TEMPERAMENT AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS IN FARMBRED SILVER FOXES HOUSED WITH AND WITHOUT PLATFORMS

Human, strike, pencil, confrontation, feeding, and disturbance tests w ere used to study fear-motivated behaviour in farmed silver foxes (Vul pes vulpes), housed with and without wooden platforms. The results sho wed that the number of fearful animals was highest and lowest in the c onfrontation and feeding tests, respectively. Foxes that had used plat forms most frequently before the behavioural tests, were also most oft en found on platforms during the tests. Temperament differences betwee n control and platform animals were slight. Only the human test gave s tatistically significant (p < 0.05) confirmation that animals housed w ith platforms were less fearful of humans than those housed without pl atforms. The fear index (FI), based on all other rests except for the disturbance test, showed that the number of fearless individuals was e qual (FI = 0.50) in both the platform and control groups. Regardless o f the testing, breedings and whelpings succeeded equally well in fearf ul and fearless vixens. Only the feeding test. showed a tendency (p < 0.08) for higher kit mortality in fearful vixens. During severe distur bances, 47.4 % of the experimental animals used the platforms for hidi ng. It is obvious that the temperament of farmed silver foxes is not s ubstantially affected by the presence of a platform in the cage, but t hat platforms would otherwise promote animal welfare by providing the possibility for more complex behaviours and a place of refuge.