Captive Blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) show facial indicators of positive affect when reunited with their caregiver.
Animal sentience
Emotional expression
Facial expression
Human-animal bond
Positive emotions
Journal
Behavioural processes
ISSN: 1872-8308
Titre abrégé: Behav Processes
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 7703854
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Mar 2023
Mar 2023
Historique:
received:
18
07
2022
revised:
20
12
2022
accepted:
20
01
2023
pubmed:
25
1
2023
medline:
8
3
2023
entrez:
24
1
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
In mammals, human-animal bonding is recognized as a source of positive affect for companion or farm animals. Because this remains unexplored in birds, we investigated captive parrots' perspective of the human-animal relationship. We used a classical separation-reunion paradigm and predicted that variations in parrots' facial displays and behaviours would indicate their appraisal of the relationship. The test was divided into three phases of two minutes each: the bird was placed in an unfamiliar environment with a familiar caregiver (union), then the bird was left alone (separation) and finally, the caregiver returned (reunion). The test was repeated 10 times for each bird and video recorded in order to analyze their behaviour. The data show significantly higher crown and nape feather heights, higher redness of the skin and higher frequency of contact-seeking behaviours during the union and reunion phases than during the separation phase during which they expressed long distance contact calls. We observed the expression of eye pinning during the union and reunion phases in one out of five macaws. We argue that variation in facial displays provides indicators of parrot's positive appraisal of the caretaker presence. Our results broaden the scope for further studies on parrots' expression of their subjective feelings.
Identifiants
pubmed: 36693578
pii: S0376-6357(23)00015-3
doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104833
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
104833Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declarations of interest none.