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1/ Why do we care if farm animals are intelligent? Is it important if we are breeding or housing them in ways that impairs their intelligence? I’m often asked, “Aren’t farm animals *not* intelligent, so they don’t miss challenges.” #AnimBehav2021
2/ There are two reasons we *should* care about farm animals intelligence. 1) Pratical: Farms are increasingly complex: group housing, tiered aviaries, outdoor range. Animals need to be smart enough to navigate social and spatial challenges to thrive on farm. #AnimBehav2021
3/ 2) Ethical: animals have "intrinsic value", so in their own right. Not monetary, nor as companions. Value as living beings. So, we must respect their species-specific needs and abilities, including intelligence. It’s part of what makes a chicken, a chicken. #AnimBehav2021
4/ We developed the chicken holeboard test of spatial memory. Chickens learn a) to find grapes at the same 3 places every day (=long term memory), and b) not to go back to the same place twice in one session, since they’ve eaten that grape (=short term memory). #AnimBehav2021
5/ Chickens are GREAT at short-term spatial memory Long-term spatial memory…. that was a lot more difficult. Took weeks of training, and even then, the chickens still didn’t reach very high scores. #AnimalBehav2021 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9070454 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2011.02.008
6/ In the task we have, it’s too easy for the chickens to be “opportunistic” and just check for a grape as they walk by (which is scored as an error). We’re working on covered “holes” that mean they need to make a little more effort. Work in progress! #AnimalBehav2021
7/ Along with cognition, we also work on long-term stress measuring cort in feathers, and on chicken neuroscience in welfare questions https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00019. To learn more about me, see this interview written by @YAWScience : https://tinyurl.com/yy4mwo5c #AnimalBehav2021
