Behavioral diversity as a potential positive indicator of animal welfare in bottlenose dolphins

Accredited zoological facilities are committed to fully understanding the behavioral, mental, and physical needs of each species to continuously improve the welfare of the animals under their professional care and detect when welfare has diminished. In order to accomplish this goal, internally consistent and externally valid indicators of animal welfare are necessary to advance our understanding of the current welfare status of individual animals. Historically, efforts have focused on monitoring visible or observable signs of poor health or problem behavior, but lack of signs or problems does not necessarily demonstrate that an individual animal is thriving. The current study examined fecal hormone metabolite levels and behavior for two species of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops aduncus) from 25 different accredited zoological facilities. At the time of the study, all facilities were accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and/or the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This was part of the multi-institutional study ‘Towards understanding of the welfare of cetaceans in zoos and aquariums” commonly referred to as the Cetacean Welfare Study. Behavioral diversity was calculated using the Shannon Diversity Index on species-appropriate behavioral events. Behavioral diversity was compared to the fecal metabolites of cortisol, aldosterone, and the ratio of cortisol to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) as well as the stereotypic behavior of route tracing. Similar to previous studies on other species, there was a significant inverse relationship between behavioral diversity and both fecal cortisol metabolites and route tracing. Additionally, a significant inverse relationship also exists between behavioral diversity and the ratio of fecal cortisol to DHEA metabolites. Behavioral diversity and fecal aldosterone metabolites were not associated. Additional research is still needed to validate behavioral diversity as an indicator of positive animal welfare for bottlenose dolphins and across species. However, based on current results, facilities could utilize behavioral diversity combined with other measures of welfare to more comprehensively evaluate the welfare of bottlenose dolphins.

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Relationships between animal management and habitat characteristics with two potential indicators of welfare for bottlenose dolphins under professional care

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0252861 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0252861

Author(s):

Lance J. Miller ◽

Lisa K. Lauderdale ◽

Jill D. Mellen ◽

Michael T. Walsh ◽

Douglas A. Granger

Keyword(s):

Best Management Practices ◽

Environmental Enrichment ◽

Inverse Relationship ◽

Bottlenose Dolphins ◽

Habitat Characteristics ◽

Stereotypic Behavior ◽

Behavioral Diversity ◽

Animal Management ◽

Professional Care ◽

Management Factors

Accredited zoos and aquariums continually strive to ensure high levels of animal welfare for the animals under their professional care. Best management practices include conducting research to better understand factors that lead to optimal welfare and then turning findings into practice. The current study is part of the larger Cetacean Welfare Study or more formally, “Towards understanding the welfare of cetaceans in zoos and aquariums.” Facilities participating in the study were accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and/or the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Animal management factors and habitat characteristics were examined in relation to two potential indicators of welfare for common (Tursiops truncatus) and Indo-Pacific (Tursiops aduncus) bottlenose dolphins. Specifically, we examined environmental enrichment, animal training, and habitat characteristics that were significantly related to behavioral diversity and route tracing, a form of stereotypic behavior. Behavior was recorded from 47 animals at 25 facilities around the world. Overall, the rate of route tracing behavior observed during the study was very low and few animal management factors or habitat characteristics were found to be related to this behavior. One factor, enrichment diversity, had a significant positive relationship with route tracing and an inverse relationship with behavioral diversity. This finding may be a product of a response mounted by animal care specialists to the behavior as opposed to a cause. Animals that engaged in this behavior were likely provided more diverse enrichment in attempts to ameliorate the stereotypic behavior. However, multiple factors were found to significantly relate to behavioral diversity, a potential positive indicator of welfare for bottlenose dolphins. Dolphins that were trained on a predictable schedule had higher behavioral diversity than those on a semi-predictable schedule. There was a positive significant relationship between behavioral diversity and the number of habitats to which an animal had access, and a significant inverse relationship with the maximum depth of the habitat. Finally, animals that were split into groups and reunited or rotated between subgroups had higher behavioral diversity than animals managed in the same group. Information gained from the current study suggested that animal management techniques may be more important in ensuring good welfare for bottlenose dolphins than focusing on habitat size.

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Behavioral Diversity as a Potential Indicator of Positive Animal Welfare

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10071211 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 1211 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Lance J. Miller ◽

Greg A. Vicino ◽

Jessica Sheftel ◽

Lisa K. Lauderdale

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Review Article ◽

Stereotypic Behavior ◽

Management Approach ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Behavioral Diversity ◽

Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites ◽

Potential Indicator ◽

Animal Care ◽

Positive Animal

Modern day zoos and aquariums continuously assess the welfare of their animals and use evidence to make informed management decisions. Historically, many of the indicators of animal welfare used to assess the collection are negative indicators of welfare, such as stereotypic behavior. However, a lack of negative indicators of animal welfare does not demonstrate that an individual animal is thriving. There is a need for validated measures of positive animal welfare and there is a growing body of evidence that supports the use of behavioral diversity as a positive indicator of welfare. This includes an inverse relationship with stereotypic behavior as well as fecal glucocorticoid metabolites and is typically higher in situations thought to promote positive welfare. This review article highlights previous research on behavioral diversity as a potential positive indicator of welfare. Details are provided on how to calculate behavioral diversity and how to use it when evaluating animal welfare. Finally, the review will indicate how behavioral diversity can be used to inform an evidence-based management approach to animal care and welfare.

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Macronutrient Quality and All-Cause Mortality in the SUN Cohort

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13030972 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 972

Author(s):

Susana Santiago ◽

Itziar Zazpe ◽

Cesar I. Fernandez-Lazaro ◽

Víctor de la de la O ◽

Maira Bes-Rastrollo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Index ◽

Inverse Relationship ◽

A Priori ◽

The Sun ◽

Significant Inverse Relationship ◽

Carbohydrate Quality ◽

All Cause Mortality ◽

Middle Aged Adults ◽

The Relationship

No previous study has assessed the relationship between overall macronutrient quality and all-cause mortality. We aimed to prospectively examine the association between a multidimensional macronutrient quality index (MQI) and all-cause mortality in the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) (University of Navarra Follow-Up) study, a Mediterranean cohort of middle-aged adults. Dietary intake information was obtained from a validated 136-item semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. We calculated the MQI (categorized in quartiles) based on three quality indexes: the carbohydrate quality index (CQI), the fat quality index (FQI), and the healthy plate protein source quality index (HPPQI). Among 19,083 participants (mean age 38.4, 59.9% female), 440 deaths from all causes were observed during a median follow-up of 12.2 years (IQR, 8.3–14.9). No significant association was found between the MQI and mortality risk with multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for the highest vs. the lowest quartile of 0.79 (95% CI, 0.59–1.06; Ptrend = 0.199). The CQI was the only component of the MQI associated with mortality showing a significant inverse relationship, with HR between extreme quartiles of 0.64 (95% CI, 0.45–0.90; Ptrend = 0.021). In this Mediterranean cohort, a new and multidimensional MQI defined a priori was not associated with all-cause mortality. Among its three sub-indexes, only the CQI showed a significant inverse relationship with the risk of all-cause mortality.

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Relationship between nurses’ moral sensitivity and the quality of care

Nursing Ethics ◽

10.1177/0969733017745726 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 1265-1273 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Elham Amiri ◽

Hossein Ebrahimi ◽

Maryam Vahidi ◽

Mohamad Asghari Jafarabadi ◽

Hossein Namdar Areshtanab

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Care ◽

Inverse Relationship ◽

Quality Care ◽

Care Quality ◽

Moral Sensitivity ◽

Medical Sciences ◽

Mean Values ◽

Significant Inverse Relationship ◽

Medical Wards

Background: To provide care with high quality, nurses face a number of moral issues requiring them to have moral abilities in professional performance. Moral sensitivity is the first step in moral performance. However, its relation to the quality of care patients receive is controversial. Research objective: This study aims to determine the relationship between the moral sensitivity of nurses and the quality of care received by patients in the medical wards. Research design: A descriptive correlational study using validated tools, including Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire and the Quality Patient Quality Scale. Participants and research context: In total, 198 nurses and 198 patients in 17 medical wards of hospitals affiliated with Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Ethical considerations: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Findings: The mean values of nurses’ moral sensitivity and nurses’ quality care were 136.47 ± 13.30 and 196.36 ± 44.10, respectively. There was no significant relationship between the patient care quality and nurses’ moral sensitivity ( r = −.14, p = .5). However, there was a significant inverse relationship between the dimension of “Experiencing moral conflicts” and the overall score of quality care ( r = −.50, p = .04), the dimensions of “psychosocial ( r = −.50, p = .04)” and “physical ( r = −.50, p = .03).” Conclusion: Considering the significant inverse relationship between the score of patient quality care and the dimension of moral conflict experience, it seems when nurses make moral decisions, they experience a conflict between personal and professional values in their careers and thus experience moral tension. If this tension is not resolved properly, it can provide a way for them to distance themselves from patients, thereby making nurses indifferent to moral care.

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Citizens’ and Farmers’ Framing of ‘Positive Animal Welfare’ and the Implications for Framing Positive Welfare in Communication

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani9040147 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 147 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Belinda Vigors

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Human Perception ◽

Point Of View ◽

Farm Animals ◽

Negative Experiences ◽

Qualitative Interview Study ◽

Positive Experiences ◽

Existing Frames ◽

On Farm ◽

Positive Animal

Human perception can depend on how an individual frames information in thought and how information is framed in communication. For example, framing something positively, instead of negatively, can change an individual’s response. This is of relevance to ‘positive animal welfare’, which places greater emphasis on farm animals being provided with opportunities for positive experiences. However, little is known about how this framing of animal welfare may influence the perception of key animal welfare stakeholders. Through a qualitative interview study with farmers and citizens, undertaken in Scotland, UK, this paper explores what positive animal welfare evokes to these key welfare stakeholders and highlights the implications of such internal frames for effectively communicating positive welfare in society. Results indicate that citizens make sense of positive welfare by contrasting positive and negative aspects of welfare, and thus frame it as animals having ‘positive experiences’ or being ‘free from negative experiences’. Farmers draw from their existing frames of animal welfare to frame positive welfare as ‘good husbandry’, ‘proactive welfare improvement’ or the ‘animal’s point of view’. Implications of such internal frames (e.g., the triggering of ‘negative welfare’ associations by the word ‘positive’) for the effective communication of positive welfare are also presented.

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Conservation of behavioral diversity: on nudging, paternalism-induced monoculture, and the social value of heterogeneous beliefs and behavior

Mind & Society ◽

10.1007/s11299-020-00228-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 103-120

Author(s):

Nathan Berg ◽

Yuki Watanabe

Keyword(s):

Heterogeneous Beliefs ◽

Social Value ◽

Behavioral Diversity ◽

The Social ◽

And Behavior

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Death Anxiety of Rehabilitation Counselors and Clients

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1980.46.1.325 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 325-326 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jeanine C. Johnson

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Death Anxiety ◽

Inverse Relationship ◽

Anxiety Scale ◽

Rehabilitation Counselors ◽

Significant Inverse Relationship ◽

Standard Deviations

For 52 rehabilitation counselors and 50 rehabilitation clients, means and standard deviations on Templer's (1969, 1970) Death Anxiety Scale were comparable to those for the general population. Death anxiety and age were not related for the counselors but a significant inverse relationship was found for the clients.

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What the literature tells us about score sheet design

Laboratory Animals ◽

10.1177/0023677216671552 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

pp. 414-417 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Philippe Bugnon ◽

Maike Heimann ◽

Michaela Thallmair

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Animal Health ◽

Animal Experiments ◽

Score Sheet ◽

Essential Tool ◽

And Behavior ◽

Normal Status

Score sheets are an essential tool of animal welfare. They allow transparent assessments to be made of animal health and behavior during animal experiments and they define interventions when deviations from normal status are detected. As such, score sheets help to refine animal experiments as part of the 3R (replacement, reduction and refinement) concept. This mini review aims at summarizing the scarce literature available on score sheet design.

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Number of Pretraining Problems and Type of Instructions in Concept Identification

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1971.28.2.643 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 643-649

Author(s):

Raymond M. White ◽

Diana L. Richards ◽

Richard Reynolds

Keyword(s):

Problem Solving ◽

Concept Learning ◽

Inverse Relationship ◽

Concept Identification ◽

Problem Solution ◽

Sample Problem ◽

Significant Inverse Relationship ◽

Problem Solving Strategies

To assess the effects of pretraining problems and type of instructions on concept identification 40 men and 40 women were given 0, 1, 2, or 3 pretraining problems prior to administration of an experimental concept problem. Instructions were either simply descriptive of the stimulus population and response requirements or elaborated such that S was told the rule defining problem solution and given a sample problem. Analyses showed a significant inverse relationship between number of pretraining problems and trials to criterion. Presolution data indicated that Ss changed problem-solving strategies both as a function of number of pretraining problems and type of instructions. Implications for theories of concept learning were discussed.

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Relationship between Psychosocial Maturity and Performance in a Self-Paced Course

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1979.44.1.88 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 88-90

Author(s):

Jeffrey A. Goldman ◽

John M. Keller ◽

James R. Sutterer

Keyword(s):

Construct Validity ◽

Psychosocial Development ◽

Inverse Relationship ◽

Performance Indices ◽

Psychosocial Maturity ◽

Significant Inverse Relationship ◽

And Performance

Erik Erikson's concept of psychosocial maturity assessed by scores on the Inventory of Psychosocial Development, was related to performance indices in a self-paced course. A significant inverse relationship was found between psychosocial maturity and the number of pauses as well as the number of weeks of no examination providing some evidence for the construct validity of the Inventory of Psychosocial Development.

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