Des chercheurs ont constaté que les veaux de race laitière ont un comportement pessimiste après avoir été séparés de leur mère (Crédit: Jean, flickr)
Dairy calves exhibited ‘pessimistic’ behaviour after they were separated from their mother, a new study shows.
Thirteen Holstein calves were raised with their dams and trained to discriminate between white (reward) and red (punishment) colours displayed on a computer monitor. They were then tested using an ambiguous colour (between white and red): 72% of calves chose the reward option before separation, but only 62% of them after separation from the dam. This effect was similar to that observed in calves that had undergone hot-iron dehorning.
Original research paper published in the the journal PLOS ONE on May 21, 2014.
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