Simona Cafazzo

The Social Organisation of a Population of Free-Ranging Dogs in a Suburban Area of Rome: A Reassessment of the Effects of Domestication on Dogs’ Behaviour

Domestication is thought to have reduced dogs’ ability to form organised packs with conspecifics. Here, we investigated the social organisation of a population of free-ranging dogs living in a suburban area of Rome. Almost all animals were not socialised to humans, although they subsisted on food provided by people, and lived in stable social groups whose organisation appeared more similar to that of wolves than previously reported. In all groups studied, a linear dominance hierarchy could be detected based on the directionality of submissive behaviour. Social regulation of reproductive activities was also observed. Affiliative relationships appeared to promote both leader–follower relationships and cooperation in conflicts against stranger packs. Larger packs outcompeted smaller ones in contests for food and space. A reduction in both cooperative breeding and territorial aggression relative to wolves can be reasonably interpreted as an adaptation to the domestic environment. We suggest that dogs are more likely to form stable packs when they are not socialised to humans and can subsist on abundant and clumped food resources.

Preliminary Study on the Relationship Between Skin Temperature of Piglets Measured by Infrared Thermography and Environmental Temperature in a Vehicle in Transit

During two 14-h journeys, carried out in July and September 2009, respectively, the variation in skin temperature measured by infrared thermography was examined on a total of 12 piglets. A thermal camera was placed in front of the pen during the first journey and above the pen during the second. The temperature inside the vehicle was registered throughout the journeys. A positive linear relationship was observed between skin and internal vehicle temperatures with an R 2 of 0.44 and 0.57 in July and September, respectively. The results obtained in this preliminary experiment showed the possibility of recording thermal images of piglets in transit. Thus, thermography, coupled with other body-temperature-recording techniques, could be valuable for assessing the adaptive efforts of pigs to environmental conditions experienced during transport.

Innate immune responses of young bulls to a novel environment.

Animal welfare during transportation has been investigated in several studies, as opposed to post-transportation phases. In this study, we evaluated the effect of a novel environment after transportation on 26 Friesian bulls, 242 ± 42 day-old, from ten different dairy farms. Animals were shipped to a breeding center in different seasons, and selected parameters of innate immunity (serum bactericidal activity, hemolytic complement, serum albumin, α, β, and γ-globulins, interleukin-6, TNF-α) were monitored before and after the arrival at days--4/0/4/15/30. Our results showed significant differences of IL-6 and TNF-α protein levels at destination in December (94 ± 1.3 pg/ml) and June (+788 pg/ml), respectively. Moreover, the serum levels of these cytokines increased between days 0 and 15 after the arrival, the modulation of IL-6 being in agreement with established models of physical and/or psychological stress. Concerning the modulation of albumin, alpha and beta-globulins, the highest levels were detected in April, whereas a significant decrease was observed between day 15 and 30 after arrival; on the contrary, γ-globulin levels significantly increased after day 15. The results of this study highlight the occurrence of innate immune responses of young bulls to the combined effects of climate (season) and novel farming conditions.