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Senior Researcher
Dr Rick D'Eath (opens in new window)
Research Interests
As a behavioural scientist, I study behaviour as a way of measuring Animal Welfare , and to understand and solve welfare problems which involve behaviour in captive animals, particularly farmed livestock.
My research interests include animal temperament, in particular social behaviour, using animal motivation and preferences to assess welfare and measuring health and welfare on-farm.
I studied Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford in 1993 (BA 1st class) and stayed on there to do my DPhil "Social recognition of flockmates in laying hens" supervised by Dr Marian Dawkins .
I then worked as a post-doctoral research scientist at SLU in Sweden with Dr Linda Keeling before taking up my present position at SAC.
Research Projects
Animal personality and temperament
I have worked for several years on the question of aggressive social behaviour in pigs. I work closely with my SAC colleague, Dr Simon Turner , on this area. We are interested in the role of development and genetic factors in pig aggression, and in the feasibility of commercial selection for reduced aggression. I also collaborate with Dr Simone Meddle at the University of Edinburgh (Roslin Institute) on the neuroendocrine basis of pig aggression.
Scottish Government WP5.3 'improved livestock production' provides funding for ongoing work on social behaviour in pigs, and for investigating the problem of mounting behaviour in finisher pigs.
On-farm measurement of health and welfare
This involves developing and validating measurement and sampling methodologies that work on a farm scale. Past work includes work on locomotion scoring of sows. Scottish Government WP6.3 'animal welfare' funds work on developing on-farm welfare measures in dairy cows based on the EU Welfare Quality protocols.
Measuring hunger and enhancing satiety
Hunger is an issue in restricted-fed animals (e.g. broiler breeders and sows). We are primarily using animal choices and motivation as a welfare assessment tool (previously applied to laboratory rabbits), and also to explore the possible welfare benefits of alternative diets (i.e. qualitative rather than quantitative restriction).
Defra “Quantifying the subjective state of feed restricted broiler chickens using behavioural and neurochemical measures” with Bert Tolkamp and Vicky Sandilands. In collaboration with Newcastle University (Melissa Bateson, Tim Boswell, Tom Smulders) and Roslin Institute (Edinburgh University; Ian Dunn). Laura Dixon (SAC) is the postdoctoral scientist on this project.
PhD student Louise Buckley "Choices for hungry broiler breeders: Do they prefer qualitative food restriction to quantitative food restriction?" Also supervising are Bert Tolkamp and Vicky Sandilands at SAC, and Paul Hocking at the Roslin Institute. Funded by UFAW.
Scottish Government WP6.3 'animal welfare' funds work on diet choices and satiety in rats, humans and sows in collaboration with Julian Mercer and Alex Johnstone at Rowett.
Teaching
I teach scientific methodology (primarily simple statistics), molecular genetics of behaviour and supervise dissertation projects for the Edinburgh University MSc Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare
Selected Publications
- D’Eath, R.B., Conington, J., Lawrence, A.B., Olsson, I.A.S., Sandøe, P. (2010) Breeding for behavioural change in farm animals: Practical, economic and ethical considerations. Animal Welfare 19(S) 17-27
- Turner, S.P., D’Eath, R.B., Roehe, R. and Lawrence, A.B. (2010) Selection against aggressiveness in pigs at re-grouping; practical application and implications for long-term behavioural patterns. Animal Welfare 19(S) 123-132
- D'Eath, R.B., Turner, S.P., Ison, S.H., Lawrence, A.B., Evans, G., Thölking, L. Looft, H., Kurt, E.; immers. K., Murani, E., Klont, R.; Foury, A. and Mormède, P. (2010) Pigs’ aggressive temperament affects pre-slaughter mixing aggression, stress and meat quality. Animal 4 (4): 604-616
- D’Eath, R.B., Roehe, R, Turner, S.P., Ison, S.H., Farish, M., Jack, M.C. and Lawrence, A.B. (2009) Genetics of animal temperament: aggressive behaviour at mixing is genetically associated with the response to handling in pigs. Animal 3(11): 1544-1554
- D’Eath, R.B. and Turner, S.P. (2009) The Natural Behaviour of the Pig. In: “The Welfare of the Pig” (ed) Marchant-Forde, Springer Science and Business Media B.V., Netherlands. Full Text
- D’Eath, R.B., Tolkamp, B.J., Kyriazakis, I. & Lawrence, A.B. (2009) ‘Freedom from hunger’ and preventing obesity: The animal welfare implications of reducing food quantity or quality. Animal Behaviour 77: 275-288. Full Text
- Sumner, B.E.H., D’Eath, R.B., Farnworth, M.J., Robson, S., Russell, J.A., Lawrence, A.B. & Jarvis, S. (2008) Early weaning results in less active behaviour, accompanied by lower 5-HT1A and higher 5-HT2A receptor mRNA expression in specific brain regions of female pigs. Psychoneuroendocrinology 33: 1077-1092. Full Text
- Seaman, S. C., N. K. Waran, G. Mason and R. B. D'Eath (2008). "Motivation of female laboratory rabbits to access a platform, social contact and food in a closed economy." Animal Behaviour 75(1): 31-42. Full Text
- Harris, A.P. D’Eath, R.B. & Healy, S.D. (2008) Sex differences, or not, in spatial cognition in albino rats: acute stress is the key. Animal Behaviour 76: 1579-1589. Full Text
- D'Eath, R. B., Ormandy, E., Lawrence, A. B., Sumner, B. E. H. and Meddle, S. L. (2005). Resident-intruder trait aggression is associated with differences in lysine vasopressin and serotonin receptor 1A (5-HT1A ) mRNA expression in the brain of pre-pubertal female domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). Journal of Neuroendocrinology 17: 679-686. Full Text