Physiological and reproductive correlates of behavioural strategies in female domestic pigs
Thirty-seven pregnant primiparous domestic pigs, Sus scrofa, were introduced into a large indoor pen. The pigs were divided into three groups according to their ability to displace others in agonistic interactions and the behavioural characteristics of these groups were investigated. High Success pigs were able to displace at least as many individuals as displaced them. […]
Maternal social status and birth sex ratio in domestic pigs: an analysis of mechanisms
In support of the Trivers & Willard model of adaptive variation in birth sex ratio, recent research showed that high-ranking female domestic pigs, Sus scrofa, gave birth to a greater proportion of sons than low-ranking females. Differences in maternal nutritional status caused by differential access to food of high- and low-ranking females, or differences in […]
Are domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) able to use complex human-given cues to find a hidden reward?
Understanding human-animal interactions in livestock production systems is crucial for improving animal welfare. It is therefore of general interest to investigate how livestock animals obtain information from humans. By using an object-choice paradigm, we investigated whether domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) (n = 4) were able to use a variety of human-given cues, such as different […]