Abstract
Affiliative relationships among mares were examined in a managed group of Sorraia horses, Equus caballus, over a 3-year period. We assessed the influence of age, dominance, kinship and reproductive state on the strength of affiliative relationships and diversity of partners. The herd comprised 9–11 mares that had known each other since birth, their foals and a stallion that remained in the group exclusively during the breeding season. In contrast to a previous study, kinship did not significantly affect bonds. Mares tended to spend more time in proximity to those in the same reproductive state. Affiliative relationships among mares were relatively stable but their strength decreased after foaling, possibly as a function of foal protection and bonding between dam and foal. There was no consistent evidence that mares disengaged from affiliative relationships with increasing age. As expected, dominant mares and barren mares contributed the most to affiliative relationships. Dominance rank increased with age, but dominance relationships were stable and did not change after foaling. Overall, reproductive state was the factor that had the most consistent influence on affiliative relationships among Sorraia mares.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. João Costa Ferreira for permission to conduct this study at Alter studfarm and Dr. Maria do Mar Oom for providing the kinship data. We are also indebted to Dr. Charlotte Hemelrijk for providing her computer program. F. Heitor was supported by a Doctoral Fellowship granted by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/8792/2002).
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Heitor, F., Vicente, L. Affiliative relationships among Sorraia mares: influence of age, dominance, kinship and reproductive state. J Ethol 28, 133–140 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-009-0165-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-009-0165-9