Collarini Edoardo, Capponcelli Luca, Pierdomenico Andrea, Norscia Ivan, Cordoni Giada
Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino (DBIOS), Via Accademia Albertina 13, 20123 Torino, Italy.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jul 10;13(14):2261. doi: 10.3390/ani13142261.
Domestic pigs () possess complex socio-cognitive skills, and sows show high inter-individual variability in maternal behaviour. To evaluate how females-reared under natural conditions-react to the isolation calls of their own piglets or those of other females, we conducted observations and experimental trials. In January-February 2021, we conducted all-occurrences sampling on affiliation, aggression, and lactation (daily, 7:30-16:30 h) on six lactating and four non-lactating females at the ethical farm Parva Domus (Turin, Italy). The trials (30 s each, = 37/sow) consisted of briefly catching and restraining a piglet. We recorded the sow response (none/reactive/proactive movement towards the piglet; self-directed anxiety behaviours such as body shaking) before and during the trial and under control conditions. Increased levels of anxiety behaviour in sows were accompanied by an increased frequency of responses. Less aggressive sows and lactating sows showed the highest frequencies of response. Finally, the isolation calls' maximum intensity had an influence on the type of response observed, with higher proactive response frequencies following lower intensity isolation calls. Our results suggest that being under lactation could play a key role in increasing sow response levels and that specific acoustic features may influence the response.
家猪（）具备复杂的社会认知技能，且母猪在母性行为方面表现出较高的个体间差异。为了评估在自然条件下饲养的母猪对自己仔猪或其他母猪的隔离呼叫如何做出反应，我们进行了观察和实验试验。2021年1月至2月，我们在意大利都灵的帕瓦多穆斯伦理农场对6头泌乳母猪和4头非泌乳母猪的亲和行为、攻击行为和泌乳行为（每天7:30 - 16:30）进行了全事件抽样。试验（每次30秒，每头母猪 = 37次）包括短暂捕捉并约束一头仔猪。我们记录了试验前、试验期间以及对照条件下母猪的反应（无/对仔猪有反应/主动走向仔猪；自我导向的焦虑行为，如身体颤抖）。母猪焦虑行为水平的增加伴随着反应频率的提高。攻击性较弱的母猪和泌乳母猪表现出最高的反应频率。最后，隔离呼叫的最大强度对观察到的反应类型有影响，较低强度的隔离呼叫后主动反应频率更高。我们的结果表明，处于泌乳状态可能在提高母猪反应水平方面起关键作用，并且特定的声学特征可能会影响反应。
