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Social Roles in Cattle: A Plea for Interchange of Ideas Between Primatologists and Applied Ethologists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

X Manteca  and
J M Deag
X Manteca*
Affiliation:
Departament de Fisiologia, Facultat de Veterinaria, Universität Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
J M Deag
Affiliation:
Departament de Fisiologia, Facultat de Veterinaria, Universität Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
*
† Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
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Abstract

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Social role has been defined as a pattern of behaviour characteristic of a class of individuals within a group. The concept was developed by primatologists both to describe individual variation in behaviour in social groups and to be used in addition to hierarchy as a model for primate social organization. Cattle have been shown to express considerable individual variation in behaviour. Furthermore, cattle and primates show some similarities with respect to their social behaviour. This may indicate that the concept of social roles might be useful to those studying cattle behaviour. After a brief literature review it is concluded that the concept may indeed be applicable to cattle. The possible welfare implications of this are first, that it would offer a new approach for the study of individual differences in behaviour - important to the understanding of how animals cope with their environment in captivity. Second, it could help the understanding of social behaviour in domestic species. It is suggested that an interchange of ideas between primatologists and applied ethologists is needed.

Keywords

animal welfarecattlenon-human primatesrolesocial behaviour
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , November 1993 , pp. 339 - 346
Copyright
© 1993 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Footnotes

1

Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, UK

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