Does the scan sampling method reflect the actual behavioral frequency of pigs?

Animal behavior studies employ various methodologies to collect the frequency of activities during observations. The use of video recording technologies as a way to facilitate the observation of several animals at the same time, eliminate doubts among observers, and optimize the observation time contributes to proper analysis of data. The intervals between observations in behavioral studies vary according to the animal species and purpose of the study. This research aimed to study the behavior of pigs in the growth phase using different observation intervals (continuous, 5, and 10 min). In a pen with 46 animals, 14 female and male pigs were identified, which were observed using the focal animal sampling method for 5 h. The treatments were the observations intervals, namely: T1 = continuous, T2 = every 5 min, and T3 = every 10 min. It was seen that, among the behaviors analyzed during the experiment, the different observation intervals did not impact the time the animals spent in the activities.