W is for Welfare

Our relationship with nature and with other animals is complex, and especially our relationship with domesticated animals, like cats and dogs, chickens, cattle, goats, pigs and sheep, horses and donkeys. Having domesticated them, we often transported them to unfamiliar parts of the globe, and thereby exposing them to new conditions, threats and hazards, from different climates to novel pests, parasites and pathogens. While humans have selectively bred animals that could cope with the new situations, there are still enormous challenges for animal welfare. The human understanding of both animal physiology and behaviour is critical to improving their wellbeing. Research involving Christ Church has explored the needs of two seemingly similar domestic animals, the donkey and the horse. These animals have in fact very different histories.

Domestic donkeys are the descendants of wild asses and therefore adapted to the semi-arid climates of Africa, whereas the ancestors of domestic horses originated from the more temperate areas of Eurasia. Despite this difference in their evolutionary history, domestication has introduced both species to a wide range of conditions across the world, many of which are very different from their natural environments.

Exposure to the elements is a key issue for animal welfare in large domestic species. To explore the protection that different equid species might require in the range of climate conditions found in Britain, the shelter-seeking behaviour of donkeys and horses was examined during a sixteen-month period. The location of each animal — inside a constructed shelter, outside unprotected shelter, or using natural shelter — was recorded together with information on the environmental conditions including temperature, wind speed, light conditions, and rain and snow fall. The level of insect nuisance was also recorded. The later also proved a challenge for the human researchers!

A clear difference in the shelter-seeking behaviour of donkeys and horses was found. Donkeys sought shelter significantly more often at lower temperatures, whereas horses tended to move inside when the temperature rose above 20°C. Donkeys were more affected by precipitation, with most of them moving indoors when it rained. Donkeys also showed a higher rate of shelter use when wind speed increased to moderate, while horses remained outside.

Horses appeared to be more affected by insect challenge, moving inside as insect harassment outside increased. There were also significant differences in the use of natural shelter by the two species, with donkeys using natural shelter relatively more often to dodge rain and wind, while horses sought natural shelter more frequently during sunny periods.

The results reflect donkeys’ and horses’ adaptation to more temperate climates and suggest that the shelter requirements of these two equid species differ, with donkeys seeking additional protection from the elements. The results indicate the importance of assessing the behavioural and physiological effects of the environment on domestic animals to ensure that the disparity between the climates to which they are adapted, and those they find themselves in, does not cause welfare problems. Even in the relatively mild climate of the British Isles, donkeys would seek out constructed shelters during cold, windy, or wet weather, while horse were less affected. These findings suggest that management, and particularly shelter provision, of each species should be considered separately and that donkeys may require more protection from the elements than horses in temperate climates like ours.

It is important to note that the study did not affect the management practices and decisions made by the equid owners and was approved by Canterbury Christ Church Animal Welfare Ethics Research Board and conformed to the EU Directive 2019/63/EU for animal experiments and the Association of Animal Behaviour guidelines for the treatment of animals.

Dr Britta Osthaus is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Christ Church. Her research focuses on animal cognition, particularly in relation to problem-solving abilities and the perception of Gestalt principles in dogs, horses, mules and donkeys. The overall aim of her research is to improve animal welfare by enhancing our understanding of their thinking.

Reference

Proops, L., Osthaus, B., Bell, N., Long, S., Hayday, K. & Burden, F. (2019). Shelter seeking behaviour of donkeys and horses in a temperate climate, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 32, 16–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2019.03.008.