Key words: Memory

A consensus on the definition of positive animal welfare

Rault Jean-Loup, Bateson Melissa, Boissy Alain, Forkman Björn, Grinde Bjørn, Gygax Lorenz, Harfeld Jes Lynning, Hintze Sara, Keeling Linda J., Kostal Lubor, Lawrence Alistair B., Mendl Michael T., Miele Mara, Newberry Ruth C., Sandøe Peter, Špinka Marek, Taylor Alex H., Webb Laura E., Whalin Laura and Jensen Margit Bak

Published in 2025

Consensus sur la définition du bien-être animal positif

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: All animals

Keywords:Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Consciousness, Enrichment, Welfare indicators, Memory, Prenatal, Cognitive processes, Evolutionary processes

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Animaux d’élevage : prendre en compte leurs ressentis

Rachel Degrande, Juliette Cognié, Véronique Deiss, Angélique Favreau-Peigné, Valérie Fillon, Plotine Jardat, Christine Leterrier, Frédéric Lévy, Odile Petit, Freddie-Jeanne Richard

Published in 2024

Article exploring the evolution of the concept of animal welfare and the scientific basis for consideration of animals' cognitive and emotional capacities.

Document types: Technical Paper

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

Key words:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurement, Anxiety, Learning, Consciousness, Welfare iindicators, Memory, Metacognition, Fear, Cognitive processes, Stress, Behavioral disorders

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Apis mellifera welfare: definition and future directions

Formato Giovanni, Giannottu Elena, Roncoroni Cristina, Lorenzi Valentina, Brajon Giovanni

Published in 2024

Synthesis describing the essential role played the Apis mellifera bee in pollination and biodiversity and as a biomarker for environmental quality. Although they are often overlooked in terms of welfare, honey bees could be included in the five-domain model, which would recognize their capacity for emotional and the importance of defining and promoting practices to improve their welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Insects

Keywords:Animal adaptation to the environment, Biodiversity, Consciousness, Pain, Education, Environment, Welfare indicators, Memory

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The complex affective and cognitive capacities of rats

Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal

Published in 2024

Article demonstrating that rats are not only able to feel fear, pain and anxiety, but are also capable of empathy. They show prosocial behaviors, helping fellow rats in distress, suggesting that they are capable of imagining the needs of others.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Rodents

Key words:Learning, Awareness, Memory, Cognitive processes

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The odour of an unfamiliar stressed or relaxed person affects dogs' responses to a cognitive bias test

Z. Parr-Cortes, C. T. Müller, L. Talas, M. Mendl, C. Guest, N. J. Rooney

Published in 2024

Scientific article confirming that dogs can discriminate between human odors emitted during positive or negative emotions with no other cues. The results also show that olfactory signals of human stress affect dogs' behaviors when approaching a bowl of food placed in an ambiguous location and may affect their learning.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories:Canine

Keywords: Cognitive process, Consciousness, Memory, Human-animal relationship,Learning

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Horses can learn to identify joy and sadness against other basic emotions from human facial expressions

Plotine Jardat, Zoé Menard-Peroy, Céline Parias, Fabrice Reigner, Ludovic Calandreau, Léa Lansade

Published in 2024

Scientific paper showing that horses are able to distinguish the facial expressions of joy or sadness humans. This discovery adds to our understanding of the cognitive processing of human facial expressions by horses.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

Keywords: Cognitive process, Consciousness, Memory, Human-animal relationship,Learning

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What are farm animals thinking?

David Grimm

Published in 2023

Article summarizing recent research on the mental faculties of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, describing the importance of this work   in better addressing the needs of the above species, and explaining why it had not previously been  arried out.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Category of animals: Bovines, Caprines, Ovines, Porcines

Keywords:Consciousness, Memory, Metacognition, Personality, Cognitive process, Human-animal relationship

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Comment les volailles perçoivent et interprètent leur environnement : recherche scientifique et exemples d’application

Rachel Degrande, Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira, Vanessa Guesdon, Ludovic Calandreau

Published in 2023

Scientific review emphasising that poultry have varied and well-developed senses, that they interact with each other, that they are capable of learning, and that they have  a much wider repertoire of cognitive skills than is often assumed.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords:Animal adaptation to environment, Animal-based measurement, Learning, Enrichment, Memory, Living environment, Cognitive process

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Environmental enrichment improves cognitive flexibility in rainbow trout in a visual discrimination task: first insights

Valentin Brunet, Thomas Lafond, Aude Kleiber, Léa Lansade, Ludovic Calandreau, Violaine Colson

Published in 2023

Scientific article studying the impact of environmental enrichment on the cognitive abilities of rainbow trout as a model aquaculture species. Using an operant conditioning device, after an acquisition phase in which the fish learned to discriminate between two colors, they all successfully completed four inversion learning tasks, demonstrating the cognitive flexibility of rainbow trout. They all passed the generalization task. Fish raised in an enriched environment performed better in the acquisition phase and in inversion learning.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Fish

Keywords: Cognitive process, Enrichment, Memory,Learning

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Do Insects Feel Joy and Pain?

Lars Chittka

Published in 2023

Article summarizing the current state of knowledge on cognition, emotions and pain perception in insects, and the ethical consequences of such knowledge for our relationship with insects, particularly in their breeding and use for scientific purposes.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Insects

Keywords:Animal-based measurement, Pain, Experimentation, Memory, Human-animal relationships

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