Could dromedary camels develop stereotypy? The first description of stereotypical behaviour in housed male dromedary camels and how it is affected by different management systems

Barbara Padalino; Lydiane Aubé; Meriem Fatnassi; Davide Monaco; Touhami Khorchani; Mohamed Hammadi; Giovanni Michele Lacalandra

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089093

Could dromedary camels develop stereotypy? The first description of stereotypical behaviour in housed male dromedary camels and how it is affected by different management systems

PLoS One. 2014 Feb 19;9(2):e89093. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089093. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Barbara Padalino¹, Lydiane Aubé², Meriem Fatnassi³, Davide Monaco⁴, Touhami Khorchani³, Mohamed Hammadi³, Giovanni Michele Lacalandra⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano (Bari), Italy.
² Laboratoires d'éthologie animale et humaine EthoS -University of Rennes, Rennes, France.
³ Livestock and Wildlife Laboratory, Arid Lands Institute, Médenine, Tunisia.
⁴ Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation (D.E.T.O.), Veterinary Clinics and Animal Production Section, University of Bari, Valenzano (Bari), Italy.

Abstract

Dromedary camel husbandry has recently been evolving towards a semi-intensive system, due to the changes in use of the animal and the settlement of nomadic populations. Captivity could restrict its social activities, limiting the expression of various behavioural needs and causing the manifestation of stereotypy. The aims of this trial were, firstly, to identify and describe some stereotypical behaviours in captive male dromedary camels used for artificial insemination and, secondly, to study the effects on them of the following husbandry management systems: i) housing in single boxes for 24 hours (H24), ii) housing in single boxes for 23 hours with one hour free in the paddock (H23), and iii) housing in single boxes for 22 hours 30 min with 1 h of paddock time and 30 min exposure to a female camel herd (ExF). Every day, the camels were filmed in their single box in the morning for 30 minutes to record their behavioural activities and a focal animal sampling ethogram was filled in. In this study, male camels showed both oral and locomotor stereotypy most frequently when the bulls were reared in H24. Overall, this preliminary study is a starting point in the identification of stereotypies in male camels, reporting the positive effects of spending one hour outdoor and of social interaction with females.

Publication types

Clinical Trial
Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animal Husbandry / organization & administration*
Animals
Behavior, Animal / physiology*
Camelus / physiology*
Female
Housing, Animal
Male
Social Behavior
Stereotyped Behavior / physiology*

Grants and funding

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union through the “PROCAMED” Project: Promotion des systèmes camelins innovants et des filières locales pour une gestion durable des territoires saharienne (reference number: I.B/1.1/493). The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Livestock and Wildlife Laboratory, IRA Medenine, Tunisia and Veterinary Clinics and Animal Productions Unit D.E.T.O. Bari, Italy, and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.