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The Pig Foraging Arena is a versatile setup designed for conducting various foraging experiments. It has been employed in research exploring animal social strategies, particularly in domestic pigs, using an experimental approach akin to natural foraging behaviors, known as the ‘informed forager’ paradigm.
During experiments, the arena was enclosed with galvanized metal sheets along its sides to prevent visibility into the arena from the home pens of the pigs. Positioned within the arena were eight buckets, securely mounted in the distal corners of four X-shaped structures arranged along the perimeter. Each X structure comprised two upright acrylic boards forming a cross shape. Within each bucket, 400 g of feed was placed and covered with wire mesh.
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The Pig Foraging Arena is designed to study foraging behaviors in pigs, who are social foragers often learning about feeding sites from their family groups (Figueroa, Solà-Oriol, Manteca, & Pérez, 2013; Oostindjer et al., 2011). Additionally, pigs establish dominance hierarchies within their groups, significantly affecting both their individual foraging decisions and the behaviors of their peers (Held et al., 2010). The arena itself is a spacious Open-Field Arena equipped with X-shaped mounts that hold reward buckets around its perimeter. Social behaviors are frequently evaluated using the informed forager paradigm, where a trained pig familiar with the reward buckets is tested alongside an untrained pig.
Beyond studying socially influenced foraging behaviors, the Pig Foraging Arena can be used to assess spatial navigation and memory in pigs. The flexibility of the setup allows for varying the number and arrangement of reward buckets to adjust the difficulty of the tasks. The buckets are equipped with wire mesh covers to separate the pig feed inside from the food bait on top, thereby minimizing the influence of olfactory cues.
The spaciousness of the arena and the use of appetitive rewards help reduce stress for the subjects during training and testing. The Pig Foraging Arena can also be adapted for different experimental protocols, such as preference testing. Other apparatus used to evaluate pig behaviors include the Pig T-maze, the Piglet Removable Y-Maze, the Pig 8 Arm Radial Maze, the Pig Open Field, and the Pig Hebb-Williams Maze.
The Pig Foraging Arena features a testing area measuring 5.7 x 12 meters, with walls made of galvanized metal sheets. A start box connects the arena to the pen room via a corridor, separated from the main arena by a manually operated flap. The floor of the arena is marked with a 1 x 1 meter grid. Along the perimeter of the arena are four X-shaped mounts, each constructed from boards that are 60 cm high. Each mount is designed to hold a bucket in each corner, with each bucket covered by a removable wire mesh cover where food bait can be placed. The arena includes four gates, positioned on its sides, for exit.
Clean the arena after every trial. Appropriately light the arena. A tracking and recording system such as the Noldus Ethovision XT can be used to assist with observations.
Below is a sample protocol for assessing the social influences on foraging behaviors in informed and non-informed pairs. This protocol utilizes eight reward buckets, with each mount holding two buckets placed at the distal corners.
Place bait in four of the buckets within the arena. Introduce pairs of subjects to the foraging arena, allowing them to familiarize themselves with the environment and consume the food reward. Repeat this process the next day. On the subsequent day, bait only two buckets and allow the subjects to explore the arena individually. Conclude each trial by removing the subject once all the food has been consumed or after 10 minutes have elapsed.
The goal of training trials is to establish subjects as either informed or non-informed foragers. For the informed forager, conduct both search and relocation trials, while for the non-informed forager, conduct only search trials. Each day, perform two training trials with a one-hour inter-trial interval. Continue this process until the informed pig meets the learning criterion.
Bait one of the eight buckets with food. Take the subject from its home pen and guide it to the start box. Release the subject from the start box to explore the arena. Once the subject finds and consumes the food, remove it from the arena and return it to the start box to begin the relocation trial for the informed forager. For the non-informed forager, return it directly to its home pen.
Wipe the previously baited bucket and bait the same bucket again. Release the subject from the start box and allow it to explore the arena. Lead the subject out of the arena after it finds and eats the food bait.
Bait one of the buckets in the arena. Remove an informed forager from its home pen and lead it to the start box. Release the subject from the start box and allow it to explore the arena. Lead the subject out of the arena after it finds and eats the food bait.
Held et al. (2010) explored the foraging strategies used by subordinate pigs in the presence of different types of dominant co-foragers. They divided thirty juvenile Large White × Landrace pigs into groups of six, with each group containing two light subordinates (30 kg) and four heavier dominants (40 kg). These pigs were tested in the Pig Foraging Arena, featuring 12 buckets positioned in the distal corners of four X-mounts. Two buckets were baited: one with a large amount of food and the other with a small amount. The subordinate pigs received informed forager training, while the dominant pigs only participated in search trials. The dominants were split into two groups: non-informed (NI) and non-follower (NF). For NI dominants, a different bucket was baited in each trial, whereas the same bucket was consistently baited for NF pigs.
During the testing phase, subordinates performed search trials first, then paired with either an NI or NF dominant for their relocation trial. The results showed that in the I-NI tests, informed (I) pigs had no significant preference for retrieving either bait first. However, in the I-NF tests, I-pigs tended to retrieve the larger bait first. The order in which the I-pigs visited the baits did not affect the total time spent at the baits or feeding. Additional observations revealed that during I-NI tests, the dominants often displaced the I-pigs from one or both buckets. In contrast, during I-NF tests, I-pigs were never displaced from the baited buckets, and NF dominants did not follow or attempt to steal the bait.
Held, Baumgartner, KilBride, Byrne, and Mendl (2005) assessed the spatial memory capabilities of nine juvenile female Large White × Landrace pigs using the Pig Foraging Arena. The setup involved eight buckets positioned at the distal corners of the X-mount, with two of these buckets baited—one with a large amount of food and the other with a smaller amount, accompanied by a brick as an obstacle. The study was divided into two experiments. In the first, the pigs were allowed to retrieve both baits during their relocation visit. In the second, they were restricted to retrieving only one of the two baits.
The results from the first experiment showed that pigs visited more buckets during search trials than during relocation trials, and all pigs successfully located the two baited buckets. There was no significant preference for retrieving either bait first. However, in the second experiment, the pigs showed a clear preference for retrieving the larger bait first. Further control trials involved four pigs, where bricks were placed in both the large and small bait buckets, and the pigs were again restricted to choosing only one bucket during relocation. The subjects continued to prefer the bucket with the larger bait.
The following can be observed using the Pig Foraging Arena:
The Pig Foraging Arena provides flexibility in arranging bucket placements and adjusting their numbers, enabling the investigation of spatial navigation and memory abilities in pigs. Its spacious design accommodates multiple subjects simultaneously, facilitating the assessment of social dynamics affecting behaviors such as foraging. Moreover, the arena can be customized for various experimental protocols, including studies on preference behaviors. The buckets are equipped with mesh covers that allow the placement of feed or substances underneath, thereby minimizing olfactory cues and supporting experiments where access to rewards needs to be controlled. With four exit points, the arena allows quick removal of subjects, which is beneficial for experiments requiring strict reward choice restrictions.
The subject’s exploratory motivation plays a crucial role in task completion. When testing subordinate and dominant pairs, the dominant group’s presence could potentially disrupt the subordinate’s task performance due to stress. Moreover, task performance might be influenced by residual odor trails from prior trials or unintended stimuli in the environment. Variables such as age, gender, or strain of the subjects could also impact their performance in the task.
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