Disease, Behavior and Welfare

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-045337-8.00082-6Get rights and content

Animal behavior reflects animal health. In turn, health can be reflected in changes in behavior associated with illness as well as strategies used to prevent disease. In addition, a number of abnormal behaviors may be the only indicators of health problems. In other instances, medical cases present as if they were a primary behavioral problem. The brain, endocrine system, and behavior are so interrelated that little changes in one can have significant consequences on the other.

References (0)

Cited by (3)

  • Behavioral patterns of laboratory Mongolian gerbils by sex and housing condition: a case study with an emphasis on sleeping patterns

    2019, Journal of Veterinary Behavior
    Citation Excerpt :

    The high prevalence of sleeping behavior observed during the study (gerbils allocated more than 50% of the observation time to this state) led us to conduct further analyses aimed at analyzing the distribution of this behavior across different segments of the day. Behavioral evidence is important when assessing and making decisions regarding laboratory animal welfare (Beaver, 2010a,b). We expect that the behavioral methodology described here and the preliminary findings we offer could be used to inform and study further the management and well-being of M. unguiculatus in captivity, including investigating relationships between different behavioral dimensions and normal and pathological biological functions (Von der Behrens, 2014).

View full text