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The role of exploration and feeding motivation in the causation of tail-biting in growing pigs.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

J. E. L. Day ,
I. Kyriazakis  and
A. B. Lawrence
J. E. L. Day
Affiliation:
Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH6 3JG, United Kingdom
I. Kyriazakis
Affiliation:
Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH6 3JG, United Kingdom
A. B. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH6 3JG, United Kingdom
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Extract

Growing pigs are observed to spend a considerable amount of time chewing substrates in their environment (e.g. Jensen et al., 1993). This behaviour has been exposed to scientific investigation on many occasions because of its link to the serious welfare problem of tail-biting (see Fraser, 1987). However, there is still no motivational explanation which adequately describes the causation of chewing because it is unclear if the behaviour reflects feeding motivation, exploratory motivation, or a combination of both (Day et al., 1995). Therefore, this aim of this paper was to test the hypothesis that the initial exploratory chewing of a novel substrate may identify nutritional properties which could, if appropriate, reinforce feeding motivation and subsequent foraging behaviour.

Type
Pig Feeding Behaviour
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1996 , March 1996 , pp. 13
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1996

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References

Day, J. E. L., Kyriazakis, I. and Lawrence, A. B., 1995. The effect of food deprivation on the expression of foraging and exploratory behaviour in the growing pig. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 42: 193–206.10.1016/0168-1591(95)93889-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser, D., 1987. Attraction to blood as a factor in tail-biting by pigs. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 17: 61–68.10.1016/0168-1591(87)90008-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, M. B., Kyriazakis, I. and Lawrence, A. B., 1993. The activity and straw directed behaviour of pigs offered foods with different crude protein content. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 37: 211–221.10.1016/0168-1591(93)90112-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar