Animal Welfare Research

  For several years Buttercups have been working closely with Dr. Alan McElligott, who has been studying different aspects of goat behaviour, including intelligence, emotions, memory, vocalisations and differences in personalities.  His research group has already several published articles which result directly from data collected at the sanctuary.

Baciadonna L, Briefer EF, Favaro L, McElligott AG (2019) Goats distinguish between positive and negative emotion-linked vocalisations. Frontiers in Zoology 16, 25.

Web link: https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12983-019-0323-z

Baciadonna L, Nawroth C, Briefer EF, McElligott AG (2019) Perceptual lateralisation of vocal stimuli in goats. Current Zoology 65, 67-74.

Web link: https://academic.oup.com/cz/article/65/1/67/4939480

Nawroth C, Albuquerque N, Savalli C, Single M-S, McElligott AG (2018). Goats prefer positive human emotional facial expressions. Royal Society Open Science, 5, 180491.

Web link: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.180491

Baruzzi C, Nawroth C, McElligott AG, Baciadonna L (2018) Motor asymmetry in goats during a stepping task. Laterality 23, 599-609.

Web link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1357650X.2017.1417993

Nawroth C, McElligott AG (2017) Human head orientation and eye visibility as indicators of attention for goats (Capra hircus).

Web link: https://peerj.com/articles/3073/

Pitcher B, Briefer E, Baciadona L, McElligott AG (2017) Cross-modal recognition of familiar conspecifics in goats. Royal society open science

Web link: http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/2/160346

Baciadonna L, Nawroth C, McElligott AG (2017) Individual personality diffferences in goats predict their performance in visual learning and non-associative cognitive tasks. Behavioural Processes 134, 43-53

Web link:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635716301838

Baciadonna L, Nawroth C McElligott AG (2016) Judgement bias in goats (Capra hircus): investigating the effects of human grooming.

Web link:  https://peerj.com/articles/2485/

Nawroth C, Baciadonna L, McElligott AG (2016) Goats learn socially from humans in a spacial problem-solving task. Animal Behaviour 121, 123-129

Web link:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347216302081

Nawroth C, Brett J, McElligott AG (2016) Goats display audience-dependent human-directed gazing behaviour in a problem-solving task. Biology letters 12(7)

Web link:  http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/12/7/20160283

Briefer EF, Oxley J, McElligott AG (2015) Autonomic nervous system reactivity in a free-ranging mammal: effects of dominance rank and personality. Animal Behaviour 110, 121-132

Web link:  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000334721500353X

Briefer EF, Tettamanti F, McElligott AG (2015) Emotions in goats: mapping physiological, behavioural and vocal profiles. Animal Behaviour 99, 131-143.

Web link:  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347214004126

Briefer EF, Haque S, Baciadonna L, McElligott AG (2014) Goats excel at learning and remembering a highly novel cognitive task. Frontiers in Zoology 11, 20.

Web link:  http://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-9994-11-20

Baciadonna L, McElligott AG, Briefer EF (2013) Goats favour personal over social information in an experimental foraging task. PEERJ 1: e172

Web link:  https://peerj.com/articles/172/

Briefer EF, McElligott AG (2013) Rescued goats at a sanctuary display positive mood after former neglect. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 145, 45-55.

Web link:  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159113000890