The influence of human posture and movement on the approach and escape behaviour of weanling pigs

This study examined the influence of human posture and movement on the behaviour of pigs. Thirty-six 3-week-old crossbred (Duroc x Large White) weanling pigs from five litters were used. In order to identify the main cues that pigs use when interacting with humans, several tests were conducted. Responses to a dummy and a walking human were studied in Experiment 1, and responses to a human looking over a partition and a human approaching and withdrawing were studied in Experiment 2. Latency to initiated tactile contact with a dummy lying face down (LFD) was significantly (P < 0.01) shorter than that with a dummy standing straight (SS) or a dummy stooping down (SD) at distances of 1 m and 2 m, Latency to contact in SS treatment was significantly (P < 0.01) longer than that to SD treatment at a distance of 1 m, but there was no significant difference in latency to the two postures at 2 m. A flight zone toward humans existed in the pigs. The height of a partition which screened a human did not influence the response of the pigs. The pigs showed less (P < 0.05) withdrawal to a human moving away than to a human approaching, and they spent significantly (P < 0.05) more time in close proximity of a human in a quadrupedal posture than a human in a standing posture. In conclusion, posture, distance, type of movement and direction of approach of a human affect a pig's fear response.