Social cohesion in groups of sheep: Effect of activity level, sex composition and group size

Michelena, Pablo; Gautrais, Jacques; Gérard, Jean‐François; Bon, Richard; Deneubourg, Jean‐Louis

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.06.020

Cited by 51 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Activity levels and grazing time are important factors in determining spatial distribution patterns of herbivores and (Michelena et al, 2008). Although grazing time varied significantly between treatments in our experiment, it was not found to have a corresponding effect on spatial distribution patterns or distance travelled.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Domestic sheep are a highly social species that normally graze on heterogenous pasture (Penning et al, 1991) and their spatial distribution pattern is influenced by a number of factors (Arnold and Maller, 1985;Michelena et al, 2008;Sibbald et al, 2008). Sheep show strong social attraction behaviour and are more likely to move towards each other in order to forage the same patch (Dumont and Boissy, 2000;Sibbald et al, 2008) and show reluctance to move away from a group in order to feed (Sibbald et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial distribution patterns of sheep following manipulation of feeding motivation and food availability

Freire

Swain

Friend

2012

Animal

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We hypothesised that (i) increased feeding motivation will cause sheep to move further apart as a result of individuals trying to find food and (ii) in conditions of high food availability, sheep will move less and show greater social attraction. The effects of both feeding motivation and food availability on spatial distribution was examined in eight groups of food-deprived (high feeding motivation) and satiated (low feeding motivation) sheep in good or poor food resource plots in a 2 3 2 design. Distance travelled was assessed using Global Positioning System collars, grazing time using scan sampling and social cohesion using proximity collars that record the number and duration of encounters within 4 m. Food-deprived sheep in the good-resource plots grazed the most, whereas satiated sheep in the poor-resource plots grazed the least (P 5 0.004). Food deprivation had no significant effect on the number or duration of encounters and feeding motivation appeared to have little effect on spatial distribution. Contrary to expectation, sheep had more encounters (P 5 0.04) of a longer total duration (P 5 0.02) in poor-resource plots than in good-resource plots, indicating that sheep were showing more social cohesion if food was scarce. Our findings suggest that when food is scarce, animals may come together in an attempt to share information on food availability. However, when a highly preferred food is abundant and well dispersed, they may move apart in order to maximise the intake. It is concluded that the particular details of our experiment, namely the even distribution or absence of a highly preferred food, affected spatial distribution patterns as sheep tried to find this food and maximise the intake.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial distribution patterns of sheep following manipulation of feeding motivation and food availability

Freire

Swain

Friend

2012

Animal

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“…Se ha estudiado la proximidad física espacial entre ponies (Robertts 1998) y las relaciones entre actividad, sexo, edad y tamaño del rebaño en carneros (Michelena et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Empleo de redes sociales para el análisis de las relaciones entre dominancia y leucocitospermia en carneros con estrés experimental

Fariña

Hernández

et al. 2015

redes

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El análisis de datos para generar redes ha sido empleado en epidemiologia y medicina preventiva, para conocer las relaciones e interacciones entre los integrantes de un núcleo social, evidenciando los factores que modifican al individuo, su rebaño o a la población completa. No hay aplicación del análisis de redes sobre las relaciones que se generan entre los datos obtenidos mediante estudios de etología y fisiología. El presente trabajo evalúa las relaciones entre la tasa de dominancia y la leucocitospermia, para observar la variación de las constantes y su injerencia sobre las otras, antes y después de un estímulo estresante en carneros adultos clínicamente sanos y libres de enfermedades genitourinarias. Mientras que la estadística descriptiva permite conocer las diferencias y correlaciónes entre los datos obtenidos, el análisis de redes permite observar en una gráfica en dos dimensiones las relaciones entre las variables y su efecto sobre otras. El análisis de redes se podrá aplicar al estudio de constantes que afectan el comportamiento y las condiciones clínico-fisiológicas de un rebaño, permitiendo la prevención a partir de la observación de las tendencias representadas en las gráficas asociadas a la variación de las constantes de los individuos.

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“…If the cows are short of time for resources, they are ready to defend their lying time at the expense of social contacts and eating (Munksgaard et al, 2005). In addition, cows (Shiyomi and Tsuiki, 1999) and sheep (Michelena et al, 2008) seem to be closer to one another when resting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a heifer herd, animals that have known each other from birth spend more time together during feeding and grazing and search for more proximity while resting than heifers with a shorter history together (Bouissou and Hö vels, 1976). Social motivation is indeed very important to group cohesion as shown in sheep by Michelena et al (2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A note on overdispersion as an index of behavioural synchrony: a pilot study in dairy cows

Raussi

Jauhiainen

Saastamoinen

et al. 2011

Animal

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We developed a method for studying the synchrony of behaviour based on calculations of overdispersion of a binomial process. The lying behaviour of cows was investigated under two different housing units inside the same barn. The first unit housed 30 cows undergoing conventional milking and the second unit housed 27 cows undergoing automatic milking. The lying behaviour of the cows was observed over 3 weeks in 12 periods of 6 h each. Every 5 min, we counted the number of cows lying down in the cubicles. As external cues, like feeding and conventional milking, can promote synchrony in dairy cows, we expected that cows conventionally milked would show more behavioural synchrony than automatically milked cows. Cows lied down synchronously in both units (overdispersion 1.67, P , 0.01). Lying synchrony tended to be slightly bigger in automatically than in conventionally milked cows (overdispersion 1.76 v. 1.58, P 5 0.09), although the proportion of cows lying down was on average greater in conventionally than in automatically milked cows (60.7% v. 45.6%). This suggests that synchronized lying behaviour in cows is a constant phenomenon that depends on social facilitation rather than on external cues. The overdispersion index appears to be a useful tool for studying the synchrony of animal behaviour when observations are made at the group level.

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Social cohesion in groups of sheep: Effect of activity level, sex composition and group size

Cited by 51 publications

References 44 publications

Spatial distribution patterns of sheep following manipulation of feeding motivation and food availability

Spatial distribution patterns of sheep following manipulation of feeding motivation and food availability

Empleo de redes sociales para el análisis de las relaciones entre dominancia y leucocitospermia en carneros con estrés experimental

A note on overdispersion as an index of behavioural synchrony: a pilot study in dairy cows

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