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Identity profiles based on social strategies, morphology, physiology, and cognitive abilities in goats

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to analyze the structure of identity profiles based on social strategies, morphology, physiology, and cognitive abilities in domestic goats. Social interactions of 33 goats were recorded over a period of 16days for 96hours. Blood samples and morphological measurements were taken from each animal, and they were each put through a T-maze test. Using the test of factor analysis, 3 of 7 types of social interactions concentrated 76.6% of the variance. They were named the "avoider" factor (21.20%), "nonagonistic" factor (16.30%), and "agonistic" factor (39.10%). Subsequently, a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to characterize identity profiles (groups of similar animals), which could help to explain the possible association between social strategies (obtained using the factor analysis) and index of success, social and individual behaviors, and morphological, physiological, and cognitive characteristics. The results suggest the existence of 4 clusters or identity profiles, which were termed "aggressive," "affiliative," "passive," and "avoider." When they were compared between clusters, each identity profile had significant differences regarding all social variables, feeding and resting variables, most of the physiological measures, and all the morphological characteristics. The resolution time for the T-maze was significantly different between clusters and days. In conclusion, associating social strategies with details of behavior, physiology, and morphology provides a more robust idea of identity profiles adopted by goats under intensive farm conditions and suggests a richer diversity of strategies used by goats. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.