Wolff, L. M. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2024

Less activity means improved welfare? How pair housing influences pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) behavior

The activity level and specific behaviors exhibited by captive animals are crucial indicators of their health and welfare. Stereotypies, or repetitive behaviors that have no apparent function or goal, are performed by animals experiencing poor conditions in their environment and indicate welfare concerns. Changes in the housing environment in particular may have critical influences on behavior and welfare. Here, we measured behavioral changes in a captive pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) population (n = 12) associated with a shift from single to pair housing. Using automated video processing, we show that pair housing greatly reduced overall activity levels in these birds. The stark reduction in activity was surprising, as we expected that social housing would increase interactions between birds, thus increasing activity levels. Upon further analysis, however, we found that stereotypic behaviors like beak scraping, jumping, pecking, and route tracing decreased after pair housing, whereas a calming behavior--preening-- increased. Our results indicate that pair housing may reduce overall activity in pinyon jays; however, this reduction is primarily in stereotypic behaviors.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2021

Individual repeatability, species differences, and the influence of socio-ecological factors on neophobia in 10 corvid species

Behavioural responses to novelty, including fear and subsequent avoidance of novel stimuli, behaviours referred to as neophobia, determine how animals interact with their environment. Neophobia aids in navigating risk and impacts on adaptability and survival. There is variation within and between individuals and species, however, lack of large-scale, comparative studies critically limits investigation of the socio-ecological drivers of neophobia. In this study, we tested responses to novel objects and food (alongside familiar food) versus a baseline (familiar food alone) in 10 corvid species (241 subjects) across 10 labs worldwide. There were species differences in the latency to touch familiar food in the novel object and food conditions relative to the baseline. Three of seven socio-ecological factors influenced object neophobia: 1) use of urban habitat (vs not), 2) territorial pair vs family group sociality and 3) large vs small flock size (whereas range, caching, hunting live animals, and genus did not); while only flock size influenced food neophobia. We found that, overall, individuals were temporally and contextually repeatable (i.e. consistent) in their novelty responses in all conditions, indicating neophobia is a stable behavioural trait. With this study, we have established a network of corvid researchers, demonstrating potential for further collaboration to explore the evolution of cognition in corvids and other bird species. These novel findings enable us, for the first time in corvids, to identify the socio-ecological correlates of neophobia and grant insight into specific elements that drive higher neophobic responses in this avian family group.

animal behavior and cognition↗