Following on from our post on the 6th November about Jasmine and Alfie, here are two more stories about care of young animals by other animals. This time it’s the turn of the grandmothers to teach us a thing or two about caring for animals. One of Compassion in World Farming’s supporters kindly supplied us with this story. Her neighbour gave a home to two generations of goats. When the youngest had her goat kid, she didn’t seem to know what to do. Even though the goat kid was repeatedly shown where to suckle, the two just didn’t seem to connect.
The grandmother saw what was happening and stepped in to help, even producing milk for the youngster. From then on she took it in turns with the mother to care for the kid, being there to support the mother goat and also ensure the kid had plenty of food.
Across the generations
Another example of grandmothers helping out was in the news last week. Researchers in Japan had been observing free-ranging macaque family groups when they noticed some interesting situations. A grandmother macaque took over the care of her grandchild when the mother disappeared; carrying, grooming and allowing her to suckle, although the researchers believe she didn’t produce any milk. Perhaps letting the baby macaque suckle may have been an act of reassurance for the youngster.
When the mother returned after a period of time (believed to be 6-14 days) she resumed her duties in caring for the youngster. Another grandmother was witnessed ‘sharing care’ with a struggling mother, and this time was believed to be producing milk as well.
A key feature in all of these stories is the fact that the grandmother was prepared to get involved quickly if needed, but was not overly possessive of the youngster. In both cases they seemed happy to share care with the mother, or hand the infant back when their job was done. This shows sensitivity to the needs of the situation, and more flexible thinking than if they were to simply ‘take over’ an abandoned youngster.
Sources:
BBC News – Grandmother Monkeys care for baby
Nakamichi, M., Onishi, K. and Yamada, K. (2009) Old grandmothers provide essential care to their young granddaughters in a free-ranging group of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata)Primates, Online first. 10.1007/s10329-009-0177-7
Tags: Emotions, goat, Intelligence, loyalty, maternal bond, monkey, mother, sentience, understanding
Posted in Communicating, Family bonds, Maternal care, Monkeys | No Comments »
The importance of the relationship between a ewe and her adopted lamb. Image copyright Compassion/Elli Goodlet.
Janet Taylor of Farm Animal Sanctuary near Worcester told us this touching tale of two sheep. Jasmine was a mature ewe who hadn’t had a lamb for 6 or 7 years. A group of newly rescued sheep moved into the field next to her, including some orphaned lambs, and over the next few days she began calling to one orphan named Alfie. He was calling back to her and eventually Janet decided to put him over the fence to be with her – and see what happened.
Alfie began to try to suckle Jasmine, as he would have done his biological mother, and Jasmine let him do so. Janet felt that at least this would provide him with the comfort of contact with a ‘mother’ but continued to bottle-feed him. Amazingly, Jasmine began to produce milk herself and was able to feed her newly adopted lamb as her own.
We have heard about a number of female animals who have adopted and fed orphaned youngsters. This even happens across species; for example, pigs are known to have adopted newborn puppies.
This shows the strength of both the maternal instinct and the need to have care from a mother figure. Perhaps all the species we commonly farm have this need but sadly, they are often denied it. In the light of our modern scientific understanding of animal sentience, Compassion in World Farming believes that farming policy and practice must take full account of animal sentience – as is required by European Union law.
Tags: adoption, animal farming, communicatio, Emotions, lamb, maternal bond, mother, orphan, sanctuary, sentience, Sheep, suckling
Posted in Family bonds, Maternal care, Sheep, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Floss was separated from her calf and sold at a market, but it seems she had other plans. She escaped from the new farm, eventually fetching up 60 miles away. Cows form a strong bond with their calves and she may have taken off to look for her calf.
Floss then spent the next nine months fending for herself. She hid during the day and looked for food at night, searching rubbish dumps and finding occasional hay supplies.
It is reported that she did not have an easy time as joyriders and others tried to run her down and shot at her.
Two local women began to help Floss. She was taken food and they raised £500 GBP to buy her from the farmer and took her to Hillside, an animal sanctuary.
One of her rescuers said: “Floss trotted off the back of the trailer and it was the most wonderful thing. She really deserves it. For an animal to look after herself all that time she deserves this life.”
Cows and their calves form strong family bonds. Image: Compassion/Martin Usborne
Tags: animal agriculture, animal farming, calf, Cattle, cow, emotion, freedom, maternal bond, sentience
Posted in Cattle, Emotions, Family bonds | No Comments »
Sheep love company, so being alone causes them distress. Researchers have found that sheep can remember the faces of 50 sheep pals for at least two years.
Dr Keith Kendrick at Cambridge also found that sheep prefer pictures of contented sheep and smiling humans, rather than stressed sheep and angry humans. He said that sheep “may have much richer emotional lives than we would give them credit for.”
Company is important for sheep. Image: Compassion/Martin Usborne
Posted in Communicating, Emotions, Family bonds, Farm Animals, Sheep | No Comments »
The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Social, Emotional and Intellectual Capacities
This beautiful book by Amy Hatkoff fully lives up to its title. At first glance it may seem like a neat coffee table book, as it contains quality photos of farm animals accompanied by heart-warming stories about individual farm animals who have displayed a wide array of clever or generous actions. Presumably, if one pig can show presence of mind in a human crisis then the presumption would be that other pigs would have this capacity too. (In this case the pig brought passers-by to the help of her owner who was indoors having a heart attack.)
Amy Hatkoff has backed up these stories with short passages based on the work of leading animal welfare scientists such as Professors Marian Dawkins and Mike Mendl, showing the unexpected intelligence of farm animals, such as long-term recognition of missing comrades, delight upon discovering a new technique, and ability to operate a computer game.
Compassion in World Farming highly recommends this book. It would make a lovely gift for a forthcoming birthday or seasonal celebration. We can guarantee that any animal-loving friend will delight in this book. We can nearly guarantee that the sceptic will have their eyes opened! Amy Hatkoff has done the animals a real service.
The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Social, Emotional and Intellectual Capacities
By Amy Hatkoff
Published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang (New York), 2009
UK Distributors: ABRAMS/STC Tel: 0207 713 2066
£10.99 (UK), $19.95 (US)
Posted in Books, Cattle, Chickens & hens, Communicating, Emotions, Family bonds, Farm Animals, General, Natural behaviour, Pigs, Sheep | No Comments »
In commercial farming, young animals such as piglets and dairy calves are separated from their mothers at a very young age. The weaning age and the rearing conditions can affect the physical health and the welfare of these very young animals.
This sow and her piglets benefit from better animal welfare conditions. Image: Compassion/Martin Usborne
Animals reared in more interesting, ‘enriched’ conditions are more settled and confident with their companions, and female animals seem to take more easily to rearing their young (when given the opportunity). For example, piglets who lived in outdoor enclosures before and after forced weaning had fewer problems than piglets in barren indoor conditions.
Young piglets need their mum
In intensive farming piglets are removed from their mother between 2-4 weeks of age. At this age they are still dependent on her for feeding, mothering and protection. A more natural weaning age would be 3-4 months.
The younger the piglets are when they are removed from their mothers, the more they squeal for her, try to jump out of the pen and rub their noses against the bellies of their companions, which can cause injuries. The piglets are probably looking for their mother’s udder or to gain physical contact with her.
This frantic behaviour is not seen in 8-week-old piglets in a semi-natural environment, but is commonly seen in commercial farms world-wide.
Dairy calves
Dairy calves in commercial farms are usually separated from their mother at only a few hours old, but natural weaning would take place at 9-11 months old. Often a cow whose calf has been taken away will walk up and down in an agitated way, calling out and apparently looking for her calf. Calves too often appear distressed at this time.
Researchers also looked at the long-term effects on the calf of separation in this way.
If calves are removed from their mother as new-borns, they may not call out for her so much, but their health and long-term development can be affected. If they are taken away from their mother after a longer time spent with her, they may be more distressed at the time, but their long-term development may be better and they may have more confidence to cope with new situations.
The vital bond between mother and young. Image: Compassion/Karen Playford
Tags: animal agriculture, animal farming, Cattle, Compassion in World Farming, emotion, Natural behaviour, sentience
Posted in Cattle, Communicating, Emotions, Family bonds, Maternal care, Pigs | 1 Comment »