Operant tests of access to earth as a reinforcement for weaner piglets
- 1 June 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Animal Science
- Vol. 48 (3), 561-569
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003356100004086
Abstract
Operant methods were used to measure the responsiveness to earth of five groups of seven weaner piglets held in a flat-deck cage. Lifts on a lever produced access to an earth trough, an empty trough, or had no effect. Group lever lifting performance was unaffected by earth in the trough, but at least one individual, the ‘worker piglet’, operated the lever more than the others to gain access to earth. Once the lid of the trough was opened other piglets were attracted to the earth and spent more time using the earth trough than the empty trough. Previous experience of earth appeared to modify lever lifting behaviour. In one group, a worker piglet did not emerge, and in another the worker operated the lever for earth at a reduced rate. The number of piglets using the earth trough and the amount of time spent utilizing it was reduced by prior exposure to earth. It is concluded that earth is a mild reinforcer to weaner piglets, that it will sustain a low rate of responding on an operant schedule, and that a component of its reinforcement value is its novelty.Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- Reinforcing properties of access to litter in hensApplied Animal Behaviour Science, 1986
- Operant determination of the cage and feeder size preferences of the laying henApplied Animal Behaviour Science, 1986
- Illumination preferences of pigsApplied Animal Behaviour Science, 1985
- The enrichment of a bare environment for animals in confined conditionsApplied Animal Ethology, 1983
- Do hens suffer in battery cages? environmental preferences and welfareAnimal Behaviour, 1977
- Sensory reinforcement and illumination preference in the domesticated pigAnimal Behaviour, 1977
- A comparative study of the well-being of piglets reared conventionally and in cagesApplied Animal Ethology, 1976
- The behaviour of laboratory rats in a social learning situationActa Psychologica, 1970
- Behavioural thermoregulation in pigsPhysiology & Behavior, 1967