Social dominance and personality in male fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus)

Individuals in social species commonly form dominance relationships among each other, and are often observed to differ in behaviour depending on their social status. However, whether such behavioural differences are a consequence of dominance position, or also a cause to it, remains unclear. In this thesis I therefore investigated two perspectives of the relationship between social dominance and personality in the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus), a social species that forms relatively stable dominance hierarchies. In paper I I investigated the influence of social status on the expression and consistency of behaviours by experimentally changing status between repeated personality assays. The level of vigilance, activity and exploration changed with social status, while boldness and territorial crows appeared as stable individual properties, independent of status. These results showed that social status contribute to both variation and consistency in behavioural responses. Social status should therefore be taken into account when investigating and interpreting variation in personality. In paper II I showed that behaviour in a novel arena test and during encounter with an opponent can predict social status, more specifically that fast exploration and aggressiveness predicted a dominant social position. Together, these results highlight the dynamics of the two-way relationship between social position and individual behaviour and indicate that individual behaviour can both be a cause and a consequence of social status