Applied ethology—it's task and limits in veterinary practice

In the animal welfare laws of several European countries terms such as `appropriate for the animals' behaviour' and `freedom of movement for the activity needs of the animals' occur. When a veterinarian has to decide whether the conditions in a husbandry system are animal specific or not, he first looks at the hygienic conditions. The reason is: the veterinarian has learned about hygiene, but not about ethology. Ethology has 2 aspects. It is, like anatomy and physiology, part of the biology of an animal and like these subjects, it should be taught at the beginning of the veterinary curriculum. The amount of teaching in ethology should be similar to that of anatomy and physiology. In this part of the course the ethograms of all domesticated species should be considered. There is also a quantitative component that includes questions like: how often can a bull mate in a day? Or: how often does a calf suck from its mother in a day? In this part of his course the veterinarian-to-be must also learn how to handle animals. In the clinical part of the study of veterinary medicine abnormal behaviour and its therapy should be considered. An abnormal behaviour is a substantial and continuing deviation from the behavioural norm. Such deviations may include: altered behaviour patterns, actions at non-adequate objects, actions without object (vacuum activity); and apathy. Some examples are mentioned, where abnormal behaviour patterns occur in different function circles. Despite a clear definition in some cases it is impossible to decide whether a behaviour pattern is abnormal or if it is an adaptation to a special situation. As an example, food flinging in cattle is mentioned.