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Author VanDierendonck, M.C., de Vries, H., Schilder, M.B.H. url  doi
openurl 
  Title An Analysis of Dominance, Its Behavioural Parameters and Possible Determinants in a Herd of Icelandic horses in captivity Type Journal Article
  Year 1995 Publication Netherlands Journal of Zoology Abbreviated Journal Netherl. J. Zool.  
  Volume 45 Issue 3-4 Pages 362-385  
  Keywords Dominance; rank order; horses; Icelandic horses.  
  Abstract Feral horses are social animals, which have to rely on survival strategies centered on the formation of cohesive social bonds within their bands. Many problems in the husbandry of social animals such as horses, are due to the fact that the limits of their adaptive abilities are exceeded. Evidence suggests that the fundamental social characteristics of domestic horses have remained relatively unchanged. The social structure, social strategies and social interactions were investigated (3 non-consecutive years, 24 hr per day for several weeks) in long term established groups of domestic horses (mares and geldings of all ages) and a few small introduced groups, kept in (semi)natural environments. The general aim was to investigate the social needs of domestic horses. The social life of domestic horses was characterised by long lasting bonds with preferred partners which were established and maintained by allogrooming, play, proximity and dominance behaviours. Bonding partners were mainly found within the same sex-age group, but adult geldings also bonded with sub-adult mares and geldings. Adult mares were clustered in a group, while the other animals formed a second group. Among the adult mares, subgroups according to reproductive state were formed. Individuals regulated their social network by interfering with interactions between other members of the herd, which in itself is complex. An intervention is a behavioural action of one animal that actively interferes with an ongoing interaction between a dyad with the apparent aim of altering that interaction. This was verified by post-hoc analyses of disturbed and undisturbed interactions. Interventions in allogrooming or play were performed significantly more often when at least one member of the initial dyad was a preferred partner of, or familiar to (within the small introduced bands) the intervener. The stronger the preferred association in allogrooming between the intervener and member(s) of the initial dyad, the higher the probability the intervener would displace one initial member and continue allogrooming with the other. Just five behaviours were extracted which reliably reflected the dominance relations among horses. Aggression with the hind quarters was used both offensively and defensively and therefore not suitable as a reliable parameter. Individual dominance relationships were related to social experience. The implications of these findings for horse husbandry were assessed. It is argued that the execution of affiliative behaviours may be rewarding in itself, and therefore always will be a highly motivated behaviour. It is shown that social positive physical interactions (allogrooming, play) with other horses is an ethological need and therefore indispensable in modern husbandry systems. Ethological needs are so important for the animal that husbandry systems that lack the possibilities to execute such behaviours will cause chronic stress. It is concluded that all horses need physical social contact, and that horses, which lack appropriate social learning experiences during ontogeny, may be hampered in their social functioning later in life. Solutions for problems, including dominance problems, in individual social housing and group housing are presented.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2368  
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Author Krueger, K.; Flauger, B. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social feeding decisions in horses (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 78 Issue 1 Pages 76-83  
  Keywords Feeding decision; Horse; Rank; Social behaviour  
  Abstract Like many other herbivores, in a natural environment equids feed on rather evenly distributed resources. However, the vegetation in their vast habitats constantly changes. If food is plentiful only little competition occurs over food, and in non-competitive situations domestic horses tend to return to the same feeding site until it is overgrazed. In contrast, they compete over limited food for which the social status of the individuals appears to be important. Especially in ruminants several studies have proved an influence of social organisations, rank, sex and the depletion of feeding sites on the feeding behaviour of individuals. However, it is not yet understood whether and how social aspects affect horses“ feeding decisions. Curiosity about the influence of social rank on the horses” feeding decisions between two, equally with high-quality surplus food-filled buckets placed in different social feeding conditions, led us to create the test below. The observer horses were alternately tested with a dominant and a subordinate demonstrator placed in one of the three different positions. We conclude that domestic horses use social cognition and strategic decision making in order to decide where to feed in a social feeding situation. When possible they tend to return to the same, continuously supplied feeding site and switch to an “avoidance tendency” in the presence of dominant horses or when another horse is already feeding there. Thus, the social rank and the position of conspecifics affect the feeding strategy of horses.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4394  
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Author Heitor, F.; Vicente, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Dominance relationships and patterns of aggression in a bachelor group of Sorraia horses (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Journal of Ethology Abbreviated Journal J. Ethol.  
  Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 35-44  
  Keywords Horse – Equus – Dominance relationship – Rank – Agonistic interaction  
  Abstract Abstract  The influence of individual factors on dominance rank and the relationship between rank distance and patterns of aggression predicted by models of evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) of animal conflict were investigated in a managed bachelor group of Sorraia horses, Equus caballus. The group was composed of four to six stallions 3- to 12-years-old during the study period. The dominance hierarchy was significantly linear and rank was not related to age, weight, height or aggressiveness. Frequency and intensity of agonistic interactions were low, but higher-ranking stallions did not receive lower aggressiveness than lower-ranking stallions. There was some evidence that dominance relationships were more contested among close-ranking stallions, as predicted. Agonistic-related interactions among close-ranking stallions served similar functions to those among distant-ranking stallions, but the latter interacted more frequently than expected for access to resting sites and/or resting partners. Therefore, we found some evidence that agonistic-related interactions among distant-ranking stallions play a larger role in providing access to valuable and defendable resources than those among close-ranking stallions. Nevertheless, the fact that space to escape from aggression was limited and breeding access was independent from dominance rank may have reduced the benefits relative to costs of aggression and therefore limited the occurrence of contests over dominance and resources.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5099  
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Author Keil, N.M., Sambraus, H.H. url  openurl
  Title “Intervenors” in agonistic interactions amongst domesticated goats Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Zeitschrift fur Säugetierkunde Abbreviated Journal Z. Säugetierk.  
  Volume 63 Issue 5 Pages 266-272  
  Keywords Behaviour; Domestication; Goat; Intervention; Rank order  
  Abstract Social behaviour was observed in individually marked goats in two herds. The goats from one herd (n = 98) were horned, those of the other herd (n = 83) were polled. By recording agonistic interactions within the herds, a dominance index was determined for each animal. In both herds, intervention took place. Intervention is defined as one animal pushing in between two fighters, and thus ending the fight. More cases of intervention took place per individual animal amongst the horned goats than amongst the polled ones. Goats which intervened in fights on several occasions usually had a high dominance index. Members of the herd which were observed intervening only once had an average dominance index in both herds of almost 0.5. In some cases, goats very low in the rank order intervened a fight. Only rarely did the intervenors have a lower dominance index than the two fighters. In 103 cases, the direct dominance relationship between a fighting animal and the intervenor was known. In 95 cases (92.2%), the intervenor was dominant to the herd member in this fight and in just eight cases (7.8%), it was subordinate. It could not be determined what advantage the intervenor gained from its activity. It is possible that, at least in certain cases, a particularly relationship existed between the intervenor and one of the fighters.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5236  
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Author Vervaecke, H.; Vries, H.D.; Elsacker, L.V. doi  openurl
  Title An Experimental Evaluation Of The Consistency Of Competitive Ability And Agonistic Dominance In Different Social Contexts In Captive Bonobos Type Journal Article
  Year 1999 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 136 Issue 4 Pages 423-442  
  Keywords BONOBO PAN PANISCUS; RANK ORDERS; FEEDING SCORES; AGONISTIC RANKS; PEERING  
  Abstract Bonobos have been described as a relatively egalitarian and female dominant species. The exact nature and quality of their dominance relationships and the existence of female dominance are current topics of dispute. We investigated the consistency across social contexts, the stability in time, and the degree of expression of the competitive feeding ability and agonistic dominance in a captive group of bonobos. First, we examined whether the competitive feeding ranks and agonistic ranks differed in different dyadic contexts, triadic contexts and the whole group context. For some pairs of animals the dominance relationships with respect to competitive feeding altered with different group compositions. The agonistic dominance relationships changed accordingly. The competitive feeding ranks and agonistic ranks in the experiments correlated strongly with each other. The alpha position was occupied by a female, but not all females outranked all males. We suggest that females can profit from each others presence to gain inter-sexual dominance. Second, although the agonistic rank order in the whole group remained the same over at least five years, some dyadic competitive feeding ranks changed over time, resulting in a stronger female intersexual dominance. Third, the degree of expression of the behaviors used to quantify dyadic competitive and agonistic dominance was not high, in line with the popular 'egalitarian' epithet. Notwithstanding its low consistency across contexts, the dominance hierarchy in the whole group has a strong predictive value for other social relationships such as grooming. Given this strong effect of rank on other behaviours and given the strong dependency of rank on social context, the choice of the right party members may be a crucial factor in the fission-fusion processes of free-ranging bonobos.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2195  
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Author Hemelrijk,C. K.; Wantia,J.; Gygax,L. doi  openurl
  Title The construction of dominance order: comparing performance of five methods using an individual-based model Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 142 Issue 8 Pages 1043-1064  
  Keywords dominance order, ranking method, agent-based model, statistical method, aggression  
  Abstract In studies of animal behaviour investigators correlate dominance with all kinds of behavioural

variables, such as reproductive success and foraging success. Many methods are used to

produce a dominance hierarchy from a matrix reflecting the frequency of winning dominance

interactions. These different methods produce different hierarchies. However, it is difficult to

decide which ranking method is best. In this paper, we offer a new procedure for this decision:

we use an individual-based model, called DomWorld, as a test-environment. We choose this

model, because it provides access to both the internal dominance values of artificial agents

(which reflects their fighting power) and the matrix of winning and losing among them and,

in addition, because its behavioural rules are biologically inspired and its group-level patterns

resemble those of real primates. We compare statistically the dominance hierarchy based on

the internal dominance values of the artificial agents with the dominance hierarchy produced

by ranking individuals by (a) their total frequency of winning, (b) their average dominance

index, (c) a refined dominance index, the David`s score, (d) the number of subordinates each

individual has and (e) a ranking method based on maximizing the linear order of the hierarchy.

Because dominance hierarchies may differ depending on group size, type of society, and the

interval of study, we compare these ranking methods for these conditions.We study complete

samples as well as samples randomly chosen to resemble the limitations of observing real

animals. It appears that two methods of medium complexity (the average dominance index

and David`s score) lead to hierarchical orders that come closest to the hierarchy based on

internal dominance values of the agents. We advocate usage of the average dominance index,

because of its computational simplicity.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 445  
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Author Krueger, K.; Schneider, G.; Flauger, B.; Heinze, J. doi  openurl
  Title Context-dependent third-party intervention in agonistic encounters of male Przewalski horses Type Journal Article
  Year 2015 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 121 Issue Pages 54-62  
  Keywords Equus ferus przewalskii; Group conflict; Rank orders; Social bonds; Social control; Third-party intervention  
  Abstract Abstract One mechanism to resolve conflict among group members is third party intervention, for which several functions, such as kin protection, alliance formation, and the promotion of group cohesion have been proposed. Still, empirical research on the function of intervention behaviour is rare. We studied 40 cases of intervention behaviour in a field study on 13 semi-wild bachelor horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) in (a) standard social situations, and (b) when new horses joined the group (i.e. introductions). Only interventions in agonistic encounters were analysed. Eight of 13 animals directed intervention behaviour toward threatening animal in agonistic encounters of group members. One stallion was particularly active. The stallions did not intervene to support former group mates or kin and interventions were not reciprocated. In introduction situations and in standard social situations, the interveners supported animals which were lower in rank, but targeted, threatening animals of comparable social rank. After introductions, stallions received more affiliative behaviour from animals they supported and thus appeared to intervene for alliance formation. In standard social situations, interveners did not receive more affiliative behaviour from animals they supported and may primarily have intervened to promote group cohesion and to reduce social disruption within the group.  
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  ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5925  
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Author Christensen, J.W.; Ahrendt, L.P.; Lintrup, R.; Gaillard, C.; Palme, R.; Malmkvist, J. doi  openurl
  Title Does learning performance in horses relate to fearfulness, baseline stress hormone, and social rank? Type Abstract
  Year 2012 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal App Anim Behav Sci  
  Volume 140 Issue 1 Pages 44-52  
  Keywords Horse; Learning; Fearfulness; Stress; Reinforcement; Social rank  
  Abstract The ability of horses to learn and remember new tasks is fundamentally important for their use by humans. Fearfulness may, however, interfere with learning, because stimuli in the environment can overshadow signals from the rider or handler. In addition, prolonged high levels of stress hormones can affect neurons within the hippocampus; a brain region central to learning and memory. In a series of experiments, we aimed to investigate the link between performance in two learning tests, the baseline level of stress hormones, measured as faecal cortisol metabolites (FCM), fearfulness, and social rank. Twenty-five geldings (2 or 3 years old) pastured in one group were included in the study. The learning tests were performed by professional trainers and included a number of predefined stages during which the horses were gradually trained to perform exercises, using either negative (NR) or positive reinforcement (PR). Each of the learning tests lasted 3 days; 7min/horse/day. The NR test was repeated in a novel environment. Performance, measured as final stage in the training programme, and heart rate (HR) were recorded. Faeces were collected on four separate days where the horses had been undisturbed at pasture for 48h. Social rank was determined through observations of social interactions during feeding. The fear test was a novel object test during which behaviour and HR were recorded. Performance in the NR and PR learning tests did not correlate. In the NR test, there was a significant, negative correlation between performance and HR in the novel environment (rS=-0.66, P<0.001, i.e. nervous horses had reduced performance), whereas there was no such correlation in the home environment (both NR and PR). Behavioural reactions in the fear test correlated significantly with performance in the NR test in the novel environment (e.g. object alertness and final stage: rS=-0.43, P=0.04), suggesting that performance under unfamiliar, stressful conditions may be predicted by behavioural responses in a fear test. There was a negative correlation between social rank and baseline stress hormones (rS=-0.43, P=0.04), i.e. high rank corresponded to low FCM concentrations, whereas neither rank nor FCM correlated with fearfulness or learning performance. We conclude that performance under stressful conditions is affected by activation of the sympathetic nervous system during training and related to behavioural responses in a standardised fear test. Learning performance in the home environment, however, appears unrelated to fearfulness, social rank and baseline FCM levels.  
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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ S0168-1591(12)00168-2 Serial 5769  
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Author Schneider, G.; Krueger, K. doi  openurl
  Title Third-party interventions keep social partners from exchanging affiliative interactions with others Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Animal Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 83 Issue 2 Pages 377-387  
  Keywords Equus caballus; horse; rank; social bond; social network; third-party intervention  
  Abstract Third-party interventions are defined as the interruption of dyadic interactions by third animals through direct physical contact, interposing or threats. Previous studies focused on the analysis of interventions against agonistic encounters. However, there have been no evaluations of interventions against affiliative behaviours, particularly in relation to the intervening animal&#65533;s social relationships and its social and spatial position. Horses, Equus caballus, are an interesting model species, as interventions against affiliative interactions occur more frequently than against agonistic interactions. In this study, 64 feral horses displayed 67 interventions in affiliative interactions and eight interventions in agonistic interactions within the observation period. We analysed the interventions in affiliative encounters, and found that it was mainly higher-ranking females that intervened in the affiliative interactions of group mates in the stable horse harems. The intervening animals took an active part in affiliative and agonistic encounters within the group, but did not occupy particular social roles or spatial positions. They intervened in affiliative interactions in which group mates with which they had social bonds interacted with other members of the group. They targeted the nonbonded animal and approached the one with which they were socially bonded. We suggest some species use third-party interventions in affiliative interactions to prevent competition for preferred social interaction partners from escalating into more costly agonistic encounters.  
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  ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5492  
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Author Taillon, J.; Côté, S. doi  openurl
  Title Are faecal hormone levels linked to winter progression, diet quality and social rank in young ungulates ? An experiment with white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) fawns Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.  
  Volume 62 Issue 10 Pages 675-677  
  Keywords Diet quality – Glucocorticoids – Social rank – Testosterone – White-tailed deer  
  Abstract Abstract Hormones play a central role in the physiology and behaviour of animals. The recent development of noninvasive techniques has increased information on physical and social states of individuals through hormone measurements. The relationships among hormones, life history traits and behaviours are, however, still poorly known. For the first time, we evaluated natural winter glucocorticoid and testosterone levels in young ungulates in relation to winter progression, diet quality and social rank. Overwinter, levels of glucocorticoid and testosterone decreased, possibly due to the decline of fawns" body mass. The relationships between hormone levels and diet quality were surprising: Fawns fed the control diet presented higher glucocorticoid and lower testosterone levels then fawns fed the poor diet, suggesting that control fawns faced a higher nutritional stress than those on the poor diet. Similarly to other studies on social mammals, we found no relationship between faecal glucocorticoid levels and social rank, suggesting that social stress was similar for dominant and subordinate fawns during winter. Testosterone levels were not correlated to social rank as found previously in groups of individuals forming stable social hierarchies and maintaining stable dominance relationships. The simultaneous suppression of glucocorticoid and testosterone levels suggests for the first time that young ungulates present a hormonal strategy to prevent fast depletion of limited proteins and fat resources during winter.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4423  
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