The behavior of individuals and groups seems to be in the news a lot these days. The same concept in the natural world might not hit the news quite as often, but it’s just as important. Any farmer or rancher will tell you that the more you know about what your plants and animals are telling you, the more effective your response can be, and the more you both can produce together. Leaves wilting usually means, “Water, please.” Ears back on the horse usually means “I’m unhappy with something – back off.”
But an animal’s personal life experience might make all the difference in the meaning of similar signals, even within species and breeds. When my chickens peck my leg, it means, “Pick me up, because I want to be held,” but someone else might think, “The poultry are attacking!” That type of thing can cause a very important miscommunication error for humans, leading to an improper reaction. It’s not so bad with a chicken signal, but not so good with a Longhorn. Animals are individuals, just like people.
In today’s podcast, we bring you Ben Hart, from our interview at the Donkey Welfare Symposium in Davis, California last year. He is an animal behaviorist, lecturer, trainer, and author that started his equine experience with heavy horses, but now works mostly with donkeys and mules (and people) for one of the UK’s leading equine charities, The Donkey Sanctuary. He uses his mad equine whispering skills to understand not just the species and breed, but the animal’s individual experience. He takes each “patient” on its own merits, and never assumes that the animal is the one that needs to learn something – the people have to give a little, too. If you watch the news these days, I think it’s obvious that we can all learn from that.
Links:
http://www.hartshorsemanship.com/
http://www.hartshorsemanship.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=controller.viewPageAbout
https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/
https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/what-we-do/for-professionals/behaviour
https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/who-we-are/our-people
https://donkeywelfaresymposium.homestead.com/
http://research.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/node/443