What a horse likes to eat: how to test dietary preferences
Redgate and colleagues looked into the addition of a monadic phase (a phase in which only one food was offered at a time instead of all of the options) to choice testing.
The accuracy of measuring fish aggression by using mirror tests
To examine the response of cichlids to their mirror image, Balzarini et al. used three sympatric species from Lake Tanganyika and did the mirror test for measuring aggression.
The relationship between food scarcity and caching in fox squirrels
We’ve all seen squirrels carrying acorns around in their mouths and burying them in the ground. This is a way to hoard food, and most squirrels use a strategy called scatter-hoarding.
The impact of visitor access in a shelter on the welfare of shelter dogs
If you’ve ever been to a shelter to adopt a dog, you know that when you walk into the holding area, the dogs can get very noisy.
Interspecific aggression: spotted dolphins vs. bottlenose dolphins
In the animal kingdom, competition is a part of life. Dominance hierarchies are common both within a group in a species (intergroup) or between two different species (interspecific).
The welfare of therapy dogs
Dogs have been used with adult substance abuse patients in animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) and animal-assisted therapy (AAT). Why use dogs in therapy? The impact of animal-assisted therapy on the dogs.
How to measure emotions in pigs
A commonly used assay for assessment of fear in animals is the novel environment test.In this test, an animal is placed in an arena for a particular time period and behaviors are scored.
Insect damage on leaves changes the reproductive strategy of plants
We all know that the majority of plant species depends on pollinators, like bees and syrphid flies, for reproduction. What most of us do not know is that this process is far more complex than it looks at first sight.
Why guinea pigs are just like us
If zebrafish are the new mice, guinea pigs might be the new rats. Guinea pigs differ from mice and rats, and that just might make them more suitable due to the fact that these results are more easily translated to humans.
Measuring behavioral effects of laboratory rearing on starlings
Rearing animals specifically for behavioral research is a very common practice. However, the results from behavioral studies with laboratory animals should be interpreted with care.