Domestic pigs alter their social strategy in response to social group size

Abstract

In a series of studies, we investigated the concept that domesticated pigs may adopt cost efficient social strategies, in which individuals become less aggressive due to a higher number of potential competitors, in large social groups. Six blocks, each comprising four pens of 18 pigs (small group, SG) and two pens of 108 pigs (large group, LG) were used. Pigs were 11 weeks old at the initial group formation. Weeks 1, 6 and 12 following SG and LG formation, two randomly selected pigs with SG or LG social experience were incorporated into another SG or LG for a period of 2 h and the aggressive behaviour of pigs was observed. Four test combinations were used (SG to SG (SS), SG to LG (SL), LG to SG (LS) and LG to LG (LL)). There was less aggression in the LL compared to SS, SL and LS combinations (1.6% versus 2.5, 2.3, and 2.5% of time, respectively, P = 0.009). Furthermore, 8 weeks following SG and LG formation, a total of 200 pigs were regrouped for 2 h in groups of four in a neutral test arena to assess the effect of prior social experience (SG vs. LG) on aggressive behaviour. Pigs were regrouped with their own group members (familiar), or with unfamiliar non-group members either from SG or LG. Five test combinations were used (four pigs from the same SG (S), four pigs from the same LG (L), two pigs from a SG and two pigs from a LG (SL), two pigs each from two different LG (LL) and two pigs each from two different SG (SS)). Pigs derived from SG fought aggressively (duration, s) with unfamiliar pigs, compared to those derived from LG (4.9, 6.7, 16.1, 12.1 and 9.5 s for S, L, SS, SL and LL test combinations respectively, P < 0.001). In addition, the latency to initiate first aggressive interaction was shorter (duration, s) in SS than LL treatment combination (23.3, 22.5, 10.8, 11.8 and 19.2 s for S, L, SS, SL and LL test combinations respectively, P = 0.008). Taken together, our results suggest that pigs become less aggressive and may shift to a low-aggressive social strategy in large social groups. This may provide potential benefits for welfare of pigs under commercial production situations.