Graded leadership by dominant animals in a herd of female beef cattle on pasture

ŠÁROVÁ, Radka, ŠPINKA, Marek, PANAMÁ, José a. ŠIMEČEK, Petr. Graded leadership by dominant animals in a herd of female beef cattle on pasture. Animal Behaviour, 2010, 79, 1037-1045. ISSN 0003-3472.
Kateg. publikaceVědecké publikace impaktované
Interní odkaz10032.pdf
Abstrakt

We investigated whether dominant beef cows, Bos taurus, have more influence on herd movement on pasture than more subordinate cows. A herd of 15 Gasconne cows was observed for a 3-week period between dawn and dusk. The positions of all adult cows were recorded with GPS collars at 1 min intervals and the behaviour of each cow was recorded in 5 min scans. found that dominant cows were closer to the front of the herd during both travelling and foraging. During travelling, more dominant cows also had more direct trajectories and were more aligned both with their nearest neighbours and with the whole herd. During foraging, the trajectories of dominant cows were shorter than those of subordinate cows. The results indicate that foraging and short-distance travelling movements by female beef cattle are not led by any particular individual but rather are influenced by a graded type of leadership, that is, the more dominant a cow is, the stronger the influence it may have on the movements of the herd.

ProjektUdržitelný rozvoj chovu hospodářských zvířat v evropském modelu multifunkčního zemědělství
OdděleníEtologie