Behavioural interactions between West African dwarf nanny goats and their twin-born kids during the first 48 h post-partum
| Autor: | K. Oppong-Anane, E.O.K. Oddoye, E.K Awotwi, P.C. Addae |
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| Rok vydání: | 2000 |
| Předmět: |
Veterinary medicine
Birth weight medicine.medical_treatment education Animal-assisted therapy humanities West african Pet therapy Animal science Food Animals medicine HUBzero Animal Science and Zoology Mutual recognition Psychology human activities reproductive and urinary physiology Postpartum period Post partum |
| Zdroj: | Applied animal behaviour science. 68(4) |
| ISSN: | 0168-1591 |
| Popis: | West African dwarf nanny goats and their twin-born kids were tested to determine their behavioural response to separation and their mutual recognition during the first 48 h post-partum. Does and their kids were given scores ranging from 1 to 5, depending on how they performed in the tests. Animals that showed maximum response and recognition ability were given a score of 5, while those with minimum response and recognition ability scored 1. The kids were prevented from sucking 2 h prior to the tests, which were carried out at 18, 24, 36 and 48 h post-partum. Chi-square procedure was used to determine whether age, sex and birthweight of kids as well as hours post-partum and parity of dams had any effect on these post-partum behaviours. Out of 48 twin-born kids tested, 32 (67%) responded actively to separation from dams (i.e. had scores of 3 or more). The age, sex and birthweight of kids did not significantly affect (P0.05) their response to separation from their dams. The hours post-partum and the parity of does also did not affect their response to separation from their kids. The dam recognition ability of twin-born kids was very poor. Out of a total of 48 kids tested, only 17 (35%) were able to recognize their dams (i.e. had scores of 3 or more). Even at 36 h, only four out of 14 (26%) could recognize their dams. It was only at 48 h that the majority of kids tested (i.e. 75%) successfully identified their dams. At 48 h, the dam recognition ability of kids was significantly better (P0.05) than that of 18-h-old kids. Sex and birthweight of 24-48-h-old twin-born kids did not significantly affect (P0.05) their ability to recognize their dams. The majority of does tested (i.e. 20 out of 24) were able to recognize their twin-born kids. The hour post-partum and parity of does did not significantly affect (P0.05) their kid recognition ability. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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