Discipline: Zoology

European Parliament: written answer to question E-001432: EU-wide positive list (exotic pet trade)

Manuela Ripa (Greens/EFA). Answer: Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission.

Published in 2023

Answer to a question on the European Commission's position on a feasibility study to determine the interest and necessity of a positive list of wild and exotic animals authorized to be marketed and kept as pets in the EU.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories:Wildlife

Keywords:Animal trade, Societal issues, Population management

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Integrating Individual Animal and Population Welfare in Zoos and Aquariums

Louis DiVincenti, Jr., Allen McDowell, Elizabeth S. Herrelko

Published in 2023

Article on the links between animal welfare at individual and population levels in zoos and aquariums, and how these two levels can be mutually reinforcing or in conflict.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories:Wildlife

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Enrichment, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Living environment

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Models of Conditioned Reinforcement and Abnormal Behaviour in Captive Animals

Vera Vinken, Lena Lidfors, Jenny Loberg, Anna Lundberg, Johan Lind, Markus Jonsson, Stefano Ghirlanda, Magnus Enquist

Published in 2023

Scientific article proposing three models, including conditioned reinforcement, to study the complex relationships between environments, innate predispositions and learning in captive animals, which can lead to the development of stereotypies.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories:Wildlife

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Enrichment, Living environment, Human-animal relationships, Behavioural disorders, Societal issues

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What is really social about social insect cognition?

Laure-Anne Poissonnier, Catherine Tait, Mathieu Lihoreau

Published in 2023

Scientific review on insect cognition, focusing on the hypothesis that there is such a thing as a "social brain", i.e. cognitive capacities specific to social species. Most of the research on cognition in insects is done on highly social species, so it is not possible to make comparisons with less social species. It would therefore be necessary to develop specific research programs to address this issue.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Insects

Keywords:Cognitive processes, Evolutionary processes

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Domestic dog lineages reveal genetic drivers of behavioral diversification

Emily V. Dutrow, James A. Serpell, Elaine A. Ostrander

Published in 2022

Scientific paper to identify genetic factors in canine behavior and understand the relationships between dog breeds and the behaviors that define them. Genetic analysis shows that the diversification of canine behavior pre-dates the creation of modern breeds and that canine genetic diversity is associated with the co-expression of neurodevelopmental genes.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories:Canine

Keywords:Herding dogs, Neurogenesis, Human-animal relationships

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Towards understanding the welfare of cetaceans in accredited zoos and aquariums

Lisa K. Lauderdale, Jill D. Mellen, Michael T. Walsh, Douglas A. Granger, Lance J. Miller

Published in 2021

Scientific review presenting the results of the Cetacean Welfare Study's research "Towards Understanding Cetacean Welfare in Zoos and Aquariums". The results include the definition of reference ranges and species-specific values for blood variables and fecal hormone metabolites to assess welfare, information that is available free of charge via an iOS app.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Mammals

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Enrichment, Human-animal relationships, Learning, training, Societal issues, Welfare indicators

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Pet Reptiles - Are We Meeting Their Needs?

Alexandre Azevedo, Leonor Guimarães, Joel Ferraz, Martin Whiting, Manuel Magalhães-Sant'Ana

Published in 2021

Scientific article showing that although Portuguese pet reptile owners' knowledge of their animals' behaviour is generally good, they have very little knowledge of their pets' basic needs and that the conditions under which these are kept are often detrimental to their welfare.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories:Reptiles

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Enrichment, Living environment, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Societal issues, Welfare indicators

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The importance of considering age when quantifying wild animals' welfare

Luke Hecht

Published in 2021

A scientific review of work on age-related welfare levels in wild animals, which proposes a  new conceptual framework based on welfare expectancy. This quantifies the welfare of a population of wild animals using individual data on average welfare as a function of age.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Wildlife

Keywords: Modelling, Human-animal relationships,Welfare indicators

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Le bien-être des poissons vu par la recherche et par la filière piscicole 

Gautier Riberolles

Published in 2020

Interview on fish welfare with the director of CIPA (French interprofessional committee on aquaculture products) conducted by a researcher in ethology at INRAE.

Document types: Technical Paper

Animal categories: Fish

Keywords: Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Living environment, Stress, Breeding and rearing systems

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