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Cognitive sciences to relate ear postures to emotions in sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

A Boissy ,
A Aubert ,
L Désiré ,
L Greiveldinger ,
E Delval  and
I Veissier
A Boissy*
Affiliation:
INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, Site de Theix, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
A Aubert
Affiliation:
INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, Site de Theix, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
L Désiré
Affiliation:
Exploitation et Sécurité Routières, CETE Ouest, F-22015 St Brieuc Cedex, France
L Greiveldinger
Affiliation:
UMR UJF CNRS 5525, Acquisition, Fusion d’Information et Réseaux pour la Médecine, Technopole du Biopark, F-74160 Archamps, France
E Delval
Affiliation:
INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, Site de Theix, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
I Veissier
Affiliation:
INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, Site de Theix, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: alain.boissy@clermont.inra.fr
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Abstract

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Emotions are now largely recognised as a core element in animal welfare issues. However, convenient indicators to reliably infer emotions are still needed. As such, the availability of behavioural postures analogous to facial expressions in humans would be extremely valuable for animal studies of emotions. The purpose of this paper is to find out stable expressive postures in sheep and to relate these expressive postures with specific emotional contexts. In an initial experiment, we identified discrete ear postures from a comprehensive approach which integrates all theoretically distinguishable ear postures. Four main ear postures were identified: horizontal ears (P posture); ears risen up (R posture); ears pointed backward (B posture); and asymmetric posture (A posture). In a second experiment, we studied how these ear postures were affected by specific emotional states elicited by exposing sheep to experimental situations in which elementary characteristics (ie suddenness and unfamiliarity, negative contrast and controllability) were manipulated. We found that: i) the horizontal P posture corresponds to a neutral state; ii) sheep point their ears backward (B posture) when they face unfamiliar and unpleasant uncontrollable situations, hence likely to elicit fear; iii) they point their ears up (R posture) when facing similar negative situations but controllable, hence likely to elicit anger; and iv) they expressed the asymmetric A posture in very sudden situations, likely to elicit surprise. By cross-fostering psychological and ethological approaches, we are able to propose an interpretation of ear postures in sheep relative to their emotions.

Keywords

animal welfarebehaviourcognitionear posturesemotionssheep
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , February 2011 , pp. 47 - 56
Copyright
© 2011 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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