Trainability and boldness traits differ between dog breed clusters based on conventional breed categories and genetic relatedness

Modern dog breeding has given rise to more than 400 breeds differing both in morphology and behaviour. Traditionally, kennel clubs have utilized an artificial category system based on the morphological similarity and historical function of each dog breed. Behavioural comparisons at the breed-group level produced ambiguous results as to whether the historical function still has […]

Fission–fusion dynamics in wild giraffes may be driven by kinship, spatial overlap and individual social preferences

Many species exhibit fission–fusion dynamics, yet the factors that influence the frequent changes in group size and membership in these species have not been widely studied. Social ties may be influenced by kinship but animals may also form preferred associations because of social attraction or may only associate because they have similar habitat preferences. We […]