Animal management based on their physiological and ethological characteristics
Research members： Yuji TAKEMURA PhD.
Research fields： Animal life science, Environmental analyses and evaluation, Biological Science
Departments： Institute of Agriculture
Keywords： animal management, environmental physiology, ethology, thermoregulation, seasonal breeding
Web site：
Summary
Understanding the physiological and ethological characteristics of animals helps animal management more safety and laborless for both animals and caretakers. Animal factors (species, sex, age) and environments (weather, season, relationship between conspecifics and men) modify the animal responses. Elucidation of thermoregulatory mechanism, which plays a crucial role in adaptation to thermal environment, and the behavioral characteristics to conspecifics and men has a primal importance, and this leads us to following researches:
1. Thermoregulatory mechanism
1) Physiological and ethological thermoregulation,
2) Influence of season and hair coat,
3) Sweating,
4) Evaluation of thermal stress based on respiration rate
2. Behaviors of seasonal breeders
1) Behaviors between mother and offsprings, and development of the young during and after the delivery season,
2) Seasonal changes in vocalization,
3) Sexual behaviors between males and females in breeding season,
4) Aggressive behaviors of males in breeding season, and preventive measures for avoiding incidents
3. Estimating the easiness of handling animals based on several indicators such as
1) Approach distance,
2) Flight distance,
3) Capture time
Reference articles and patents
1)「飼育動物の健康と福祉―福祉指針，育種に起因する健康問題，および感染症―」，竹村勇司，日生気誌，52(1): 3-15, 2015.
2)「家畜の生産と福祉をめぐる最近の展開」，竹村勇司，日生気誌，48(2): 57-68, 2011.
3)「日常管理者に対する緬羊の行動反応に見られる雌雄差ならびに年齢の影響」，竹村勇司・川本佳枝，日緬会誌，46: 20-27, 2009.
4) "Behavioral changes in rams during the beginning period of breeding season", Y. Takemura et al., Proc. of the 18th ISB Congress, 2008.
5)「緬羊の体温調節に及ぼす毛刈の影響」，竹村勇司，日緬会誌，44: 6-13, 2007.
6) "Seasonal changes of vocalization in sheep", Y. Takemura et al., Proc. of the 12th AAAP Congress, 2006.
7)「繁殖季節におけるヒツジの試情時に見られる性行動と発情周期との関係」，竹村勇司ほか，家畜管理誌，40(2): 99-108, 2004.
8)「秋季と比較した夏季暑熱環境下におけるヒツジの心拍変動の特徴」，竹村勇司・神谷充，動物の循環器，34(1): 6-17, 2001.
9)「繁殖季節における同種動物の身体各部位のニオイに対する雄ヒツジの反応性」，竹村勇司ほか，日生気誌，38(3): 89-106, 2001.
Contact
University Research Administration Center(URAC),
Tokyo University of Agriculture andTechnology
urac[at]ml.tuat.ac.jp
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