Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Aug 26;11(9):2510.
doi: 10.3390/ani11092510.

Infrared Thermography in the Study of Animals' Emotional Responses: A Critical Review

Tiziano Travain  1 , Paola Valsecchi  1
Affiliations
Review

Infrared Thermography in the Study of Animals' Emotional Responses: A Critical Review

Tiziano Travain et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Whether animals have emotions was historically a long-lasting question but, today, nobody disputes that they do. However, how to assess them and how to guarantee animals their welfare have become important research topics in the last 20 years. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a method to record the electromagnetic radiation emitted by bodies. It can indirectly assess sympathetic and parasympathetic activity via the modification of temperature of different body areas, caused by different phenomena such as stress-induced hyperthermia or variation in blood flow. Compared to other emotional activation assessment methods, IRT has the advantage of being noninvasive, allowing use without the risk of influencing animals' behavior or physiological responses. This review describes general principles of IRT functioning, as well as its applications in studies regarding emotional reactions of domestic animals, with a brief section dedicated to the experiments on wildlife; it analyzes potentialities and possible flaws, confronting the results obtained in different taxa, and discusses further opportunities for IRT in studies about animal emotions.

Keywords: animal emotions; husbandry system; infrared thermography; laboratory animals; pets; stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart for selection of studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Speakman J.R., Ward S. Infrared thermography: Principles and applications. Zoology. 1998;101:224–232.
    1. Starr C., Evers C.A., Starr L. Biology: Concepts and Applications; Brooks/Cole biology series; Illustrate; Thomson, Brooks/Cole: Boston, MA, USA, 2006. ISBN 978053446. :2239.
    1. Porter W.P., Gates D.M. Thermodynamic Equilibria of Animals with Environment. Ecol. Monogr. 1969;39:227–244. doi: 10.2307/1948545. - DOI
    1. Travain T., Colombo E.S., Heinzl E.U.L., Bellucci D., Prato Previde E., Valsecchi P. Hot dogs: Thermography in the assessment of stress in dogs (Canis familiaris)—A pilot study. J. Vet. Behav. Clin. Appl. Res. 2015;10:17–23. doi: 10.1016/j.jveb.2014.11.003. - DOI
    1. Ijichi C., Evans L., Woods H., Yarnell K. The Right Angle: Validating a standardised protocol for the use of infra-red thermography of eye temperature as a welfare indicator. Anim. Welf. 2020;29:123–131. doi: 10.7120/09627286.29.2.123. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources