Impact of Conformation on Companion Animal Behaviour, Welfare and Human-Animal Interactions
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2023) | Viewed by 19659
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce a Special Issue of the journal Animals, which will explore the relationship between conformation (morphology) and the health, behaviour and welfare of companion animals. Humans have an enormous appetite for diversity in the appearance of companion animals, selecting for a variety of exaggerated traits including body size, ear type, coat type, and skull, dental and skeletal dimensions. Classically considered the domain of the domestic dog, a species noted for its remarkable phenotypic plasticity, conformational extremes are now being selected for in a range of common companion animal species including cats and rabbits, and increasingly in non-mammalian exotic species such as birds, reptiles and fish. With such selection decisions often heavily based on aesthetics, health can be detrimentally affected due to both reduced selection pressure for this trait, but also due to direct links between conformational traits and disease. Literature in this area has grown exponentially for canine health over the past ten years; however, the impact of conformation may go beyond disease predispositions and impact animal welfare in a range of as yet undocumented ways. We encourage the submission of original manuscripts that address a diversity of topics in this area, including but not limited to the impact of conformation upon:
- Animal welfare (including acquisition motivations and practices, husbandry and training);
- Human–animal interactions (including human interpretation of behaviour, portrayal of animals in the media);
- Animal behaviour (including breed-related behaviour, cognitive abilities, conspecific interactions);
- Animal health (including epidemiological and disease-specific studies).
Dr. Rowena Packer
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- companion animals
- dogs
- cats
- rabbits
- animal welfare
- animal behaviour
- breed
- human–animal interaction
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