Subject: Emotion

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

Go to document

Reducing Weaning Stress in Piglets by Pre-Weaning Socialization and Gradual Separation from the Sow: A Review

Céline Van Kerschaver, Diana Turpin, Joris Michiels, John Pluske

Published in 2023

Scientific review of alternative piglet management strategies to reduce weaning stress. These include the pre-weaning grouping of piglets from different litters and intermittent suckling. Their effects on post-weaning pig behavior, performance, mortality, gastrointestinal function and immunocompetence are described.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords:Aggression, Aggressivity, Animal-based measurements, Enrichment, Housing, Weaning, Stress

Go to document

The Science and Social Validity of Companion Animal Welfare: Functionally Defined Parameters in a Multidisciplinary Field

Lauren I. Novack , Lauren Schnell-Peskin, Erica Feuerbacher, Eduardo J. Fernandez

Published in 2023

Scientific review on the importance of including ways to measure animal welfare indicators during behavioral interventions for dogs so that the animal's feelings can be better taken into account and to make these interventions more acceptable to animals and owners.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Canine

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Education, Behavioural disorders, Human-animal relationships, Welfare indicators

Go to document

A systematic reviewon whether regenerative agriculture improves animal welfare : A qualitative analysis with a One Welfare perspective

Matías Javier Hargreaves-Méndez, María José Hötzel

Published in 2023

Review of the scientific literature to determine the extent to which regenerative farming systems are or are not associated with positive One Welfare outcomes. It reveals that articles mainly associated animal welfare with animal health, human welfare with the financial situation of the farm and the farmer's self-awareness, and environmental conservation with soil improvement. It shows that processes affecting human welfare and environmental conservation can also affect animal welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Environment, One Welfare, Human-animal relationships, Resilience, Robustness,Societal issues, Welfare indicators

Go to document

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

Go to document

A six-step process to explore facial expressions performances to detect pain in dairy cows with lipopolysaccharide-induced clinical mastitis

L. Ginger, L. Aubé, D. Ledoux, M. Borot, C. David, M. Bouchon, M. Leach, D. Durand, A. de Boyer des Roches

Published in 2023

Study identifying 7 facial action units taken from the eye and ear regions and from the mouth and muzzle for the detection of mild pain associated with induced inflammatory mastitis in dairy cows. It uses a six-step process that incorporates expression, selectivity, intra- and inter-observer reliability and measurement error (specificity and sensitivity).

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Pain, Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships

Go to document

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

Go to document

How to Understand Them? A Review of Emotional Indicators in Horses

Letícia Santos Maurício, Denise Pereira Leme, Maria José Hötzel

Published in 2023

Scientific review of the indicators, both physiological (concentrations of certain hormones, body temperature) and behavioral (ear position, facial expressions, approach and avoidance behaviors), and cognitive bias tests developed to assess emotions in horses.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Equines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Human-animal relationships, Welfare indicators

Go to document

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

Go to document

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

Go to document