Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Research Group Uni. of Lincoln

19/06/2025

Out now! New paper based on an international collaboration with Prof Mills on using digital technologies for behavioural data collection. Free to access.

Field data collection in veterinary and animal behaviour science often faces practical limitations, including time constraints, restricted resources, and dif...

07/06/2025

Our very own Professor Mills will speaking about his work on our relationships with companion animals at this event https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/relationships-and-the-dog-owner-bond-a-psychobiological-perspective-tickets-1391628019869?aff=ebdsoporgprofile&_gl=1%2Aeybvwd%2A_up%2AMQ..%2A_ga%2AMTc4MDM4MjE3OS4xNzQ5MTA1NTMz%2A_ga_TQVES5V6SH%2AczE3NDkxMDU1MzMkbzEkZzAkdDE3NDkxMDU1MzMkajYwJGwwJGgw&fbclid=IwY2xjawKxiylleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETBFa21NZFFtaDJZU2RVcW15AR5Hzx53PKtzbz4z50Rqivv4AAo7E---G9k16spIzO_rODS1iiPMcVwkRegOJA_aem_KFrIEg5htprN9zpeGvmiKA

Presenter: Professor Daniel Mills, Animal Behaviour Cognition & Welfare Group, University of Lincoln

09/05/2025

💥New paper alert!💥

In a new publication, our own Nicki Phillips, Beth Ventura, Jonathan Cooper, and Laetitia Marechal explore how public perception of zoo animal welfare can impact public attitudes towards zoos, visit likelihood, and engagement with conservation initiatives. Understanding what factors are influential to public perceptions of welfare is therefore important.

We conducted a mixed-methods systematic review and identified a range of human, animal, and environmental factors affecting perceptions and impacting public attitudes and behaviours. We concluded with seven proposed recommendations to increase the robustness and validity of future research in this area.

Read it in full in the latest issue of Animal Behaviour and Cognition for free here: https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.11.04.05.2024

29/04/2025

Congratulations to our MSc graduates celebrating today

28/04/2025

ABCW's own Prof Anna Wilkinson is going to be presenting at a Pint of Science https://pintofscience.co.uk/event/nature-night on May 21st! Standard tickets are just £5 and the event will take place at The Pessimist, 4 Mint Lane, Lincoln LN1 1UD

Anna will be giving a talk titled "Cold-blooded care: how does a tortoise feel?"

"Reptiles are becoming increasingly popular as pets, with more people in UK having pet reptiles than guinea-pigs or hamsters. As reptile ownership continues to increase, there has been an associated rise in the prevalence of poor reptile health and welfare. This reflects a lack of scientific evidence underpinning the necessary guidelines and legislation to educate members of the public about best practice. This talk will cover recent advances in our understanding of reptile welfare and aims to get you thinking about how a snake, lizard or tortoise might be feeling."

So please join her for an amazing night of science!

25/04/2025

🚨New paper alert!🚨

New research by the ABCW's own Dr Holly Root-Gutteridge has shown that dogs not only recognise their names when we are speaking directly to them but can find their names in a complex sentence said in a monotonous tone of voice. This gives us a little more insight into the evolution of language, as it requires the ability to parse a complex sequence of sounds to recognise familiar content.

You can read about it on the BBC website here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3v9307y3vdo

Or read the full paper online here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-025-01948-z

And you can watch Lola the Rottweiler hearing her owner mention her name here:

22/04/2025

Always good to see a PhD student get their first paper out, and so much more interesting when that paper challenges traditional beliefs about pet behaviour. In this one, Jackie uses her data to question the quality of the evidence that scratching is associated with stress and its role as a form of marking. Read the preprint here. Well done Jackie!

15/04/2025

Our very own Professor Mills did a podcast for the RSPCA Animal Futures bicentennial event series on the rise of AI in helping us understand animals and its implications. You can listen here to the whole series.

The RSPCA Animal Futures podcast takes a deep dive into some of the big questions about the future of animal welfare. Our Animal Futures project launched in 2024 with our interactive game and imagined five potential future scenarios for animals in 2050.

11/04/2025

We focus a lot on attachment in animals but so little attention has been given to the caregiving styles which probably drive the whole process. Our new paper, changes all this. We have been using this instrument in the clinic for some time and find it very useful. You can hear more about that on the Pet Behaviour Odysseys podcast episode 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRY7JMYEdH8...
but in the mean time here is the paper that underpins the scale which wa part of Luciana's PhD at Lincoln
https://www.sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S0168159125001261

02/04/2025

🚨New paper alert!🚨

A new paper by Lincoln's own Bethany Moyer, Helen Zulch, Beth Ventura, and Oliver Burman explored owner experiences of the adjustment period in rescue dogs.

Owners reported seeing some behavioural extremes, e.g., lethargy or restlessness, that moderated over time and indications of positive welfare, e.g., play, tail wagging, greeting, or learning a routine, as indications of adjustment. However, variations in behaviour also indicated that adjustment may be an individualised process, and that dogs may employ different 'strategies' in adjusting to their new homes.

Read the whole paper here:
https://doi.org/10.1017/awf.2025.4

27/03/2025

This article by professor Mills is in the 50th Anniversary of Applied Animal Behaviour Science. It is perhaps the definitive introduction to the Psychobiological approach that he and colleagues at Lincoln have been working on for the last 30 years or so. It is available as open access. It not only highlights many issues with the study of animal emotion but also many solutions

25/03/2025

🎉New paper alert!🎉

Recently graduated from our MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour programme, Dani Sorbie has just published her dissertation research in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, with her supervisors Drs. Beth Ventura and Andrew Cooke. Dani investigated a topic important in the dog adoption community in Canada:

•357 owners were surveyed to understand the adjustment and behaviour of Northern dogs’ post-adoption.
•High prevalence of behaviour problems: 93.84 % of northern dog owners reported at least one behaviour problem post-adoption.
•Key behaviours noted: Northern dogs had high C-BARQ scores for chasing, energy and attachment.
•Factors influencing behaviour: Dog age at adoption, access to other dogs and household size impacted behaviour.
•Role of frustration: Frustration may be playing a role in Northern dogs’ transition from free roaming to a more restricted lifestyle due to a loss of autonomy, highlighting the importance of fulfilling the social, physical, and cognitive needs of Northern dogs.
You can read the open access paper here: