Subject: Cognition

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: Learning, training, Enrichment, Memory, Cognitive processes

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Les animaux, ces inventeurs de génie

Mathilde Tahar

Published in 2023

Article summarizing the scientific evidence to demonstrate the presence of invention and creativity in animals, particularly in play situations. According to the author, play fosters individual adaptability by developing inventive abilities.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: All animals

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Learning, training, Cognitive processes, Human-animal relationships

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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 measurements, Pain, Experimentation, Memory, Human-animal relationships

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Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol

Plotine Jardat, Alexandra Destrez, Fabrice Damon, Zoé Menard--Peroy, Céline Parias, Philippe Barrière, Matthieu Keller, Ludovic Calandreau, Léa Lansade

Published in 2023

Scientific article describing the use of a habituation-discrimination protocol which showed that horses were able to distinguish human odors produced in contexts of fear and happiness.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Human-animal relationships

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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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Welfare of ducks, geese and quail on farm

EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (AHAW Panel), Søren Saxmose Nielsen, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Joseph Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Elisabetta Canali, Julian Ashley Drewe, Bruno Garin-Bastuji, Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas, Christian Gortázar Schmidt, Mette Herskin, Virginie Michel, Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca, Barbara Padalino, Paolo Pasquali, Helen Clare Roberts, Hans Spoolder, Karl Stahl, Antonio Velarde, Arvo Viltrop and Christoph Winckler

Published in 2023

Scientific opinion identifying the most common farming systems in the European Union for each species and category of animal. It describes and assesses the welfare consequences for each species of the following factors: restriction of movement, injury, group stress, inability to adopt comfort behavior, inability to adopt exploratory or foraging behavior and inability to express maternal behavior. It provides recommendations on how to predict negative welfare consequences using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Document types: Technical Paper

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements,Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Consciousness, Pain, Risk management, Welfare indicators, Housing, Living environment, Mutilation, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Livestock farming system

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Welfare of dairy cows

EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (AHAW) : Søren Saxmose Nielsen, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Joseph Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Elisabetta Canali, Julian Ashley Drewe, Bruno Garin-Bastuji, Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas, Christian Gort ́azar Schmidt, Mette Herskin, Virginie Michel, Miguel ́Angel Miranda Chueca, Barbara Padalino, Helen Clare Roberts, Hans Spoolder, Karl Stahl, Antonio Velarde, Arvo Viltrop, Alice De Boyer des Roches, Margit Bak Jensen, John Mee, Martin Green, Hans-Hermann Thulke, Elea Bailly-Caumette, Denise Candiani, Eliana Lima,Yves Van der Stede and Christoph Winckler

Published in 2023

EFSA opinion identifying the main types of housing for dairy cows in Europe and, for each, the main strengths, weaknesses and risks likely to reduce animal welfare. It examines five specific negative welfare consequences: locomotor disorders, mastitis, restricted movement and resting problems, inability to adopt comfort behavior and metabolic disorders. It also analyzes a set of farm characteristics that could be used to classify the level of welfare on farms.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements,Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Consciousness, Pain, Risk management, Welfare indicators, Housing, Living environment, Mutilation, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Livestock farming system

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Physical and occupational enrichment in ruminants and equines

Raphaëlle Botreau, Valentin Brunet, Clémence Lesimple

Published in 2023

Scientific review examining the specific needs of ruminants and equines, the enrichments studied in the scientific literature and their impact on welfare, knowledge gaps and recommendations for inspections.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Equines, Ruminants

Keywords:Enrichment, Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships, Livestock farming system

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Birds of a Feather Video-Flock Together: Design and Evaluation of an Agency-Based Parrot-to-Parrot Video-Calling System for Interspecies Ethical Enrichment.

Rebecca Kleinberger, Jennifer Cunha, Megha M Vemuri, Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas

Published in 2023

Scientific article summarizing current knowledge of birds' powers of perception and action cabilities and presenting the results of an experiment that uses video conferencing as an enrichment tool in parrots.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal Categories:Birds (excluding poultry)

Keywords:Learning, training, Consciousness, Enrichment, Memory, Human-animal relationships

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