ONTOGENY OF SOCIAL AWARENESS IN DOMESTIC HERBIVORES

It is now well established that domestic animals construct responses t o their environment that depend on experience and on integration of se veral features of the environment, including social partners. This abi lity to be aware of the environment is not fully developed at birth bu t improves and varies through the animal's life. This topic is discuss ed on the basis of social processes in sheep and cattle. Social relati onships of an animal with its conspecifics develop with age; they do n ot merely depend on pre-programmed behaviours but rely at least in par t on learning of characteristics of the partners. Soon after birth, a strong preferential bond establishes with the dam then to a lesser ext ent, the young associates to other members of the flock, especially ot her young. The attractiveness of the group varies later in life due to external events or to physiological state: the abrupt separation from the dam at artificial weaning strengthens bonds between peers, wherea s around parturition, females are less disturbed by isolation from the group. More recently, the awareness of social partners has been descr ibed in non-social contexts: the animal modifies its responses to even ts according to the presence of partners, and also to their emotional state and behaviour. The effects of partners seem to depend on their r elationship with the animal and also on the social motivation of that animal, which both vary during its life. We recommend study of the ont ogeny of awareness using the model of social influences. (C) 1998 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.