Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (18)

Dairy vs. beef production – expert views on welfare of cattle in common food production systems (2022)
Journal Article
Mandel, R., Bracke, M., Nicol, C., Webster, J., & Gygax, L. (2022). Dairy vs. beef production – expert views on welfare of cattle in common food production systems. animal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2022.100622

Consumers’ views and concerns about the welfare of farm animals may play an important role in their decision to consume dairy, meat and/or plants as their primary protein source. As animals are killed prematurely in both dairy and beef industries, it... Read More about Dairy vs. beef production – expert views on welfare of cattle in common food production systems.

Associations between behaviour and health outcomes in conventional and slow-growing breeds of broiler chicken (2021)
Journal Article
Abeyesinghe, S., Abeyesinghe, S., Chancellor, N., Hernandez Moore, D., Chang, Y., Pearce, J., …Nicol, C. (2021). Associations between behaviour and health outcomes in conventional and slow-growing breeds of broiler chicken. animal, 15(7), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2021.100261

Broiler chickens are prone to a range of complex health and welfare issues. To support informed selection of welfare traits whilst minimising impact on production efficiency and to address a major gap in understanding, we systematically explored asso... Read More about Associations between behaviour and health outcomes in conventional and slow-growing breeds of broiler chicken.

Social buffering in horses is influenced by context but not by the familiarity and habituation of a companion (2021)
Journal Article
C, R., CJ, N., T, R., & DS, M. (2021). Social buffering in horses is influenced by context but not by the familiarity and habituation of a companion. Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88319-z

Social buffering applies when a companion can help to reduce the subject’s stress response during a stressful event and/or help to recover more quickly from a stressful event. The aim of this study was to determine if the social buffering function of... Read More about Social buffering in horses is influenced by context but not by the familiarity and habituation of a companion.

Foraging efficiency, social status and body condition in group-living horses and ponies (2020)
Journal Article
Giles, S., Harris, P. A., Rands, S. A., & Nicol, C. J. (2020). Foraging efficiency, social status and body condition in group-living horses and ponies. PeerJ, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10305

Individual animals experience different costs and benefits associated with group living, which may impact on their foraging efficiency in ways not yet well specified. This study investigated associations between social dominance, body condition and i... Read More about Foraging efficiency, social status and body condition in group-living horses and ponies.

Anthropogenic Threats to Wild Cetacean Welfare and a Tool to Inform Policy in This Area (2020)
Journal Article
Nicol, C., Bejder, L., Green, L., Johnson, C., Keeling, L., Noren, D., …Simmonds, M. (2020). Anthropogenic Threats to Wild Cetacean Welfare and a Tool to Inform Policy in This Area. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7, https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00057

Human activities and anthropogenic environmental changes are having a profound effect on biodiversity and the sustainability and health of many populations and species of wild mammals. There has been less attention devoted to the impact of human acti... Read More about Anthropogenic Threats to Wild Cetacean Welfare and a Tool to Inform Policy in This Area.

From Unpleasant to Unbearable - Why And How to Implement an Upper Limit to Pain And Other Forms of Suffering in Research with Animals (2020)
Journal Article
Olsson, I. A. S., Nicol, C. J., Niemi, S. M., & Sandøe, P. (2020). From Unpleasant to Unbearable - Why And How to Implement an Upper Limit to Pain And Other Forms of Suffering in Research with Animals. ILAR Journal, https://doi.org/10.1093/ilar/ilz018

The focus of this paper is the requirement that the use of live animals in experiments and in vivo assays should never be allowed if those uses involve severe suffering. This requirement was first implemented in Danish legislation, was later adopted... Read More about From Unpleasant to Unbearable - Why And How to Implement an Upper Limit to Pain And Other Forms of Suffering in Research with Animals.

The Ethics of Laying Hen Genetics (2019)
Journal Article
Fernyhough, M., Nicol, C. J., Van De Braak, T., Toscano, M. J., & Tønnessen, M. (2019). The Ethics of Laying Hen Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09810-2

Despite societal concerns about the welfare of commercial laying hens, little attention has been paid to the welfare implications of the choices made by the genetics companies involved with their breeding. These choices regarding trait selection and... Read More about The Ethics of Laying Hen Genetics.

Light-based monitoring devices to assess range use by laying hens (2019)
Journal Article
Buijis, S., Nicol, C. J., Booth, F., Richards, G., & Tarlton, J. F. (2019). Light-based monitoring devices to assess range use by laying hens. animal, 14(4), 814-823. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731119002830

Access to an outdoor range has many potential benefits for laying hens but range use can be poor due to factors only partly understood. Techniques to monitor individual range use within commercial flocks are crucial to increase our understanding of t... Read More about Light-based monitoring devices to assess range use by laying hens.

The impact of early structural enrichment on spatial cognition in layer chicks (2019)
Journal Article
Norman, K. I., Adriaense, J., & Nicol, C. J. (2019). The impact of early structural enrichment on spatial cognition in layer chicks. Behavioural Processes, 164, 167-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2019.05.008

The aim of the study was to determine whether early access to elevated structures affects spatial navigational abilities. Ninety six day-old chicks were reared in 16 pens. Eight pens were provided with A-frame perches with an attached platform and a... Read More about The impact of early structural enrichment on spatial cognition in layer chicks.

The effect of experience of ramps at rear on the subsequent ability of layer pullets to negotiate a ramp transition (2018)
Journal Article
Norman, K. I., Weeks, C. A., Pettersson, I. C., & Nicol, C. J. (2018). The effect of experience of ramps at rear on the subsequent ability of layer pullets to negotiate a ramp transition. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 208, 92-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.08.007

In commercial situations, laying hens must negotiate levels to reach resources such as food, water and litter. Providing ramps in aviary systems reduces collisions and resultant keel bone fractures in adults. We investigated whether providing ramps d... Read More about The effect of experience of ramps at rear on the subsequent ability of layer pullets to negotiate a ramp transition.

Examining affective structure in chickens: valence, intensity, persistence and generalization measured using a conditioned place preference test (2018)
Journal Article
Paul, E. S., Edgar, J. L., Caplen, G., & Nicol, C. J. (2018). Examining affective structure in chickens: valence, intensity, persistence and generalization measured using a conditioned place preference test. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 207, 39-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.07.007

When measuring animals’ valenced behavioural responses to stimuli, the Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) test goes a step further than many approach-based and avoidance-based tests by establishing whether a learned preference for, or aversion to, th... Read More about Examining affective structure in chickens: valence, intensity, persistence and generalization measured using a conditioned place preference test.

Socially-mediated arousal and contagion within domestic chick broods (2018)
Journal Article
Edgar, J. L., & Nicol, C. J. (2018). Socially-mediated arousal and contagion within domestic chick broods. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28923-8

Emotional contagion – an underpinning valenced feature of empathy – is made up of simpler, potentially dissociable social processes which can include socially-mediated arousal and behavioural/physiological contagion. Previous studies of emotional con... Read More about Socially-mediated arousal and contagion within domestic chick broods.

Using the Five Domains Model to Assess the Adverse Impacts of Husbandry, Veterinary, and Equitation Interventions on Horse Welfare (2018)
Journal Article
McGreevy, P., Berger, J., De Brauwere, N., Doherty, O., Harrison, A., Fiedler, J., …Jones, B. (2018). Using the Five Domains Model to Assess the Adverse Impacts of Husbandry, Veterinary, and Equitation Interventions on Horse Welfare. Animals, 8(3), 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8030041

The aim of this study was to conduct a series of paper-based exercises in order to assess the negative (adverse) welfare impacts, if any, of common interventions on domestic horses across a broad range of different contexts of equine care and trainin... Read More about Using the Five Domains Model to Assess the Adverse Impacts of Husbandry, Veterinary, and Equitation Interventions on Horse Welfare.

Behavioural and physiological responses of laying hens to automated monitoring equipment (2018)
Journal Article
Buijs, S., Booth, F., Richards, G., McGaughey, L., Nicol, C. J., Edgar, J., & Tarlton, J. F. (2018). Behavioural and physiological responses of laying hens to automated monitoring equipment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 199, 17-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.10.017

Automated monitoring of behaviour can offer a wealth of information in circumstances where observing behaviour is difficult or time consuming. However, this often requires attaching monitoring devices to the animal which can alter behaviour, potentia... Read More about Behavioural and physiological responses of laying hens to automated monitoring equipment.

Re-direction of maternal behaviour in dairy cows (2017)
Journal Article
Mandel, R., & Nicol, C. J. (2017). Re-direction of maternal behaviour in dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 195, 24-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.06.001

In the milk producing industry, most aspects of maternal behaviour are discouraged, but milk production is actively maintained in the absence of the calf. The process of milk let down, is mediated, at least partly, by oxytocin, which has been shown t... Read More about Re-direction of maternal behaviour in dairy cows.

Social buffering in a bird (2015)
Journal Article
Edgar, J., Held, S., Paul, E., Pettersson, I., L'Anson-Price, R., & Nicol, C. J. (2015). Social buffering in a bird. Animal Behaviour, 105, 11-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.04.007

The presence of a conspecific can ameliorate an individual's stress response. This social buffering is known to be widespread in social mammals but the capacity of birds to act as social buffers has not yet been determined. We previously demonstrated... Read More about Social buffering in a bird.

Elevated arousal at time of decision-making is not the arbiter of risk avoidance in chickens (2015)
Journal Article
Davies, A. C., Radford, A. N., Pettersson, I. C., Yang, F. P., & Nicol, C. J. (2015). Elevated arousal at time of decision-making is not the arbiter of risk avoidance in chickens. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08200

The somatic marker hypothesis proposes that humans recall previously experienced physiological responses to aid decision-making under uncertainty. However, little is known about the mechanisms used by non-human animals to integrate risk perception wi... Read More about Elevated arousal at time of decision-making is not the arbiter of risk avoidance in chickens.