How do cattle cope with social competition?

牛如何应对社会竞争？

• 批准号: 336660-2007
• 负责人: Rushen, Jeffrey
• 金额: $ 1.78万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2010-01-01 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=458215
• 关键词: How; do; cattle; cope; social

Concern about the welfare of farm animals in individual housing has led to increased use of group housing but economic pressures result in large group sizes and high social density. Animal welfare standards limit group size or densities but there is controversy as to what these should be. Quantitative measures of social density (e.g. number of animals in a given area) assume that all animals are identical but animals differ greatly in how they respond to social competition. We know little about social strategies of farm animals kept at high densities and have few tools to ameliorate the effect of social competition. Social competition is usually thought to be regulated by dominance relationships, but social relationships between animals can be more subtle. Domesticated species normally live in groups and have evolved strategies to adapt to their social environment. We need to understand these social abilities and profit from them. In dairy production, animal welfare is most at risk for the milk-fed calf and the periparturient cow. Animal welfare concerns and economic pressures favour the use of group housing for these animals, but recent studies show deleterious effects of stocking density on access to resources. However, we remain largely ignorant of the nature of social relationships between cattle, or their abilities to ameliorate negative effects of social competition. The objectives of this proposal are to examine whether 1. intensively-housed lactating cows and milk-fed calves form affiliative social relationships based on spatial proximity, and preferred grooming or playing partners. 2. these affiliative relationships reduce the effect of social competition over resources. 3. cattle classify group companions as either dominant or subordinate or affiliate or competitor. 4. cattle are able to re-schedule their motivational priorities to avoid social competition. I will examine the distribution of agonistic and affiliative behaviours within groups of cattle in commercial conditions, and explore whether competition over resources is reduced in groups with a large percent of affiliative relationships. I will also explore the way that cows classify each other as either familiar/unfamiliar, dominant/subordinate or affiliative/competitor.

关注农场动物在个人住房的福利，导致越来越多地使用群体住房，但经济压力导致大群体规模和高社会密度。动物福利标准限制了群体的大小或密度，但对于这些应该是什么存在争议。社会密度的定量测量（例如，给定区域的动物数量）假设所有动物都是相同的，但动物在如何应对社会竞争方面存在很大差异。我们对高密度饲养的农场动物的社会策略知之甚少，也没有什么工具来改善社会竞争的影响。社会竞争通常被认为是由支配关系调节的，但动物之间的社会关系可能更微妙。驯化的物种通常生活在群体中，并进化出适应社会环境的策略。我们需要了解这些社会能力并从中获益。在乳制品生产中，动物福利对于牛奶喂养的小牛和围产期奶牛来说风险最大。动物福利的关注和经济压力有利于使用这些动物的群体住房，但最近的研究表明，对获得资源的放养密度的有害影响。然而，我们在很大程度上仍然不了解牛之间社会关系的本质，或者它们改善社会竞争负面影响的能力。这项建议的目的是审查是否1。密集圈养的泌乳奶牛和牛奶喂养的小牛基于空间接近性和偏好的梳理或玩耍伙伴形成亲和的社会关系。2.这些从属关系减少了社会对资源竞争的影响。3.牛将群体同伴分为支配者、从属者、附属者或竞争者。4.牛能够重新安排它们的动机优先级，以避免社会竞争。我将研究在商业条件下，牛群内的竞争和从属行为的分布，并探讨在从属关系占很大比例的群体中，对资源的竞争是否会减少。我还将探讨奶牛如何将彼此分类为熟悉/不熟悉，支配/从属或从属/竞争对手。