Problem Behaviours and Relinquishment: Challenges Faced by Clinical Animal Behaviourists When Assessing Fear and Frustration.

Fear and frustration are two emotions thought to frequently contribute to problem behaviour, often leading to relinquishment. Inferring these emotions is challenging as they may present with some similar general signs, but they potentially require different treatment approaches to efficiently address the behaviour of concern. Although behavioural assessment frameworks have been proposed, it is largely unknown how clinical animal behaviourists (CABs) assimilate information about the emotional state of an animal to inform their behavioural assessment. In other fields (such as both in human and veterinary medicine), the use of intuition and gut feelings, without the concurrent use of an assessment framework, can lead to higher rates of error and misdiagnosis. Therefore, this study used semi-structured interviews of ten CABs and qualitative methods to explore the ways they conceptualise, recognise and differentiate fear and frustration in dogs. Although interviewees perceived fear and frustration as negative affective states that lead to changes in an animal's behaviour, there was little consensus on the definition or identification or differentiation of these emotions. The use of a scientific approach (i.e., hypothesis-driven and based on falsification of competing hypotheses) for behavioural assessment was highly variable, with individual assessment processes often characterised by tautology, intuition, circular reasoning and confirmation bias. Assessment was typically based on professional judgment, amalgamating information on interpretation of communicative signals, motivation, learning history, breed, genetics and temperament. Given the lack of consensus in the definition of these states, it is clearly important that authors and clinicians define their interpretation of key concepts, such as fear and frustration, when trying to communicate with others.

Behavioural response of Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) to vessel noise during peak and off-peak human visitation.

Vessel traffic is the greatest contributor to marine anthropogenic noise pollution, and particularly affects species utilising coastal areas. Seal Rocks (Victoria), the largest Australian fur seal breeding colony, has a relatively small vessel exclusion zone during the pupping and breeding season, when vessel traffic is at its peak. It is necessary to understand the impacts of visitation at sensitive marine sites to ensure they are adequately protected from human disturbance. This study assessed the behavioural response of hauled-out Australian fur seals at Seal Rocks to controlled vessel noise exposure during peak and off-peak vessel visitation periods. High level noise exposure (76-80 dB) resulted in increased vigilance and interruption to vital behaviours in both peak and off-peak periods. These behavioural responses were limited to the period of noise exposure but are nevertheless indicative of disturbance. It is important to ensure regulations intended to protect sensitive sites are up-to-date and evidence based.

Stigmergy: from mathematical modelling to control.

Stigmergy, the indirect communication between agents of a swarm through dynamic environmental modifications, is a fundamental self-organization mechanism of animal swarms. Engineers have drawn inspiration from stigmergy to establish strategies for the coordination of swarms of robots and of mixed societies of robots and animals. Currently, all models of stigmergy are algorithmic, in the form of behavioural rules implemented at an individual level. A critical challenge for the understanding of stigmergic behaviour and translation of stigmergy to engineering is the lack of a holistic approach to determine which modifications of the environment are necessary to achieve desired behaviours for the swarm. Here, we propose a mathematical framework that rigorously describes the relationship between environmental modifications and swarm behaviour. Building on recent strides in continuification techniques, we model the swarm and environmental modifications as continua. This approach allows us to design the environmental modifications required for the swarm to behave as desired. Through analytical derivations and numerical simulations of one- and two-dimensional examples, we show that our framework yields the distribution of traces required to achieve a desired formation. Such an approach provides an adaptable framework for different implementation platforms, from robotic swarms to mixed societies of robots and animals.

Dolphins, sharks, and barnacles: Use of photographs to examine intra- and inter-specific interactions in bottlenose dolphins in Mozambique.

Understanding interactions within and between species is crucial to ecological research. However, for cetaceans such interactions can be difficult to observe in the field. Photographs offer an opportunity to study intra- and inter-specific interactions, by capturing 'snapshots' of their occurrence over space and time. At-surface and underwater photographs of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) inhabiting Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (PPMR), Mozambique, were used to examine evidence of interactions with other dolphins, predators and ectoparasites. Intra-specific scarring levels significantly differed by sex and age class, with males displaying more scarring than females. Similarly, adults had more scarring than juveniles or calves. Shark bites significantly differed in their distribution across dolphin body areas, with the dorsal side being more frequently wounded than the ventral side. The presence of barnacles was exclusive to fluke, dorsal and pectoral fins, and showed strong seasonal trends. Overall, this study demonstrates the value of photographs for examining marine ecological interactions. It provides the first insights regarding dolphin social behaviour, predation risk and health for this population. These in turn will support future research into the population dynamics and conservation of the PPMR dolphins, which is urgently required in the face of locally increasing anthropogenic pressures.

Do forage production and ingestive behavior of locally adapted sheep differ from an irrigated silvopastoral system to an irrigated monoculture in the semi-arid region?

This study aimed to evaluate forage production and ingestive behavior of Morada Nova sheep in an intensive system with capim-tamani grass in both monoculture and silvopastoral irrigated systems in the Semi-arid region. Eighteen adult sheep, approximately 3 years old, with an average body weight of 26.8 ± 4.3 kg, were allocated to treatments with capim-tamani grass cultivated in monoculture and in silvopastoral systems with Caatinga trees. The experiment followed a completely randomized complete block design with two plots and three replications. Forage production, consumption, and behavioral activities were the assessed variables. The animals remained in the pasture daily between 6 am and 6 pm. No effects of the monoculture and silvopastoral systems were observed on the structural and productive characteristics of the capim-tamani grass pasture. There were also no observed effects on body condition score, consumption, and disappearance rate of dry matter (DM) and other nutrients in both systems. However, there was an interaction between the time animals spent under shade in monoculture and silvopastoral systems. In general, the animals spent more time under shade where there were trees, except during the period between 2 pm and 4 pm, when the times were similar. On average, the animals spent approximately 15.6% (equivalent to 1.87 h) of their total time in the artificial shade available in the monoculture system, whereas in the silvopastoral system, they remained under natural shade for approximately 40% (five and a half hours) of their time spent in the pasture during the day. The grazing frequency in both systems was approximately 70% (8.4 h) in relation to the total time spent in the pasture. The capim-tamani grass pasture managed intensively with sheep in the silvopastoral system showed similar forage production and consumption compared to the monoculture system. There was a positive influence of trees on the duration of solar radiation exposure to the animals throughout the day. The results support the need to provide shade for sheep, as well as to promote these sustainable systems in semi-arid regions.

Differences in boldness between Eurasian and American wolves (Canis lupus) might be based on adaptive mechanisms.

Boldness - defined as the propensity of individuals to take risks - is a key research area within animal behavioural studies, significantly affecting adaptive strategies, habitat selection, foraging behaviour, reproduction, dispersal, and other crucial survival behaviours. Despite the extensive study of personality traits like extraversion and curiosity across various animal species, data on wolves (Canis lupus), particularly on the subspecies level, remains sparse. This study aims to bridge this gap by examining boldness and its associated personality traits in different wolf subspecies (Canis lupus lupus, Canis lupus arctos, Canis lupus lycaon) (n = 23), and wolf-dog hybrids (n = 10), utilising novel object interaction tests and validated questionnaires previously applied to wild canids. Our results show significant differences in boldness as well as in related personality traits between taxa, both between pure wolves and wolf hybrids, with significantly higher boldness of North American subspecies. The inter-subspecies differences were more significant than the differences between groups or at the individual level, suggesting that subspecies ecology and historical selection pressure in subspecies history might have caused long-lasting adaptations in Canis lupus ssp.

Identifying prey capture events of a free-ranging marine predator using bio-logger data and deep learning.

Marine predators are integral to the functioning of marine ecosystems, and their consumption requirements should be integrated into ecosystem-based management policies. However, estimating prey consumption in diving marine predators requires innovative methods as predator-prey interactions are rarely observable. We developed a novel method, validated by animal-borne video, that uses tri-axial acceleration and depth data to quantify prey capture rates in chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica). These penguins are important consumers of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a commercially harvested crustacean central to the Southern Ocean food web. We collected a large data set (n = 41 individuals) comprising overlapping video, accelerometer and depth data from foraging penguins. Prey captures were manually identified in videos, and those observations were used in supervised training of two deep learning neural networks (convolutional neural network (CNN) and V-Net). Although the CNN and V-Net architectures and input data pipelines differed, both trained models were able to predict prey captures from new acceleration and depth data (linear regression slope of predictions against video-observed prey captures = 1.13; R 2 ≈ 0.86). Our results illustrate that deep learning algorithms offer a means to process the large quantities of data generated by contemporary bio-logging sensors to robustly estimate prey capture events in diving marine predators.

Exploring animal behaviour multilayer networks in immersive environments - a conceptual framework.

Animal behaviour is often modelled as networks, where, for example, the nodes are individuals of a group and the edges represent behaviour within this group. Different types of behaviours or behavioural categories are then modelled as different yet connected networks which form a multilayer network. Recent developments show the potential and benefit of multilayer networks for animal behaviour research as well as the potential benefit of stereoscopic 3D immersive environments for the interactive visualisation, exploration and analysis of animal behaviour multilayer networks. However, so far animal behaviour research is mainly supported by libraries or software on 2D desktops. Here, we explore the domain-specific requirements for (stereoscopic) 3D environments. Based on those requirements, we provide a proof of concept to visualise, explore and analyse animal behaviour multilayer networks in immersive environments.