Domestication and breeding objective did not shape the interpretation of physical and social cues in goats (Capra hircus)

Abstract

Artificial selection by humans, either through domestication or subsequent selection for specific breeding objectives, drives changes in animal cognition and behaviour. However, most previous cognitive research comparing domestic and wild animals has focused on companion animals such as canids, limiting any general claims about the effects of artificial selection by humans. Using a cognitive test battery, we investigated the ability of wild goats (non-domestic, seven subjects), dwarf goats (domestic, not selected for milk production, 15 subjects) and dairy goats (domestic, selected for high milk yield, 18 subjects) to utilise physical and social cues in an object choice task. To increase the heterogeneity of our test samples, data for domestic goats were collected by two experimenters at two research stations (Agroscope; Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology). We did not find performance differences between the three groups in the cognitive test battery for either physical or social cues. This indicates that for a domestic non-companion animal species, domestication and selection for certain breeding objectives did not measurably shape the physical and cognitive skills of goats.

Figure 1

(A) setup of the test procedure when wild goats have been tested, including the sliding board and the two-choice options; (B) illustration of the five different physical cues, plus control condition; (C) illustration of the five different social cues, plus control condition.

Figure 2

Performance of goats in interpreting physical cues. Small dots represent relative performance of dairy, dwarf and wild goats in the five different physical cue conditions plus control condition. Thick black dots are the model estimates for each condition, and thin black lines and whiskers are the 95% confidence intervals of the maximum model (including the main effects and interactions). Dotted line represents performance at chance level (50%).

Figure 3

Performance of goats in interpreting social cues. Small dots represent relative performance of dairy, dwarf and wild goats in the five different social cue conditions plus control condition. Thick black dots are the model estimates for each condition, and thin black lines and whiskers are the 95% confidence intervals of the maximum model (including the main effects and interactions). Dotted line represents performance at chance level (50%).