Presentation Details
| A Total Snooze? Novel Insights into Yawning in Dairy Calves Blair C.Downey, Emma E.Hafner, Mackenzie K.Joye, Blair F.Wermuth. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA |
Abstract
Yawning, a behavior commonly observed across vertebrates, is associated with a range of states, including stress, fatigue, and boredom. Yawning could thus serve as a noninvasive indicator of welfare in captive settings, but has never been documented in some species, like dairy cattle. Our objective was to describe yawning behavior in dairy calves, including typical expressions and circadian patterns, and to identify behaviors and postures that occur around yawning. Ten dairy calves raised according to standard US farm practice were video-recorded for 24h at 4wk of age, and scored using focal sampling for yawning with a continuous recording rule. We watched calves for 2min before and after each yawn to identify posture and proximal behaviors. We found that calves yawn 2-17 (median=4.5) times per day, throughout the day. Yawns were equally likely to occur while calves were standing compared to lying down, but rarely occurred around postural changes. Yawns often directly followed other behaviors that require opening the mouth, like self-grooming or tongue flicking, raising questions as to whether they are triggered by similar underlying motivations.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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