Table 3 Key to score used for kids recognition ability of twin-bearing does
Score Kid behaviour
5 Goes directly to own kids and stays
4 Goes to own kids after hesitating between the two pairs of twins
3 Goes to alien twins but switches to own twins and stays
2 Goes to alien twins and stays
1 Does not reach either pair of twins
of kids and parity of their dams had an effect on these behavioural parameters at 24–48 h post-partum. All comparisons were done at 5 level.
3. Results
The behavioural response of twin-born kids to separation from their dams when they had been prevented from sucking for 2 h is shown in Table 4. Out of the 48 kids tested,
Ž .
Ž .
32 67 had scores of 3 or more i.e. responded actively to separation from dams . The Ž
. age, sex and birthweight of kids did not have a significant effect P 0.05 on their
response to separation from dams. The responses of does to separation from their kids Ž
. were similar at 18, 24, 36 and 48 h Table 5 . The parity of the twin-bearing does also
did not affect their response to separation from their kids.
Table 4 The effects of age, sex and birthweight on the behavioural response of twin-born kids to separation from dams
when they had not sucked for 2 h
2
Groups of kids Response to separation score
x Total number
Ž .
5 of kids
1 2
3 4
5 Age h
18 2
3 2
1 8
24 3
2 4
2 3
14 36
1 2
2 4
5 14
48 3
2 2
5 12
Sex 24 – 48 h Male
3 4
4 3
6 0.787
20 Female
1 3
4 5
7 0.787
20 Birthweight 24 – 48 h
Low 3
6 7
5 8
0.607 29
High 1
1 1
3 5
0.607 11
x
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.560. x
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.188. x
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.147. x
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.586. x
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.375. x
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.787.
Table 5 The effects of hours post-partum and parity on the behavioural response of twin-bearing does to separation
from their kids when the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
2
Groups of does Response to separation score
x Total number
Ž .
5 of does
1 2
3 4
5 Hours post-partum
18 2
2 4
24 2
1 1
3 7
36 1
1 2
3 7
48 1
2 3
6 Parity 18 – 48 h
Primiparous 4
1 4
1 0.136
10 Multiparous
1 2
4 2
5 0.136
14 x
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.087. x
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.284. x
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.065. x
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.225. x
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.518. v
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.241.
The effects of age, sex and birthweight on the ability of twin-born kids to recognize their dams when they had not sucked for 2 h are shown in Table 6. Out of the 48
Ž .
twin-born kids tested at 18, 24, 36 and 48 h post-partum, only 17 35 were able to Ž
. recognize their dams i.e., had scores of 3 or more . There was, however, a trend of
increasing ability of twin-born kids to recognize their dams with increasing age. At 18 h, none of the eight kids tested was able to recognize its dam while at 24 and 36 h, four out
of 14 animals in each age group were able to recognize their dams. At 48 h, nine out of
Table 6 The effects of age, sex and birthweight on the ability of twin-born kids to recognize their dams in a two-choice
situation when they had not sucked for 2 h
2
Ž .
Group of kids Doe recognition score
x 5
Total number of kids 1
2 3
4 5
Age h 18
7 1
8 24
8 2
1 2
1 14
36 8
2 2
1 1
14 48
2 1
1 2
6 12
Sex 24 – 48 h Male
9 3
1 3
4 0.844
20 Female
9 2
3 2
4 0.844
20 Birthweight 24 – 48 h
Low 13
4 2
5 5
0.485 29
High 5
1 2
3 0.485
11 x
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.560. x
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.560. x
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.022. x
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.955. x
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.116. x
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.089.
Table 7 The effects of hours post-partum and parity on the ability of twin-bearing does to recognize their kids when
the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
2
Groups of does Kid recognition score
x Total number
Ž .
5 of does
1 2
3 4
5 Hours post-partum
18 2
1 1
4 24
1 2
1 3
7 36
1 3
1 2
7 48
3 3
6 Parity 18 – 48 h
Primiparous 3
2 4
1 0.074
10 Multiparous
1 1
4 1
7 0.074
14 x
2
between 18 and 24 h s 0.380. x
2
between 18 and 36 h s 0.437. x
2
between 18 and 48 h s 0.076. x
2
between 24 and 36 h s 0.940. x
2
between 24 and 48 h s 0.267. x
2
between 36 and 48 h s 0.161.
12 kids tested were able to recognize their dams and this dam recognition ability was Ž
. significantly higher
P - 0.05 than that of 18-h-old kids. Sex and birthweight of Ž
. 24–48-h-old kids did not significantly affect P 0.05 their ability to recognize their
Ž dam in a two-choice situation. In contrast to the kids, the majority of does tested i.e., 20
. Ž
. out of 24 were able to recognize their twin-born kids Table 7 . The hours post-partum
Ž .
and parity of the does did not significantly affect P 0.05 their kid recognition ability.
4. Discussion
