Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter PDF Download

Excerpt from Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter, Vol. 5: Fall 1994 Our research began with acoustical analyses of rhesus vocalizations recorded over several years from a large colony of free-ranging animals (11 in naturally occur ring social groups. From these data, we established the vocal repertoire and associated behavior of the rhesus under natural conditions which serves as the normative base needed to interpret vocal behavior recorded under captive conditions. We then obtained vocal and video records of rhesus maintained in a variety of captive environments: out door vs. In-door, single-caged vs. Social groups, research subjects vs. Breeding stock, etc. Although our research is far from complete, the data already indicate that this approach will become fruitful. Vocal patterns do appear to vary with housing and treatment conditions. The expression of emo tion is there in the calls, in captivity as it is in the field. The difference is that, in captivity, an emotional state may be in duced by human-imposed conditions, which may or may not be desirable. At least we now have a way of examining the question. Animal vocalizations appear to express pretty much the same things under captive and natural conditions. To the extent that this is true, vocal records provide an objec tive, real-time basis for monitoring emotional variation in captive animals. Effects of environmental enrichments, new caretaking procedures, more humane research protocols, etc., can be evaluated in terms of emotional impact as ex pressed in the vocal record. It seems that animals can tell us how they feel if we learn to listen and understand. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.