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The Effect of Demonstrator Social Rank on the Attentiveness and Motivation of Pigs to Positively Interact with Their Human Caretakers
Indexado
WoS WOS:000678147100001
Scopus SCOPUS_ID:85110517165
DOI 10.3390/ANI11072140
Año 2021
Tipo artículo de investigación

Citas Totales

Autores Afiliación Chile

Instituciones Chile

% Participación
Internacional

Autores
Afiliación Extranjera

Instituciones
Extranjeras


Abstract



Simple Summary Motivation to express a socially learned behavior can be inhibited or facilitated by the presence of socially dominant individuals, who often attract greater attention from their conspecifics. This study investigated whether experienced pigs (termed "demonstrators") of higher rank attract greater attention from their pen mates when they are observed from behind an acrylic panel while being gently handled by the stockperson. We also investigated whether the presence of a demonstrator pig of different social rank, who previously established a positive relationship with the stockperson in presence of conspecifics, affects the motivation and behaviors of their pen mates to positively interact with humans. Our results show that during the gentle handling of the demonstrator, there was an overall preference for observer pigs to visually attend to the dominant demonstrators more than the low-ranking demonstrators. Furthermore, our study shows that the proximity of a dominant demonstrator pig interfered with the motivation of their pen mates to positively interact with the stockperson, whereas the presence of a subordinate demonstrator facilitated the expression of a greater affinity toward the human, resulting in longer physical contact, and a higher percentage of accepted strokes. These findings reveal that social dynamics and dominance rank have a strong effect on the attentional state and the facilitation and inhibition of social behaviors in domestic pigs. In this study, we addressed the social attentiveness, as well as the phenomenon of social facilitation and inhibition in the context of a positive human-pig relationship. Specifically, we investigated whether the social rank of an experienced pig (termed "demonstrator") has an effect on the attentiveness of the remaining pen mates (N = 40) when they observe the demonstrator being gently handled by a stockperson from behind an acrylic panel. We found that pigs preferentially attended to dominant demonstrators rather than subordinate demonstrators during their gentle handling sessions with the stockperson. Additionally, we also examined whether the presence of a demonstrator pig of different social rank, who previously established a positive relationship with the stockperson in presence of conspecifics, affects the behavior and motivation of their pen mates to positively interact with the stockperson. To test for the effect of the presence and demonstrator's social rank on pen mate interactions with the stockperson, we evaluated the behavior of domestic pigs (N = 65) toward the stockperson using a human-approach test in their home-pen. Pigs showed a decrease in their motivation to positively interact with the stockperson when a socially dominant demonstrator was present, behaving similarly to animals receiving minimal human contact (control group). Overall, they exhibited a greater latency to physical contact, a lower acceptance of stroking, and spent more time looking at the stockperson compared to pigs exposed to subordinate demonstrators. Taken together, these findings expand our current understanding of pigs' cognition and social behavior, and the nature of social attention bias in farm animals. Our findings indicate that positive handling of previously selected subordinate demonstrators seems to be the best strategy to reduce the level of fear in large groups of pigs.

Revista



Revista ISSN
Animals 2076-2615

Métricas Externas



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Disciplinas de Investigación



WOS
Veterinary Sciences
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Scopus
Sin Disciplinas
SciELO
Sin Disciplinas

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Publicaciones WoS (Ediciones: ISSHP, ISTP, AHCI, SSCI, SCI), Scopus, SciELO Chile.

Colaboración Institucional



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Autores - Afiliación



Ord. Autor Género Institución - País
1 Luna, D. Mujer Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - Chile
2 Gonzalez, Catalina Mujer Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - Chile
3 Byrd, Christopher J. Hombre North Dakota State Univ - Estados Unidos
North Dakota State University - Estados Unidos
4 Palomo, Rocio - Universidad de Chile - Chile
5 Huenul, Elizabeth Mujer Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - Chile
6 FIGUEROA-HAMED, JAIME EDUARDO Hombre Universidad de O`Higgins - Chile
Universidad de O’Higgins - Chile

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Financiamiento



Fuente
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico
ANID
Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
National Research and Development Agency
National Research and Development Agency (ANID) through the Programme FONDECYT

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Agradecimientos



Agradecimiento
This research was funded by the National Research and Development Agency (ANID) through the Programme FONDECYT Postdoctoral, grant number 3190048.
This research was funded by the National Research and Development Agency (ANID) through the Programme FONDECYT Postdoctoral, grant number 3190048. Acknowledgments: The authors thank all of the technical staff who participated in these experiments. In particular, we thank Maria Jos? Gavilan and Camila Seguel, who participated directly in the experiments, and gently cared for the animals during the study. Finally, we thank Daniela Fr?as, Isa?as Pong, Consuelo Moya, and Camila Pizarro for technical assistance.

Muestra la fuente de financiamiento declarada en la publicación.