Animal Behaviour and WElfare @ ULaval

The reasons why play first evolved in animals are mysterious. How can a behaviour that seems so frivolous possibly help animals survive or reproduce? We are investigating the potential functions of play, specifically in terms of how playing might affect the development of personality and of robustness. We are also interested in understanding the circumstances under which play might serve as a useful and valid indicator of animal welfare. Ultimately, we are asking both what play can tell us about welfare, and what play can do for welfare.

Pictured above is a piglet performing object play in one of our enrichment projects.

Welfare problems are typically addressed by modifying the environment in which animals live in order to remove or minimize challenges to their welfare. A complementary approach is to "modify" the animals themselves, to ensure that they can successfully overcome the challenges that remain. We propose that promoting robustness - the capacity to overcome a wide variety of challenges or threats to welfare - is an important way of making sure that animals are fit to live in a wide variety of different farm environments. This is particularly important because technological developments, climate change, and shifting societal demands will alter production practices and shape captive environments of the future. It is difficult or impossible for us to correctly anticipate what production systems will look like in fifty years. This is why it is imperative to begin fostering robustness, such that animals will be prepared to maintain good welfare on farms of tomorrow, whatever they may resemble.

Many of our research projects require that we efficiently collect very large quantities of data. The same is true of some potential methods of using behaviour to monitor welfare. We therefore make it a priority to develop and validate automated behavioural measurement techniques. These include wearable devices (e.g. accelerometers), computer vision techniques, and test apparatuses that are integrated in animals' home environments, and with which they can voluntarily interact. Where existing technical solutions are not available, we design and build our own.

Pictured above is a custom accelerometer developped in our lab to assess play in piglets.