Subject: Emotion

Fish Welfare in the Ornamental Trade: Stress Factors, Legislation, and Emerging Initiatives

Maia, C.M., Gauy, A.C.d.S., Gonçalves-de-Freitas, E.

Published in 2025

Review of the trade in ornamental fish, who are exposed to numerous stressors throughout the supply chain, from wild capture or aquaculture to their final destination. Despite the work of some groups, legislative frameworks and welfare standards are still required to improve their living conditions in a sustainable way.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Fish

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Professional emotional neutrality and the role of background emotion work in the slaughterhouse

Marcel Sebastian

Published in 2025

Article analyzing how abattoir workers develop an emotional distance from the killing of animals through intense and often unconscious emotional work. It highlights the importance of background emotions in morally sensitive occupations, making an original contribution to the sociology of work and emotions.

Document Types: Scientific paper

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

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Healthy cows, happy farmers? Exploring the dynamics of mastitis and farmer well-being

Lind Nina, Hansson Helena, Emanuelson Ulf, Lagerkvist Carl-Johan

Published in 2025

Study showing that cow health influences the psychological welfare of dairy farmers. This connection is reinforced by the farmers' perceptions of the disease (in this case mastitis) and their sense of control over it.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

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Using deep learning models to decode emotional states in horses

Phelipon, R., Lansade, L. & Razzaq, M.

Published in 2025

Study using machine learning models to predict the emotions of ridden horses on the basis of image analysis, comparing different cropping and training methods for convolutional neural network models. The results showed that cropped images of heads were sufficient to provide very good prediction levels (87% accuracy), and that the features used by the model for interpretation were similar to those used by experts.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

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L’enrichissement du milieu de vie

Céline Tallet and Violaine Colson

Published in 2025

Article on environmental enrichment in captive animals. Conditions in captivity restrict the satisfaction of animals' physiological and ethological needs. Lack of stimulation and stressful practices can be detrimental to their welfare and affect the quality of scientific research carried out on these animals.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, Equines, Sheep, Fish, Pigs, Rodents, Poultry

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La cognition, pierre angulaire des émotions et du bien-être des animaux

A. Boissy

Published in 2025

Article exploring the emotional and cognitive skills of animals, their consciousness and the affects of their psychological activity in order to arrive at the concept of animal welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: All animals

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The neurobiological basis of emotions and their connection to facial expressions in non-human mammals: insights in nonverbal communication

Daniel Mota-Rojas, Alexandra L. Whittaker, Cécile Bienboire-Frosini, Jhon Buenhombre, Patricia Mora-Medina, Adriana Domínguez-Oliva, Julio Martínez-Burnes, Ismael Hernández-Avalos, Adriana Olmos-Hernández, Antonio Verduzco-Mendoza, Alejandro Casas-Alvarado, Karina Lezama-García, Temple Grandin

Published in 2025

Scientific synthesis exploring the emotional sensitivity of non-human mammals, manifested in particular by facial expressions associated with limbic system activity. The AnimalFACS tool, adapted from the human Facial Action Coding System, makes the scientific analysis of these facial movements possible for several animal species. This approach helps to improve the understanding and interpretation of animal emotions, facilitating more accurate non-verbal communication between humans and animals.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Mammals

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Relevance of state-behaviour feedbacks for animal welfare

Montalcini, C.M., Driver, C.C. and Mendl, M.T.

Published in 2025

Scientific review exploring the dynamic interactions between an animal's state (health, emotions) and behavior. These create positive or negative feedback loops that impact animal welfare. The authors propose adjustment strategies that favor positive affective states. The use of dynamic models incorporating longitudinal data is recommended to improve understanding and achieve sustainable improvements in animal welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: All animals

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Validation of qualitative behaviour assessment for dairy cows at pasture

L. Aubé, M.M. Mialon, I. Veissier, A. de Boyer des Roches

Published in 2025

Scientific article testing Qualitative Behavioral Assessment (QBA) as a means to measure the emotional states of dairy cows on pasture, assessing its reliability and ability to distinguish between different emotional contexts. The results show that QBA is able to identify variations in emotion and arousal, although there is room for improvement in inter-observer reliability. 

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

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Social learning and cultural enrichment for fish welfare

Chiaowen Chiang and Becca Franks

Published in 2024

Opinion piece advocating greater consideration of the socio-cultural complexity of fish to improve their welfare in zoos and aquariums.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Fish

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