We have a variety of projects in the works on this topic
Automatic detection and quantification of different types of play using leg-attached accelerometers and machine learning algorithms
Investigating functions and developmental effects of play
Relationships between play and pre-existing welfare states: Does playing make animals happy, or do animals play because they are already happy? Or both?
The aim of this project is to test the hypothesis that there are individual differences in overall welfare, within an animal species, that are stable over time and across housing and husbandry conditions. This would mean, in other words, that welfare is in part determined by personality or each individual's "outlook on life", as is the case in humans. Methods of assessing welfare will include development of automated cognitive tests for large-scale data gathering, with an eye toward eventually assessing genetic contributions to this aspect of personality, and the potential for artificial selection of animals who are robust with respect to welfare.
The presence of supportive social partners is known to positively affect a variety of health outcomes, across multiple species. This project aims to test, using observational and experimental approaches, whether the quantity and quality of social interactions in group-housed piglets affects their resistance to infectious disease. Do more harmonious social groups show better health outcomes? Do health outcomes for individuals depend on their position within their groups' social networks of positive and negative social interactions?