Newsletter - July 2010 22009January/February 09

Although Britain is considered to be a nation of animal lovers there aren’t many events where we can learn more about our pets and other animals.

Learning About Animals was set up to provide information and promote interest in the welfare and behaviour of animals. The aim is to bridge the gap between professionals/scientists working with animals and the public.

If you have any suggestions for future events or if you would like to be considered to be a speaker please contact me.

I am also a qualified equine behaviourist and run consultations in Surrey and the Home Counties.  For more details please visit the relevant section of the web site.

EVENTS LIST

Coming up...

•  DOGS: A walk in the park - what your dog really wants from a walk (July 17th 2010 morning event with Winkie Spiers; Taking bookings. details)

• Science in a Nutshell series (various speakers):
  Science in a nutshell: Inside the animal’s mind (day event with Emma Lethbridge 7th August 2010 Details Taking bookings.)  
  Science in a nutshell: how animals learn
  Science in a nutshell: animal sentience
  Science in a nutshell: animal welfare
• HORSES: Equine behaviour - a day with Heather Simpson (Day event; 14th August; details coming soon)

• DOGS: Understanding canine aggression with Kendal Shepherd
  9th October 2010 (Day event). £45 (details; Taking bookings)

• DOGS: Predatory chase workshop with David Ryan 13th November 2010
  (Day event; £45, details; Taking bookings.)

• HORSES: exploring the latest findings in equine cognition (morning event autumn 2010; speakers to be confirmed soon)

The views expressed by the speakers are not necessarily those held by Learning About Animals

Videos on the web

1. Excellent short videos containing environmental messages from the animals! http://animalssavetheplanet.com

2. The intriguing sounds of marine mammals:

talk by specialist Peter Tyack

3. Nat Geo video about orphaned moon bear cubs

4. Animated video about empathy.

Six Key Dog Behaviour Books

I am often asked for book recommendations so here are a few books about dogs and their behaviour that I have found useful:

1. Canine body language - a photographic guide by B. Aloff. Amazon link. There are hundreds of photographs in this book illustrating the variety of postures and behaviours dogs use to communicate through body language.  

2. Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor. Amazon link. This is the must-have book for all trainers.

3. Dog language by Roger Abrantes. Amazon link. And also The Evolution of Canine Social Behaviour by the same author.

4. Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behaviour, and Evolution. By R and L Coppinger. Amazon link.  

5. How Dogs Learn by Burch and Bailey. Amazon link.

6. The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People by James Serpell. Amazon link. This excellent book includes chapters written by different experts.

Pot Luck Books

Fundraiser: Send a cheque (payable to TAWS) for £2.50 to the address below and you’ll receive a used paper-back - you won’t know what title until you get it in the post!

TAWS (World Association for Traction Animal Welfare and Studies) runs projects and supports research into working horses, ponies, donkeys, mules, oxen and camels around the world.

Address: 6 Fern Cottages, Dorking Road, Abinger Hammer, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6SA.

What is the future for whales?

This last week has been important for whales as it was the International Whaling Committee’s (IWC) annual meeting in Morrocco. On the table for discussion was the disturbing proposal that would see the end of the ban on commercial whaling that has been in place for 24 years.

How did this proposal come about? Well, for some time the members of the committee have struggled to agree on the issue of the countries that are continuing to kill whales, Norway, Iceland and Japan. These whaling nations flout the international ban for various flawed reasons - such as whaling for ‘research’ (although no research is published and the meat is widely sold) or whaling for ‘sustenance even though whale meat is on sale widely and not just feeding local whaling communities.

Since agreement seemed impossible, the proposal to allow an agreed low level of whaling was suggested. This even caused some differing stances of organisations fighting to keep whales alive. Some animal welfare organisations backed the proposal considering the compromise small progress that had otherwise seemed unreachable. However, this would mean that the hunts would be legitimised and the industry could be on the path towards expansion. Thus other animal protection organisations believe that such a compromise is unacceptable. Agreement to this proposal would have been condoning the suffering of these animals and show that the world does not care about conserving them for future generations. A precedent would have been set for more countries to ask to also resume commercial whaling. Approximately 13,000 whale would have been killed over the next ten years.

Usually animal welfare charities are allowed to attend the meeting, however, this year although the meeting started as normal it was then announced that the discussions would all occur behind closed doors and no charities, or indeed media, would be allowed to attend.

After the closed meetings it was announced that an agreement still hadn’t been reached, the proposal neither denied nor given the go ahead. In summary, the whales have been given a reprieve and the members have agreed to meet again next year where they will again become under scrutiny as the world watches on to see the result of this high profile issue.

Research: Pilot study into the Drinking Preferences of Cats

Recent research evaluated whether cats prefer still or flowing water for their main source of drinking water.  Cats were assigned either a source of still water or a water fountain and although the average water consumption was higher for the flowing water source there was not a significant difference.

Further research is needed as there are many factors to consider when doing this type of experiment (e.g. to determine if cat chooses a source just because he/she is used to drinking that way or if it is a true preference). It may be that individual cats have a preference for one source over another or there might be one source that the majority of all cats prefer.

 Reference:

 J. Vet. Behav. (2010) Vol 5, Issue 3, Pages 130-133

Newsletter contributors

If you would like to contribute to future editions of this Newsletter please do get in touch. Currently I write all content but it would be good to get other perspectives and ideas.

Battery cows coming to Britain?

The average dairy farm in the UK has about 70 cows. However, plans were afoot for a farm that would have more than one hundred times this number - 8,100 dairy cows.

These animals would be kept inside for most of the year. Many people think that the milk in the dairy products  we eat comes from cows that have access to pasture - however, this is just not true because such a lot of our dairy produce and meat comes from abroad, where intensive farming (‘battery cows’) is the norm. There are some smaller herds in the UK that are kept in this way. However, until now this level of intensification has not been seen in Britain.

Two main sites were proposed - both of which were objected to by animal welfare groups, environmental  groups (because of the implications of all the waste, and other reasons) and the local communities. One of the proposals has been withdrawn in response to the local negative feeling, however, we await the outcome for the other and hope that no more proposals are put forward and that more energy goes into more welfare-friendly alternatives for producing dairy products. Or that more people consider switching to soya products.

CIWF and WSPA are the main groups working on this at the moment.

How do horses spend their time?

 Free-ranging horses spend:

o 60% or more of their time eating

o 20% standing

o 10% lying down (includes about 4 hours sleep in a 24 hour period – not all at once)

o 10% doing other activities

 This is shown in the pie-chart below (Reproduced from M.K. Worthington, The Behaviour of Horses in Relation to Management and Training, pp. 158, published by JA Allen).

 The ‘other activities’ include interacting with other horses, grooming, playing etc.

 The way domesticated horses are kept does not usually allow for spending most of the day eating and this contributes to the presentation of unwanted behaviour.

 By modifying the way we keep horses to better meet their need to eat for most of their time we can alleviate the cause of many behavioural problems.

 Ideal management would include living out (or maximum turnout where this is not possible). When horses are stabled they should be given ad lib hay or forage, given in piles around the stable so that the horse can move between each pile, fruit and vegetables can be scattered in the hay, and twigs and tree branches can also be provided (horses prefer oak, ash and poplar). For variety you could try soaking hay in a large bucket of hot water with herbal tea bags (peppermint, camomile, etc.) before giving it to your horse. Horses are social animals and need the opportunity to interact with other horses - for example to be turned out with the same group each day. These are just a few examples of how we can ensure that the needs of our horses are met.