Animal Behaviour assessment

Animal Behaviour assessment

1. Socialization

   • Unfamiliar People
     • Woman, People of many ethnicities, Tall men, Elderly, Teenagers
   • Unfamiliar Dogs and other animal species
     • Dogs who play well,
     • Cats
     • Horses and livestock
     • Any types of pets
   • New Surfaces
     • Wet grass
     • Concrete
     • Stairs
     • Mud
     • Ice, Frost, Snow
   • Scary Sounds
     • Thunder
     • Firework
     • Alarms
     • Sirens

2. Nature

   • what is nature?
     • Behaviour that has been passed through genetic transmission (i.e. the combination of genes inherited from mother and father
     • it is instinctive or innate behaviour

3. Nurture

   • What is nurture?
     • This is learned behavior
     • Behavior which has occurred due to environmental factors (stimuli during the socialization periods)

4. Neonatal kitten's

   • are 0-2 weeks old
   • behaviours seen: competition for ranks and territory
   • they depent t on their mother for warmth, protection and nutrition
   • 90% sleeping and 10% suckling
   • What may influence the developmental rates of kittens?
     • breed type, sex, mothers weight, genetic factors, hormonal factors, hygiene, stress, lack of sleep, litter size, difficult birth, nutrition
   • What problems do you think may occur in orphaned kittens?
     • poor learning skills
     • poor soical skill
     • Aggression towards other cats, other animals and humans
   • Is it possible for evolution to have an affect on a kitten or cats behaviour?
     • yes: Natural selection will favour animals behaviour (either inherited or learned) makes them the most successful in an ever changing environment.
   • Effect on behaviour of genotypes
     • Some cats, like certain dog breeds may have a predisposition to aggression i.e. Siamese Cats or Norwegian Forest Cats
     • Most cats avoid water but Turkish Van cats love swimming
     • These behaviours are handed down in the genotypes
       • Examples?
         • Dogs which retrieve, i.e. Retrievers, Labradors, etc
           • Scent Hounds, i.e. Beagles, Bloodhounds, etc
             • Herding Breeds, i.e. Border Collies, Australian Cattle Dogs, etc

5. Habituation

   • is gentically programmed and have been shaped by natural selection and selective breeding
   • Every animal have a innate behavioural patterns so that if in the wild it can protect itself against predators and situations that may be dangerous.
     • inate: is a learned response
   • every environment produces strange and startling but harmless stimuli
     • response to sudden unfamiliar stimuli
     • fear or anxiety from exposure to strange objects
     • Anaxiety from being left alone or abandoned
   • animals have the ability to habituate to such stimuli that are repeated over and over without unpleasant results, this allows young to adapt quickly
   • Examples
     • A gun dog being introduced to the noise of gun shot
       • the dog will be scared and startled at first
         • But more shots are fired, the dog will then habituate and the magnuitde to the startle will decrease

6. inherited genotypes

   • Do you think the behaviour of the twins will be identical?
   • twins from the same mother and father
     • The environmental differences will cause the twins to have very different “Phenotypes” of intelligence
       • twin one
         • Was raised in an enrichment environment where mental stimulation is plentiful
       • twin two
         • had no mental stimulation