No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2023
This is an excellent video. It is designed to be appropriate for the Science National Curriculum, Key Stage 4, and ‘A’ level teaching and it provides a very interesting and clear introduction to the stimulus response behaviour of farm animals (and more). The video has six sections: introduction (five steps in the stimulus response chain and how these are studied); stimuli (visual, heat, tactile, olfactory and internal); receptors; co-ordination (types of learned behaviour, habituation, classic conditioning, trial and error learning and observational learning); effectors, and responses (irritation, internal effectors and responses, stress in a non-stimulating environment, enriched environment, stereotyped behaviour, nesting and foraging behaviour), ending with a summary. This is a good, scientifically rigorous story, well-told and portrayed by a glittering cast of piglets, chickens, sheep, goats and cows. There is no moralizing; the animals ‘speak’ for themselves and the film will be, I suspect, quite a powerful force for animal welfare. An enjoyable piece of work which deserves very wide circulation.