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- Title
The Way to a Man's Heart Is through His Stomach: What about Horses?
- Authors
Sankey, Carol; Henry, Séverine; Górecka-Bruzda, Aleksandra; Richard-Yris, Marie-Annick; Hausberger, Martine
- Abstract
Background: How do we bond to one another? While in some species, like humans, physical contact plays a role in the process of attachment, it has been suggested that tactile contact's value may greatly differ according to the species considered. Nevertheless, grooming is often considered as a pleasurable experience for domestic animals, even though scientific data is lacking. On another hand, food seems to be involved in the creation of most relationships in a variety of species. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, we used the horse training context to test the effects of food versus grooming during repeated human-horse interactions. The results reveal that food certainly holds a key role in the attachment process, while tactile contact was here clearly insufficient for bonding to occur. Conclusion/Significance: This study raises important questions on the way tactile contact is perceived, and shows that large inter-species differences are to be expected.
- Subjects
HUMAN-animal relationships; HUMAN beings; HORSES; TACTILE sensors; GROOMING behavior in animals; ANIMAL training
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2010, Vol 5, Issue 11, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0015446