Lecture 12

Question 1

Extensive vs intensive housing.

Answer 1

• extensive: closer to a natral setting such as free ranging animals
• intensive: way more animals, often a compromise of economics, management and welfare

Question 2

Advantages and disadvantages of intensive groups.

Answer 2

Disadvantages:
* Eliminates choices
-no choice in habitat
-cannot choose to stay or leave
* No family structure

Advantages:
* Protected
* Food provided
* Health
* Generally lower fear levels

Question 3

What is buller-steer syndrome?

Answer 3

A behavioural problem in groups of cattle that is recognized by the repeated mounting of one animal, the buller, by a group of animals, the riders
* Only happens in feedlots, does not happen in pastures becase of submissive behaviour, pheromones, warm weather, large group sizes and other stressful events (mixing, handling, temp, dust)

Question 4

When will groups form?

not sure if this is split instead of form

Answer 4

• poor food availability
• breeding status

Question 5

How are dominant-subordinate relationships are established?

Answer 5

• Tend to be the cornerstone of all relationships
• Creates rules by which other social relationship are controlled

Question 6

What do hierarchies do for groups?

Answer 6

Hierarchy helps maintain order within the group
* it is specific to a particular group

Adding/removing animals disrupts order
Advantages/disadvantages for each rank

Question 7

How does aggression differ between group sizes?

Important question

Answer 7

• small groups: **low **- linear hierarchy, not many to dominate - lowest aggression
• very large groups: hard to get hierarchy, medium aggression, don’t recognize each other, not as low as small groups so moderate
• Mid groups: highest aggression - hierarchy building all the time

Question 8

What are the three hypothesis to determining dominance?

Answer 8

1. Pairwise
   * Strangers fight: rank order determined
   * Might be over food sources, or mating
   * Not a good indicator of hierarchies, might indicate aggressiveness levels
2. Continuous assessment
   * Continuous fighting: rank order is fluid
   * Occurs when groups are constantly changing
   * generally only if memory and recognition do not occur
3. Suppression
   * strangers fight: rank order determined
   * dominants continue to attack/control subordinates to maintain status

Question 9

Why is dominance maintained by subtle aggression and posturing?

Answer 9

Less energy and risk

Question 10

Aggression vs dominance?

Answer 10

aggressivity = propensity to perform aggressive behaviour
dominance = rank within specific group, ability to control resources
* high aggression does not equal dominance

Question 11

What is required with hierarchy development?

very improtant

Answer 11

Individual recognition
* How do animals know one-another
* Recognition tools differ by species (smell, sight, behaviour patterns)
-Different levels of complexity
- Recognition of all or only some group members
- Superficial or very detailed information on an individual
- At a complex level information about relationships
* Cognitive study in horses
- Recognition using visual, olfactory, and auditory cues

Memory of Past Encounters
* How long can they remember? (depends on species)
* ‘Social memory’ tested in horses and hens
- Familiar animals seperated & later reunited
- Horses - after 6 mos, returned to same rank with little interaction
- Hens - after few weeks, fought as much as unfamiliar birds to establish position

Question 12

What are some examples of individual roles or strategies?

Answer 12

Bees:
* Queen - reproductive function
* Workers - different roles during different stages
* Drones - reproductive

Horses
* hierarchical rank of the foal is positively correlated to that of its mother

Question 13

What are some individual roles or strategies?

Answer 13

Social status
* dominance rank

Role
* Groomer
* Leader

Strategies
* Producers and scroungers

Personality or temperament

Question 14

What is a groomer?

Answer 14

• all dairy cows are groomed, but only 75% actually do the grooming
• grooming both cleans parasites and reduces tension
• absence of primary groomers reduces milk production

Question 15

What is a leader?

Answer 15

• first to initiate grazing, travelling, or resting
• often older animal - ‘sociable’
• mid to high ranking, but not dominant

Question 16

What are producers and scroungers?

Answer 16

Strategies in foraging
* Scrounger manages to exploit the work that the producer is doing
* Scroungers do best when outnumbered by producers
* ex. red deer: harem owner defends the group (producer), young males sneak matings (scroungers)

Question 17

What are types of signals for group communication?

improtant

Answer 17

• Morphology, visual, chemical, sound
• Behavioural patterns, smells or structure used to affect behaviour of another

Question 18

What are the factors that determine a signal will be received?

important

Answer 18

1. Detectability (intensity, duration, occurence, repetition)
2. Discriminability (distinguished the signal from other stimuli)
3. Memorability (remember and associate the signal)

Question 19

What is actor and reactor in group communication?

Cooperative signal and non-cooperative signal

Answer 19

Cooperative signal: the receiver benefits from detecting the signal (signals to a potential mate)

Non-coperative signal: the receiver does not benefit from detecting the signal (unintentionally attracting a predator)

Question 20

Factors that can cause problems with signals?

Answer 20

• Interference
• Noise, visual interference
• visability or distance
• interests of sender & receiver

Question 21

How can domestication change normal communication?

Answer 21

• Increased signalling: cats are good at talking to humans
• Group size: more noise, repetition and redundancy of the signal
• Barren environments: might be the only stimuli the animal can display, could lead to stereotypies

Question 22

Can signals indicate internal states?

Answer 22

• age and species specific (distress calls in young animals, prey animals vocalize less)
• could be used to assess well-being
• dishonest calls: foraging birds and random calls (could lead to confusion)

Question 23

What is crowding in intensive systems?

Answer 23

• groups of individuals whose movements are restricted by the physical presence of others
• higher likelyhood that animals come closer than their individual distance
• consequences can be aggression or avoidance behaviour
• some animals can be crowded without being overcrowded
• resouce availability and management are essential

Question 24

intensive or extensive creates a difference in the types of groups especially…

Answer 24

• group size
• spacing
• sex distribution

Question 25

what are the most important features of natural groups?

Answer 25

* group size * offspring dispersal * parent-offspring interations

Question 26

how are groups maintained?

Answer 26

dominance hierarchy

Question 27

What is the technical term for a housing system where we focus on a balance of welfare, management, and economics?

Answer 27

Intensive

Question 28

What is the dominance rank?

Answer 28

represents an individuals relative position with respect to all other animals in the group. Dominant - subdominant - subordinate

Question 29

What is avoidance order?

Answer 29

* subordinate groups members avoid provoking those ranked above them

Question 30

What are the most important factors to maintain a stable hierarchy?

Answer 30

Memory and recognition

Question 31

What are the dominant roles?

Answer 31

* privilege including breeding status * always at risk of loisng their status * pairwise fights -will depend on the likelyhood of injury - the higher the less likey they fight

Question 32

What are alliances?

Answer 32

can affect hierarchies by destabilizing X can defeat Y if Z helps

Question 33

What is affiliative behaviour?

Answer 33

behaviours which promote and are important for group cohesion