Animal agriculture predominantly involves farming social animals. At the same time, the nature of agriculture requires severely disrupting, eliminating, and controlling the relationships that matter to those animals, resulting in harm and unhappiness for them. These disruptions harm animals, both...

The aversive management of farmed species may present serious consequences on productivity, reproduction, and animal welfare. Thus, studies that aim at a good human-animal relationship (HAR) and apply gentle touch, as an attempt to make this management more beneficial for humans and animals are...

The vibrissae are part of a tactile sensory organ in the facial area of the domestic dog. Each of the stiff, long tactile hairs belongs to its own, sensitively innervated, specialized hair follicle. Its structure is very similar to a cat's whiskers. The authors found no scientific evidence of this...

Current evidence of how human sex-related differences in riders and handlers may influence horse behaviour is limited. The Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) was used to collect demographic data on riders and handlers (n = 1420) and behavioural data on their horses. It...

In buffaloes and other mammalian farm species, the mother provides food and protection to the young, but she is also the main source of behavioral and social learning for the offspring. It is important that mother and young establish a bond based on a learning mechanism defined as "imprinting"...

Haptic perception is an important tool for veterinarians. The present study analyzed the association between the haptic perception threshold of veterinary students and their palpatory experience. To approach this goal, 35 female students of veterinary medicine were divided into two groups with...

Ungulates feed on plants that are often inhabited by insects. Goats (Capra hircus Linnaeus, 1758) can efficiently avoid the ingestion of setae-covered noxious, caterpillars while feeding, but it is unknown how they respond to non-toxic insects. We filmed and analysed the behavioural responses of...