Behavioural responses of farm mink towards familiar and novel food

• Published in: Behavioural processes Vol. 61; no. 3; pp. 123 - 130
• Main Authors: Malmkvist, J., Herskin, M.S., Christensen, J.W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 31-03-2003; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal ethology; Biological and medical sciences; Fear; Feeding strategy; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Mammalia; Mustela vison; Neophobia; Novelty; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Vertebrata; Fear; Feeding strategy; Mustela vison; Neophobia; Novelty; Fissipedia; Genetic selection; Carnivora; Feeding behavior; Farming animal; Stimulus familiarity; Novelty stimulus; Feeding preference; Feeding; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Food intake; Captivity
• ISSN: 0376-6357; 1872-8308
• DOI: 10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00167-5

The study aimed to (i) describe the response of farmed mink towards familiar and novel food, and (ii) assess the suitability of using novel food in order to measure fear responses in mink. A total of 48 farm mink from two behaviourally selected genetic lines were caged individually with one standardised daily feeding. The experimental feedings were carried out in a balanced order on 2 successive days. Behaviour of the mink was video recorded for 10
min after food provision. In general, the mink were reluctant to approach and eat the novel food compared to familiar food, which indicates a neophobic feeding strategy, i.e. increased latency to come close to (
P<0.01) and eat (
P<0.001) the novel food, and a higher frequency (
P<0.001) and a longer duration (
P<0.001) of sniffing. Provision of unknown food items may be used to evaluate fear responses in mink since mink respond reluctantly towards novel food. However, high inter-individual variation in the present study obliterated a previously shown difference between confident and fearful mink, suggesting that this method for measuring fear responses in mink is appropriate only on a large animal material.