preparing to shoot a steer for butchering, and for some reason there was a delay between the time the barrel of the 22-rifle was raised to the calf's head and it was shot. During this time the family dog, which had frequently witnessed small-game being shot, started to run and yelp in an excited and exaggerated manner. It is possible, of course, that he was cuing off the tenseness in voice, body movement, etc. that may have been shown by the humans present. There was always a tenseness that I felt just prior to a single animal being slaughtered under these circumstances. There was another situation involving another family dog that also had small-game hunting experience that I remember. At the time I was a teenager and the incident involved my having to kill a bitch that someone from town had dumped from their car and onto our farm. (There were no animal shelters nearby.) I took her into the woods using food as a lure. She was in estrus at the time and the family dog followed. When I raised the rifle and shot her, the family dog turned and moved toward me, growling and his teeth bared. I remember that I thought that I might have to also shoot him to keep from being bitten. But I yelled at him, hit him on the head with my hand and he showed submission.) I submit these ramblings for your consideration because I believe that determining the level of ability of animals to recognize death has important ethical implications (beyond those that having to do with my morbid curiosity). As for the "mourning" behavior of cattle, I have speculated about a wide range of triggering mechanisms. The simplest explanation could be a "reverse" catnip-type effect brought on by body fluids released at slaughter, with the behavior having neither direct adaptive significance nor meaning relative to the cognitive abilities of cattle. When I was a youngster, we used salt deprivation of a few days as a means of moving cattle from one grazing area to another by later placing the salt in the new area. I have speculated if the natural salts in the blood were enough to cause the described response in cattle under these conditions. If so the evolutionary significance of the behavior would actually be associated with communicating the presence of a necessary nutrient and attract the other group members to the location. I don't think this is the explanation because I do not remember similar behavior at the salt location itself. The other extreme in explanation is of course that the cattle actually have the ability to conceptualize death, recognize the state, and show a major behavioral response, at least when death involves a known group associate. While I find this explanation very unlikely, I would rather know for certain than just assume that I am correct. The truth I expect lies somewhere in between the two extremes in explanation stated herein. Joe, I hope that your student, or someone else, has the means and ability to provide the answer. As for me on this topic, at least at this time, I intend to pursue it Never More, Quote the Raven. P.S. Joe, in your mailing you asked for references. If you look closely, I actually provided one at the start of this discourse, or should I say diatribe? Best regards, Ray. ============================================================================ From: IN%"CARAVE@cc.usu.edu" 11-JAN-1994 15:42:38.40 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Cattle Behavior Hayley Randle asked about cattle population differences for a number of traits including social interaction and mothering ability. You may find some useful references in a review by Jack Albright and myself of some years ago, J.Dairy Sci. 64:1318-1329. See also Proc. West Sec. ASAS 44: 113-116. J. Dairy Sci. 75:3408-3415. Good Luck! Clive W. Arave Animal, Dairy and Vet. Sci. Dept. Utah State University Logan, UT 84322 ==============================================================================