Stable individual differences in vocalisation and motor activity during acute stress in the domestic cat.

Autor: Urrutia A; Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, CP 04510, Mexico City, Mexico; Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Unidad de Posgrado, Edificio A, 1er Piso, Circuito de Posgrados, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, CP 04510, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: andreaurrutia@outlook.com., Martínez-Byer S; Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, CP 04510, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: brownie_byer@ciencias.unam.mx., Szenczi P; Cátedras CONACyT, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico City, Mexico; Dirección de Neurociencias, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Mexico City, Mexico; Unidad Psicopatología y Desarrollo, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: peter.szenczi@gmail.com., Hudson R; Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, CP 04510, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: rhudson@biomedicas.unam.mx., Bánszegi O; Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, CP 04510, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: oxana.banszegi@gmail.com.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Behavioural processes [Behav Processes] 2019 Aug; Vol. 165, pp. 58-65. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 May 24.
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2019.05.022
Abstrakt: The behavioural assessment of individual animals in stressful situations should consider measures which are consistent across repeated testing, and therefore truly representative of an individual's behaviour. Here we report a study conducted on 40 neutered adult cats (Felis silvestris catus) of both sexes, originating from two animal shelters in Mexico and Hungary. We recorded the responses of the cats to repeated brief confinement trials that mimicked a common situation (confinement in a pet carrier). This test was repeated three times, leaving one week between trials, to assess short-term repeatability. Stable inter-individual differences in two behavioural measures, the number of separation calls and the duration of motor activity, were found, although the inter-individual differences in vocalisation were more pronounced than they were for motor activity. Additionally, the overall number of vocalisations emitted remained stable despite repeated testing, whereas motor activity tended to decrease week to week. There was a negative effect of age on vocalisation rate, and no effect of sex on either behaviour. No correlation between the two behavioural measures was found. We suggest that, in adult cats, vocalisation may be more reliable than motor activity as a behavioural measure of stress.
(Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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