Once Upon a Goat
Published 2012-11-02
Mark Davidson Jewell and Reinhard von Berg
Music: Erik Satie - Gnossiennes No. V - Modéré (1889) - Anne Queffélec
EFFECT OF RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION ON GOAT SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
An amusing little "experiment" in mountain goat ethology on a Sunday evening in August:
Whereas the grass on which the goats forage is an abundant and diffusely distributed resource, salt, which goats (like nearly all ruminants) are deprived of, is scarce and often concentrated into patches.
We quickly noted that the herd was intentionally staying in close proximity to our camp as to use our urine as a source of salt.
Displays of dominance and aggressive behaviour which are usually rare in foraging groups, became common when there was one concentrated salt-lick (urine-covered rock) that could be monopolized by a dominant individual. However, as we changed the spatial distribution of our urine (urinated a little on many rocks instead of a lot on only one rock,) secondary dominance hierarchies were established. After further decreasing the spatial concentration of our urine, aggressive interactions essentially disappeared.
We noted that by changing the spatial distribution of where we urinated we could manipulate the goats social interactions and dominance hierarchy.