Research Social personality in sheep: Can social strategies predict individual differences in cognitive abilities, morphology features, and reproductive success? Genaro C. Miranda-de la Lama a, b, * , María Pascual-Alonso a , Lorena Aguayo-Ulloa c , Wilmer S. Sepúlveda d , Morris Villarroel e , Gustavo A. María a a Department of Animal Production & Food Science, Agri-Food Institute of Aragon IA2 (University of Zaragoza and CITA), Zaragoza, Spain b Department of Food Science, Metropolitan Autonomous University-Lerma, Lerma de Villada, Mexico c Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research, Agrosavia, CI Turipaná, Montería, Colombia d GIAM-Z Research Group, Universidad Libre, Campus Majavita, El Socorro, Colombia e Department of Animal Science, E.T.S.I.A. Polytechnic University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain article info Article history: Received 29 October 2018 Received in revised form 22 December 2018 Accepted 19 March 2019 Available online 30 March 2019 Keywords: social personality social strategies cognitive abilities reproductive success sheep abstract Social personality can be key factor in evolution because of intraindividual consistency, heritable basis, and linkage with fitness. The aim of this study was to identify the existence of sheep personality profiles based on the use of social strategies and its associations on morphological, cognitive, and reproductive success. Fifty adult ewes, housed indoor, were studied in terms of social and maintenance behavior, stress response, morphological variables, and productive performance. The cognitive abilities of the ewes were also analyzed. A factor analysis was used to summarize the data of 7 social behavioral variables. Agonistic and nonagonistic behaviors were grouped in classes. The factors were extracted using principal com- ponents. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to identify clusters or profiles. The results demonstrated the existence of 4 personalities profiles (avoider, affiliative, aggressive, and pragmatic), determined by social behavior and the index of success. The study addresses the multidimensionality of personality, showing that sheep personality comprises several social and nonsocial dimensions. The data confirm that the use of social strategies and the index of success are a useful tool to predict individual differences or personalities in a flock. Ó 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction In animal personality research, many terms are used to explain individual differences in behavior, besides personality itself (i.e., behavioral syndromes, coping style, temperament, and social stra- tegies) (Finkemeier et al., 2018). According to selection theory, personality traits within a population are maintained because of individual trade-offs between current and future fitness returns (Nawroth et al., 2017). Personality may explain individual differ- ences in social rank, social bonds, coping, cognitive abilities, and physiology (Zidar et al., 2017). Therefore, personality represents an important biological trait because of its intraindividual consistency, heritable basis, and linkage with fitness (Sichova et al., 2014). In- dividuals adopt different behavioral strategies in response to changes in their environment, reducing competition with group members (Cardoso et al., 2015). Then, sociability may favor behavioral consistency and differentiation of behavioral types through social niche specialization, resulting in differences in per- sonality trait levels within a social group (Bergmüller and Taborsky, 2010; Koski and Burkart, 2015). A social personality can be defined as a coherent set of social strategies to respond to the challenges of group life, which are consistent over time and characteristic of certain social groups (Boissy and Le Neindre, 1990; Miranda-de la Lama et al., 2011). Social strategies can be key factors in the evo- lution and development of consistent individual differences in the personality (Mülleder et al., 2003.). The social niche specialization hypothesis suggests that in group-living animals, the combination * Address for reprint requests and correspondence: Department of Animal Pro- duction & Food Science, Agri-Food Institute of Aragon IA2 (University of Zaragoza and CITA), Miguel Servet 177, 50013 Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. Tel: þ34 876554150; Fax: þ34 976 761 590. E-mail addresses: genaro@unizar.es, g.miranda@correo.ler.uam.mx (G.C. Miranda-de la Lama). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Veterinary Behavior journal homepage: www.journalvetbehavior.com https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2019.03.005 1558-7878/Ó 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 31 (2019) 82e91