Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T16:25:39.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Nature and Evolution of Behavioural Needs in Mammals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

T B Poole
T B Poole*
Affiliation:
Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, 8 Hamilton Close, South Mimms, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 3QD, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mammals are unique among vertebrates in experiencing a need to carry out behaviours which are not necessary for their immediate survival. This poses questions as to the nature of these behavioural needs, how they evolved and their implications for the welfare of mammals in captivity. Evidence is provided to show that mammals carry out daily programmes of activity which meet four kinds of requirement, namely, for security, appropriate environmental complexity, novelty and opportunities for achievement. Within their programmes mammals perform two kinds of activity: work, which relates to day to day survival, and leisure, in the form of curiosity or play, which provides experience which may prove to be of value in the long term.

The existence of behavioural needs is consistent with our knowledge of mammalian evolution. Even the earliest known mammals, living over 120 million years ago, differed from reptiles in having brain to body size ratios four to five times greater. The increase in brain size resulted largely from the massive expansion of a region of the cerebral cortex, known as the neopallium, which acts as a co-ordinating centre for sensory data, and creates a model of the world which determines subsequent action. During the 60 million year tertiary era, relative brain size increased in most orders of eutherian mammals, so that only the more intelligent survived.

Because mammals rely for their survival on collecting and analyzing data and acting intelligently, they need facilities to search for information to establish and monitor their concept of the real world; their psychological well-being depends on an environment which offers such facilities. There are two kinds of behavioural needs; psychological needs, which appear to be unique to mammals, and ethological needs which are experienced by all vertebrates. It is concluded that environmental quality for captive mammals should not just be assessed negatively, by the absence of abnormal behaviours, but more positively by the extent to which it meets their psychological needs.

Keywords

animal welfarebehavioural needsevolutionintelligencemammalspsychological well-being
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 203 - 220
Copyright
© 1992 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldwin, J D, Baldwin, J I 1976 Effects of food ecology on social play: a laboratory simulation. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 40: 1–14Google ScholarPubMed
Byrne, R W, Whiten, A (eds) 1988 Machiavellian Intelligence: social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes and humans. Oxford University Press: LondonGoogle Scholar
Chamove, S, Anderson, J R, Morgan-Jones, S C, Jones, S P 1982 Deep woodchip litter: hygiene, feeding and behavioral enhancement in eight primate species. International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems 3: 308–318Google Scholar
Council of Europe 1979 European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes. Treaty Series No 70. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office: LondonGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, M S 1990 From an animal’s point of view: consumer demand theory and animal welfare. Behavior and Brain Science 13: 1–61Google Scholar
de Waal, F 1982 Chimpanzee Politics. Jonathan Cape: LondonGoogle Scholar
Ewbank, R 1985 The behavioural needs of farm and laboratory animals. In Marsh, N, Heywood, S (eds) Animal Experimentation: improvements and alternatives. Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments: NottinghamGoogle Scholar
Fagen, R 1981 Animal Play Behaviour. Oxford University Press: LondonGoogle Scholar
Goodall, J 1986 The Chimpanzees of Gombe. Harvard University Press: LondonGoogle Scholar
Griffin, D R 1976 The Question of Animal Awareness. Rockefeller University Press: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Hediger, H 1955 Studies of the Psychology and Behaviour of Captive Animals in Zoos and Circuses. Butterworth: LondonGoogle Scholar
Jerison, H J 1973 Evolution of the Brain and Intelligence. Academic Press: New York and LondonGoogle Scholar
Jerison, H J 1988 Evolutionary biology of intelligence: the nature of the problem. In Jerison, H J and Jerison, I (eds) Intelligence and Evolutionary Biology. Springer-Verlag: BerlinCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markowitz, H 1982 Behavioral Enrichment in the Zoo. Van Nostrand Reinhold: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Matsuzawa, T 1989 Spontaneous pattern construction in a chimpanzee. In Heitne, P, Marquardt, L (eds) Understanding Chimpanzees. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MassGoogle Scholar
Olson, E C 1971 Vertebrate Palaeozoology. Wiley-Interscience: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Pearson, R 1972 The Avian Brain. Academic Press: London and New YorkGoogle Scholar
Pellis, S M 1981a Exploration and play in the behavioural development of the Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen). Bird Behaviour 3: 37–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellis, S M 1981b A description of social play by the Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) based on Eshkol-Wachman notation. Bird Behaviour 3: 61–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pepperberg, I M 1990 Cognition in an African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus): further evidence for comprehension of categories and labels. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 104: 41–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, T B 1985 Social Behaviour in Mammals. Blackie: Glasgow and LondonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, T B 1987 Social behavior of a group of orang utans (Pongo pygmaeus) on an artificial island in Singapore Zoological Gardens. Zoo Biology 6: 315–330CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, T B, Kastelein, R A 1990 The role of training in the welfare of zoo mammals. Ratei 17: 108–115Google Scholar
Pryor, K 1985 Don’t Shoot the Dog! The new art of teaching and training. Bantam Books: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Romer, A S, Parsons, T S 1977 The Vertebrate Body. W B Saunders Company: Philadelphia, London and TorontoGoogle Scholar
Shepherdson, D 1989 Environmental enrichment in zoos: 2. Ratei 16: 68–73Google Scholar
Stauffacher, M 1992 Group housing and enrichment cages for breeding, fattening and laboratory rabbits. Animal Welfare 1: 105–125CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UFAW 1990 Animal Training: a review and commentary on current practice. Proceedings of a Symposium. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare: Potters BarGoogle Scholar
USDA 1991 United States Department of Agriculture. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 9 CFR Part 3: Animal Welfare Standards; Final Rule. Federal Register 56(32): 5499Google Scholar
Wemelsfelder, F 1984 Animal boredom: is a scientific study of the subjective experiences of animals possible? Advances in Animal Welfare Science 1984/5. Humane Society of the United States: Washington D CGoogle Scholar
Williams, M 1990 Beaver Country: a North American beaver Castor canadensis exhibit at Drusillas Zoo Park. International Zoo Yearbook 29: 221–224CrossRefGoogle Scholar