Subject: Wireless Camera - Cattle observation From: Christoph Menke Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:16:45 +0100 To: Applied Ethology Discussion Group Hello Is there anyone who has experience with the use of Wlan-cameras for video observations in cattle (in the barn)? What cameras are capable (20 m distances, night scenes)? Can there be problems with the Wlan in the stable? Thank you Christoph Menke Subject: Re: SV: Why should we study animals? Re: Introducing myself From: Simon Gadbois Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:39:09 -0400 To: Randi Helene Tillung CC: applied-ethology@usask.ca, 'applied-ethology' Hi, First, here in North America, the label " ethology" is almost never used. We recently had the "International Ethological Conference" here in Halifax (August) and some of my colleagues in biology, psychology or neuroscience did not even know what the conference was about. Most schools in North America (psychology or biology) will label the courses (and the field of research) "behavioural ecology" or simply "animal behaviour". Although we all agree that there are some historical, methodological and focus differences. So a few of us insist on being labelled "ethologists", but it is a minority. Typically, the "ethologists" are found in psychology departments (in part because of their proximate interests: social, developmental or neuroscience orientations). For instance here in Nova Scotia, all four wolf ethologists are in Psychology departments (John Fentress and myself at Dalhousie, Peter McLeod at Acadia and Fred Harrington at Mount Saint Vincent). To avoid confusion, I will sometime, with veterinarians, say that I do research in animal behaviour (applied and fundamental) or "behavioural biology". But even that does not seem to make me qualified to comment on animal welfare, yet my Ph.D. thesis was on the hormonal correlates of social stress in wolves. The European Zeitgeist is clearly different, with countries having very influential "ethology" programs (e.g., Hungary, Germany), although we could debate if that ethology follows the historical tradition of Tinbergen's or Lorenz' ethology, or adopts an North American (behavioural ecology) spin on the field. Simon Gadbois ~~~~~~ Simon Gadbois, Ph.D. Department of Psychology / Neuroscience Institute / Neuroscience Program Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada Canid ethology & fish neuroethology http://web.mac.com/ysg/ ~~~~~~ On 16-Oct-07, at 5:46 AM, Randi Helene Tillung wrote: > Dear everyone! The discussion started by Juliana is very interesting and I > think maybe it applies to us all? > > I have the feeling that ethology have a low status. Even within the > profession of animal welfare I have come across people (vets) who are not > familiar with ethological terms, and even not familiar with ethology at all. > In Norway you will have a better chance to work with animal welfare if you > are a vet, and less if you have studied ethology. (Although it is slowly > changing) > > Ethologists could sit down and cry over it. Or we could be angry about it. > :) But most important we have to look at how we can raise the status of the > profession and spread knowledge. > > What experiences do you have from your countries about what has contributed > to raising the status? > What professions are ethologists employed in? > What does the study consist of? > What should it consist of? > Any country where ethology has its own status following legislation or > practice? > What can ethologists do to raise awareness on what they do/know? > What works best? What does not work? > > > > Thank you, > > > Randi Helene Tillung > Subject: Re: SV: Why should we study animals? Re: Introducing myself From: Simon Gadbois Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:39:09 -0400 To: Randi Helene Tillung CC: applied-ethology@usask.ca, 'applied-ethology' Hi, First, here in North America, the label " ethology" is almost never used. We recently had the "International Ethological Conference" here in Halifax (August) and some of my colleagues in biology, psychology or neuroscience did not even know what the conference was about. Most schools in North America (psychology or biology) will label the courses (and the field of research) "behavioural ecology" or simply "animal behaviour". Although we all agree that there are some historical, methodological and focus differences. So a few of us insist on being labelled "ethologists", but it is a minority. Typically, the "ethologists" are found in psychology departments (in part because of their proximate interests: social, developmental or neuroscience orientations). For instance here in Nova Scotia, all four wolf ethologists are in Psychology departments (John Fentress and myself at Dalhousie, Peter McLeod at Acadia and Fred Harrington at Mount Saint Vincent). To avoid confusion, I will sometime, with veterinarians, say that I do research in animal behaviour (applied and fundamental) or "behavioural biology". But even that does not seem to make me qualified to comment on animal welfare, yet my Ph.D. thesis was on the hormonal correlates of social stress in wolves. The European Zeitgeist is clearly different, with countries having very influential "ethology" programs (e.g., Hungary, Germany), although we could debate if that ethology follows the historical tradition of Tinbergen's or Lorenz' ethology, or adopts an North American (behavioural ecology) spin on the field. Simon Gadbois ~~~~~~ Simon Gadbois, Ph.D. Department of Psychology / Neuroscience Institute / Neuroscience Program Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada Canid ethology & fish neuroethology http://web.mac.com/ysg/ ~~~~~~ On 16-Oct-07, at 5:46 AM, Randi Helene Tillung wrote: > Dear everyone! The discussion started by Juliana is very interesting and I > think maybe it applies to us all? > > I have the feeling that ethology have a low status. Even within the > profession of animal welfare I have come across people (vets) who are not > familiar with ethological terms, and even not familiar with ethology at all. > In Norway you will have a better chance to work with animal welfare if you > are a vet, and less if you have studied ethology. (Although it is slowly > changing) > > Ethologists could sit down and cry over it. Or we could be angry about it. > :) But most important we have to look at how we can raise the status of the > profession and spread knowledge. > > What experiences do you have from your countries about what has contributed > to raising the status? > What professions are ethologists employed in? > What does the study consist of? > What should it consist of? > Any country where ethology has its own status following legislation or > practice? > What can ethologists do to raise awareness on what they do/know? > What works best? What does not work? > > > > Thank you, > > > Randi Helene Tillung > Subject: wolf numbers From: Joanne Righetti Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:20:50 +1100 To: applied-ethology@usask.ca, 'applied-ethology' Hi, Does anyone know estimates of how many wolves exist in the wild or can anyone point me in the direction of a relevant paper or website to find this information? Thanks in advance. Joanne Dr Joanne Righetti Animal Behaviour Consultant www.petproblemsolved.com.au Subject: Re: wolf numbers From: Simon Gadbois Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:48:49 -0400 To: Joanne Righetti CC: applied-ethology@usask.ca, 'applied-ethology' I would try the International Wolf Centre web site: http://www.wolf.org/wolves/index.asp Otherwise, the book by Boitani and Mech (2003?) has a chapter (if my memory is right) on the state of wolf population in the world. One of the healthiest population being here in Canada, S. Gadbois ~~~~~~ Simon Gadbois, Ph.D. Department of Psychology / Neuroscience Institute / Neuroscience Program Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada Canid ethology & fish neuroethology http://web.mac.com/ysg/ ~~~~~~ On 19-Nov-07, at 9:20 PM, Joanne Righetti wrote: > Hi, > > > > Does anyone know estimates of how many wolves exist in the wild or can > anyone point me in the direction of a relevant paper or website to find this > information? Thanks in advance. > > > > Joanne > > > > > > > > Dr Joanne Righetti > > Animal Behaviour Consultant > > www.petproblemsolved.com.au Subject: Re: wolf numbers From: Simon Gadbois Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:48:49 -0400 To: Joanne Righetti CC: applied-ethology@usask.ca, 'applied-ethology' I would try the International Wolf Centre web site: http://www.wolf.org/wolves/index.asp Otherwise, the book by Boitani and Mech (2003?) has a chapter (if my memory is right) on the state of wolf population in the world. One of the healthiest population being here in Canada, S. Gadbois ~~~~~~ Simon Gadbois, Ph.D. Department of Psychology / Neuroscience Institute / Neuroscience Program Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada Canid ethology & fish neuroethology http://web.mac.com/ysg/ ~~~~~~ On 19-Nov-07, at 9:20 PM, Joanne Righetti wrote: > Hi, > > > > Does anyone know estimates of how many wolves exist in the wild or can > anyone point me in the direction of a relevant paper or website to find this > information? Thanks in advance. > > > > Joanne > > > > > > > > Dr Joanne Righetti > > Animal Behaviour Consultant > > www.petproblemsolved.com.au Subject: Barn cats From: "Martin, Francois" Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:24:01 -0800 To: applied-ethology@usask.ca, applied-ethology I am curious to know if somebody in this group has experience studying barn cat behavior, more specifically elimination and marking. Thanks Dr. Martin Subject: Barn cats From: "Martin, Francois" Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:24:01 -0800 To: applied-ethology@usask.ca, applied-ethology I am curious to know if somebody in this group has experience studying barn cat behavior, more specifically elimination and marking. Thanks Dr. Martin Subject: paper From: Stanley Curtis Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:28:43 -0600 (CST) To: applied-ethology network Greetings- This is to call your attention to a newly published paper that might be of interest to you: S. E. Curtis Performance indicates animal state of being: a Cinderella axiom? The Professional Animal Scientist 23:573+, 2007. The paper (a) offers a manifesto favoring more emphasis on animal productive and reproductive performance and less on animal feelings in the assessment of animal state of being on farms and ranches; (b) proposes espousal of an axiom reflecting such a shift in approach; and (c) suggests immediate ways forward- = = = The Performance Axiom For a constitutionally fit animal of any kind, in the continuing absence of an adequate scientifically informed understanding of its conscious feelings, the best single set of measurable — hence, manageable — indicators of that animal’s state of being will be its rates of productive and reproductive performance relative to its predicted potential to perform. Feed-conversion efficiency, inter-individual variation in performance, body condition index, lesion score, and rates of culling, morbidity, and mortality will provide valuable additional information on animal state of being. Stanley Curtis = = = The entire 11-page paper is accessible in both print and online versions of TPAS to members of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists and to non-member subscribers to TPAS- TPAS might be accessible by you via the electronic-journal collection of a library to which you have accession privileges- If neither of these is the case, you may request that a copy of the paper be sent to you via FAX/telefacsimile by sending such a request to securtis@uiuc.edu and including in it: (a) name of requester (b) requester’s e-address (c) requester’s full fax number Stanley Curtis, Ph. D. Department of Animal Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign USA Subject: paper is attached From: Stanley Curtis Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:05:31 -0600 (CST) To: applied-ethology network Greetings- Technical problems have been overcome- Herewith, now, a PDF file of the paper on a performance axiom that was announced in an e-note earlier today is attached for your reading in case you are interested- ONE IMPORTANT CAVEAT There is a problem with the paper's abstract as published- Due to an error at the production stage, the composition of the performance axiom per se may not be clear- In particular, because the performance axiom was not distinctly highlighted, it may appear as if the last sentence of the abstract is part of the performance axiom- IT IS NOT- The performance axiom is: = = = The Performance Axiom For a constitutionally fit animal of any kind, in the continuing absence of an adequate scientifically informed understanding of its conscious feelings, the best single set of measurable — hence, manageable — indicators of that animal’s state of being will be its rates of productive and reproductive performance relative to its predicted potential to perform. Feed-conversion efficiency, inter-individual variation in performance, body condition index, lesion score, and rates of culling, morbidity, and mortality will provide valuable additional information on animal state of being. Stanley Curtis = = = Stanley Curtis Department of Animal Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign USA