Measuring animal activity in the context of light/dark phase and social proximity

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Automated behavioural assessment has become an indispensable tool for large scale, high quality, animal-based studies. In years past, collection of detailed behavioural data required labour intensive scoring during either live observations or video assessment, but with recent technological advancements many measures can now be obtained efficiently and objectively using automated equipment. The Actigraph system is the most widely used activity monitoring equipment for human research, and it has also been increasingly used in recent years for research examining dogs and horses. In addition to activity monitoring, the ActiGraph wGT3X-BT includes a luxometer to measure light levels, and a proximity sensor that can detect other units, whether mounted on animate or inanimate objects. Assessment of activity in the context of light levels is particularly important for research where light levels are variable from day to day, either due to human interference or season. The proximity sensor dramatically expands the capacity for automated behavioural assessment, since it allows for automated assessment of social interactions (e.g., between animals, or between humans and animals), and of time budgets in relation to use of various inanimate objects within the environment (e.g., feeders, resting areas). This is an important technological advancement for the research described in this application, since long-term, observer-based behaviour scoring is entirely impractical in private home and work environments where owners are resistant to the presence of observers or videos cameras. Thus, automated assessment is the only feasible and cost-effective method for collection of these types of data in these private environments. Our team includes a diverse group of researchers (three co-applicants and five collaborators) that require a sophisticated system for automated behavioural assessment for use in cats, dogs and horses. We will use this equipment to conduct cutting edge research aimed at improving nutrition, health and welfare for cats and dogs, and developing control strategies to prevent infectious disease outbreaks in horses and other farm species. This equipment will be heavily used by trainees, who will gain valuable skills in automated behaviour assessment that will be important to their future success as independent researchers.********