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How does the expressiveness of leaders affect followership in domestic horses (Equus ferus caballus)?

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Abstract

In collective movements, some individuals are more effective and attractive leaders than others. Parameters such as social network, personality, and physiologic needs failed to explain why group members follow one leader more than another. In this study in the domestic horse, we propose to focus on the leader’s attitude and its impact to the followers’ recruitment during two conditions: spontaneous group departures or experimentally induced departures. We postulate that the expressiveness of the leader could enhance its attractiveness and thus produce a successful followership. We found that a high expressiveness level is associated with a high curiosity score and with a low social status. This propensity to initiate while being expressive was higher in the experimental condition than in the spontaneous condition which was expected, since the experimental procedure sought to increase the motivation of initiators with a highly appetent reward. Moreover, the more intense the leader’s expressiveness is, the faster the followers will join the movement regardless of the condition. This positive and dynamic attitude can be perceived as an attractive feature by the followers. Finally, we evidenced collective arousal in followers initiated by the leader that could be essential for group cohesion. The present study is the first to investigate the expressiveness level in animals, and provides new insights into the emergence of leadership.

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Acknowledgements

We warmly thank Thierry Bourgeois, Nans Burgarella, Rose Delacroix, Océane Liehrmann, Luc Martin, Virginie Nierat, Edouard Paumier, Louise Prévost, Julie Renard, Pierre Uhlrich, Lucile Villot for helping with the experimental task and Rachel Annan for proofreading the revised version of the manuscript. A USIAS Grant awarded to O.P. funded the overall project.

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Author notes

  1. Caroline Gérard

    Present address: UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie, MNHN, Musée de l’Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75116, Paris, France

  2. Mathilde Valenchon

    Present address: School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford, Bristol, BS40 5DU, UK

  3. Caroline Gérard and Mathilde Valenchon are co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive and Social Ethology Group, CNRS, UMR 7247 Physiologie de La Reproduction Et Des Comportements, 37380, Nouzilly, France

    Caroline Gérard, Mathilde Valenchon & Odile Petit

  2. CeStatS, Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée, UMR 7501, University of Strasbourg-CNRS, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Nicolas Poulin

Authors
  1. Caroline Gérard
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  2. Mathilde Valenchon
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  3. Nicolas Poulin
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  4. Odile Petit
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Odile Petit.

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Ethical approval

All the experiments undertaken in this study complied with ethical standards of French research practices. The authorization number is AL/01/10/07/11 for the Regional Ethical Comity for Animal Experimentation (CREMEAS). Neither procedure adversely affected the horses in the short term or for the overall period of the study.

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Gérard, C., Valenchon, M., Poulin, N. et al. How does the expressiveness of leaders affect followership in domestic horses (Equus ferus caballus)?. Anim Cogn 23, 559–569 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-020-01361-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-020-01361-8

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