Social dominance and personality in male fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus)

• Individuals in social species commonly form dominance relationships among each other, andare often observed to differ in behaviour depending on their social status. However, whethersuch behavioural differences are a consequence of dominance position, or also a cause to it,remains unclear. In this thesis I therefore investigated two perspectives of the relationshipbetween social dominance and personality in the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus), asocial species that forms relatively stable dominance hierarchies. In paper I I investigated theinfluence of social status on the expression and consistency of behaviours by experimentallychanging status between repeated personality assays. The level of vigilance, activity andexploration changed with social status, while boldness and territorial crows appeared asstable individual properties, independent of status. These results showed that social statuscontribute to both variation and consistency in behavioural responses. Social status shouldtherefore be taken into account when investigating and interpreting variation in personality.In paper II I showed that behaviour in a novel arena test and during encounter with anopponent can predict social status, more specifically that fast exploration and aggressivenesspredicted a dominant social position. Together, these results highlight the dynamics of thetwo-way relationship between social position and individual behaviour and indicate thatindividual behaviour can both be a cause and a consequence of social status.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Etologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Behavioural Sciences Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

behavioural syndromes; intra-sexual selection; phenotypic plasticity; social dominance; chicken

etologi

Ethology

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

lic (subject category)