Agnvall, B. and Jörngren, M. and Strandberg, Erling and Jensen, P.
(2012).
Heritability and genetic correlations of fear-related behaviour in Red Junglefowl–possible Implications for early domestication.
PloS one. 7
:4
, 1-9
[Research article]
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284kB |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035162
Abstract
Domesticated species differ from their wild ancestors in a number of traits, generally referred to as the domesticated
phenotype. Reduced fear of humans is assumed to have been an early prerequisite for the successful domestication of
virtually all species. We hypothesized that fear of humans is linked to other domestication related traits. For three
generations, we selected Red Junglefowl (ancestors of domestic chickens) solely on the reaction in a standardized Fear of Human-test. In this, the birds were exposed for a gradually approaching human, and their behaviour was continuously scored. This generated three groups of animals, high (H), low (L) and intermediate (I) fearful birds. The birds in each generation were additionally tested in a battery of behaviour tests, measuring aspects of fearfulness, exploration, and sociality. The results demonstrate that the variation in fear response of Red Junglefowl towards humans has a significant genetic component and is genetically correlated to behavioural responses in other contexts, of which some are associated
with fearfulness and others with exploration. Hence, selection of Red Junglefowl on low fear for humans can be expected to lead to a correlated change of other behavioural traits over generations. It is therefore likely that domestication may have caused an initial suite of behavioural modifications, even without selection on anything besides tameness.
Authors/Creators: | Agnvall, B. and Jörngren, M. and Strandberg, Erling and Jensen, P. | ||||
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Title: | Heritability and genetic correlations of fear-related behaviour in Red Junglefowl–possible Implications for early domestication. | ||||
Series Name/Journal: | PloS one | ||||
Year of publishing : | 2012 | ||||
Volume: | 7 | ||||
Number: | 4 | ||||
Page range: | 1-9 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 9 | ||||
Publisher: | Public Library of Science | ||||
ISSN: | 1932-6203 | ||||
Language: | English | ||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||
Refereed: | Yes | ||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||
Version: | Published version | ||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||
Agris subject categories.: | L Animal production > L10 Animal genetics and breeding | ||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Zoology (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Genetics (medical genetics to be 30107 and agricultural genetics to be 40402) | ||||
Keywords: | domesticated phenotype, ferafulness, exploration, sociality, Red Junglefowl , Fear of Human-test, early domestication | ||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-1498 | ||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-1498 | ||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 10400 | ||||
Department: | (VH) > Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics | ||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||
Deposited On: | 17 Jun 2013 10:41 | ||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 15 Apr 2015 23:54 |
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