Hi,
Just saw this in the journal Nature (one of the main science journals):
Quoted directly from the website:
"Animal Behaviour: Chickens feel for each other. It seems that chickens might also display signs of empathy — an ability to share another's emotional state. If farm animals empathize more widely with their fellows, farmers may need to take extra measures to limit stress to animals during handling, transportation and slaughter.
Joanne Edgar at the University of Bristol, UK, and her co-workers placed individual hens and their chicks in boxes, separating hen and chicks with a clear plastic sheet, and puffed the chicks with bursts of air. In response, the mothers' behaviour and physiology changed, with greater clucking and an increased heart beat."
Journal Nature, volume 471, page 268, published online 16.3.11 doi:10.1038/471268c
I know it's an obvious finding for us, and it's sad that they only see it as a sign that welfare should be improved, rather than that they shouldn't be imprisoned or eaten at all. But I think seeing studies like this published in major journals is good because it really can make a big difference to government policies and the general publics opinion when it gets re-published in a newspaper.
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