Tactile Preferences in Goats: Implications for Animal-Assisted Interventions

Area of Science:

• Animal behavior studies
• Human-animal interaction research
• Animal-assisted interventions (AAI)

Background:

• Tactile contact is central to animal-assisted interventions (AAI).
• The impact of tactile contact on the animals' experience is not well understood.
• Goats were used to investigate factors influencing tactile contact duration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how body region, stroking sequence, and location enrichment affect tactile contact duration in goats.
• To understand goat preferences and responses during human tactile interactions.
• To provide insights into optimizing AAI for animal welfare.

Main Methods:

• Seven adult goats participated in the study.
• Tactile contact was analyzed based on body region (head/neck, trunk, hindquarters), stroking order (first, second, third), and location (goat house, pasture).
• Statistical analysis was performed to determine the significance of these factors on contact duration.

Main Results:

• The initial stroking position significantly impacted touch duration, with the first position (O1) resulting in shorter contact (p < 0.0001).
• Initiating contact on the trunk (R2) led to significantly longer total contact duration (T) (p < 0.039).
• Location enrichment did not significantly affect contact duration (p = 0.179), suggesting goats' receptiveness to human touch is consistent across environments.

Conclusions:

• The initial phase of tactile interaction appears critical for overall contact duration.
• Goats may show a preference for tactile contact initiated on their trunk.
• Human contact remains attractive to goats irrespective of their environmental enrichment levels.