The social behaviour of sheep.

Fisher, Adam R.; Matthews, Leroy

doi:10.1079/9780851993973.0211

Cited by 40 publications

(36 citation statements)

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“…Identification of QTL for emotional traits has previously been performed on laboratory animals [34], and was recently extended to the study of reactions to humans in cattle [17,42].…”

Section: Adjusted Means and P Values In Italicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example in livestock, routine management procedures such as shearing, castration and transportation can trigger fear and anxiety [21,22,48]. Even if they generally require brief social isolation, they can be highly stressful for domestic ruminants [5] which are gregarious [7,17]. Moreover, excessive fear may lead to the development of chronic stress and decreased productivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic analysis of emotional reactivity in sheep: effects of the genotypes of the lambs and of their dams

et al. 2005

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-A total of 1347 weaned lambs from eight genotypes were tested over five consecutive years: Romanov (ROM) and Lacaune (LAC) pure breeds, the two F1 crossbreeds (RL and LR) and the offspring of ewes from these four genotypes sired with Berrichon-du-Cher rams (BCF). The lambs were individually exposed to three challenging tests involving novelty, human contact and social isolation. Ten synthetic variables were used to express social reactivity (i.e., active vs. passive strategy), exploratory activity and reactivity to humans. BCF crossbreds were more active (i.e., high bleats, locomotion and attempts to escape) than purebreds and F1. In contrast, ROM expressed more passive responses (i.e., low bleats and vigilance postures) than LAC and BCF crossbreds. In addition, ROM approached a motionless human less and had longer flight distances to an approaching human than did LAC and BCF crossbreds. When restrained, ROM, and to a lesser extent B×ROM and B×LR, avoided human contact more than did LAC, RL and B×LAC. Most of these differences were explained by direct additive genetic effects while maternal influences or heterosis effects were rarely significant. The highest heritability was for high bleats (h 2 = 0.48). Females were more active and avoided human contact more than did males.genetics / emotional reactivity / human contact / social isolation / sheep

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“…Identification of QTL for emotional traits has previously been performed on laboratory animals [34], and was recently extended to the study of reactions to humans in cattle [17,42].…”

Section: Adjusted Means and P Values In Italicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic analysis of emotional reactivity in sheep: effects of the genotypes of the lambs and of their dams

et al. 2005

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“…In addition, besides its influence on the responses towards potentially dangerous situations, excessive fear may also lead to develop chronic stress known to alter fundamental behaviors (social, sexual and parental relationships) and reduce productivity in domestic herbivores. For instance, fear-related reactions affect sexual and maternal behaviors and social dominance ability in cattle and sheep [8,9]. Reducing the frequency of potential aversive events or providing additional positive experiences to the animals, such as handling or training (reviewed by Hemsworth and Coleman [10]) may help to make the environment more suitable for livestock.…”

Section: Part 1 -Justification and Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses

Forkman¹,

Boissy

Meunier-Salaün

et al. 2007

Physiology & Behavior

753

626

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FORKMAN, B., A., BOISSY, M.-C., SALAÜN, E., CANALI, AND R.B., JONES. A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses. PHYSIOL. BEHAV. 000-000, 2007. Fear is arguably the most commonly investigated emotion in domestic animals. In the current review we attempt to establish the level of repeatability and validity found for fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, poultry and horses. We focus the review on the three most common types of fear tests: the arena test (open field), the novel object test, and the restraint test. For some tests, e.g. tonic immobility in poultry, there is a good and broad literature on factors that affect the outcome of the test, the validity of the test and its age dependency. However, there are comparatively few of these well defined and validated tests and what is especially missing for most tests is information on the robustness, i.e., what aspects can be changed without affecting the validity of the tests. The relative absence of standardized tests hampers the development of applied ethology as a science.

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“…licking and rubbing for cattle (Bouissou and Andrieu, 1978) and rubbing for sheep (Fisher and Matthews, 2001), to assess affinitive relationships between pairs of individuals. We collected 792 positive interactions in heifers in 39 days and 107 events in ewes in 36 days using all-occurrence sampling.…”

Section: Social Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and social determinants of spontaneous group movements in cattle and sheep

Ramseyer

Boissy

Thierry

et al. 2009

Animal

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Group-living animals travel together to collectively exploit the resources of their environment. This study investigates how social relationships and individual temperament traits affect movement orders in domestic cattle and sheep. We analysed spontaneous group movements occurring at pasture after a resting period in a group of 15 18-month-old Charolais heifers and a group of 19 1-year-old Romane ewe-lambs. For each species, animals had similar social experience and no kinship ties. Before that, animals were observed within the group to establish their social status (e.g. dominance and preferential relationships, and sociability), then in individual tests in order to assess their emotional traits. In both species, most individuals could initiate a group movement but some individuals were more successful than others in recruiting the rest of the group. Ewe-lambs, and to a lesser extent heifers, held preferential positions during travel. We did not find any significant correlations in either species between animal order and their position in the dominance hierarchy (heifers: P 5 0.438; ewe-lambs: P 5 0.574) while individuals linked by preferential bonds frequently followed each other during group movements (heifers: P , 0.001; ewe-lambs: P , 0.001). With regard to social traits, heifers with a low cohesion index, and with a lower number of partners with whom they develop frequent affinitive interactions, acted more frequently as 'first movers' ( P 5 0.040 and 0.023, respectively), as well as did ewe-lambs with a high spatial independency index ( P 5 0.002). Ewe-lambs with the highest cohesion indices were more frequently observed in front of the group while moving halfway between departure and arrival ( P 5 0.028). We did not find significant correlations between individual positions during group movements and emotional traits such as reactivity, boldness and fearfulness. We conclude that preferential bonds and individual traits related to social dependence were more influential in spontaneous group movements at pasture than were emotional traits and dominance status.

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The social behaviour of sheep.

Cited by 40 publications

References 0 publications

Genetic analysis of emotional reactivity in sheep: effects of the genotypes of the lambs and of their dams

Genetic analysis of emotional reactivity in sheep: effects of the genotypes of the lambs and of their dams

A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses

Individual and social determinants of spontaneous group movements in cattle and sheep

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