Key area 4: Animal welfare and indicators of poor welfare

Animal welfare
LI:
1. Describe the factors that contribute to the wellbeing of domesticated animals.
2. Describe the main behavioural indicators of poor welfare
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Animal welfare
Providing livestock with good environmental conditions to live involves:
• Costs e.g.
• Benefits e.g.
• Ethics e.g.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

The “Animal welfare act 2006” enshrined the “Five Freedoms for animal welfare” into law.
Use the internet to find out what the
“five freedoms” are.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Behavioural indicators of poor behaviour
Animals in poor conditions display the following types of behaviour:
• Stereotypy
• Misdirected behaviour
• Failure of sexual/parental behaviour
• Altered activity levels
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Stereotypy
Watch this video link: http://youtu.be/T1T12CHFt0M
Write a short note describing what constitutes stereotypy in pets/livestock.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Misdirected behaviour
Normal behaviour is directed inappropriately e.g.
Animals may mutilate themselves by overgrooming, plucking or chewing itself.
Or, be misdirected towards the surroundings.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Failure of sexual/parental behaviour
Poor conditions can be responsible for failure of animals to breed successfully.
It can also lead to offspring being rejected.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Level of activity
Excessive sleeping or hyper-aggression can be a sign of poor living .conditions
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

LI:
The study of animal behaviour
1. Explain what is meant ethology.
2. Describe methods used during the study of animal behaviour
3. Describe how preference testing can be used in animal welfare studies.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Ethology
Is the study of animal behaviour.
It is done by producing an ethogram – a list of all the behaviours shown by the animal.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Watch this clip that shows examples of capuchin behaviour http://vimeo.com/45906210
Watch this 15 min clip on capuchin monkey behaviour. http://vimeo.com/13796260
Use the worksheet to record the behaviour of “popeye”.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence

Preference behaviour and measuring motivation
Animal behaviour can also be studied to establish an animal’s preference for certain conditions (preference test) or to measure its motivation.
You can read more on these tests in the textbook or Scholar.
CFE Higher Biology
Sustainability and interdependence