Flury Rebekka, Gygax Lorenz
Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Agroscope, Tänikon, CH-8356, Ettenhausen, Switzerland; Ethology and Animal Welfare Unit, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Agroscope, Tänikon, CH-8356, Ettenhausen, Switzerland.
Behav Processes. 2016 Dec;133:56-61. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.11.004. Epub 2016 Nov 9.
Synchrony is thought to provide fitness advantages to group-living animals, but little is known how animals maintain synchrony. We investigated intensity of synchrony factors (milking, feed-provision) in cattle herds. Intensity decreased from dairy cows milked in a parlour to cows milked by a robot to suckler cows raising calves. On 30 farms, 10 of each type, we recorded synchrony in lying and feeding. Peaks in lying synchronously were visible in the early morning, around noon, and late at night. These peaks decreased from the suckler cows to the cows milked in a parlour and to the cows milked by a robot. Complementary peaks were found for synchronous feeding. The asynchronous milking times with the milking robot decreased synchrony. Unexpectedly, the suckler cows with the weakest synchrony factors also showed a high level of synchrony. These results indicate that internal motivations for synchrony may be present in addition to external synchrony factors.
同步性被认为能为群居动物带来适应性优势，但对于动物如何维持同步性却知之甚少。我们调查了牛群中同步因素（挤奶、喂食）的强度。强度从在挤奶厅挤奶的奶牛到由机器人挤奶的奶牛再到养育小牛的哺乳母牛逐渐降低。在30个农场中，每种类型各选10个，我们记录了躺卧和进食时的同步性。躺卧同步的高峰出现在清晨、中午左右和深夜。这些高峰从哺乳母牛到在挤奶厅挤奶的奶牛再到由机器人挤奶的奶牛逐渐降低。同步进食则出现了互补的高峰。与挤奶机器人不同步的挤奶时间降低了同步性。出乎意料的是，同步因素最弱的哺乳母牛也表现出了较高的同步性。这些结果表明，除了外部同步因素外，可能还存在同步性的内在动机。
