The behaviour of an endangered group of wild cattle may hold some solutions for reducing stress in domesticated beef and dairy herds, according to a University of Queensland (UQ) academic.
Professor Clive Phillips, Director of UQ’s Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, said an absence of homosexual behaviour, a lack of grooming, and the alternative sleeping postures and eating habits of Malaysia’s Gaur cattle provided valuable information for improving the living environment of domestic cattle.
Professor Phillips has just returned from trekking through the central Malaysian jungle tracking and studying the behaviour of the Gaur, one of the last groups of wild cattle in the world.
He said with fewer than 400 Gaur cattle remaining, the herd faced a serious threat to its environment due to logging, poaching and the activities of the local Oran Asli tribespeople.
“Our tracking indicated that recent human activities in the jungle and new electric fencing between the jungle and surrounding oil plantations had forced the cattle to retreat to highland regions,” Professor Phillips said.
“However, the captured Gaur cattle I observed behaved remarkably similarly to domestic cattle, except for some subtle differences that indicate how domestic cattle may have adapted to intensive husbandry conditions.
“For instance, domestic cattle spend long periods of each day grooming each other, which appears to help cement relationships in crowded conditions and reduce stress, but wild cattle do not.
“Similarly, domestic cattle often mount members of their own sex, particularly in crowded conditions, which again has not been observed in the wild cattle.”
Professor Phillips also noticed that the wild cattle lie down in a more natural position with their head outstretched on the ground, whereas in crowded conditions domestic cattle usually tuck their head back close to their body to stop it being trampled on. Wild cattle also prefer browsing trees rather than grazing and are well adapted to hot conditions, being mainly nocturnal and secreting a reflective grease during the day over most of their body.
Professor Phillips is now planning a longer expedition to track the cattle into the highlands.
Further information about this research or other Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics activities can be found at www.uq.edu.au/cawe
More information: Brad Henderson, Marketing Coordinator, Faculty of NRAVS 07 5460 1229 or 0409 265 587.
