01565naa a2200145 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000190006024501080007926000090018752010720019665000100126870000180127877301230129620884632018-03-02       2002    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aSIBBALD, A. M.  aIndividual differences in sociability and the trade-offs made by sheep grazing in a patchy environment.  c2002  aDistances between grazing sheep are likely to reflect a number of processes. The sociability index depends not only on the tendency of the focal sheep to graze close to others in the group, but also on the tendency of the other animals to graze close to the focal sheep. In addition, sociability may result from a fear of being alone or from attraction to a particular companion or the motivation to seek companionship in general. Sociability is measured when sheep are grazing on a uniform sward, when the spatial distribution of the vegetation should not influence the sheep?s movements. When making a trade-off between staying with the group or moving away to graze in a patchy environment, the strength of the motivation to feed will become an important factor. The results of this experiment demonstrate that while the sociability index can predict behaviour while sheep are operating within the range of nearest neighbour distances that is characteristic for the breed, when individuals have to move further away in order to graze, other factors come into play.  aSheep1 aHOOPER, R. J.  tIn: ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BRITISH SOCIETY OF ANIMAL SCIENCE, 2002, York. Proceedings... Medlothian: BSAS, 2002. p. 71.