Boivin X, Nowak R, Garcia A T.
URH-ACS, INRA Theix, F-63122, ST Genès, Champanelle, France
Appl Anim Behav Sci. 2001 Apr 26;72(2):89-103. doi: 10.1016/s0168-1591(00)00201-x.
This experiment investigates how the maternal presence influences the effect of additional human contact in early age on the reaction of lambs to their stockperson. Forty twin-born lambs were involved in this experiment during their first 4 days of life. Ten pairs of twins were reared artificially from 12h of age. One of each litter (AF, n=10) received 6.5+/-0.7 sessions of 30min of separation from the twin (with a wire fence) with 5min of gentling and feeding (suckling from a bottle and from a bucket fitted with a rubber teat). The other twin was not treated. Ten pairs of twins were reared with their dam and received 6.6+/-0.7 sessions of treatment. One twin (MAF, n=10) received the same treatment as AF. The other twin (M, n=10) was separated for 30min from the dam and had no human contact. From the age of 70+/-7h, lambs were tested in a social isolation test (alone for 1min, with the familiar stockman for 2min, alone again for 1min), in a Preference test (2min) between an unfamiliar maternal ewe and the familiar stockman, and, for the AF lambs only, in a Preference test (2min) between their familiar and an unfamiliar stockman. Eight AF lambs learned to suck on their own from the bucket of milk by the end of the experiment compared to only one MAF (P<0.001). AF lambs approached the human more (P<0.01), vocalised less (P<0.01) and walked less (P<0.01) during the social isolation test than animals reared with their mother (M and MAF). AF did not show any preference between the stockman and the unfamiliar maternal ewe while M and MAF lambs chose the ewe (P<0.05). AF lambs discriminated the familiar from an unfamiliar stockman only if they had learned to suck from the bucket during the treatment. Nevertheless MAF lambs vocalised less than M (P<0.05) in the presence of the stockman during the social isolation test, indicating a possible reduction of isolation distress. These results show that artificially reared lambs are preferentially motivated to interact with a familiar human after only a few days of contact. Moreover, they highlight the difficulty in using a feeding reward to improve the human-lamb relationship when lambs are reared permanently with their dams. However, the results suggest that early gentling improves the human-animal relationship whatever the maternal environment.
本实验研究了母体的存在如何影响幼年时期额外的人类接触对羔羊与饲养员反应的作用。四十只双胞胎羔羊在出生后的头四天参与了本实验。十对双胞胎从12小时大开始人工饲养。每窝中的一只（AF，n = 10）与双胞胎分开（用铁丝网围栏）6.5±0.7次，每次30分钟，期间有5分钟的轻柔安抚和喂食（用奶瓶和装有橡胶奶嘴的桶哺乳）。另一只双胞胎未接受处理。十对双胞胎与母羊一起饲养，并接受6.6±0.7次处理。一只双胞胎（MAF，n = 10）接受与AF相同的处理。另一只双胞胎（M，n = 10）与母羊分开30分钟，且无人接触。从70±7小时大开始，羔羊接受社交隔离测试（单独1分钟，与熟悉的饲养员在一起2分钟，再单独1分钟）、在陌生母羊和熟悉的饲养员之间进行偏好测试（2分钟），并且仅针对AF羔羊，在熟悉的饲养员和陌生的饲养员之间进行偏好测试（2分钟）。到实验结束时，八只AF羔羊学会了自己从奶桶中吸吮，而MAF羔羊只有一只学会了（P<0.001）。在社交隔离测试中，AF羔羊比与母亲一起饲养的动物（M和MAF）更靠近人类（P<0.01）、叫声更少（P<0.01）且走动更少（P<0.01）。AF在饲养员和陌生母羊之间没有表现出任何偏好，而M和MAF羔羊选择了母羊（P<0.05）。只有在处理期间学会从桶中吸吮的AF羔羊才能区分熟悉的饲养员和陌生的饲养员。然而，在社交隔离测试中，MAF羔羊在饲养员面前的叫声比M少（P<0.05），这表明隔离痛苦可能有所减轻。这些结果表明，人工饲养的羔羊在仅经过几天接触后，就优先倾向于与熟悉的人类互动。此外，它们突出了在羔羊一直与母羊饲养在一起时，利用喂食奖励来改善人 - 羊关系的困难。然而，结果表明，无论母体环境如何，早期的轻柔安抚都能改善人 - 动物关系。
