Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T08:43:14.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social Roles in Cattle: A Plea for Interchange of Ideas Between Primatologists and Applied Ethologists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

X Manteca  and
J M Deag
X Manteca*
Affiliation:
Departament de Fisiologia, Facultat de Veterinaria, Universität Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
J M Deag
Affiliation:
Departament de Fisiologia, Facultat de Veterinaria, Universität Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
*
† Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Social role has been defined as a pattern of behaviour characteristic of a class of individuals within a group. The concept was developed by primatologists both to describe individual variation in behaviour in social groups and to be used in addition to hierarchy as a model for primate social organization. Cattle have been shown to express considerable individual variation in behaviour. Furthermore, cattle and primates show some similarities with respect to their social behaviour. This may indicate that the concept of social roles might be useful to those studying cattle behaviour. After a brief literature review it is concluded that the concept may indeed be applicable to cattle. The possible welfare implications of this are first, that it would offer a new approach for the study of individual differences in behaviour - important to the understanding of how animals cope with their environment in captivity. Second, it could help the understanding of social behaviour in domestic species. It is suggested that an interchange of ideas between primatologists and applied ethologists is needed.

Keywords

animal welfarecattlenon-human primatesrolesocial behaviour
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , November 1993 , pp. 339 - 346
Copyright
© 1993 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, UK

References

Arnone, M and Dantzer, P 1980 Does frustration induce aggression in pigs? Applied Animal Ethology 6: 351–362CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benham, P J F 1982 Social organization and leadership in a grazing herd of suckler cows. Applied Animal Ethology 9: 95 (Abstract)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, I S and Sharpe, L G 1966 Social roles in a rhesus monkey group. Behaviour 26: 91–104CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, J L 1975 The Evolution of Behaviour. W W Norton & Co: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Bygott, J D 1974 Agonistic Behaviour and Dominance in Wild Chimpanzees. PhD thesis, Cambridge UniversityGoogle Scholar
Deag, J M 1974 A Study of the Social Behaviour and Ecology of the Wild Barbary Macaque, Macaca sylvanus. PhD thesis, Bristol UniversityGoogle Scholar
Deag, J M 1982 A review of social systems. Applied Animal Ethology 9: 83 (Abstract)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fedigan, L M 1976 A study of roles in the Arashiyama west troop of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata). Contributions to Primatology, volume 9. S Karger: BaselGoogle Scholar
Fedigan, L M 1982 Primate Paradigms: Sex Roles and Social Bonds. Eden Press: MontrealGoogle Scholar
Gartlan, J S 1968 Structure and function in primate society. Folia Primatologica 8: 89–120CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodall, J 1986 The Chimpanzees of Gombe. Harvard University Press: CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Hafez, ESE (ed) 1969 The Behaviour of Domestic Animals, 2nd edition. Baillière Tindall and Cassell: LondonGoogle Scholar
Hinde, R A 1974 Biological Bases of Human Social Behaviour. McGraw-Hill: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Hinde, R A 1978 Dominance and role - two concepts with dual meanings. Journal of Social and Biological Structures 1: 27–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jolly, A 1985 The Evolution of Primate Behaviour, 2nd edition. Macmillan: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Kerr, S G C and Wood-Gush, DGM 1987 The development of behaviour patterns and temperament in dairy heifers. Behavioural Processes 15: 1–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leuthold, W 1977 African Ungulates. Springer-Verlag: BerlinCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, D M, Price, E O and Moberg, G P 1988 Social modulation of pituitary-adrenal responsiveness and individual differences in behavior of young domestic goats. Physiology and Behaviour 43: 451–458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meese, G B and Ewbank, R 1973 Exploratory behaviour and leadership in the domesticated pig. British Veterinary Journal 129: 251–259CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, C J C 1993 Cattle Behaviour. Farming Press: IpswichGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, V 1983 Movement orders and leadership in a semi-wild cattle herd. Behaviour 83: 251–264CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, V and Reinhardt, A 1981 Cohesive relationships in a cattle herd. Behaviour 77: 121–151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, V and Reinhardt, A 1982 Social behaviour and social bonds between juvenile and sub-adult Bos indicus calves. Applied Animal Ethology 9: 92–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, C, Reinhardt, A, Reinhardt, V 1986 Social behaviour and reproductive performance in semi-wild Scottish Highland cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 15: 125–136CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, V, Reinhardt, A and Houser, D 1987 Prompted progression order in a troop of captive rhesus monkeys. Folia Primatologica 48: 121–124CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhine, R J 1975 The order of movement of yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus). Folia Primatologica 23: 72–104CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richard, A F 1985 Primates in Nature. Freeman & Co: New YorkGoogle Scholar
Sato, S 1982 Leadership during actual grazing in a small herd of cattle. Applied Animal Ethology 8: 53–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sato, S 1984 Social licking pattern and its relationship to social dominance and live weight gain in weaned calves. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 12: 25–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sato, S, Tarmuizu, K and Sonoda, T 1991 Social, behavioural and physiological functions of allo-grooming in cattle. In Appleby, M C, Horrell, R I, Petherick, J C and Rutter, S M (eds) Applied Animal Behaviour: Past, Present and Future pp 77–78. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare: Potters BarGoogle Scholar
Seyfarth, R M 1983 Grooming and social competition in primates. In Hinde, R A (ed) Primate Social Relationships pp 182–190. Blackwell Scientific Publications: OxfordGoogle Scholar
Syme, G J and Sjyme, L A 1979 Social Structure in Farm Animals. Elsevier: AmsterdamGoogle Scholar
Walters, J R 1987 Kin recognition in non-human primates. In Fletcher, D J C and Michener, C D (eds) Kin Recognition in Animals pp 359–393. John Wiley: ChichesterGoogle Scholar
Walters, J R and Seyfarth, R M 1986 Conflict and cooperation. In Smuts, B B, Cheney, D L, Seyfarth, R M, Wrangham, R W and Struhsaker, T T (eds) Primate Societies pp 306–317. The University of Chicago Press: ChicagoGoogle Scholar
Wiepkema, P R, Hellemaond, K K van, Roessingh, P and Romberg, H 1987 Behaviour and abomasal damage in individual veal calves. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 18: 257–268CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, E O 1975 Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Wood, M T 1977 Social grooming patterns in two herds of monozygotic twin dairy cows. Animal Behaviour 25: 635–642CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zayan, R 1988 Perspectives in the study of social stress. In Zayan, R and Dantzer, R (eds) Social Stress in Domestic Animals pp 31–69. Kluwer Academic Publishers: DordrechtGoogle Scholar