Social play in African savannah elephants may inform selection against aggression.

In social groups, competition for individual advantage is balanced with cooperation, for the collective benefit. Selection against aggression has favored cooperation and non-aggressive competitive strategies. Because social play is a behavioral system that fluctuates between cooperation and competition, selection against aggression might have especially influenced this behavior.

Witness for resolution: post-conflict quadratic affiliation in semi-free ranging pigs.

In social mammals, post-conflict resolution can involve the reunion of former opponents (reconciliation), spontaneous/solicited post-conflict affiliation of a third party with either opponent (triadic contacts), and affiliation between other individuals (hereafter bystanders; quadratic contacts). Quadratic contacts-possibly informing complex cognitive abilities-have been neglected in post-conflict studies. We investigated quadratic affiliation in semi-free ranging pigs , at the ethical farm Parva-Domus (Cavagnolo, Italy).

Sows' Responses to Piglets in Distress: An Experimental Investigation in a Natural Setting.

Domestic pigs () possess complex socio-cognitive skills, and sows show high inter-individual variability in maternal behaviour. To evaluate how females-reared under natural conditions-react to the isolation calls of their own piglets or those of other females, we conducted observations and experimental trials. In January-February 2021, we conducted all-occurrences sampling on affiliation, aggression, and lactation (daily, 7:30-16:30 h) on six lactating and four non-lactating females at the ethical farm Parva Domus (Turin, Italy).

Play fighting versus real fighting in piglets (Sus scrofa): Similar patterns, different structure.

When animals engage in 'non-serious' fighting (play-fighting) they 'borrow' motor patterns especially from the aggressive context. It may be difficult to distinguish play- and real-fighting. This is particularly true for piglets (Sus scrofa), which can use play-fighting as a substitute for aggression.

Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) engage in non-random post-conflict affiliation with third parties: cognitive and functional implications.

In social mammals, conflict resolution involves the reunion of former opponents (aggressor and victim) after an aggressive event (reconciliation) or post-conflict triadic contacts with a third party, started by either opponent (solicited-TSC) or spontaneously offered by the third party (unsolicited-TUC). These post-conflict strategies can serve different functions, including consolation (specifically when TUCs reduce the victim's anxiety). We investigated the possible presence and modulating factors of such strategies on semi-free ranging pigs (Sus scrofa; N = 104), housed at the ethical farm Parva Domus (Cavagnolo, Italy).

Does the Domestication Syndrome Apply to the Domestic Pig? Not Completely.

The 'domestication syndrome' defines a suite of features that domesticated animals possess as the result of the artificial selection operated by since the Neolithic. An interesting anthropological question is whether such features, including increased tameness and reduced aggression, apply to all domesticated forms. We investigated this issue in the domestic pig ().

Anxiety Behavior in Pigs () Decreases Through Affiliation and May Anticipate Threat.

Anxiety is a physio-psychological state anticipating an imminent threat. In social mammals it is behaviorally expressed displacement activities and buffered affiliation. Anxiety research on domestic pigs () has mostly focused on abnormal/stereotypic behavior associated with intensive farming.