Applied Animal Behaviour Science最新文献

{"title":"Having a gander at goose behaviour. Evaluating time-activity of captive and wild geese at two different wetland sites","authors":"Paul Rose ,&nbsp;Amelia Roper ,&nbsp;Christopher Giorgio ,&nbsp;Joe Thomas ,&nbsp;Robert Kelly ,&nbsp;Michelle F. O’Brien","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106719","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106719","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Geese are not common subjects for behavioural investigation in zoological facilities, despite their popularity in waterfowl collections and their complex ecological needs. This research evaluated time-activity budgets of six goose species located at two UK Wildfowl &amp; Wetland Trust (WWT) centres, comparing captive population behaviours with two species of wild goose. Using a standardised ethogram and instantaneous focal sampling, we recorded over 220 h of behavioural data across 892 observations. All data were recorded in spring and summer of 2015, 2017 and 2018. Data were analysed using linear mixed models and zero-inflated models to account for high frequencies of zero occurrences in alert and social behaviours. Results show that whilst captive and wild geese broadly perform similar species-typical behaviours, captive birds exhibited higher levels of resting and lower social engagement. Foraging and locomotion differed significantly by species, and this may be a factor of ecological niche. Minimal stereotypic behaviour (&lt;2 % of observations) was recorded in the captive birds, suggesting that the large, naturalistic enclosures provided by WWT support positive welfare by enabling appetitive behaviours, such as grazing. However, high inactivity rates highlight the need for further enrichment and dynamic enclosure management to be considered to further improve goose behavioural diversity. Comparisons with wild geese provide useful benchmarks for evaluating behavioural normality under human care. This research supports the use of time-activity budgets as a practical tool for developing evidence-based, species-specific husbandry guidelines. We recommend future research focusses on long-term, individual-bird behavioural monitoring, seasonal comparisons, and the incorporation of personality profiling to further our understanding of how geese respond to their captive care at the population, species and individual bird level.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 106719"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144366753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The ability to interpret affective states in horses' body language is associated with experience with animals","authors":"Moritz Nicolai Braun ,&nbsp;Sina Bülow ,&nbsp;Alicia Müller-Klein ,&nbsp;Ulrike Link-Dorner ,&nbsp;Tanja Michael ,&nbsp;Johanna Lass-Hennemann","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106716","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106716","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In light of an increasing interest in the human ability to read equine emotions, Braun et al. (2024) recently showed that horse-experienced individuals performed better in interpreting affective states in horses’ body language than horse-inexperienced individuals. Further, individuals with a high emotion recognition ability performed better in interpreting horses’ affective states than individuals with a low emotion recognition ability. The authors operationalized the ability to interpret affective states from horses’ body language by means of the behavior identification test (BIT). In the BIT, participants are presented with 32 photographs of horses that express different affective states and, for each photograph, are asked to choose which out of eight affective states the depicted horse expresses in its body language. In the present study, we scrutinized the replicability and the robustness of these findings. Further, we tested the idea that a better ability to interpret affective states in horses’ body language is associated with experience with animals in general but even more so with horses in particular. We did so by employing the design by Braun et al. (2024) in a novel sample, expanded by a number of quasi-experimental variables (i.e., animal/horse contact while growing-up; current pet/horse ownership; contact with animals/horses during work). We directly replicated the effect reported by Braun et al. (2024) that horse-experienced individuals outperform horse-inexperienced individuals in the BIT. Further, we demonstrated that a higher emotion recognition ability was associated with a better ability to interpret affective states in horses’ body language. Moreover, we found strong evidence in support of the notion that a better ability to interpret affective states in horses’ body language is associated with experience with animals in general and, more strongly, with horses in particular, be it during childhood or currently. We call future research to test the idea that the ability to interpret affective states in horses’ body language can be trained through contact with horses or other animals by means of experimental designs to identify a potential causal relation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106716"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144335853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Systematic review and meta-analysis of the occurrence and association of physical diseases and behavioural problems in dogs and cats","authors":"Worakan Boonhoh ,&nbsp;Chaithep Poolkhet ,&nbsp;Natalie Waran ,&nbsp;Tuempong Wongtawan","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106717","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106717","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It is believed that physical diseases may influence animal behaviour, though the prevalence and strength of this association remain unclear. Understanding the relationship between physical conditions and behavioural abnormalities is essential for improving prevention and treatment strategies. This study aimed to examine the occurrence and association of physical diseases and behavioural disorders through a systematic review and meta-analysis of published articles. Relevant studies were sourced from PubMed and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria required articles published between 2004 and 2024 that reported the presence or association of behavioural disorders with physical diseases and were either research articles or case reports. Exclusion criteria were review articles, conference proceedings, books, and articles without full-text access. For the meta-analysis, at least three studies with similar methodologies were required. Three independent researchers reviewed the data to minimise bias, and article quality was assessed using established guidelines for systematic reviews. Publication bias was evaluated using Fail-safe-N analysis and a rank association test for funnel plot asymmetry. Data were recorded in Microsoft Excel 365 and analysed using the meta-analysis package in Jamovi software. Of the 14,267 articles identified, 29 met the criteria for the systematic review, and 4 were included in the meta-analysis. Aggression was the most frequently reported behavioural issue (18 articles), while hormonal imbalances were the most reported physical disease (13 articles). All physical disease categories showed some connection to aggressive behaviour. The meta-analysis focused on aggression in cats infected with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) and Feline Leukaemia Virus (FeLV). The pooled prevalence of aggression was 64 % in FIV-positive cats and 60 % in FeLV-positive cats, with a statistically significant association between aggression and FIV or FeLV infection (P &lt; 0.001). However, the meta-analysis indicated substantial heterogeneity across studies. Two hypotheses were proposed to explain the link between aggression and FIV/FeLV infection: first, aggressive cats are more likely to engage in fights, facilitating disease transmission; second, the progression of these infections may cause local and systemic inflammation and pain, leading to behavioural changes. A key limitation of this study was the small number of published articles addressing the association between physical disease and behavioural disorders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 106717"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144366745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Escape patterns of companion parrots kept in Brazilian Households","authors":"Rodrigo Mendes Aguiar ,&nbsp;Cristiano Schetini Azevedo ,&nbsp;ChalineNicolas Châline","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106700","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106700","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Uncontrolled escapes of pet psittacine birds present significant risks to individual welfare, public health, and local ecosystems. In Brazil, a country with a strong cultural tradition of parrot keeping, such events are frequent and often poorly managed. This study aimed to describe the dynamics of escape, assess preventive strategies, and evaluate recovery efforts following escape events. An online questionnaire collected data from 865 respondents, yielding 1053 individual bird records. A high escape incidence was reported (63.6 %), with most events occurring indoors, often due to open or unscreened windows. Although 67.4 % of birds had undergone wing clipping at some point, 70.6 % of those that escaped had fully regrown feathers at the time of the event. Birds with clipped wings exhibited a significantly higher escape probability (OR = 7.60, 95 % CI [3.33, 18.37]), possibly due to reduced caregiver vigilance. None of the prevention strategies such as window netting or enclosure confinement were fully effective, and escape rates remained high even in households that reported combined efforts. A total of 57.2 % of escaped birds were recovered, most within 12 h. Recovery was more likely when owners engaged in active search methods, while wing clipping and low effort were associated with delayed retrieval. Thirteen percent of recovered birds were found ill, injured, or died shortly after,reinforcing the need to replace restrictive practices with ethical, behaviorally sound alternatives. These findings highlight the urgency of improving husbandry standards, promoting caregiver education, and adopting science-based, welfare-centered strategies for the management of companion psittacines.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106700"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144306815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"Irene Camerlink","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106715","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106715","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106715"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144314481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Relative preference for different pecking blocks offered as pairwise comparisons in White and Brown-feathered laying hens","authors":"Tunmise Faith Ehigbor ,&nbsp;Elijah G. Kiarie ,&nbsp;Alexandra Harlander ,&nbsp;Tina Widowski","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106708","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106708","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Different commercially available pecking blocks (PBs) have varying nutrient composition, appearance, and texture. However, the relative preferences of laying hens for different PBs are unknown. We housed 120 Dekalb White and 120 Bovans Brown in twelve (360 cm x 116 cm x 60 cm) test cages from 18 weeks of age. Test cages had two identical sections, each containing a nest, scratch mat, and container. Then, three PB types (A, B, C) were offered in a series of pairwise comparisons over three, 4-week periods (Phase 1). Pairwise comparisons were repeated over three, 2-week periods (Phase 2). Block A mainly comprised mineral + grains, B of mineral + grain + molasses, and C was primarily mineral based. PB use (disappearance) was measured by weekly weighing. Pecking and scratching behaviour was measured at the individual level by live observations of 7 focal birds (per cage) once a week (thrice daily). Behaviour at the group level was measured from video cameras mounted over each PB. The number of birds pecking or scratching at the blocks was counted every 5 min throughout the light period using instantaneous scan sampling (total = 169 scans/day, split into 3 times-of-day (TOD): a.m., mid-day, and p.m.). For phase 1, Browns used the B block more than any other block and strain combination (p &lt; 0.0001). At group level, pair-wise comparison affected pecking or scratching behaviour (p &lt; 0.05). In Whites (p = 0.04), the pair-wise comparison of blocks B and C resulted in more birds pecking or scratching at C. The opposite was observed in Browns, with more birds directing pecks or scratches at B (p = 0.01). Interactions were observed between the time-of-day and PB type (White: p &lt; 0.0001, Brown: p = &lt; 0.0001). The Whites pecked and scratched the C block at p.m. more than any other block at any other TOD. In the Browns, pecking or scratching was directed at the B block at mid-day and a.m. more than any other block at any TOD. The two common strains of laying hens in this study preferred different types of PB (Browns preferred B, Whites preferred C) and used them at different TOD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106708"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144306816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deck height did not affect behavioural measures of ‘natural movements’ and ‘adequate ventilation’ during 8 h and 23 h transport of weaner pigs","authors":"Cecilie Kobek-Kjeldager ,&nbsp;Line D. Jensen ,&nbsp;Leslie Foldager ,&nbsp;Marianne Kaiser ,&nbsp;Karen Thodberg ,&nbsp;Mette S. Herskin","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106714","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106714","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Annually, more than 30 million weaner pigs cross borders between EU member states mainly transported for further production. The current EU regulation states that the internal deck height of the transport vehicles must on no account hinder natural movements and provide adequate ventilation but without including specific norms. The aim of the present study was to examine impact of deck height (60 vs 80 cm and 70 vs 90 cm) on behaviour reflecting natural movements and adequate ventilation during 16 short (8 h) and 16 long (23 h) journeys of 20–25 kg pigs, mimicking commercial conditions. A secondary aim was to describe the behaviour progressed from departure to arrival including the driver break during short journeys. To address the aim, the first task was to select appropriate behavioural measures that could robustly be annotated with the limited vertical space. As a consequence, head butting against the ceiling and drinking behaviour were omitted in pilot observations. The final behaviours were body posture including huddling and huddling location analysed using 15 min interval instantaneous scan sampling. The frequency of aggression and a pig standing on another pig was recorded using continuous sampling during selected 20 min recording sessions (in total 160 and 120 min for short and long journeys, respectively). During short journeys, this included recording sessions placed immediately before, during and after the mandatory break of the livestock driver. Mixed effects models were used to analyse effects of deck height and the following co-variates: hour since departure, microclimatic conditions and vehicle speed.</div><div>No effect of deck height was found on any of the selected behavioural measures. When examining behaviour of the pigs before, during and after the break, no differences in lying behaviour were found, but for one of the vehicle elements, the trailer, an increase in aggressive behaviour was observed during the break. Overall, the results showed a complex pattern of relations affecting the behaviour of the pigs, such as the microclimatic conditions and driving speed interacting with hour since departure. These findings varied to some extent depending on vehicle element (lorry or trailer) and journey duration (8 h or 23 h, with the associated different stocking densities). Taken together, the results showed that increasing the deck height did not lead to detectable changes in the behaviour of the weaner pigs, but that many other factors influenced the behaviour of weaners during transport and may thus also influence their welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106714"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144291617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of a scale to assess pigs’ immediate behavioural reaction when encountering novel odours","authors":"Rebecca Grut ,&nbsp;Johanna Stenfelt ,&nbsp;Birte L. Nielsen ,&nbsp;Maria Vilain Rørvang","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106713","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106713","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It is currently not possible to predict how pigs will perceive novel odours, or whether certain odours might evoke avoidant or exploratory behavioural reactions. This study aimed to develop a reaction scale to assess the immediate behavioural reactions of pigs when encountering an odour for the first time. A secondary aim was to compare if reactions to different odours varied consistently among pigs, which could indicate that the reaction scale could be used to assign odour valence. The experiment included 184 growing-finishing pigs tested in 92 pairs of opposite-sex littermates. All pig pairs were presented with three out of a total of twelve different odours, in a balanced order. The odour samples consisted of six drops of essential oils (undiluted) on filter paper in a plastic container. Each of the three odours was presented along with an odourless control (distilled water). The odour and control samples were available to the pigs during 1-minute trials. The pigs’ behavioural reactions were recorded six seconds after each pig had first approached the sample. The reaction was scored on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 was exploratory behaviour (e.g., sniffing) and 6 was active avoidance behaviour (e.g., leaving, head shaking). An ordinal mixed-effects model was fitted to the data and showed no effect of sex, age, or odour triad on reaction scores, but an effect of treatment with odour eliciting significantly more exploratory behaviour (lower reaction score) than control (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.001). Pigs expressed large individual differences in reactions to 10 of the 12 odours, but a consistent pattern of significantly more exploratory reactions to vanilla and blood orange (both odours: <em>P</em> &lt; 0.05), which could suggest that pigs may perceive these odours as particularly pleasant. Reaction scores were significantly lower (i.e., pigs performing more explorative behaviour) for the first odour tested compared with subsequent odours (<em>P</em> ≤ 0.04) irrespective of the specific odour. The 6-point scale effectively described explorative and avoidance behaviours that may reflect the valence of the pigs’ reactions. To our knowledge, this is the first scale specifically developed to assess pigs’ immediate behavioural reactions to novel olfactory stimuli in a commercial production environment. The development of the reaction scale and the findings provide useful guidance for future research on odour perception. The observed decrease in interest over time should be taken into account when repeated testing is used.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106713"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144306814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A gentling program decreases fear-related behaviour towards humans but not towards novel objects in broiler chickens","authors":"Theresa Stocker ,&nbsp;Christian Nawroth ,&nbsp;Birger Puppe ,&nbsp;Michael Erhard ,&nbsp;Helen Louton","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106710","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106710","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The human-animal-relationship is a crucial aspect of good animal welfare. Improvements in this regard might be particularly relevant for chickens, as their relationship with humans in commercial husbandry conditions is often limited to brief animal inspections (visual contact) on a daily basis. Regular human contact can potentially reduce fear responses towards humans in chickens, but to achieve this, a long period of several weeks of habituation is usually required. In this study, we investigated whether a short period of ‘gentling’ (i.e. standardised human-animal interactions that the chicks are likely to perceive as positive) within the first 3 days of life would be sufficient to reduce fear responses towards humans in broiler chickens. Six groups of ca. 220 (214 – 254) day-old broiler chicks each were exposed to a gentling program by a human after arrival. The same number of control groups received no human contact apart from routine husbandry procedures. We performed three behavioural tests on the chickens to assess their fear of humans. A stationary person test (SPT) measured the voluntary approach to a standing human, an avoidance distance test (ADT) measured the avoidance behaviour towards an approaching human while a touch test (TT) measured the approach behaviour towards a squatting person followed by the measurement of the avoidance behaviour from the approaching hand. Additionally, a novel object test (NOT) was performed to assess whether a potential fear reduction would be limited to humans. The tests were conducted at three different ages of the chickens (day 7, 21 and 36). In all human-related tests, chickens of the gentled groups showed less avoidance and more approach behaviour towards the human than chickens of the control groups (SPT: <em>p</em> = 0.004, ADT: <em>p</em> = 0.001, TT: <em>p</em> = 0.035). The results of the NOT showed statistically no significant behavioural differences between the gentling and control groups (<em>p</em> = 0.205), confirming that the chicks' fear responses are not generalised but specific to human-related tests. The present study suggests that gentle handling of chickens during the first 3 days of life can improve the human-animal-relationship for at least 36 days.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106710"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144270166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Grooming behavior of rewilded Highland cattle in conservation grazing: Limited evidence of an influence of horsefly presence and temperature","authors":"Jinhwi Kim ,&nbsp;Pius Korner ,&nbsp;Valentin Amrhein ,&nbsp;Lilla Lovász","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106712","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106712","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Grooming behavior in domestic cattle serves various functions, including hygiene maintenance, social bonding, and stress alleviation. We examined the grooming patterns of rewilded Highland cattle, to describe their behavioral adaptations and responses to environmental factors in a conservation grazing system. We observed 21 Highland cattle in a French nature reserve from November 2020 to September 2021 using mixed focal and scan sampling methods, recording a total of 1225 grooming bouts. Throughout the observation period, cattle regularly performed grooming, consisting of self-grooming (83 %), tree-grooming (16 %), and social-grooming (1 %). We used linear and generalized mixed effect models to assess the effects of environmental factors such as the presence of horseflies, the Temperature-Humidity Index (THI), and habitat type. Our results showed that grooming behavior was influenced by habitat and group, while environmental stressors such as horseflies and elevated temperatures had only minor observed effects on grooming duration and frequency, and uncertainty was high. This limited response may be attributed to the relatively low density of horseflies in our study area and the opportunity of adaptive behaviors, such as wallowing, to manage heat and ectoparasites. By examining grooming behavior under near-natural conditions, this study provides a baseline for understanding behavioral patterns and adaptations in rewilded cattle, while also serving as a potential reference for identifying behavioral changes in domestic cattle and informing future management practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 106712"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144280080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}