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Welfare Science from an Animal Behaviour
Perspective
PROF. DR. NORBERT SACHSER
Department of Behavioural Biology,
University of Münster, Germany
During the last decades animal welfare emerged as a major
research field of the behavioural sciences. Based on this
development, the aim of my presentation is (a) to present
methods to assess animal welfare and (b) to address
principles of how to achieve good welfare in animals.
Concerning methods, the welfare of an animal can be assessed by
physiological and behavioural measures. For example, indicators
for the activity of the organisms’ pituitary-adrenocortical- and
sympathetic-adrenomedullary-systems have proven useful to
estimate the degree of stress in vertebrates. However, physiological
parameters alone (e.g., plasma concentrations of cortisol) can
be rather misleading. Hence a combination of physiological and
behavioural measures should be applied to assess an animal’s
welfare state. Stereotypies, for example,
frequently point to poor welfare
while play behaviour indicates good
welfare. In addition, animals can be
asked themselves in choice tests which
commodities they prefer. Finally, the
animal’s cognitive bias can be assessed
with newly developed methods. These
data tell us under which environmental
conditions animals see theworld inamore
optimistic or in a more pessimistic way.
Concerning principles of how to
achieve good welfare, the relationships
between (a) evolution and welfare,
(b) life history and welfare, and (c) the
current environment and welfare will
be addressed. With respect to evolution
it will be shown that not copying,
but orienting towards the species
natural life contributes greatly to the
understanding of what is important to
achieve good welfare under human-
made housing conditions. Regarding
life history, in group-living vertebrates
the requirements to achieve good welfare in adulthood are:
the experience of security during early phases of life and the
learning of coping strategies during adolescence. Concerning the
current environmental situation, the concepts of “environmental
enrichment” and “social support by a bonding partner” have
proven most successful to improve the animals’ quality of life.
In summary, during the last years great progress has been made
to develop methods to assess states of welfare in animals reliably.
These methods allow a comprehensive understanding of what is
important to achieve good animal welfare.
Full Presentation page 38-47
Prof. Dr. Norbert Sachser
Department of Behavioural Biology
University of Münster
Tel. +49 (0) 251 832 3884
Badestraße 13, 48149 Münster, Germany
Email:
sachser@uni-muenster.deWelfare Science from an Animal Behaviour Perspective |
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