Assessing fear in rabbits. Preliminary results

摘要

Fear has been assessed in several species throughout different tests. Two of the most popular fear tests are novel object and open field test. These tests have been used in rodents orpigsbut little is known about rabbits. Thus, it is necessary to assess the validity of these tests in commercial rabbits, as well as assessing potential differences in the behavior of males, breeding does and young females. The aim of this work was to validate a novel object and an open field test in young male rabbits,multiparous does and nuliparous does, by measuring stress induced hyperthermia.Novel object was revealed as a non-useful test for fear purposes in rabbits, although nuliparous does were more reactive than multiparous does and male rabbits. On the contrary, open field test caused an increase in rectal temperature in all the studiedrabbit categories, so it could be used as fear-related test in these animals.