Cattle antipredation strategies: may acoustic stimuli affect the vigilance of cattle on pasture?

Marie Žabková

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

The aims of the thesis were 1) to gather the knowledge about large herbivores and cattle behaviour on pastures with a focus on social behaviour, antipredation strategies and domestication, based on scientific literature review, and 2) to test responses of grazing cattle on pastures to acoustic stimuli of sympatric and allopatric predators in a field experiment. The experiment was conducted on cattle herds in two social groups (herds of suckler cows n = 7, and herds of steers n = 6) on the experimental farm Grünshweige (Technical University of Munich, Erding, Germany). Videos of cattle behaviour as responses on sequences of sounds were recorded using 3 sounds of predators and 1 control sound in randomized block design. Sounds were standardized and belonged to dog (Canis familiaris), wolf (Canis lupus), hyena (Crocuta crocuta) and chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs). Behavioural responses were recorded and quantified as frequencies and durations, then tested using non-parametric tests in TIBCO Statistica® 13.5. programme. Results showed that cows did not display any behavioural response to any acoustic stimuli representing predators, but also no response to control sound. The low level of vigilance can be caused by intensive breeding practices, which may result in suppressed natural behaviour of cattle due to frequent contact with human and selection to production traits, and it can be strengthened by the presence of an international airport nearby the farm, therefore the cows are habituated to a high level of noise. We can therefore conclude that human management may strongly affect the behaviour of domesticated animals, including essential behaviours related to survival in natural conditions.

Keywords

animal behaviour, cattle grazing, pasture, vigilance, antipredation strategies

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 16. 4. 2021

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: prof. RNDr. Pavla Hejcmanová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Bachelor programme / odbor:
Tropical Agriculture / International Cooperation in Agriculture and Rural Development