Determination of Appropriate Drone Flight Altitude for Horse Behavioural Observation | Chapter 10 | Research Aspects in Agriculture and Veterinary Science Vol. 4

 Drone technology has advanced recently, and their safety and operability have greatly improved, resulting in increased use in animal research. Drones of varying sizes and capabilities are commercially available and quite easy to purchase. This study used drone technology to watch horse behaviour and validate the proper horse–drone distance for airborne behavioural observations, demonstrating drone application in livestock management. The Phantom 4 Pro drone was used to record 11 horses between September and October 2017. To explore the horses' reactions to the drones and watch their behaviour, four flight altitudes were evaluated (60, 50, 40, and 30 m); the recording time at each altitude was 5 minutes. At whatever flight altitude, none of the horses demonstrated avoidance behaviour, and the observer was able to distinguish between any two horses. Foraging, moving, standing, recumbency, avoidance, and other actions were recorded. The most prevalent behaviour observed both personally and in the drone videos was foraging. All behavioural data from direct and drone video observations at all altitudes had substantial correlation coefficients (p 0.01). These findings suggest that both direct and recorded drone video observations may accurately detect horse behaviour. Finally, drones can be valuable for observing and documenting horse behaviour.

Author(S) Details

Tomoko Saitoh
Field Center of Animal Science and Agriculture, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, 080-8555, Hokkaido, Japan.

Moyu Kobayashi
Field Center of Animal Science and Agriculture, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, 080-8555, Hokkaido, Japan.

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Normal Hematological Parameters of Barb Horses Raised in Tiaret, West of Algeria | Chapter 8 | Current Research in Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences Vol.1

 

Barb horse, pride of the Berbers, is a famous Maghreb horse of a particular significance in the
Algerian history, tradition and culture.
This study aims to establish the hematologic values specific to the barb horse in the national stud
farm “Chaou-Chaoua” in Tiaret, Algeria. Age of the studied animals varied between 1 and 23 years.
The effects of age and sex were analyzed by categorizing the horses into two groups of four
subgroups: A (1 - 2 years, n=5), B (3-5 years, n=5), C (5-10 years, n=5) and D (11-23 years, n=5) for
females and E (2 - 3 years, n=5), F (5-7, n=5), G (10, n=5) and H (11-25, n=5) for males. Blood
samples of all these healthy horseswere obtained to determine the following hematologic variables:
erythrocytes (RBC), hematocrit (Ht), hemoglobin (Hb), mean cell volume (MCV), mean corpuscular
hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean hemoglobin content (MHC), white blood cells (WBC),
neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, platelets, total number of platelets (PLT)
and mean platelet volume (MPV). The obtained results showed that the hematologic values are within
established standards ofother breeds of hot-blooded horses. Values of RBCs, HCT, Hb, WBCs and
lymphocytesapproached the lower limits of these standards. Statically significant (P˂0.05) differences
were observed between females in different age groups for MCV, MCHC, Platelets and the MPV.
Groups of males showed significant differences for lymphocytes and platelets. Between males and
females, significant differences were related to MCV, Neutrophils, Basophils Monocytes, Platelet and
MPV.This research showed that these hematologic parameters are weak, as they approach the lower
limits of the standards, and that neither age, nor sex seems to have an influence on the hematologic
values of the Barb horse.

Author (s) Details

Mira Chikhaoui
Laboratory of Research on Local Animal Products, Ibn Khaldoun University, Tiaret, Algeria.

Fadhéla Smail
Laboratory of Research on Local Animal Products, Ibn Khaldoun University, Tiaret, Algeria.

Fouzia Adda
Department of Animal Health, Veterinary Sciences Institute, Ibn Khaldoun University, Tiaret 14000, Algeria.

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