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VEISSIER Isabelle

  • UMR Herbivores, INRAE, Saine-Genes-Champanelle, France
  • Animal behaviour , Animal cognition, Animal welfare, Precision livestock farming
  • recommender, manager

Recommendation:  1

Reviews:  0

Areas of expertise
I am a research director from INRAE, the French national institute for research in agriculture, nutrition and environment. After myveterinary studies, Istarted to work at INRA (from 1983) with a focus on animal behaviour and welfare. I study the different facets of the behaviour of cattle and sheep following the idea that behaviour tells us about how animals see the world around them, how they form social bonds, how they learn, and what they feel. I worked on social behaviours, maternal behaviours, human-animal relationship, learning and emotional abilities, and the assessment of animal welfare. All mywork aims at reconciling animal production and animal welfare. Currently my research is focused on behavioural changes as early signs of welfare disorders, these changes being likely to be detected thanks to Precision Livestock Farming tools.

Recommendation:  1

24 Mar 2023
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The use of pigs vocalisation structure to assess the quality of human-pig relationship

Avelyne S Villain, Carole Guérin, Céline Tallet https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.15.484457

Qualitative aspects of grunts vary with pigs' mental states

Recommended by based on reviews by Matteo Chincarini and 1 anonymous reviewer

Villain et al., (2023) investigated the structure of vocalisations in piglets in relation to human-animal-relationship. They first established a positive relationship by habituating piglets to be positively handled at weaning or later on after weaning. They then compared the reactions of piglets previously positively handled at weaning to that of non-handled piglets during tests in presence of a human (interacting or not), and also before and after the conditioning period when all piglets received positive contacts. They showed that the duration and frequency of grunts emitted in the presence of the human depends on previous contacts. More specifically, grunts are shorter and higher pitched in pigs that have been positively handled, in line with a positive human-animal relationship which is also observed through proximity of the piglets with the human. The authors concluded that the structure of pig vocalisation can reflect the quality of their relationship with humans. 

The authors also showed that not only the response to humans is modified by positive contacts but also the general mood of piglets, with piglets positively handled at weaning emitting shorter grunts than non-handled piglets, whatever the context. 

Another interesting finding is the temporality of behaviour of pigs habituated to positive contacts: during the first tests, they stay close to the human, probably being reassured by the proximity of the human. Then, when tests are repeated, they explore more the test room, using the human as an exploratory basis as already reported in the literature. 

The hypotheses of the study are clear. The methods are reported in details so that the work is reproducible. The interpretation of results is sound. The manuscript is clearly written. 

This paper brings new and original knowledge in the field of animals’ emotional responses and human-animal relationship: on the structure of grunts in relation to positive affects (positive emotion, positive mood) and on the temporality of the responses to human presence.

I recommend this manuscript for its originality and quality.

Isabelle Veissier

Villain, A.S., Guérin, C., Tallet, C., 2023. The use of pigs vocalisation structure to assess the quality of human-pig relationship. bioRxiv 2022.03.15.484457, ver. 5 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Animal Science. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.15.484457
avatar

VEISSIER Isabelle

  • UMR Herbivores, INRAE, Saine-Genes-Champanelle, France
  • Animal behaviour , Animal cognition, Animal welfare, Precision livestock farming
  • recommender, manager

Recommendation:  1

Reviews:  0

Areas of expertise
I am a research director from INRAE, the French national institute for research in agriculture, nutrition and environment. After myveterinary studies, Istarted to work at INRA (from 1983) with a focus on animal behaviour and welfare. I study the different facets of the behaviour of cattle and sheep following the idea that behaviour tells us about how animals see the world around them, how they form social bonds, how they learn, and what they feel. I worked on social behaviours, maternal behaviours, human-animal relationship, learning and emotional abilities, and the assessment of animal welfare. All mywork aims at reconciling animal production and animal welfare. Currently my research is focused on behavioural changes as early signs of welfare disorders, these changes being likely to be detected thanks to Precision Livestock Farming tools.