Lateralised visual processing in domestic cattle herds responding to novel and familiar stimuli

Abstract

We investigated whether cattle exhibit preferences to monitor challenging and novel stimuli. Experiments were conducted on dairy and beef cattle herds and revealed significant left eye preferences in the cattle for viewing an experimenter walking to repeatedly split the herd through its centre. Visual lateralisation was demonstrated in the preference to use the left monocular field to monitor the experimenter, alone or equipped with a range of novel stimuli. This finding is consistent with left eye preferences found in various species of mammals, birds, and amphibians responding to predators and novel stimuli. A cohort of the familiarised cattle herds was then subjected to additional herd-splitting tests with the same stimuli and demonstrated a reversal of viewing preferences, preferring to monitor the experimenter and stimuli within the right and not left monocular field. This directional shift in viewing preferences is consistent with experience-dependent learning found in lateralised visual processing in other, non-mammalian, species, and to our knowledge is the first of such studies to suggest that such lateralised learning processes also exist in mammals. Together the data support a number of key hypotheses concerning the evolution and conservation of lateralised brain function in vertebrates, and also provide important considerations for livestock handling.

Keywords:

• Lateralisation
• Vision
• Adaptation
• Livestock
• Domestication
• Welfare

Acknowledgements

This study was made possible by funding received from the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Animal Welfare Trust Small Grant programme. We are grateful to herd managers Tom Connolly and Caroline Allardy (Pinjarra Hills Veterinary Farm and Gatton Dairy Complex, respectively) for access to their animals for research. The assistance of Nicola Cross (formally of CAWE) was pivotal for initiating and administering the study. Many thanks too to Daniel and Penny de Byl for their equipment used in the field trials, and the valuable comments from two anonymous referees.