Lateralized behaviour is the most conspicuous manifestation of hemispheric specialization of the brain and has been reported in a variety of taxa. Only a few studies have so far assessed lateralized behaviours in horses. Therefore, I observed ten domestic horses for 16 weeks for an array of spontaneously occurring motor behaviours as well as stimulus-induced behavioural responses to determine if they display side preferences at the individual or population level and to assess possible correlations between lateralized behaviours. Significant side preferences were found for certain behaviours at the individual level, ranging from standing and flexing, to auditory stimuli, and olfactory stimuli. All horses showed task-dependent changes in their side preferences and no significant side preferences were found at the population level for any behaviours. Similarly, no significant correlations were found between behaviours. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that horses, like all other species studied so far except humans and some great apes, only display lateralized behaviour at the individual, but not at the population level.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-175884 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Crosby, Ashley |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Biologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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