IBC2000-4 Handling

Acclimate, Don't Agitate

Dr. Temple Grandin
Colorado State University
Department of Animal Sciences
Ft. Collins  CO   USA  80523-1171

The following article was originally presented at the International Bison Conference in Edmonton, Alberta in August 2000.  The conference covered a wide array of bison topics including production, marketing, genetics, history and much more.  This article has been reprinted with the permission of the IBC2000 Chairman.

When a bison is on his home ranch he is calm and peaceful. When confronted with the strange surroundings of an auction, the same bison goes berserk, charging at people. Why does one animal remain calm when a plastic bag blows past him and another blows up? Bison are flighty, high-strung animals that become highly fearful when confronted with a new sight or sound. Animals with a genetically determined flighty disposition are more reactive and more likely to become extremely fearful when put in a new environment or when they experience new sights and sounds.

Experience and Genetics

Behavior is determined by genetics and experience. Bison that seldom see people will be wilder and have a larger flight zone than bison that see people every day. Bison that are handled quietly will have smaller flight zones and be easier to handle than those bison handled roughly. An animal with a flighty temperament can be gradually trained to tolerate plastic bags, but would be more likely to “spook” if he saw a kite flying which he had not been trained to tolerate.

So how do you determine an animal’s genetic temperament when experience has such a large effect? The best way, is to subject the animal to a sudden new scary experience. One of the best places to see an animal’s true genetic reactivity is in the auction ring. The highly fearful ones will attempt to jump out or crash into the fence. The effects of experience will mostly disappear when an animal is startled by a sudden new sight or sound. The tendency to startle or become agitated when forced into a new experience is determine by genetically based fearfulness.

The animal’s fearfulness level is the “temperament” that’s scored when the bison are rated on a numerical scale (i.e. 1 = calm, stands still, to 4 = goes berserk) for a “squeeze chute score”. The bison that become highly agitated in the squeeze chute are the fearful ones. A bison with a flighty, excitable temperament may be calm at home, but may go “on the fight”, crash into fences, and gore other animals when placed in a new and scary environment.

Fear Mechanisms

Fear is a universal emotion that motivates animals to flee predators. Scientific researchers have mapped the fear circuits in the brains of animals. Joseph LeDoux, Center for Neural Science at New York University, discovered that both animals and people could develop permanent fear memories that can never be erased. A good example would be a bison getting his head hit by the head gate or getting his horn knocked off the first time it was in a squeeze chute. This bad first experience can make it hard to get him in the squeeze chute for the rest of his life. The fear memory is recorded in the amygdala, a center in the lower brain. People working with bison need to be very careful to prevent the formation of fear memories, which can interfere with future handling of the animal.

Fear memory problems are most likely to occur in highly flighty, excitable animals like the bison. If a fear memory is formed, such as a bison fearing the squeeze chute, it may be overcome but the old fear memory can pop up when it’s least expected. To overcome the fear of the chute, the cortex (higher brain center) must continuously send an override signal to suppress the fear memory. Fear memories can be made instantly, but it may take months to learn to suppress the fear. When working with bison, emphasis must be placed on preventing the formation of a fear memory.

Training Methods and Genetics

A basic principle is that genetically calm animals can be introduced much more rapidly to new experiences than genetically reactive excitable animals. If an excitable animal is forced to do too many new things at once, it may become extremely fearful and won’t recover easily. There are individual differences that effect training, learning and fear memories. Experiments done with pigs at Texas A&M University by Ted Friend vividly show how different animals react to being placed in a tank for swims every day for several days. All the animals were scared the first time and their adrenaline levels skyrocketed. Over a period of days, the pigs seemed to naturally divide into two types of animals. The genetically excitable pigs never habituated and their adrenaline levels remained high. But in the calmer pigs, their adrenaline levels decreased with each successive swim. These genetically calm pigs habituated. Anyone who works with animals must understand that extremely flighty animals, either as a species or individuals within the species, must be gradually introduced (from their point of view) to new experiences and not be suddenly forced into them.

Good First Experiences are Important

For excitable animals like bison, it is important that their first experience with something be good. A bison that “blew up” when it first saw a yellow feed bucket may always have a tendency to balk or jump when it sees a yellow bucket. If the animal continues to be startled or frightened by the yellow bucket over a period of time, change the bucket to red or white.

Research with rats shows the powerful negative effect of a bad first experience. If a rat was shocked the first time it entered a new corridor in a maze, it would never enter that corridor again. However, if it entered the corridor several times without getting a shock, it would still enter the same corridor after it had been given a shock. Likewise, a bison’s first experience with a squeeze chute should be a good one, with the animal simply walking through and receiving food once it has exited the chute.

The paradox about new experiences (novelty) is that it’s scary if it is forced on the animal. But is attractive if the animals are allowed to voluntarily approach it on their own time. A clipboard placed in a field or pen will attract bison. They’ll approach, poke and sniff. But if the wind moves the paper, the animals will quickly back away. The most excitable, flighty animals will be the first to approach a novel object in their environment, and the first to run away if the object moves. Excitable animals are more aware of their surroundings than calm placid animals. People working with bison will have an easier time if they understand how genetic factors interact with experience. The basic principle is that animals with flighty, excitable genetics must be introduced more gradually to new things than an animal with a calm, placid temperament.