An exploratory study comparing the social behavior of intersex and female goats

Introduction: Goats are highly social animals that establish complex hierarchical and affiliative relationships within their herds. Understanding these social dynamics is fundamental to optimize animal welfare in sustainable livestock systems. In goats, a natural genetic variant causes dominant absence of horns (polledness). As this variant also has an influence on sex development (polled intersex syndrome, PIS), breeding for polledness can result in a higher proportion of intersexual goats in a flock. However, little is known about the behavioral roles and social integration of intersex goats within herds.

Methods: This study compares the social behavior in a closed group of intersex (n = 7) and female (n = 17) polled goats to identify differences in agonistic and affiliative interactions and their implications for herd social dynamics. Behavioral data were obtained through continuous video observation and coded using the software BORIS. Interactions were analyzed via social network analysis (SNA) and hierarchical rank assessment based on David's Score.

Results: Intersex goats showed a significantly higher frequency of affiliative interactions compared with females, suggesting enhanced social connectedness. No significant difference was found in agonistic interaction frequency, but intersex goats fought with significantly fewer opponents than female goats.

Discussion: Although the analysis should be repeated in other herds, these findings offer novel insights into the social behavior of intersex goats and suggest that they may contribute to social cohesion rather than conflict in a herd.