Interrelationships between Animal Behaviors and Control of Diseases
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Veterinary Clinical Studies".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 6245
Special Issue Editors
Interests: animal behavior; behavioral adaptions; animal physiology; behavioral neuroscience; veterinary science
Interests: animal behavior and welfare; human-animal interactions; anthrozoology; assistance dogs
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Animals living in nature are constantly exposed to pathogens and parasites. In contrast to modern medicine, animals in nature (and ancient humans) do not experience immunizing vaccinations, antibiotics when infected with pathogens, or nursing care when sick. Yet they seem to survive and can even thrive in terms of wellness. Many reports of animals living in nature show their behaviors counteracting infections by pathogens or parasites. These will be addressed in this Special Issue and will reveal a complex array of behavioral strategies that prevent or reduce disease: physical avoidance of conspecifics infected with a pathogen; peripheralization of strange conspecifics; the cannibalism taboo to avoid pathogens of recently dead conspecifics; potentiation of the immune system; removal of pathogens by herbal medicine; activation of fever and sickness behaviors in infected individuals; and nursing care of sick conspecifics. While in animals these strategies are species-specific, humans employ all these strategies, as appropriate to the circumstances. An unexplored area is the prevalence of acquired resistance to antibiotics in humans, compared with animals’ lack of acquired resistance in herbal medicine, raising the question of what could be learned from animals’ herbal medicine use.
Prof. Dr. Benjamin Hart
Prof. Dr. Lynette A. Hart
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- animals behavioral strategies
- behavioral adaptions
- control of diseases
- nursing care of sick conspecifics
- survival and wellness
- potentiation of the immune system
- pathogens and parasites
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