Abstract
The domestic fowl has a different social behavior compared to their ancestor, the red junglefowl. To examine whether selection for tameness has affected their intra-specific social behavior, 32 red junglefowl from two selection lines, one selected for increased tameness and one selected for a high fear of humans for ten generations, were kept in a group of two females and two males each and were observed in a semi-natural undisturbed enclosure. Birds selected for a low fear of humans had more social conflict, and the males from this selection crowed more and were more often observed in low social proximity to others. The high-fear birds spent more time close together with the rest of the group and performed more social, non-aggressive pecking. These results are consistent with known differences between ancestral red junglefowl and domesticated laying hens. Our results show that intra-specific social behavior has been affected as a side-effect of selection for increased tameness. This may have interesting implications for the emergence of the domestication syndrome in chickens.
Highlights
Domestication has changed several phenotypic traits in animals, including their behavior [1,2]
We focus on the possible role of tameness in the domestication of the most numerous domesticated animal species, the chicken
The goal of this study was to compare intra-specific social interactions between groups consisting of red junglefowl selected for a high or low fear of humans kept in undisturbed, semi-natural environments
Summary
Domestication has changed several phenotypic traits in animals, including their behavior [1,2]. Belyaev (1979) hypothesized that selection for tameness was the most important trait to drive the so-called domestic phenotype ( called the domestication syndrome) [5]. This syndrome includes, e.g, changes in body size and composition, brain size and composition, and pigmentation [6]. It includes changes in behavior, such as increased tameness, i.e., a calm exploratory interaction with humans, defined by Price (2002) as “a measure of the extent to which an individual is reluctant to avoid or motivated to approach humans” [2]. Tameness can be measured as a lack of fear towards humans, either as the ability to let a human approach or as the willingness to approach a human themselves [7]
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