TEMPERAMENT OF WEANED RABBITS HANDLED DURING INFANCY

Abstract

Temperament in animals is a set of behaviors expressed in relation to human handling. This temperament can be changed with the use of positive stimuli that can affect cognition , learning and behavior of animals. This paper aimed to compare stimulated rabbit along age with non-stimulated rabbits and the effects of stimulation on the group temperament. The animals were disposed on five treatments (stimulus from first day after birth to 30 days-old, from first day after birth to 10 days-old, 10-20 days-old, 20-30 days old and control with no stimulus). The temperament was assessed by human approach test and open field test made at 30, 45, 60 and 75 days-old. Non-stimulated animals had high latencies above 28.43 s and lower approximations to 3.65 in the approach test, however in some tests this condition changed through the time with tests repetitions frequently used to evaluated rabbits, which indicates a habituation process when an individual stops responding to a given repetitive stimulus not associated to reward or a learning process that is latent and later presented as the tests do not cause danger. Latencies decreased through the time for rabbits stimulated on human-approach test. Unstimulated rabbits showed high frequencies in the score 1 (approaches and smells). Approach and open field tests were effective to express the temperament of rabbits and stimulated and non-stimulated differentiation.