Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

In this ethological study a novel object test was conducted on a total of 38 alpacas on a farm located on the island Gotland, in Sweden. The novel object tests, where an animal is presented with an foreign object, were performed individually on 14 animals and in pairs with 20 animals. The alpacas that performed the paired tests were accompanied by an individual that was of the highest rank in the herd or an the oldest individual in the herd. Five females were accompanied by the oldest female, five females were accompanied by the female of highest rank and the same line-up was conducted on the males. In all the tests only 44% of the animals sniffed the object. In the paired tests 60% of the animals sniffed the novel object whereas in the individual tests only 21% did. In the paired tests where animals were accompanied by an alpaca of highest age, twice the number of animals sniffed the object compared to those accompanied by an alpaca of highest rank. Males sniffed the novel object more compared to females. The results are from a small sample yet show a variation between the individual animals. However, more studies need to be conducted on this unique species to expand the data. Novel object tests are of an importance in today's modern animal husbandry due to the amount of novelty that animals are bound to encounter.