An understanding of social behaviour is increasingly necessary in farm animal husbandry as more animals are housed in groups rather than in individual stalls or pens. There may be economic or welfare reasons for such housing. This book is the first to specifically address this important subject. The chapters fall into three broad subject areas: concepts in social behaviour; species specific chapters; current issues. Authors include leading experts from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.Animal welfare/behaviour issues are becoming increasingly importantCombines theoretical and practical details about the social behaviour of our most common farm speciesWritten by leading experts from around the world

*Animal welfare/behavior issues are becoming increasingly important *Combines theoretical and practical details about the social behavior of our most common farm species *Written by leading experts from around the world An understanding of social behavior is increasingly necessary in farm animal husbandry as more animals are housed in groups rather than in individual stalls or pens. There may be economic or welfare reasons for such housing. This book is the first to specifically address this important subject. The chapters fall into three broad subject areas: concepts in social behavior, species specific chapters and current issues. Authors include leading experts from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

HIS book is not intended as an exhaustive review T of facts. Its aim is rather the presentation of a bio logical approach to the phenomena of social behaviour. This type of approach was revived by Lorenz's pioneer studies. It is characterized by emphasis on the need for renewed and careful observation of the huge variety of social phenomena occurring in nature; by emphasis on a balanced study of the three main biological problems function, causation, evolution; by emphasis on an appro priate sequence of description, qualitative analysis, quanti tative analysis; and finally by emphasis on the need for continuous re-synthesis. The character of this approach, combined with the limitations of space, have determined this book's contents. Limits of space led to the omission of a great deal of de scrip tion. Thus, Deegener's voluminous work on fhe multitude of types of animal aggregations has not been discussed. Also, the highly specialized 'states' of social insects have not been treated in detail, since there are excellent books dealing exclusively with them.

Fundamental processes in behaviour; Experience, learning and behaviourdevelopment; Motivation; Evolution and optimality; Neuroethology; Hormones and pheromones; Organization of behaviour in the individual animal; Reactivity to predators and social stimuli; Feeding; Body care; Locomotion and other movements; Exploration; Spacing behaviour; Rest and sleep; Social and reproductive behaviour; General social behaviour; Association; Social interaction; Reproductive abilitation; Female sexual behaviour; Male sexual behaviour; Copulation; Early behaviour and parental behaviour; Fetal behaviour; Parturient behaviour; Maternal behaviour; Neonetal behaviour; Juvenile behaviour; Play, practice and exercise; Welfare; Welfare terminology and concepts; Welfare measurement; Humane control of livestock; Welfare and behaviour in relation to disease; Abnormal behaviour 1: Stereotypies; Abnormal behaviour 2: Self-directed and environment-directed; Abnormal behaviour 3: Addressed to another animal; Abnormal behaviour 4: Failure of function; Abnormal behaviour 5: Anomalous reactivity; Cattle welfare problems; Pig welfare problems; Poultry welfare problems.

Originally published in 1953, this is a classic study in animal behaviour, drawing on the author’s own extraordinary studies of insects, fish, and birds, as well as on the literature. The concept ‘community’ is taken in its widest sense to include all types of association of individuals, not only flocks and herds, but also the family, the pair, and even two animals engaged in combat. The author received the Nobel Prize for his work in this field in 1973.