Keyword : Consciousness

Stress and welfare: two complementary concepts that are intrinsically related to the animal's point of view

Veissier I., Boissy A

Published in 2007

The closely associated concepts of welfare and stress may be considered as opposites since welfare cannot be achieved under stress and vice versa. Stress was first considered as an unspecific response to any challenge taxing the organism's resources where the HPA axis plays a central role. Along the same lines, welfare was considered as the state of an individual on a continuum between poor and good depending on the efforts required to adapt to the environment. However, these views cannot explain opposite results such as up- vs. down-regulation of the HPA axis and hypo- vs. hyper-behavioural reactivity under chronic stress. ... It is therefore suggested that the discrepancies found in the literature in terms of responses of the HPA axis or modification of behaviour under aversive conditions may stem from differences in the way a situation is evaluated. It is argued that stress comes from the animal's evaluation of the outcome of a situation, and that welfare is the state resulting from that evaluation.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Keywords: Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Consciousness, Welfare indicators, Brain integration, Memory, Metacognition, Cognitive processes, Resilience, Stress

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AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals

AVMA

Published in 2013

Highly detailed guide to all euthanisation methods for all species (domestic carnivores, livestock and laboratory animals)

Document Types: Technical work

Key Words: Consciousness, Pain, Experimentation

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AVMA Guidelines for the Humane Slaughter of Animals

AVMA

Published in 2016

Description of the different methods of slaughter with recommendations concerning animal welfare

Document Types: Technical work

Key Words: Consciousness, Pain, Experimentation

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Social ties in farmed ruminants: limits on and means of action to encourage the integration of the animal in its environment

Boissy A., Nowak R., Orgeur P., Veissier I.

Published in 2001

Farmed ruminants belong to gregarious species. Their social organisation is based on stable dominance-subordination relationships which ensure the resolution of many conflicts that are inherent in the promiscuity among animals in livestock farming. Social organisation is also based on affinity relationships that ensure group cohesion and increase tolerance between animals in situations of conflict. Furthermore, affinity relationships are closely involved in the adaptation of the animal to its living environment, since partners will influence the animal's response to its surroundings. Thus, whether through the development of behaviours that are more respectful of the animals' social needs, or by the management of periods of social transition, the adaptation and welfare of farm animals will be considerably increased.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Ruminants

Keywords: Consciousness, Enrichment, Metacognition, Living environment, Cognitive processes

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Régulation des émotions chez l’animal d’élevage : focus sur les acteurs neurobiologiques

Menant O., Destrez A., Deiss V., Boissy A., Delagrange P., Calendreau L., Chaillou E.

Published in 2016

The issue of the emotions of farm animals is part of a wider drive to improve farming conditions by taking animal welfare into account. The genesis of emotions derives from the cognitive capacity of individuals to perceive, evaluate and react to their environment. …. The parts of the brain involved in the neural network for emotions are linked to the perception and processing of information from the environment, and/or in the expression of emotional responses. ... . In light of this, it is now necessary to study the effects of early experiences on the development of the neural network for emotions and to better understand the role of cognitive evaluation in the genesis of emotions.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Poultry

Keywords: Anxiety, Consciousness, Brain integration, Metacognition, Neurogenesis, Stress

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Bien-Etre animal

INRA

Published in 2007

Special issue on Animal Welfare, containing 14 original articles on aims, methodology and purpose, ethical foundations, variants for different species, how it is perceived by the animal industries.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Fish, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Living environment,Cognitive processes, Human-animal relationships, Stress

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La Conscience des Animaux

Pierre Le Neindre, Muriel Dunier, Alain Boissy, Emilie Bernard, Xavier Boivin, Ludovic Calandreau, Nicolas Delon, Bertrand Deputte, Sonia Desmoulin-Canselier, Nathan Faivre, Martin Giurfa, Jean-Luc Guichet, Léa Lansade, Raphaël Larrère, Pierre Mormède, Patrick Prunet, Benoist Schaal, Jacques Servière, Claudia Terlouw

Published in 2018

Are animals conscious beings?  How do they perceive their own worlds? These questions are being debated in the scientific community for both academic and practical reasons. Accordingly, on 7 July 2012, a group of leading scientists in England headed by Philip Low felt it necessary to publish The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness. This manifesto states that "a convergence of evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuro-anatomical, neurochemical and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states as well as the ability to express intentional behaviour...". It calls for further research to learn more about this capacity in animals. In 2015, INRA carried out a multidisciplinary scientific expertise in order to provide a critical review of the literature on animal consciousness. This work was executed at the request of the European Food Safety Authority (request EFSA-Q-2015-00390, contract no. EFSA/Inra/2015/01).

This study is an overview based on the report from INRA's collective scientific expertise (Le Neindre et al., 2017). It is divided into six chapters:
––the social, ethical and legal context for the expertise (chapter 1)
––consciousness in the animal kingdom: historical perspectives, epistemology and definitions (chap. 2)
––overview of current knowledge on human consciousness, with a discussion of the main current innovative concepts given their usefulness for our understanding of the available data on animals (Chapter 3)
––behavioural and neurobiological components in animals that allow us to talk about more or less elaborate content of consciousness. This chapter constitutes the core of the expertise (chap. 4).
––the positive consequences of taking consciousness into account on our understanding of welfare, suffering and pain (chap. 5)
––the importance of consciousness in the adaptive capacities of animals, especially in their phylogenetic components (Chapter 6)
The book concludes with proposals for future avenues of research resulting from the deliberations of various scientific bodies.

Document Types: Scientific work

Animal categories: Bovines, Canines, Caprines, Equines, Mammals, Monogastrics, Birds (except poultry), Ovines, Fish, Porcines, Primates, Reptiles, Rodents, Ruminants, Poultry

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Anxiety, Learning, Training, Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Enrichment, Brain integration, Metacognition, Cognitive processes, Evolutionary processes, Stress

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