- Email: [email protected]
Some divisions of applied ethology
Applied Animal Behaviour Science,
12 ( 1 9 8 4 ) 2 0 1 - - 2 0 7
201
Elsevier Science P u b l i s h e r s B.V., A m s t e r d a m - - Printed in The Netherlands
Editorial SOME DIVISIONS OF APPLIED ETHOLOGY
A.F. F R A S E R
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland (Canada)
INTRODUCTION
As the study of behaviour in the utilized animals becomes increasingly justified b y events in the animal sciences, the animal industries and the public conscience, it is apparent that applied ethologists are not necessarily alike. The discipline has different faces according to the viewpoint. These faces show that the modest army of practical behaviourists is made of several divisions with c o m m o n objectives. VETERINARY ETHOLOGY
The working veterinarian is regularly presented with clinical cases having histories which are symptomically behaviour-based. In fact, it is c o m m o n for animal illness to be first manifested behaviourally, such as in loss of appetite, altered activity or diminished b o d y care. Clinical veterinary work has a very real and special relationship with pathognostic behaviour in animals. Those who practice professionally the art and science of clinical veterinary medicine and surgery acquire competence at the interfaces between illnesses and their behavioural signs through years of training, experience and witness. Behavioural signs of impairment and histories of behavioural symptoms give invaluable help to the veterinary clinician in the initiation of a clinical appraisal o f the animal's condition. With such orientation, further points are sought out for special investigation and detailed examination. On systematic examination, the presenting behavioural feature of a veterinary problem often becomes seen as screen over a generalized and mixed array of physical signs of illness. As substantive correlates of the behavioural manifestation are found in physiological and pathological factors, the presenting behavioural picture fades into the background of the clinical problem. Treatment and restorative action then become focussed physically on lesions and infections. The behavioural problem thus becomes resolved by a transformation through veterinary medical concepts into an identifiable clinical condition which can then be given appropriate case management and therapy. When the internal milieu of the animal has become abnormal, the bodily feedbacks to the central nervous system are also abnormal and in consequence the homeostatic integrity of the animal is impaired, with dynamic it-
0168-1591/84/$03.00
© 1 9 8 4 Elsevier Science P u b l i s h e r s B.V.
202
regularities becoming evident. The veterinarian considers these for purposes of diagnosis and prognosis. For example, the veterinary clinician may find that: the hyperexcited state in a bitch is due to eclampsia; the imbalanced stance in a cow is from hypocalcemia; the stiffened bull's gait is the result of traumatic reticulitis; the dirty coat and nose of a steer -- from arrested body care -- is the effect of a septicaemia; the aggressively prancing mare has an ovarian t u m o u r ; the cat occupying the sink has panleucopenia; the thirsty dog has nephritis; the distressed pup has an intestinal accident; the asymmetric fore limb posture of the horse is due to navicular disease; the subdued animal has toxaemia; the animal which has ceased eating has an infection; the case with abnormal reactions has a neural impairment; the entropic syndrome relates to aging; and so on.
Refraction and reflection Sometimes the animal's irregular behaviour does not translate into a physical condition as, for example, when physico-pathological correlates of the condition do not exist or are not identifiable. Varieties of hypopraxia (abnormally diminished activity) are good examples of this type of condition. The nature of such a circumstance is then more of a primary behaviour disorder than of a secondary behavioural disorder; this latter typically occurring as a result of a systemic abnormality. The term "behaviour disorder" is then usable as a c o m p o u n d noun which helps to disassociate the anomalous behaviour of a neuro-ethological origin from the behavioural reflection of an original pathological bodily state. The behaviour disorder is a refraction of centrally impaired homeostasis, while the behavioural presentations of disorder are a reflection of homeostatic breakdown due to compounded systemic processes of physiological alteration or pathological development. Such differentiation is important, not only for case management but also for ethological appreciation and semantic propriety. In other words, in their different origins and the characteristic natures of their substrates, primary behaviour disorders are functional while secondary behavioural disorders are pathological.
Ethology in veterinary education As an exact science with its own terminology, theories and laws, there is a special need for veterinary students to be taught applied aspects of ethology, particularly where it relates to farm animals and their welfare. Some a t t e m p t must be made to understand and assess emotional feelings in farm animals, so that this aspect of behaviour m a y also be considered in veterinary education. Applied ethology in a veterinary curriculum should encompass reproduction, development and maintenance in behaviour, and how these relate to total health. The effects of environment on behaviour, especially man-made environments, and the study of behaviour of farm animals under different
203
production systems need emphasis. Research into these aspects of behaviour in relation to animal health must be made by veterinarians and veterinary establishments. In veterinary schools t o d a y , ethology generally remains inadequately appreciated. Veterinary ethology might even be called the void in veterinary undergraduate education. It is a void which leaves its mark on this profession's image, although m a n y practitioners acquire a feel (or "jizz") for animal behaviour in the course of wide practical experience (Clark, 1983). The new science of animal ethology can now find a rightful place on a par with the older, established disciplines in the veterinary curriculum. In presenting a course to undergraduates, it is important to try to link descriptive, adaptive behaviour with function, as taught in physiology, biochemistry and a n a t o m y . A thorough knowledge of the normal animal can logically lead to a further understanding of the abnormal or pathologically affected animal. In this respect, the study of dogs, cats and other c o m m o n household pets must feature in the teaching of animal behaviour in a veterinary context. PRODUCTION ETHOLOGY
In working ethology, the animal scientist is emerging as one of the leading practitioners. This must re-assure all with interest in domestic animal behaviour that the care of this still-youthful, yet realistic, prot~g~ of natural hist o r y is in the best of hands. In the world of learning, where the air is often too still, there is a rippling movement of scientists to behold the workings of nature in the animals adherent to man. By these living products of nature, and the farm, mankind has been sustained to such effect. In their ways, the greater power of nature than of man, in shaping ways of life, awaits discovery. Our humble livestock are charged with forces and motives to endure the dual worlds of theirs and ours. Their powers of toleration are shown as both a warning and an example of the price of life without freedom. While keeping them in domestication, more of their vocal advocates are calling for their better recognition and better conditions. In them, some see ourselves, now that we behold their ways, and while this is not the scientific way, it may be a perfectly valid philosophy. Even if we do not choose to see ourselves in them, we are brought face to face with ourselves as the agents of their domestication. In as much as we have intensified their domestication, we see imprisonment now as the essence of contemporary animal production and husbandry. Without having rid t h e m much of their ancient, genetic habits, domestication now looks like becoming a colossal imposition of man on animal. In the jigsaw picture of behaviour taking shape as the pieces accumulate and fit, in applied ethology, their own customs seem forlorn. However, the picture is far from complete. Boredom may be a fair price for protection, and disturbed social ways may be the cost of unlimited food. Perhaps as applied ethologists clarify matters, it may become evident that though the cost to the animal of its intensive care is high, a better bargain
204
between animal and man must be struck b y us, n o w that beholding has made us beholden. Having looked on the animal way, have we not assumed the obligation to apply what we have learned b y witness? There is the principle of self-interest in an animal's behaviour which, while being redirected b y husbandry, does n o t surely require to be totally eliminated b y conflict with human selfinterest. Entitled behaviour Organized behaviour is n o w recognized in farm animals as a major part of the genetic programming of their species. Innate social and spatial behaviours represent major behavioural outputs, which can be viewed as ethological needs in the interests of the animal's functional integrity. Circumstances such as separation and crowding are stressful, causing syndromes of abnormal behaviour. The latter are symptomatic of behavioural deprivation. In animal production, the application of ethology can provide a monitoring operation for livestock care to ensure welfare and ethological entitlement within modern systems o f animal production. That such monitoring is necessary is very clear. Ethological deficits have been determined for methods of husbandry relating to the intensive production of calves, steers, sheep and pigs. In a recent assessment, veal calves had 25 behavioural deficits, feedlot cattle had 11, housed sheep had 13 and enstalled swine had 26. These figures give indices of behavioural deprivation ranging from 25% in feedlot cattle to 56% in veal calves in stalls (Fraser, 1983). Today, animal scientists must all have a working knowledge of animal behaviour. It takes time for any one person to acquire satisfactory in-depth knowledge a b o u t the behaviour of several species of animals. Increasing numbers of students therefore concentrate on a limited number of species. The species of main concern among farm animals are cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry. Modern farm animal scientists are expected by the public to be c o m p e t e n t to act as experts on matters concerning farm animal welfare. As the farm animal industries become more technologically advanced, more stock-keepers are prepared to accept informed c o m m e n t on animal behaviour and see its relevance to animal welfare. WELFARE ETHOLOGY
In applying humane husbandry practices to the farm animals, it is generally agreed that the behavioural characteristics of these animals are of prime consideration. Through informed consensus, the behavioural characteristics of self-maintenance are increasingly being recognized as indicative -- and probably definitive -- of the range of animal needs in welfare ethology. In the fresh welfare codes currently being produced in the growing number of countries which have public ethical awareness relating to the modern animal
205 industries, these needs are being addressed. If they are to be relevant concerning acceptable future animal use, welfare codes must meet the comp o u n d needs of livestock. The basic behavioural requirements of animals are essentially those which feature in their activities of self-maintenance and self-determination. Included in this are a number of generic classes of specific activities which are produced either on a regular basis or according to the demands of circumstances. These major classes of maintenance behaviour interdigitate and overlap so as to be capable of simultaneous manifestation, or substitution, to various degrees according to circumstances. It is now clear that welfare needs, as they are being ethologically conceived, cannot be met b y the provision of food, water and shelter unless these simple provisions are within dimensions of confinement which also permit the gross physical dynamics which, with their own priorities, are as much a part of the animal as all its physical properties. At the highest level of priority, these dynamics include the two very fundamental items of reaction and ingestion; motion, rest and body care o c c u p y the next priority level. At a reduced level of priority, there are three general behavioural needs in the forms of (i) association, (ii) tactical location [which relates to (i)], and (iii) exploration for novel stimulation [which relates to (ii)]. All these eight behavioural categories, with their three priority levels, represent c o m p o u n d needs which call for consideration in space designed for welfare. Such spatial allocations will determine, minimally, the finite limits of humane spatial rations and, optimally, liberal environmental quantity, and consequential quality. The welfare case against impoverished environments has been efficiently presented by van Rooijen in a structured hypothesis which supports, from many angles, the tenet that "disturbed behaviour indicates that welfare is hampered". That confinement husbandry has the ability -- greater than any other managemental factor -- to create disturbed behaviour is d o c u m e n t e d (Fraser and Fox, 1983). Thus emerges the clear challenge to applied ethology to pronounce on the acceptable dimensional limitations of commercial animal containment.
Living space Space requirements were formerly viewed as those sufficient to contain the animal. N o w it has been recognized that animals have a need for space, not only for containment, b u t also to practice the basic activities in their natural habits. This fact permits the recognition of space requirements as being in three main forms. (a) Primary space, which is the minimal space needed for the physical containment of an individual animal. (b) Secondary space, which is supplementary space which periodically allows the animal a change of direction, position or location. Secondary space also permits additional l o c o m o t i o n which might coincide with peak phases of activity.
206 TABLE I Welfare principles and behavioural provisions in three conventional levels of space limitation of livestock Level
Welfare objectives
Examples
Behavioural accommodations
I Primary space
Unitary and temporary confinement
Single stalls
1. Standing and posturing 2. Lying and sleeping 3. Head-turning and grooming by mouth 4. Feeding and watering
Large loose boxes
II Second- Phased containment ary space with movement
1. Natural striding (slow paces) 2. Transitional steps and one-canter stride Individual pens 3. A m b u l a t o r y turning 4. Rest, sleep, body-rubbing, selfgrooming 5. Feeding and watering 6. Suckling and nursing
III TertGeneral maintenance iary space Social containment
Fenced pasturage Enclosed large lots Indoor-outdoor yards
Group care
I. Hierarchical system formation 2. Affiliations and bonding 3. Avoidance and defence 4. Social facilitation 5. Tactical use of locations 6. Breeding facilitation 7. Feeding and watering 8. Comprehensive body care
(c) Tertiary space exists potentially within an enclosure which is itself intended basically for the cumulative needs for primary spaces by individuals in the group. In such circumstances, where communal space is utilized for additional locomotion, it is evident that this potential space diminishes with increasing population density. For this reason, in practice, it is found that for such group space to be functional, it normally requires limitation in animal numbers. The principal features of these three main forms of spatial rationing are given in Table I. When severe herd densities are used in domestication without the provision of significant positional or territorial variation, tertiary spacing density simply becomes a state of crowding. The stressfullness in this arrangement is n o w widely conceded to be very considerable (Fraser, 1983). In confined systems of management, the quantity and quality of space provided are important. Welfare requires that the availability of space, appropriate for basic behavioural needs, should be incorporated into the design of all systems of confinement. The scientific design of animal buildings must have an ethological basis and spatial formulae for this purpose are n o w called for. Behav-
207
ioural volumes of animals can be calculated for stationary and mobile individuals and for grouped affiliates. Calculations of such volumes can use a linear dimension such as stance length (toes of fore feet to heels of hind feet) as a basic unit of measurement. Again, such calculations can relate to behavioural measurements such as "distance to nearest neighbour" in various situations, and "numbers of compatible individuals" in groups free-ranging and interacting; linear requirements for striding, lying, grooming, etc. can be determined. Spatial factors can be formulated in accordance with existing scientific methods (Batschelet, 1976}. A COMMON OUTLET
Applied ethologists of all persuasions find this journal serving a unifying role as they join in the various objectives listed below. (a) To create recorded observations for world-wide accessibility and contemplation. (b) To enlarge u p o n knowledgable points of special importance to individual workers and their domain of interest. (c) To expand the foundation and the construction of the 10-year-old discipline. (d) To encourage the adoption of the study by new scientists from veterinary and comparative medicine, animal science, psychology, zoology and from pure ethology. (e) To give evidence to institutional and service employers -- and sources of finance in science -- of what their workers have done of late. The j o b of this journal is primarily to meet these objectives and to supply publicly, literate pieces of the infinite jigsaw of the ways of our animals.
REFERENCES Batschelet, E., 1976. Introduction to Mathematics for Life Scientists. 2nd edn., pp. 91-95. Clarke, P.B., 1983. A practising veterinary surgeon's view of- ethology. Appl. Anita. Ethol., 1 1 : 2 0 2 - - 2 0 3 (abstract). Fraser, A.F., 1983. The behaviour of maintenance and the intensive husbandry of cattle, sheep and pigs. Agric. Ecosystems Environ., 9: 1--23. Fraser, A.F. and Fox, M.W., 1983. The effects of ethostasis on farm animal behavior: A theoretical overview. Int. J. Stud. Anim. Prob., 4: 59--69.
12 ( 1 9 8 4 ) 2 0 1 - - 2 0 7
201
Elsevier Science P u b l i s h e r s B.V., A m s t e r d a m - - Printed in The Netherlands
Editorial SOME DIVISIONS OF APPLIED ETHOLOGY
A.F. F R A S E R
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland (Canada)
INTRODUCTION
As the study of behaviour in the utilized animals becomes increasingly justified b y events in the animal sciences, the animal industries and the public conscience, it is apparent that applied ethologists are not necessarily alike. The discipline has different faces according to the viewpoint. These faces show that the modest army of practical behaviourists is made of several divisions with c o m m o n objectives. VETERINARY ETHOLOGY
The working veterinarian is regularly presented with clinical cases having histories which are symptomically behaviour-based. In fact, it is c o m m o n for animal illness to be first manifested behaviourally, such as in loss of appetite, altered activity or diminished b o d y care. Clinical veterinary work has a very real and special relationship with pathognostic behaviour in animals. Those who practice professionally the art and science of clinical veterinary medicine and surgery acquire competence at the interfaces between illnesses and their behavioural signs through years of training, experience and witness. Behavioural signs of impairment and histories of behavioural symptoms give invaluable help to the veterinary clinician in the initiation of a clinical appraisal o f the animal's condition. With such orientation, further points are sought out for special investigation and detailed examination. On systematic examination, the presenting behavioural feature of a veterinary problem often becomes seen as screen over a generalized and mixed array of physical signs of illness. As substantive correlates of the behavioural manifestation are found in physiological and pathological factors, the presenting behavioural picture fades into the background of the clinical problem. Treatment and restorative action then become focussed physically on lesions and infections. The behavioural problem thus becomes resolved by a transformation through veterinary medical concepts into an identifiable clinical condition which can then be given appropriate case management and therapy. When the internal milieu of the animal has become abnormal, the bodily feedbacks to the central nervous system are also abnormal and in consequence the homeostatic integrity of the animal is impaired, with dynamic it-
0168-1591/84/$03.00
© 1 9 8 4 Elsevier Science P u b l i s h e r s B.V.
202
regularities becoming evident. The veterinarian considers these for purposes of diagnosis and prognosis. For example, the veterinary clinician may find that: the hyperexcited state in a bitch is due to eclampsia; the imbalanced stance in a cow is from hypocalcemia; the stiffened bull's gait is the result of traumatic reticulitis; the dirty coat and nose of a steer -- from arrested body care -- is the effect of a septicaemia; the aggressively prancing mare has an ovarian t u m o u r ; the cat occupying the sink has panleucopenia; the thirsty dog has nephritis; the distressed pup has an intestinal accident; the asymmetric fore limb posture of the horse is due to navicular disease; the subdued animal has toxaemia; the animal which has ceased eating has an infection; the case with abnormal reactions has a neural impairment; the entropic syndrome relates to aging; and so on.
Refraction and reflection Sometimes the animal's irregular behaviour does not translate into a physical condition as, for example, when physico-pathological correlates of the condition do not exist or are not identifiable. Varieties of hypopraxia (abnormally diminished activity) are good examples of this type of condition. The nature of such a circumstance is then more of a primary behaviour disorder than of a secondary behavioural disorder; this latter typically occurring as a result of a systemic abnormality. The term "behaviour disorder" is then usable as a c o m p o u n d noun which helps to disassociate the anomalous behaviour of a neuro-ethological origin from the behavioural reflection of an original pathological bodily state. The behaviour disorder is a refraction of centrally impaired homeostasis, while the behavioural presentations of disorder are a reflection of homeostatic breakdown due to compounded systemic processes of physiological alteration or pathological development. Such differentiation is important, not only for case management but also for ethological appreciation and semantic propriety. In other words, in their different origins and the characteristic natures of their substrates, primary behaviour disorders are functional while secondary behavioural disorders are pathological.
Ethology in veterinary education As an exact science with its own terminology, theories and laws, there is a special need for veterinary students to be taught applied aspects of ethology, particularly where it relates to farm animals and their welfare. Some a t t e m p t must be made to understand and assess emotional feelings in farm animals, so that this aspect of behaviour m a y also be considered in veterinary education. Applied ethology in a veterinary curriculum should encompass reproduction, development and maintenance in behaviour, and how these relate to total health. The effects of environment on behaviour, especially man-made environments, and the study of behaviour of farm animals under different
203
production systems need emphasis. Research into these aspects of behaviour in relation to animal health must be made by veterinarians and veterinary establishments. In veterinary schools t o d a y , ethology generally remains inadequately appreciated. Veterinary ethology might even be called the void in veterinary undergraduate education. It is a void which leaves its mark on this profession's image, although m a n y practitioners acquire a feel (or "jizz") for animal behaviour in the course of wide practical experience (Clark, 1983). The new science of animal ethology can now find a rightful place on a par with the older, established disciplines in the veterinary curriculum. In presenting a course to undergraduates, it is important to try to link descriptive, adaptive behaviour with function, as taught in physiology, biochemistry and a n a t o m y . A thorough knowledge of the normal animal can logically lead to a further understanding of the abnormal or pathologically affected animal. In this respect, the study of dogs, cats and other c o m m o n household pets must feature in the teaching of animal behaviour in a veterinary context. PRODUCTION ETHOLOGY
In working ethology, the animal scientist is emerging as one of the leading practitioners. This must re-assure all with interest in domestic animal behaviour that the care of this still-youthful, yet realistic, prot~g~ of natural hist o r y is in the best of hands. In the world of learning, where the air is often too still, there is a rippling movement of scientists to behold the workings of nature in the animals adherent to man. By these living products of nature, and the farm, mankind has been sustained to such effect. In their ways, the greater power of nature than of man, in shaping ways of life, awaits discovery. Our humble livestock are charged with forces and motives to endure the dual worlds of theirs and ours. Their powers of toleration are shown as both a warning and an example of the price of life without freedom. While keeping them in domestication, more of their vocal advocates are calling for their better recognition and better conditions. In them, some see ourselves, now that we behold their ways, and while this is not the scientific way, it may be a perfectly valid philosophy. Even if we do not choose to see ourselves in them, we are brought face to face with ourselves as the agents of their domestication. In as much as we have intensified their domestication, we see imprisonment now as the essence of contemporary animal production and husbandry. Without having rid t h e m much of their ancient, genetic habits, domestication now looks like becoming a colossal imposition of man on animal. In the jigsaw picture of behaviour taking shape as the pieces accumulate and fit, in applied ethology, their own customs seem forlorn. However, the picture is far from complete. Boredom may be a fair price for protection, and disturbed social ways may be the cost of unlimited food. Perhaps as applied ethologists clarify matters, it may become evident that though the cost to the animal of its intensive care is high, a better bargain
204
between animal and man must be struck b y us, n o w that beholding has made us beholden. Having looked on the animal way, have we not assumed the obligation to apply what we have learned b y witness? There is the principle of self-interest in an animal's behaviour which, while being redirected b y husbandry, does n o t surely require to be totally eliminated b y conflict with human selfinterest. Entitled behaviour Organized behaviour is n o w recognized in farm animals as a major part of the genetic programming of their species. Innate social and spatial behaviours represent major behavioural outputs, which can be viewed as ethological needs in the interests of the animal's functional integrity. Circumstances such as separation and crowding are stressful, causing syndromes of abnormal behaviour. The latter are symptomatic of behavioural deprivation. In animal production, the application of ethology can provide a monitoring operation for livestock care to ensure welfare and ethological entitlement within modern systems o f animal production. That such monitoring is necessary is very clear. Ethological deficits have been determined for methods of husbandry relating to the intensive production of calves, steers, sheep and pigs. In a recent assessment, veal calves had 25 behavioural deficits, feedlot cattle had 11, housed sheep had 13 and enstalled swine had 26. These figures give indices of behavioural deprivation ranging from 25% in feedlot cattle to 56% in veal calves in stalls (Fraser, 1983). Today, animal scientists must all have a working knowledge of animal behaviour. It takes time for any one person to acquire satisfactory in-depth knowledge a b o u t the behaviour of several species of animals. Increasing numbers of students therefore concentrate on a limited number of species. The species of main concern among farm animals are cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry. Modern farm animal scientists are expected by the public to be c o m p e t e n t to act as experts on matters concerning farm animal welfare. As the farm animal industries become more technologically advanced, more stock-keepers are prepared to accept informed c o m m e n t on animal behaviour and see its relevance to animal welfare. WELFARE ETHOLOGY
In applying humane husbandry practices to the farm animals, it is generally agreed that the behavioural characteristics of these animals are of prime consideration. Through informed consensus, the behavioural characteristics of self-maintenance are increasingly being recognized as indicative -- and probably definitive -- of the range of animal needs in welfare ethology. In the fresh welfare codes currently being produced in the growing number of countries which have public ethical awareness relating to the modern animal
205 industries, these needs are being addressed. If they are to be relevant concerning acceptable future animal use, welfare codes must meet the comp o u n d needs of livestock. The basic behavioural requirements of animals are essentially those which feature in their activities of self-maintenance and self-determination. Included in this are a number of generic classes of specific activities which are produced either on a regular basis or according to the demands of circumstances. These major classes of maintenance behaviour interdigitate and overlap so as to be capable of simultaneous manifestation, or substitution, to various degrees according to circumstances. It is now clear that welfare needs, as they are being ethologically conceived, cannot be met b y the provision of food, water and shelter unless these simple provisions are within dimensions of confinement which also permit the gross physical dynamics which, with their own priorities, are as much a part of the animal as all its physical properties. At the highest level of priority, these dynamics include the two very fundamental items of reaction and ingestion; motion, rest and body care o c c u p y the next priority level. At a reduced level of priority, there are three general behavioural needs in the forms of (i) association, (ii) tactical location [which relates to (i)], and (iii) exploration for novel stimulation [which relates to (ii)]. All these eight behavioural categories, with their three priority levels, represent c o m p o u n d needs which call for consideration in space designed for welfare. Such spatial allocations will determine, minimally, the finite limits of humane spatial rations and, optimally, liberal environmental quantity, and consequential quality. The welfare case against impoverished environments has been efficiently presented by van Rooijen in a structured hypothesis which supports, from many angles, the tenet that "disturbed behaviour indicates that welfare is hampered". That confinement husbandry has the ability -- greater than any other managemental factor -- to create disturbed behaviour is d o c u m e n t e d (Fraser and Fox, 1983). Thus emerges the clear challenge to applied ethology to pronounce on the acceptable dimensional limitations of commercial animal containment.
Living space Space requirements were formerly viewed as those sufficient to contain the animal. N o w it has been recognized that animals have a need for space, not only for containment, b u t also to practice the basic activities in their natural habits. This fact permits the recognition of space requirements as being in three main forms. (a) Primary space, which is the minimal space needed for the physical containment of an individual animal. (b) Secondary space, which is supplementary space which periodically allows the animal a change of direction, position or location. Secondary space also permits additional l o c o m o t i o n which might coincide with peak phases of activity.
206 TABLE I Welfare principles and behavioural provisions in three conventional levels of space limitation of livestock Level
Welfare objectives
Examples
Behavioural accommodations
I Primary space
Unitary and temporary confinement
Single stalls
1. Standing and posturing 2. Lying and sleeping 3. Head-turning and grooming by mouth 4. Feeding and watering
Large loose boxes
II Second- Phased containment ary space with movement
1. Natural striding (slow paces) 2. Transitional steps and one-canter stride Individual pens 3. A m b u l a t o r y turning 4. Rest, sleep, body-rubbing, selfgrooming 5. Feeding and watering 6. Suckling and nursing
III TertGeneral maintenance iary space Social containment
Fenced pasturage Enclosed large lots Indoor-outdoor yards
Group care
I. Hierarchical system formation 2. Affiliations and bonding 3. Avoidance and defence 4. Social facilitation 5. Tactical use of locations 6. Breeding facilitation 7. Feeding and watering 8. Comprehensive body care
(c) Tertiary space exists potentially within an enclosure which is itself intended basically for the cumulative needs for primary spaces by individuals in the group. In such circumstances, where communal space is utilized for additional locomotion, it is evident that this potential space diminishes with increasing population density. For this reason, in practice, it is found that for such group space to be functional, it normally requires limitation in animal numbers. The principal features of these three main forms of spatial rationing are given in Table I. When severe herd densities are used in domestication without the provision of significant positional or territorial variation, tertiary spacing density simply becomes a state of crowding. The stressfullness in this arrangement is n o w widely conceded to be very considerable (Fraser, 1983). In confined systems of management, the quantity and quality of space provided are important. Welfare requires that the availability of space, appropriate for basic behavioural needs, should be incorporated into the design of all systems of confinement. The scientific design of animal buildings must have an ethological basis and spatial formulae for this purpose are n o w called for. Behav-
207
ioural volumes of animals can be calculated for stationary and mobile individuals and for grouped affiliates. Calculations of such volumes can use a linear dimension such as stance length (toes of fore feet to heels of hind feet) as a basic unit of measurement. Again, such calculations can relate to behavioural measurements such as "distance to nearest neighbour" in various situations, and "numbers of compatible individuals" in groups free-ranging and interacting; linear requirements for striding, lying, grooming, etc. can be determined. Spatial factors can be formulated in accordance with existing scientific methods (Batschelet, 1976}. A COMMON OUTLET
Applied ethologists of all persuasions find this journal serving a unifying role as they join in the various objectives listed below. (a) To create recorded observations for world-wide accessibility and contemplation. (b) To enlarge u p o n knowledgable points of special importance to individual workers and their domain of interest. (c) To expand the foundation and the construction of the 10-year-old discipline. (d) To encourage the adoption of the study by new scientists from veterinary and comparative medicine, animal science, psychology, zoology and from pure ethology. (e) To give evidence to institutional and service employers -- and sources of finance in science -- of what their workers have done of late. The j o b of this journal is primarily to meet these objectives and to supply publicly, literate pieces of the infinite jigsaw of the ways of our animals.
REFERENCES Batschelet, E., 1976. Introduction to Mathematics for Life Scientists. 2nd edn., pp. 91-95. Clarke, P.B., 1983. A practising veterinary surgeon's view of- ethology. Appl. Anita. Ethol., 1 1 : 2 0 2 - - 2 0 3 (abstract). Fraser, A.F., 1983. The behaviour of maintenance and the intensive husbandry of cattle, sheep and pigs. Agric. Ecosystems Environ., 9: 1--23. Fraser, A.F. and Fox, M.W., 1983. The effects of ethostasis on farm animal behavior: A theoretical overview. Int. J. Stud. Anim. Prob., 4: 59--69.