Biodiversity 2 min

Social behaviour of piglets: to each his own!

This work suggests the existence of transient social styles in piglets, likely reflective of sexual dimorphism or health status.

Published on 02 June 2022

illustration Social behaviour of piglets: to each his own!
© INRAE

Social behaviour is a key component of pig welfare on farms, but little is known on the development of social behaviours in piglets.

This study aimed to explore social behaviours and identify early social styles in suckling piglets. Social behaviours of 68 piglets from 12 litters were scored continuously for 8 h per day at 21 and 42 days of age, and were included in a Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components analysis to identify clusters of pigs with similar social styles.

Social nosing represented 78% of all social interactions given. Three social styles were identified: low-solicited inactive animals (inactive), active animals (active), and highly-solicited avoiders (avoiders). Belonging to a cluster was independent of age, but was influenced by sex, with females being more represented in the ‘inactive’ cluster, and males in the ‘active’ cluster, whereas both sexes were equally represented in the ‘avoider’ cluster. Stability of piglets’ allocation to specific clusters over age was high in the ‘inactive’ (59%) and ‘active’ (65%) clusters, but low in the ‘avoider’ cluster (7%). Haptoglobin and growth rate were higher in ‘active’ than ‘inactive’ pigs, and intermediate in ‘avoiders’.

Our findings suggest the existence of transient social styles in piglets, likely reflective of sexual dimorphism or health status.

Reference
Clouard, C.; Resmond, R.; Prunier, A.; Tallet, C.; Merlot, E., 2022. Exploration of early social behaviors and social styles in relation to individual characteristics in suckling piglets. Scientific Reports, 12 (1): 14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06354-w

Sylvie André

Scientific contact

Caroline Clouard Physiology, Environment, and Genetics for Animal and Livestock Systems (PEGASE)

Centre

Division

Learn more

Agroecology

Animal welfare: when artificial intelligence translates pig vocalisations

PRESS RELEASE - Pigs express their emotions through vocalisations. Recognising these sounds, and the emotions they express, would provide the information necessary for farmers to adapt their interventions and ensure the welfare of pigs throughout their lives. This is why INRAE, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the University of Copenhagen have coordinated the development of a system for recognising pig vocalisations as part of the European SOUNDWEL project. Their results, published on 7 March in Scientific Reports, point to the possibility of an automatic recognition tool for vocalisations to monitor and improve pig welfare on-farm.

07 March 2022

Biodiversity

Talking to horses as we talk to young children

PRESS RELEASE - Many people instinctively use baby-talk when talking to their pets, often characterised by a high-pitched voice and exaggerated intonations. The same is true for many riders with their horses. But are horses sensitive to this type of speech? Ethologists from INRAE and IFCE (French Horse and Riding Institute) have decided to find out. Their results, published on 18th March in Animal Cognition, show that horses are more attentive and seem to better understand our intentions when spoken to this way. This method could therefore be adopted by riders and breeders to facilitate daily interactions and improve animal welfare.

19 March 2021

Agroecology

Animal welfare: humans, objects or conspecifics, piglets tell us what they prefer

PRESS RELEASE - Surprise, fear, joy or stress, humans are not the only ones to vocally express their emotions. By studying the grunts of piglets, an INRAE research team was able to assess their emotional state, aroused by familiar conspecifics, humans or manipulable objects. Result: even if piglets have a preference for their conspecifics, the human taking care of them truly has a reassuring effect on them, much more than the manipulable objects generally used in breeding. This work, which aims to understand how the welfare of farm animals can be improved, is the subject of two publications in Scientific reports and Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

27 November 2020