Adult-Young Ratio, a Major Factor Regulating Social Behaviour of Young: A Horse Study

Bourjade, Marie; Roches, Alice de Boyer Des; Hausberger, Martine

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004888

Cited by 38 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…West et al, 2003), appear therefore to play a crucial role in order for the young to develop the typical low level/low rate of aggression typical of natural social groups. In a study performed on natural family bands of Przewalski horses, Bourjade et al (2009a) found that the overall rate of aggression towards peers in 1 and 2 year old horses was negatively correlated with the adult-young ratio. When this ratio was low (less adults present), the young horses showed more aggressiveness, more segregation from adults and more bonding with same age partners.…”

Section: Development Of Social Skillsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Berger, 1977;Bourjade et al, 2009a;Feh, 1999;Salter and Hudson, 1982). Finally, family bands may group temporarily with other bands, especially in winter when risks of predation may increase.…”

Section: Stable Group Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As much broadly defined, the function of dominance would be to regulate conflicts over coveted resources of any kind, lowering aggressiveness and social tensions as the result of the predictability of contest outcomes (Rutberg and Greenberg, 1990), thus reducing the risk of injury while interacting (Bourjade et al, 2009a;Keiper and Sambraus, 1986).…”

Section: Stable Dominance Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bourjade et al, 2009a). Of course, the first social bond a foal forms is with its mother: a short time before giving birth, the mare stays away from the group for one to a few days in a place where the mare will give birth (Estep et al, 1993;vanDierendonck et al, 2004) and establishes an exclusive bond with her foal.…”

Section: Development Of Social Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As mares are tolerant towards their young, young may then not learn from her how to respect social rules and adult's dominance, a general feature in natural conditions (e.g. Bourjade et al, 2009a). Christensen et al (2002a) have showed that young stallions deprived of social contact during their development exhibited more agonistic behaviours towards other young stallions when regrouped at the age of two years than peers raised in a group all along.…”

Section: The Importance Of Social Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

Fureix

Bourjade²,

Henry

et al. 2012

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms 1 Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballusAbstract. Horses are highly social animals that have evolved to live in social groups.However, in modern husbandry systems, single housing prevails where horses experience social isolation, a challenge-to-welfare factor. One major reason for this single housing is the owners' concerns that horses may injure each other during aggressive encounters. However, in natural conditions, serious injuries due to aggressive encounters are rare. What could therefore explain the claimed risks of group living for domestic horses? Basing our questioning on the current knowledge of the social life of horses in natural conditions, we review different practices that may lead to higher levels of aggression in horses and propose practical solutions.Observations of natural and feral horses mostly indicate a predominance of low frequencies and mild forms of aggression, based on subtle communication signals and ritualized displays and made possible by group stability (i.e. stable composition), dominance hierarchy and learning of appropriate social skills by young horses. Obviously, adults play a major role here in canalizing undesirable behaviours, and social experience during development, associated with a diversity of social partners, seems to be a prerequisite for the young horse to become socially skilled.Given the natural propensity of horses to have a regulation of aggression in groups, the tendency to display more aggression in groups of domestic horses under some management practices seems clearly related to the conditions offered. We therefore review the managing practices that could trigger aggressiveness in horses. Non social practices (space, resource availability) and social practices (group size, stability of membership, composition and opportunities for social experiences during development) in groups of domestic horses are discussed here.2 Finally, we propose simple practical solutions leading to more peaceful interactions in groups of domestic horses, based on the knowledge of horses' natural social life which therefore should be enhanced (e.g. ensuring roughage availability, favouring group stability,, introducing socially experienced adults in groups of young horses;…). The state of the art indicates that many questions still need to be answered. Given the importance of the associated welfare issues and the consequences on the use of horses, further research is required, which could benefit horses… and humans.

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Section: Development Of Social Skillsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Stable Group Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stable Dominance Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Development Of Social Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Importance Of Social Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

Fureix

Bourjade²,

Henry

et al. 2012

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

References

2024

Domestic Animal Behavior for Veterinarians and Animal Scientists

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Deprivation of direct adult contact during development affects social representation in a songbird

Perret¹,

George²,

Coulon³

et al. 2021

Developmental Psychobiology

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Social cognition involves a wide array of skills that are built largely through interactions with conspecifics and therefore depend upon early social experience. Motivation for social stimuli is a key feature of social behavior and an operant conditioning task showed that isolated wild-caught adult starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are highly motivated to access pictures of other starlings. Here, we show that hand-raised adult starlings maintained in groups of peers throughout development but without any contact with adult models were not or only poorly motivated to access pictures of conspecifics. Moreover, they did not prefer pictures of starlings to pictures of landscapes, unlike birds wild-caught as adults. These results raise questions about the role of social experience during development, particularly with adult models, in the development of social motivation and of social representation in general.

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Adult-Young Ratio, a Major Factor Regulating Social Behaviour of Young: A Horse Study

Cited by 38 publications

References 33 publications

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

References

Deprivation of direct adult contact during development affects social representation in a songbird

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