Boldness traits, not dominance, predict exploratory flight range and homing behaviour in homing pigeons.

ABSTRACT: Group living has been proposed to yield benefits that enhance fitness above the level that would be achieved through living as solitary individuals. Dominance hierarchies occur commonly in these social assemblages, and result, by definition, in resources not being evenly distributed between group members. Determinants of rank within a dominance hierarchy can be associated with morphological characteristics, previous experience of the individual, or personality traits such as exploration tendencies. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether greater exploration and positive responses to novel objects in homing pigeons (Columba livia) measured under laboratory conditions were associated with (i) greater initial exploration of the local area around the home loft during spontaneous e

SUBMITTER: Portugal SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5498296 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature