Table 3 Key to score used for kid recognition ability of single bearing does
Score Doe behaviour
5 Goes directly to own kid and stays
4 Goes to own kid after hesitating between the 2 kids and stays
3 Goes to alien kid first but switches to own kid and stays
2 Goes to alien kid and stays
1 Does not make contact with either kid
behavioural response to separation exhibited by does and their kids and on their mutual recognition. The procedure was also used to determine whether the sex and birth weight
of kids and parity of their dams had an effect on these behavioural parameters at 48 h post-partum. All comparisons were at 5 level.
3. Results
The results of the preliminary study where kids were not prevented from sucking before they were separated from their dams are shown in Tables 4 and 5. The majority
of both kids and does exhibited apparent minimal concern to separation and also did not Ž
. seek each other in the recognition test. Out of 28 kids tested, 26 93 had scores of less
Table 4 The response of kids to separation from dams and ability to recognize dams when they have had access to the
dam’s teats Ž .
Age h Response to separation score
Doe recognition score Total number
of kids 1
2 3
4 5
1 2
3 4
5 18
5 1
6 6
24 4
2 6
6 36
5 1
1 6
1 7
48 6
2 1
8 1
9
Table 5 The response of does to separation from kids and ability to recognize kids when kids have had access to the
dam’s teats Hours post-
Response to separation score Kid recognition score
Total number Ž .
partum h of does
1 2
3 4
5 1
2 3
4 5
18 3
1 1
5 5
24 3
2 5
5 36
4 1
1 6
6 48
3 1
1 4
1 5
Table 6 The effects of age, sex and birth weight on the behavioural response of single-born kids to separation from
dams when they had not sucked for 2 h
2
Ž .
Groups of kids Response to separation score
X 5
Total number of kids 1
2 3
4 5
Age h
U
18 1
3 1
2 7
U
24 1
4 5
10
U
36 1
4 1
8 14
U
48 2
3 1
19 25
Sex 48 h Male
1 3
1 11
0.436 16
Female 1
8 0.436
9 Birth weight 48 h
Low 2
1 1
12 0.404
16 High
2 7
0.404 9
U
X
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.060. X
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.663. X
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.046. X
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.054. X
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.059. X
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.296.
Ž .
than 3 in the response to separation test while 27 96 had scores of less than 3 in the dam recognition test. The behaviour of the dams followed the same pattern. Eighteen out
Ž .
of the 21 does 86 had scores of less than 3 in the response to separation test while 20 Ž
. 95 had scores of less than 3 in the kid recognition test.
The effects of age, sex and birth weight on the response of single-born kids to separation from their dams when they had been prevented from sucking for 2 h are
shown in Table 6. The response of 48-h-old kids to separation from their dams was
Table 7 The effects of hours post-partum and parity on the bahavioural response of single-bearing does to separation
from their kids when the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
2
Ž .
Groups of does Response to separation score
X 5
Total number of does 1
2 3
4 5
Hours post-partum h
U
18 1
4 2
7
U
24 4
1 2
3 10
U
36 1
1 3
2 7
14
U
48 1
2 5
11 6
25 Parity 48 h
Primiparous 1
1 1
2 4
0.167 9
Multiparous 1
4 9
2 0.167
16
U
X
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.157. X
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.219. X
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.536. X
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.067. X
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.055. X
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.356.
Table 8 The effects of age, sex and birth weight on the ability of single-born kids to recognize their dams in a two
choice situation when they had not sucked for 2 h
2
Ž .
Groups of kids Doe recognition score
X 5
Total number of kids 1
2 3
4 5
Age h
U
18 3
3 1
7
U
24 5
1 2
2 10
U
36 3
2 2
4 3
14
U
48 3
5 5
12 25
Sex 48 h Male
2 4
5 5
0.113 16
Female 1
1 7
0.113 9
Birth weight 48 h Low
3 4
1 8
0.090 16
High 1
4 4
0.090 9
U
X
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.333. X
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.211. X
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.001. X
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.414. X
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.002. X
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.296.
Ž .
significantly higher P - 0.05 than that of 18-h-old kids. Sex and birth weight did not Ž
. have a significant effect P 0.05 on the response of 48-h-old kids to separation from
their dams. The response of does to separation from their kids was similar at 18, 24, 36 Ž
. and 48 h post-partum Table 7 . Parity also did not affect the response of does to
separation from their kids at 48 h post-partum. There was a trend of increasing ability of single-born kids to recognize their dams
Ž .
with increasing age Table 8 . At 18 h, only one out of seven kids tested was able to
Table 9 The effects of hours post-partum and parity on the ability of single bearing does to recognize their kids when
the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
2
Ž .
Groups of does Kid recognition score
X 5
Total number of does 1
2 3
4 5
Hours post-partum h
U
18 2
3 2
7
U
24 4
1 3
1 1
10
U
36 2
2 3
7 14
U
48 2
3 1
8 11
25 Parity 48 h
Primiparous 2
1 4
2 0.176
9 Multiparous
2 1
4 9
0.176 16
U
X
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.486. X
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.025. X
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.009. X
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.059. X
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.015. X
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.850.
Ž .
Ž .
recognize its dam i.e., had a score of 3 or more while at 48 h, 22 out of 25 88 kids were able to recognize their dams within the 5-min test period. The dam recognition
Ž .
ability of 48-h-old kids was significantly higher P - 0.05 than that of 18- and 24-h-old Ž
. kids. Sex and birth weight did not significantly P 0.05 affect the ability of 48-h-old
single-born kids to recognize their dams. Does tested at 48 h post partum had a Ž
. significantly higher P - 0.05 kid recognition score than those tested at 18 and 24 h
Ž .
post-partum, while those tested at 36 h also had a significantly higher P - 0.05 kid Ž
. Ž
. recognition score than those tested at 18 h Table 9 . The majority 77 of does tested
Ž .
at 36 and 48 h were able to recognize their kids had scores of 3 or more . In contrast, Ž
. only 41 7 out of 17 of does tested at 18 and 24 h were able to recognize their kids.
At 48 h post-partum, the parity of dams did not have an effect on their ability to recognize their kids.
4. Discussion
