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Behavioural interactions between West African
dwarf nanny goats and their twin-born kids during
the first 48 h post-partum
E.K. Awotwi
a,), K. Oppong-Anane
b, P.C. Addae
a,b,
E.O.K. Oddoye
ca
Department of Animal Science, UniÕersity of Ghana, P.O. Box 226, Legon, Accra, Ghana
b
Animal Production Directorate, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Accra, Ghana c
Animal Research Institute, Achimota, Ghana
Accepted 1 February 2000
Abstract
West African dwarf nanny goats and their twin-born kids were tested to determine their behavioural response to separation and their mutual recognition during the first 48 h post-partum. Does and their kids were given scores ranging from 1 to 5, depending on how they performed in the tests. Animals that showed maximum response and recognition ability were given a score of 5, while those with minimum response and recognition ability scored 1. The kids were prevented from sucking 2 h prior to the tests, which were carried out at 18, 24, 36 and 48 h post-partum. Chi-square procedure was used to determine whether age, sex and birthweight of kids as well as hours post-partum and parity of dams had any effect on these post-partum behaviours. Out of 48
Ž . Ž
twin-born kids tested, 32 67% responded actively to separation from dams i.e. had scores of 3
. Ž .
or more . The age, sex and birthweight of kids did not significantly affect P)0.05 their response to separation from their dams. The hours post-partum and the parity of does also did not affect their response to separation from their kids. The dam recognition ability of twin-born kids
Ž .
was very poor. Out of a total of 48 kids tested, only 17 35% were able to recognize their dams
Ži.e. had scores of 3 or more . Even at 36 h, only four out of 14 26% could recognize their dams.. Ž .
Ž .
It was only at 48 h that the majority of kids tested i.e. 75% successfully identified their dams. At
Ž .
48 h, the dam recognition ability of kids was significantly better P-0.05 than that of 18-h-old
Ž .
kids. Sex and birthweight of 24–48-h-old twin-born kids did not significantly affect P)0.05
Ž .
their ability to recognize their dams. The majority of does tested i.e. 20 out of 24 were able to
)Corresponding author. Tel.:q233-021-500-300, ext. 2149; fax:q233-21-500-180.
Ž .
E-mail address: agriclib@libr.ug.edu.gh E.K. Awotwi .
0168-1591r00r$ - see front matterq2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Ž .
recognize their twin-born kids. The hour post-partum and parity of does did not significantly affect
ŽP)0.05 their kid recognition ability.. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Goat maternal–filial bond; Twins; Separation response; Recognition ability
1. Introduction
Breed and litter size are two important factors that affect the abilities of ewes and
Ž .
their lambs to recognize each other. For instance, Stevens et al. 1982 reported that many fined wooled Merinos with twins became permanently separated from one twin on the first day of birth due to the ewe moving away and leaving the lamb behind. The ewes appeared to be unconcerned if followed by only one lamb. This problem, however, does not seem to occur in other types of Merino sheep and in British breeds, which
Ž .
appear to be aware of both twins Arnold, 1985 . Studies have also shown that 12-h-old Border Leicester=Merino crosses are able to recognize their mothers more readily than pure-bred Merino lambs of the same age when they are close together, regardless of
Ž
whether they are born as singles or as twins Nowak et al., 1987; Nowak and Lindsay,
. Ž .
1990 . Nowak 1989 reported that single- and twin-born Merino lambs had striking differences in their ability to recognize their mothers. While it took up to only 24 h for single-born lambs to recognize their mothers, it took twin-born lambs 2–3 days to do so.
Ž .
Nowak 1989 further reported that single-born lambs were significantly more attracted to an ewe at 18 and 24 h post-partum than were multiple lambs in a two-choice situation. The single-born lambs were also better at recognizing their mothers and spent more time with them than multiple-born lambs. In another study, 24 h single-born lambs were found to be better at discriminating between their mothers and alien dams at a
Ž .
distance of less than 50 m Nowak et al., 1990 . Contrary to these findings,
Oppong-Ž .
Anane 1991 did not find any significant difference in the dam recognition response between 18-h-old single- and twin-born Merino lambs. There is a paucity of information on the effect of litter size on the dam recognition ability of newborn goats. Information on tropical breeds of goats is even more scarce. In our previous study, we reported poor
Ž .
dam recognition ability of single-born West African dwarf goats Addae et al., in press .
Ž .
At 36 h of age, nine out of 14 single-born kids i.e. 64% could recognise their dams while at 48 h, 75% of the kids was able to recognize their dams. It is not clear whether the dam recognition ability of twins would be different from that of single-borns because goats, as ‘hiders’, leave their young ones for periods to graze during the first few days after parturition. Thus, for both single- and twin-born kids, the periods of separation from their dams are the same. The objective of this study, therefore, was to investigate
Ž .i the response of twin-bearing West African dwarf goats and their kids to separation Ž .
and ii the existence of mutual recognition between dams and their twin-born kids.
2. Animals, materials and methods
2.1. Experimental site and system of management
The study was carried out at the National Goat Breeding Station of the Animal
Ž .
Ž X
located at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana longitude 1805 W and latitude X .
7840 N and is the derived Savannah zone. The station has 10 paddocks ranging in size from 1.2 to 2.5 ha. The different flocks on the station are rotated on these paddocks containing grass forage such as Panicum maximum and Cyanodon nlemfuensis mixed with Stylosanthes hamata and Centrosema pubescens. Two weeks prior to mating, the
Ž .
does were flushed i.e. given extra ration . Does observed to exhibit signs of parturition were sent to a holding pen and kept under 24-h observation. After kidding, does and their kids were allowed to stay together for 4 h before the kids were weighed, sexed and ear-tagged. This period of non-interference was necessary to allow sufficient time for does and their kids to establish a bond.
2.2. Animals
Twenty-four twin-bearing West African dwarf nanny goats and their kids were used for the study. Ten were primiparous and 14 were multiparous. Out of the 48 twin-born kids used, eight were tested at 18 h, 14 at 24 h, 14 at 36 h and 12 at 48 h. Out of the 40 kids tested between 24 and 48 h, 20 were males and 20 were females; 29 were in the
Ž . Ž .
low birthweight class F1.2 kg and 11 were in the high birthweight class )1.2 kg . This classification of kids into two birthweight classes was based on the mean birthweight of West African dwarf goats, which is about 1.2 kg. Two hours prior to the tests, the teats of the test and control does were covered with plaster to prevent their kids from sucking. Each doe and her kids were tested once to prevent familiarization with the test procedure due to previous experience.
2.3. Testing pen
Ž .
The testing pen used for all the three experiments Fig. 1 was a modification of the
Ž .
one used by Oppong-Anane 1991 . It was a funnel-shaped enclosure of wire mesh about 1.0 m high. At the smaller end were two pens for kids measuring 0.5=0.5 m2 and separated by a space of the same dimensions. Seven meters away, at the opposite end of the enclosure, were two pens each measuring 1.0=0.8 m2. These pens allocated to the test and control does were separated by a space of the same dimensions. The partitions between adjacent pens and the outside of all pens were covered with black plastic sheets to prevent animals from seeing one another or the experimenter during the tests. The enclosure was completely weeded to eliminate any grazing material that might serve as a point of distraction.
2.4. Experiment 1: the behaÕioural response of twin-bearing does and their kids to
separation when the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
Fig. 1. Diagram of pen used for testing the response of does and their kids to separation and their mutual recognition.
dam–offspring combination. Another doe and her twins, which were born about the same time as the test kids, were confined to the other doe pen to serve as the control. At the beginning of the experiment, the test and control kids were removed and placed in separate kid pens with the test kids facing the control doe and the control kids facing the test doe. The plaster, covering the teats of both the test and control does, were then removed. The behavioural response of the test doe and her twins to separation was observed over a 5-min period and ranked according to the score used by Oppong-Anane
Table 1
Key to score used for the behavioural response of twin-born kids and their dams to separation
Score Kid Doe
5 Very active, continuous high-pitched bleats Restless, continuous high-pitched bleats 4 Not very active, but high-pitched bleats Continuous high-pitched bleats and a search 3 Active, but few bleats Some bleats, with a little search
2 Inactive, few bleats Few bleats, no search
1 Down, inactive No response
2.5. Experiment 2: the ability of twin-born kids to discriminate between their own and an alien doe in a two-choice situation at a distance of 6 m when they had not been suckled for 2 h
After the behavioural response of the doe and her kids to separation had been scored, one test kid was removed and placed at a point 6 m from the does. It was placed in a central position directly in line with the space between the two doe pens. The kid was then gently released and observed for 5 min. Its dam recognition ability was ranked
Ž .
according to the score used by Oppong-Anane 1991 and shown in Table 2. The kid was then returned to the kid pen and the other twin taken through the same procedure.
2.6. Experiment 3: the ability of does to distinguish between their own twin-born kids and alien twins in a two-choice situation at a distance of 7 m when the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
After experiment 2, the test doe was released and observed for 5 min for her ability to recognize her twins. She was then ranked according to the score used by Oppong-Anane
Ž1991 and shown in Table 3..
2.7. Statistical analysis
Ž .
The chi-square procedure of the Statistical Analysis Institute 1989 statistical package was used to determine whether age or hours post-partum had any effect on the behavioural response to separation exhibited by does and their twins and on their mutual recognition. The procedure was also used to determine whether the sex and birthweight
Table 2
Key to score used for dam recognition ability of twin-born kids
Score Kid behaviour
5 Goes directly to mother and stays
4 Goes to mother after hesitating between both does 3 Goes to alien doe first but switches to mother and stays
2 Goes to alien doe and stays
Table 3
Key to score used for kids recognition ability of twin-bearing does
Score Kid behaviour
5 Goes directly to own kids and stays
4 Goes to own kids after hesitating between the two pairs of twins 3 Goes to alien twins but switches to own twins and stays
2 Goes to alien twins and stays
1 Does not reach either pair of twins
of kids and parity of their dams had an effect on these behavioural parameters at 24–48 h post-partum. All comparisons were done at 5% level.
3. Results
The behavioural response of twin-born kids to separation from their dams when they had been prevented from sucking for 2 h is shown in Table 4. Out of the 48 kids tested,
Ž . Ž .
32 67% had scores of 3 or more i.e. responded actively to separation from dams . The
Ž .
age, sex and birthweight of kids did not have a significant effect P)0.05 on their response to separation from dams. The responses of does to separation from their kids
Ž .
were similar at 18, 24, 36 and 48 h Table 5 . The parity of the twin-bearing does also did not affect their response to separation from their kids.
Table 4
The effects of age, sex and birthweight on the behavioural response of twin-born kids to separation from dams when they had not sucked for 2 h
2
Groups of kids Response to separation score x Total number
Table 5
The effects of hours post-partum and parity on the behavioural response of twin-bearing does to separation from their kids when the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
2
Groups of does Response to separation score x Total number
Ž5%. of does
The effects of age, sex and birthweight on the ability of twin-born kids to recognize their dams when they had not sucked for 2 h are shown in Table 6. Out of the 48
Ž .
twin-born kids tested at 18, 24, 36 and 48 h post-partum, only 17 35% were able to
Ž .
recognize their dams i.e., had scores of 3 or more . There was, however, a trend of increasing ability of twin-born kids to recognize their dams with increasing age. At 18 h, none of the eight kids tested was able to recognize its dam while at 24 and 36 h, four out of 14 animals in each age group were able to recognize their dams. At 48 h, nine out of
Table 6
The effects of age, sex and birthweight on the ability of twin-born kids to recognize their dams in a two-choice situation when they had not sucked for 2 h
2 Ž .
Group of kids Doe recognition score x 5% Total number of kids
Table 7
The effects of hours post-partum and parity on the ability of twin-bearing does to recognize their kids when the kids had not been suckled for 2 h
2
Groups of does Kid recognition score x Total number
Ž5%. of does
12 kids tested were able to recognize their dams and this dam recognition ability was
Ž .
significantly higher P-0.05 than that of 18-h-old kids. Sex and birthweight of
Ž .
24–48-h-old kids did not significantly affect P)0.05 their ability to recognize their
Ž
dam in a two-choice situation. In contrast to the kids, the majority of does tested i.e., 20
. Ž .
out of 24 were able to recognize their twin-born kids Table 7 . The hours post-partum
Ž .
and parity of the does did not significantly affect P)0.05 their kid recognition ability.
4. Discussion
The response of twin-born kids to separation from their dams observed in the present study was less than what we observed in our earlier study on single-born kids. In that
Ž .
study, out of 56 single-born kids tested, 47 84% responded actively to separation from
Ž .
their dams, i.e. had scores of 3 or more Addae et. al., in press . In contrast, only 32 out
Ž .
of 48 67% twin-born kids tested in the present study responded actively to separation from their dams. Even though in both cases the kids had not had access to their dams milk, the twin-born kids responded less to separation from their dams. This may have been due to the fact that the twins had each other for company and were therefore less stressed by separation from their dams. For the same reason, age did not significantly affect the response of twin-born kids to separation from dams. In our study on single-born kids, we observed a greater response by the 48-h-old kids to separation from dams than the 18-h-old kids and attributed this to the greater vigour and more time spent
Ž .
by the 48-h-old kids with their dams Addae et. al., in press . In the case of the twins, since they had each other for company, the lesser vigour of the 18-h-old kids and the fact that they had spent less time with their dams did not make them respond differently from the 48-h-old kids.
Sex and birthweight did not affect the response of twin-born kids to separation. These findings were similar to those that we observed for single-born kids and for single-born
Ž .
Even though there were no significant differences between the twin-bearing does tested at different times with respect to their response to separation from kids, there was a trend of increasing response to separation from kids as the does spent more time with their kids before being tested. For instance, at 48 h, none of the six does tested had a response score of less than 3 while at 24 and 36 h, two out of seven does tested had scores of less than 3. This trend of increasing agitation in response to separation from kids as the dams spent more time with their kids was not so evident in our study on
Ž .
single-bearing does Addae et. al., in press . In the single-bearing does, dams tested
Ž . Ž .
earlier 18 h were as agitated as those tested later 48 h . It therefore appears that twin-bearing does require more time to form a bond with their kids. Single-bearing does, on the other hand, require a shorter time and by 18 h, they would have formed a bond strong enough to cause them agitation when separated from their kids. It is also possible that since the twins had each other for company when separated from the doe, they conveyed a lower level of distress to the doe. The doe was thus less agitated.
The results of the study showed that dam recognition ability by twin-born kids was very poor even up to 36 h. At 18 h, none of the eight kids tested could recognize his
Ž .
dam and at 36 h, only four out 14 26% could recognize their dams. It was only at 48 h
Ž .
that the majority of kids tested i.e. 75% successfully identified their dams. With
Ž .
single-born kids, the majority of kids 64% were able to recognize their dams at 36 h
ŽAddae et al., in press . It therefore appears that while it takes about 36 h for single-born.
kids to identify their dams, it takes about 48 h for their twin-born counterparts to do so. This finding is not surprising since with a single-born kid, the dam spends its time with only one offspring and thus, the kid requires a shorter time to learn the features of its dam. In contrast, twin-born kids have to ‘share’ time with the dam and therefore require a longer time to learn the features of their dams. These results are similar to those
Ž .
reported for lambs Nowak, 1989; Nowak et al., 1990 . It has been shown in sheep that even though the duration of grooming of the newborn increases with increasing litter
Ž .
size Alexander et al., 1984 , this increase is not long enough for multiple-born lambs to receive the same amount of tactile stimulation as their single-born counterparts. Twins, therefore, may require more time to eventually receive the same tactile stimulation as single-borns from their respective mothers.
Gender did not significantly affect the dam recognition ability of twin-born kids.
Ž
Similar results have been reported for single-born lambs and kids Nowak, 1989;
. Ž .
Oppong-Anane, 1991; Asante et al., 1999, Addae et al., in press . Nowak 1989 , however, reported that in twin-born lambs, females performed better than their male counterparts.
There was no significant difference between the two birthweight groups in their dam recognition ability. This finding is similar to what we obtained for single-born kids
ŽAddae et al., in press . Oppong-Anane 1991 observed no significant differences in the. Ž .
dam recognition ability of the different weight classes of Merino lambs at 18 h. We also found no significant difference between the dam recognition ability of Djallonke=
Ž
Sahellian crossbred lambs with high birthweight and those with low birthweight Asante
. Ž .
have shown, kids, born as either singles or twins, require more time than lambs to be able to identify their dams. High birthweight and vigour, which may be important in determining the ability of lambs to recognize their dams at a very early age, may not be too important in goats. This is because at an early age, kids with high birthweight and presumably more vigour would not have had enough time to learn the features of their dams. On the other hand, at a later time, even the kids with low birthweight would have acquired enough vigour to traverse the required 6 m in the recognition test.
Just like the response to separation from kids, there was a trend of increasing ability of dams to recognize their kids with time. At 48 h for instance, all the six does tested had scores of more than 3. In single-bearing does, the increase in kid recognition ability with time is more dramatic, with does tested at 36 and 48 h having a significantly better
Ž .
kid recognition ability than those tested at 18 h Addae et al., in press . With twin-bearing does, since the dam has to learn the features of two kids, it requires more time to do so. At 36 and 48 h, the dams may not have spent enough time with their kids for their kid recognition ability to be significantly different from those tested at 18 and 24 h. Even though parity had no significant effect on the ability of twin-bearing does to
Ž . Ž
recognize their kids, more primiparous dams 30% failed to recognize their kids i.e.
. Ž .
had scores of less than 3 than their multiparous counterparts 14% . In our study on single-bearing does, parity had no significant effect on the ability of does to recognize
Ž .
their kids at 48 h Addae et al., in press .
The results of the present and our previous studies show that twin-born kids are less stressed than singles when separated from their dams. They, however, require more time to recognize their dams.
Acknowledgements
Ž .
The authors are grateful to the National Agricultural Research Project NARP for providing funds for the execution of this study.
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