Animal economics: assessing the motivation of female laboratory rabbits to reach a platform, social contact and food

Animal Behaviour

Volumn 75, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 31-42

  Seaman, Shirley C ^a   Waran, Natalie K ^b   Mason, Georgia ^c   D'Eath, Richard B ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

^b UNITEC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (New Zealand)

^c UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH   (Canada)

^d SCOTTISH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

access costs; animal economics; consumer demand; laboratory rabbit; motivation; Oryctolagus cuniculus; resource value

Indexed keywords

ASSESSMENT METHOD; BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY; ECONOMICS; FOOD; LAGOMORPH; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR;

ANIMALIA; ORYCTOLAGUS CUNICULUS;

EID: 37549056629     PISSN: 00033472     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.09.031     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. Albonetti E.M., Dessí-Fulgheri F., and Farabollini F. Intrafemale agonistic interactions in the domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Aggressive Behavior 16 (1990) 77-86
2. Batchelor G.R. Group housing on floor pens and environmental enrichment in sandy lop rabbits: I. Animal Technology 42 (1991) 109-120
3. Batchelor G.R. The laboratory rabbit. In: Poole T. (Ed). The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals (1999), Blackwell Scientific, Oxford 395-408
4. Begg D., Fischer S., and Dornbusch R. Economics (2003), McGraw-Hill, London
5. Bell D.J. Mate choice in the European rabbit. In: Bateson P. (Ed). Mate Choice (1983), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 211-223
6. Chu L.R., Garner J.P., and Mench J.A. A behavioral comparison of New Zealand white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) housed individually or in pairs in conventional laboratory cages. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 85 (2004) 121-139
7. Collier G.H., Johnson D.F., Cybulski K.A., and McHale C.A. Activity patterns in rats (Rattus norvegicus) as a function of the cost of access to 4 resources. Journal of Comparative Psychology 104 (1990) 53-65
8. Cooper J.J., and Appleby M.C. Demand for nest boxes in laying hens. Behavioural Processes 36 (1996) 171-182
9. Cooper J.J., and Mason G.J. Increasing costs of access to resources cause re-scheduling of behaviour in American mink Mustela vison: implications for the assessment of behavioural priorities. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 66 (2000) 135-151
10. Cowan D.P., and Bell D.J. Leporid social behaviour and social organisation. Mammal Review 16 (1986) 169-179
11. Cowan P.E. Systematic patrolling and orderly behaviour of rats during recovery from deprivation. Animal Behaviour 25 (1977) 171-184
12. Dawkins M.S. Battery hens name their price: consumer demand theory and the measurement of ethological 'needs'. Animal Behaviour 31 (1983) 1195-1205
13. Dawkins M.S. From an animal's point of view: motivation, fitness and animal welfare. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13 (1990) 1-61
14. European Commission. Fourth Report on the Statistics on the Number of Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the European Union (2005), European Commission, Brussels
15. Faure J.M., and Lagadic H. Elasticity of demand for food and sand in laying hens subjected to variable wind-speed. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 42 (1994) 49-59
16. Fraser D., and Matthews L.R. Preference and motivation testing. In: Appleby M.C., and Hughes B.O. (Eds). Animal Welfare (1997), CAB International, Wallingford 159-173
17. Gerber L.R., Reichman O.J., and Roughgarden J. Food hoarding: future value in optimal foraging decisions. Ecological Modelling 175 (2004) 77-85
18. Gibb J.A. Sociality, time and space in a sparse population of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Journal of Zoology 229 (1993) 581-607
19. Gunn D., and Morton D.B. Inventory of the behavior of New Zealand white rabbits in laboratory cages. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 45 (1995) 277-292
20. Gunnarsson S., Matthews L.R., Foster T.M., and Temple W. The demand for straw and feathers as litter substrates by laying hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 65 (2000) 321-330
21. Hanley N., Shogren J.F., and White B. Environmental Economics in Theory and Practice (1997), Macmillan, London
22. Hansen L.T., and Berthelsen H. The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of caged rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 68 (2000) 163-178
23. Healy S.D., de Kort S.R., and Clayton N.S. The hippocampus, spatial memory and food hoarding: a puzzle revisited. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20 (2005) 17-22
24. Hobbs B.A., Kozubal W., and Nebiar F.F. Evaluation of objects for environmental enrichment of mice. Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science 36 (1997) 69-71
25. Holm L., Jensen M.B., and Jeppesen L.L. Calves' motivation for access to two different types of social contact measured by operant conditioning. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 79 (2002) 175-194
26. Home Office. Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Used in Scientific Procedures (1989), HMSO, London
27. Home Office. Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain (2004), Home Office, Norwich
28. Houston A.I. Demand curves and welfare. Animal Behaviour 53 (1997) 983-990
29. Houston A.I., and McNamara J.M. The value of food: effects of open and closed economies. Animal Behaviour 37 (1989) 546-562
30. Hovland A.L., Mason G., Bøe K., Steinheim G., and Bakken M. Evaluation of the 'maximum price paid' as an index of motivational strength for farmed silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 100 (2006) 258-279
31. Huls W.L., Brooks D.L., and Beanknudsen D. Response of adult New Zealand white rabbits to enrichment objects and paired housing. Laboratory Animal Science 41 (1991) 609-612
32. Hursh S.R., Raslear T.G., Shurtleff D., Bauman R., and Simmons L. A cost-benefit analysis of demand for food. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 50 (1988) 419-440
33. Jain M., and Baldwin A.L. Are laboratory animals stressed by their housing environment and are investigators aware that this stress can affect physiological data?. Medical Hypotheses 60 (2003) 284-289
34. Jensen M.B., Pedersen L.J., and Munksgaard L. The effect of reward duration on demand functions for rest in dairy heifers and lying requirements as measured by demand functions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 90 (2005) 207-217
35. Jezierski T., Scheffler N., Bessei W., and Schumacher E. Demand functions for cage size in rabbits selectively bred for high and low activity in open-field. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 93 (2005) 323-339
36. Johnson K.G., and Cabanac M. Homeostatic competition between food intake and temperature regulation in rats. Physiology and Behavior 28 (1982) 675-679
37. Kilgour R., Foster T.M., Temple W., Matthews L.R., and Bremner K.J. Operant technology applied to solving farm animal problems: an assessment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 30 (1991) 141-166
38. Kirkden R.D., and Pajor E. Using preference, motivation and aversion tests to ask scientific questions about animals' feelings. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 100 (2006) 29-47
39. Kirkden R.D., Edwards J.S.S., and Broom D.M. A theoretical comparison of the consumer surplus and the elasticities of demand as measures of motivational strength. Animal Behaviour 65 (2003) 157-178
40. Kolb H.H. Use of burrows and movements of wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in an area of hill grazing and forestry. Journal of Applied Ecology 28 (1991) 892-905
41. Ladewig J., Sorensen D.B., Nielsen P.P., and Matthews L.R. The quantitative measurement of motivation: generation of demand functions under open versus closed economies. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 79 (2002) 325-331
42. Larkin S., and McFarland D. The cost of changing from one activity to another. Animal Behaviour 26 (1978) 1237-1246
43. Lidfors L. Behavioural effects of environmental enrichment for individually caged rabbits. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 52 (1997) 157-169
44. McNamara J.M., Houston A.I., and Lima S.L. Foraging routines of small birds in winter: a theoretical investigation. Journal of Avian Biology 25 (1994) 287-302
45. Manser C.E., Elliott H., Morris T.H., and Broom D.M. The use of a novel operant test to determine the strength of preference for flooring in laboratory rats. Laboratory Animals 30 (1996) 1-6
46. Mason G., McFarland D., and Garner J. A demanding task: using economic techniques to assess animal priorities. Animal Behaviour 55 (1998) 1071-1075
47. Mason G.J., Clarebrough C., and Cooper J.J. Drink or swim? Using substitutability and physiological responses to frustration to assess the importance of swimming-water for mink. In: Bøe K.E., Bakken M., and Braastad B.O. (Eds). Proceedings of the 33rd International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (1999), International Society for Applied Ethology, Lillehammer, Norway 83
48. Mason G.J., Cooper J., and Clarebrough C. Frustrations of fur-farmed mink. Nature 410 (2001) 35-36
49. Matthews L.R., and Ladewig J. Environmental requirements of pigs measured by behavioural demand functions. Animal Behaviour 47 (1994) 713-719
50. Morton D.B., Jennings M., Batchelor G.R., Bell D., Birke L., Davies K., Eveleigh J.R., Gunn D., Heath M., Howard B., Koder P., Phillips J., Poole T., Sainsbury A.W., Sales G.D., Smith D.J.A., Stauffacher M., and Turner R.J. Refinements in rabbit husbandry: second report of the BVAAWF/FRAME/RSPCA/UFAW joint working group on refinement. Laboratory Animals 27 (1993) 301-329
51. Munksgaard L., Jensen M.B., Pedersen L.J., Hansen S.W., and Matthews L. Quantifying behavioural priorities: effects of time constraints on behaviour of dairy cows, Bos taurus. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 92 (2005) 3-14
52. Mykytowycz R. Territory marking by rabbits. Scientific American 218 (1968) 116-126
53. Ng Y.-K. The case for and difficulties in using 'demand areas' to measure changes in well-being. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13 (1990) 30-31
54. Olsson I.A.S., and Keeling L.J. The push-door for measuring motivation in hens: laying hens are motivated to perch at night. Animal Welfare 11 (2002) 11-19
55. Seaman, S. C. 2002. Laboratory rabbit welfare: an investigation of the social and physical environment. Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.
56. Sherwin C.M. The influences of standard laboratory cages on rodents and the validity of research data. Animal Welfare 13 (2004) S9-S15
57. Sherwin C.M. The motivation of group-housed laboratory mice, Mus musculus, for additional space. Animal Behaviour 67 (2004) 711-717
58. Sherwin C.M., and Nicol C.J. Reorganization of behaviour in laboratory mice, Mus musculus, with varying cost of access to resources. Animal Behaviour 51 (1996) 1087-1093
59. Sherwin C.M., and Nicol C.J. Behavioural demand functions of caged laboratory mice for additional space. Animal Behaviour 53 (1997) 67-74
60. Sloman J. Economics (1999), Prentice Hall, London
61. Sneddon I.A. Latrine use by the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Journal of Mammalogy 72 (1991) 769-775
62. Sorensen D.B., Ladewig J., Ersboll A.K., and Matthews L. Using the cross point of demand functions to assess animal priorities. Animal Behaviour 68 (2004) 949-955
63. Stodart E., and Myers K. A comparison of behaviour, reproduction and mortality of wild and domestic rabbits in confined populations. Wildlife Research 9 (1964) 144-159
64. Thom M.D., Macdonald D.W., Mason G.J., Pedersen V., and Johnson P.J. Female American mink, Mustela vison, mate multiply in a free-choice environment. Animal Behaviour 67 (2004) 975-984
65. Varian H.R. Intermediate Microeconomics: a Modern Approach (1993), W. W. Norton, London
66. Warburton H., and Mason G. Is out of sight out of mind? The effects of resource cues on motivation in mink, Mustela vison. Animal Behaviour 65 (2003) 755-762
67. Whary M., Peper R., Borkowski G., Lawrence W., and Ferguson F. The effects of group housing on the research use of the laboratory rabbit. Laboratory Animals 27 (1993) 330-341
68. Würbel H. Ideal homes? Housing effects on rodent brain and behaviour. Trends in Neurosciences 24 (2001) 207-211