The escalating extinction of wildlife puts a high pressure on the standard of ex situ conservation. Some animals may spend several generations in captivity which may affect their natural behaviors and also a future reintroduction into the wild. Observations of animal behavior among captive animals are crucial for the understanding of ex situ conservation effects on behavior and in order to introduce and improve environmental enrichment. This study investigates activity and enclosure use of a sand cat (Felis margarita) at Parken zoo in Eskilstuna Sweden. Direct observations of behavior and movements were carried out and audience impact was also analyzed. The sand cat in the present study showed no behavioural response to the audience but it had some effect on his location in the enclosure. I also found that he was more active during late afternoon after feeding time and that he slept most during the forenoon. He used the whole enclosure to some extent but he spent most of his time in the cave, the front and the middle of the enclosure. Although he did not show any typical stereotypic behavior he had some odd habits that could probably be prevented through environmental enrichment.

In the last few decades stochastic dynamic modeling (SDM) has been used to explore adaptive state-dependent strategies in a whole host of different theoretical problems in behavioural ecology, with considerable success. It has allowed us to better understand cooperative behaviours such as sentinel behaviour, and it might allow us to more fully understand other cooperative behaviours with alternative dynamics. In a recently developed SDM, anti-predator behaviour was examined and a counter-intuitive prediction has emerged: that mobbing effort should be completely independent of state. In this study we test this interesting prediction, using the cooperatively breeding Apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea) as our study species. From October 15th to November 21st in 2009, 6 groups of varying sizes were put through a set of trials, where we used a rubber snake model to elicit mobbing behaviour in experimental trials. A similarly sized stick was used during control trials, wherein birds tended to forage. Behaviour, placement and vocalisation data on an individual basis were gathered in multiple scan samplings per trial in both kinds of treatment. This highly accurate data was then compared with within-individual differences in body mass (state). Several other variables were also considered: sex, age, breeding status, relatedness and mean body mass. Results show that while foraging behaviour was highly state-dependent during controls, no such effect was found in the mobbing effort of the same individuals during experiments. Mobbing effort also did not vary with any of the mentioned phenotypically fixed variables. Our study therefore offers the first empirical evidence of state-independent mobbing.

Pigs do naturally have a high motivation to explore their environment. In a poor environment pigs still display this motivation and when there is no stimulation in the pen, pigs direct their behavior at pen-mates and pen components. Lack of stimulation can lead to decreased welfare and increased stress. This study investigates if extra stimuli by toys would affect pigs growth, health and welfare. Growing pigs (219) were followed during 7 weeks and divided into twenty two pens, eleven with toys and eleven without toys. I found partly support for the prediction that toys would help in a short time perspective but there was no support for the prediction that in a longer run the toys (used in this experiment) would increase pigs welfare. One explanation to this might be the straw that all the pens had (by law in Sweden), which seemed to be the most importuned component for satisfying pigs behavioral needs.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Due to increasing habitat loss, human-lion conflict, poaching and other reasons, African lion (Panthera leo) populations have suffered a drastic decline. The African Lion and Environmental Research Trust (ALERT) is working to stop this pattern and is the first organization with an ex-situ conservation project for lions. Before releasing lions raised by captive-bred adults, they must first be ensured to behave properly to make sure they have the highest chance of survival. One challenge in the wild is encountering and competition with unknown conspecifics. By conducting playback of unfamiliar lion roars, the behaviours of lions under this ex-situ reintroduction program were tested and compared with observations from earlier studies of wild lions. Social interactions were also collected and a social network analysis was done to give information about the social structure in the pride. This in turn was compared with boldness scores, calculated from behavioural responses in the playback experiments. Lastly, I searched for associations between age and sex with both boldness and social interactions.   The studied pride consisted of 12 lions. The lions were more vigilant when a playback consisted of numerous lions vocalizing, but playing more than three lions seemed to make them loose interest, suggesting either habituation or false information. One adult female and the alpha-male were most bold, followed by five sub-adults. Boldness did not vary according to sex or age differences, but the social network analysis showed that some social interactions were more dominated by one sex or age group. These behaviours were in agreement with comparisons of wild prides.   This study showed that captive-bred lions have developed natural social behaviours. Based on the behavioural responses observed by the captive-origin lions to the playbacks of unfamiliar lions, it is unclear whether these lions would appropriately respond when encountered with unfamiliar conspecifics in the wild post-release.

Många elever ser naturvetenskapliga ämnen som svåra och tappar lätt intresset om inte läraren presenterar ämnet tillfredsställande. Jean Piaget har haft stor betydelse inom pedagogiken, då han menade att intelligens är en metod som barn kan lära sig genom att utforska och laborera. Genom möjligheten att få göra en observationsstudie på höns kom tanken att omarbeta denna till ett etologiprojekt för biologiämnet på gymnasiet. Projektet innebär att eleverna får arbeta med en observationsstudie från grunden, och goda möjligheter finns att integrera andra ämnen i detta. Människan började domesticera höns för tusentals år sedan, en process där djur utvecklar ett adaptivt beteende till människan och dess miljö. Drygt hundra år tillbaka startade den intensiva aveln på höns som gett upphov till dagens tamhöns (Gallus gallus domesticus). White Leghorn är en av de domesticerade raserna avlad för hög äggproduktion, och härstammar från det röda djungelhönset (Gallus gallus). Studiens syfte var att se hur lång tid det tog för höns att återhämta sig efter en stressupplevelse och om det fanns en skillnad i återhämtningsförmågan mellan raserna. Resultaten tyder på att hönsen återhämtat sig efter 130 minuter, men vissa beteenden visade en signifikant skillnad med avseende på ras, kön och tid. White Leghorn verkade bli mer påverkade av stressmomentet och uppvisade både stressade och avslappnade beteenden. Trots detta verkar de ha en effektivare återhämtning än djungelhönsen som uppvisade procentuellt mer komfortbeteenden, vilket i detta sammanhang kan indikera stress då olika beteendemekanismer kan interagera i djuret och trigga igång ett utforskande beteende vid låga stressnivåer.

For some behavior there are consistent differences between individuals within a population, which is called animal personality. Across species, ranging from insects to mammals, personality has been described along behavioral gradients like activity, exploration, boldness and aggression. Monoamines such as dopamine have been shown to be essential for modulating animal behavior and could therefore be important also in explaining variation in animal personality. Supporting this, the dopaminergic system affect activity (in Confused flour beetles), and aggression (in Mediterranean field crickets). However, the causality and effect of dopamine on these behaviors, and also other behavioral traits used to describe personality is currently less explored. This study experimentally investigated how increased level of dopamine affects activity, boldness, exploration and aggression in Mediterranean field crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus). I show that dopamine manipulation had no effects on measured behavior. These results indicate that increased dopamine levels do not affect the scored personality traits in Mediterranean field crickets. The causality and generality of the relationship between dopamine and behavior used to score variation in personality is thus not clear in this species.

Aggressivitet är ett vanligt förekommande beteende hos många arter och kan signaleras via både vokalisering och visuella signaler. Beteendet kan grunda sig i exempelvis dominans, konkurrens om en partner eller på att individen försvarar en resurs eller ett revir. För omkring 15 000 år sedan domesticerades vargar Canis lupus, vilket resulterade i underarten hund Canis familiaris och genom ett gediget avelsarbete finns det idag över 400 godkända hundraser. I Sverige finns det omkring 300 aktiva ledarhundar i tjänst och varje år utbildas runt 40 nya hundar som ska komma att arbeta med en ledarhundsförare. Syftet med denna studie var att se i vilken frekvens och på vilket sätt som ledarhundar för synskadade blir störda när de är i tjänst ute i det offentliga rummet dvs. på allmän plats. För att inhämta data utfördes en enkätundersökning där 18 ledarhundsförare beskrev en till två typsituationer av störningar från andra hundar som uppkommer i ledarhundens arbete. Närmare 90 procent av ledarhundsförarna angav att en eller flera störningar inträffat, där utfall var den vanligaste typen av störning följt av aktiv lek och attacker. Majoriteten av de utsatta ledarhundarna i denna studie var hanar av rasen labrador retriever. Ett flertal av ledarhundarna fick psykiska och/eller fysiska skador i samband med störningen, vilket ledde till att de fick tas ur tjänst tillfälligt. Angreppen kan ha grundat sig i bristande kommunikation då ledarhunden var i tjänst och fokuserad på sin uppgift. Resultaten baserades på ett begränsat antal svarande, vilket medför att resultaten kanske inte är representativa för hur situationen ser ut för Sveriges ledarhundar överlag men de indikerar på att problem med störningar finns. Denna studie är den första i sitt slag att utföras i Sverige och lämnar plats åt ytterligare forskning på området. / Aggression is a common behavior among many species and can be signaled through both vocalization and visual signals. The behavior may be based on dominance, competition for a partner or because the individual defends a resource or a territory. Around 15 000 years ago the wolf Canis lupus was domesticated, which resulted in the subspecies dog Canis familiaris and through an extensive breeding program there are currently over 400 recognized breeds. In Sweden there are about 300 active guide dogs in service and every year around 40 new dogs are trained, that will come to work for a guide dog owner. The aim of this study was to see to which frequency and in what way guide dogs for the visually impaired are disturbed when they are on duty out in public places. In order to collect data a survey was conducted, where 18 guide dog owners described one to two typical situations of disturbance from other dogs, which occurs when the guide dog are on duty. Nearly 90 percent of the guide dog owners reported that one or more disturbance had occurred, where lunges was the most common type of disturbance followed by active play and attack. The majority of the affected guide dogs in this study were males of the breed Labrador retriever. Several of the guide dogs got mental and/or physical injuries due to the disturbance and had to be taken out of duty temporarily. The attacks may have been based on a lack of communication between the dogs. The results are based on a limited sample, therefore they may not be representative of the situation for the entire Swedish guide dog population but it is possible to sense a problem. This study is the first of its kind to be carried out in Sweden and leaves room for further research.

Domesticering av hunden har lett fram till en rad olika hundtyper världen över. Alla dessa togs från början fram för ett visst syfte. Dock används inte hundarna i samma utsträckning för sitt huvudsakliga mål, utan hunden hålls idag främst för sällskap. Trots att hundar alltså inte längre används i det syfte de var framavlade till finns deras beteende kvar i generna. Med detta arbete vill jag belysa det predatoriska beteendet som finns kvar hos hunden, samt hur vissa raser uppvisar en större predatorisk aggressivitet än andra. Vissa raser har större benägenhet att uppvisa detta beteende, oavsett om det är önskat eller inte. Eftersom att det är gener som styr hundens beteende kan man inte undkomma att vissa raser är mer benägna att utföra predatoriska beteenden och uppvisa predatorisk aggression. / Domestication of the dog has led to a number of different breeds worldwide. All these breeds were from the beginning bred for a specific purpose. However, the dogs are no longer used in the same order for their main goal. Today dogs are mainly kept for company. Although they are no longer used for the purpose they were developed, their behavior remains in the genes. With this work I want to highlight the predatory behavior that remains in the dog, and how certain breeds exhibit a greater predatory aggressiveness than others. Some breeds are more likely to show this behavior regardless if it is desired or not. Because there are genes that control the dog's behavior, we cannot avoid that some breeds are more likely to perform predatory behaviors and predatory aggression.

Bumblebees, like other Hymenopterans, perform learning flights when departing their nest for the first few times or when departing from a newly discovered food source. As bees can learn about the landmarks around a flower both on approach and on departure, it is possible that what they see and learn on approach affects what they focus on during their learning flight on departure. In the present study, bumblebees from a commercial colony placed in a greenhouse were allowed to land at an artificial flower next to a single cylindrical landmark in one of three different positions (west, north or east), while all bees departed the flower with all three landmarks present in each position. Bumblebees approaching the flower with the landmark in the west position (WEST bees) faced mostly in a westerly direction and toward that landmark on departure, while NORTH bees faced mostly in an easterly direction and toward the east landmark and EAST bees faced mostly in a northerly direction and toward the north landmark. Thus, each group was consistent but favoured a different direction and faced toward a different landmark compared to the other groups, though these differences were most prominent during the early phase of the learning flight. On the other hand, all three groups faced the flower during the late phase of the learning flight. I therefore conclude that bumblebees do learn about the landmarks around a flower on approach, and this affects the direction they face during their learning flight in a consistent way.