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The behavioural responses of mink (Mustela vison) to deprivation of highly valued resources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

L. Lewis
Affiliation:
Animal Behaviour Cognition and Welfare Group, Faculty of Applied Sciences, De Montfort University, Caythorpe Court, Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EP, U.K.
J. J. Cooper
Affiliation:
Animal Behaviour Cognition and Welfare Group, Faculty of Applied Sciences, De Montfort University, Caythorpe Court, Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EP, U.K.
G.J. Mason
Affiliation:
Animal Behaviour Cognition and Welfare Group, Faculty of Applied Sciences, De Montfort University, Caythorpe Court, Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EP, U.K.
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Extract

The application of micro-economic theory to behavioural priorities has shown that captive animals place a high value on some resources that are denied in captivity and a low value on others (Mason et al. 2001). For example, mink work hard for access to swimming water, but not for tunnels or toys. An alternative measure of value are the animal’s physiological and behavioural responses to denial of resources. In this study, mink were denied access to three resources (food, swimming water and tunnels) and their behaviour recorded for symptoms of deprivation.

Type
Open Communications Session
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2001

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References

Cooper, J.J and Mason, G.J. 2000. Increasing costs of access to resources cause re-scheduling of behaviours in American mink (Mustela vison): implications for the assessment of behavioural priorities. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 66, 135151.Google Scholar
Mason, G.J., Cooper, J.J. and Clareborough, C. 2001. The welfare of fur-farmed mink. Nature CrossRefGoogle Scholar