Animals can navigate an environment relying on different sources of information, such as geometrical or featural cues. The favoring of one type of information over another depends on multiple factors, such as inter-individual differences in behavior and cognition. Free-range chickens present different range use patterns, which may be explained by behavioral and cognitive differences. However, how behavior, cognition, and range use intercorrelate is still poorly understood. In this work, we aimed to further understand possible differences in behavior and cognition between two groups of free-range broiler chickens: those who frequently explore their range (‘high rangers’) and those who prefer to stay in or near the barn (‘low rangers’). Prior to range access, individual behavior was measured in open field-, emergence-, and social motivation tests. To investigate cognitive differences, we analyzed whether exploratory behavior was linked to different performances in the use of distal and local spatial cues during an orientation task. During the social motivation test, low rangers showed a higher inclination to be near conspecifics than did high rangers. Our orientation tests show that chickens preferred to orientate themselves using the local cues over the distal cues. Individual differences were only found for distal, but not for local, cue use suggesting that demanding tasks are more efficient in revealing individual cognitive differences. Our results suggest that considering variation in social motivation may allow a more comprehensive understanding of chicken range use. Our results also support the importance of incorporating multiple aspects of individual differences to understand individual reactions to its environment.

中文翻译：

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社会动机和使用远端但非局部的暗示与散养鸡（Gallus gallus domesticus）的测距行为有关。

动物可以依靠不同的信息来源（例如几何或特征线索）在环境中导航。一种类型的信息胜于另一种类型的信息取决于多种因素，例如行为和认知之间的个体差异。自由放养的鸡呈现不同的使用范围模式，这可以通过行为和认知差异来解释。但是，行为，认知和范围使用之间如何相互关联仍然知之甚少。在这项工作中，我们旨在进一步了解两组自由放养的肉鸡的行为和认知可能存在的差异：那些经常探索其范围的鸡（“高护林员”）和那些喜欢呆在谷仓中或附近的鸡（“低护林员）。在进行范围接触之前，个人行为是通过开放领域，出现和社会动机测试来衡量的。为了调查认知差异，我们分析了定向任务期间探索行为是否与使用远端和局部空间线索的不同表现有关。在社会动机测试中，低护林员比高护林员表现出更高的倾向接近特定物种。我们的定向测试表明，鸡倾向于使用局部线索而不是远端线索来对自己进行定向。仅针对远端提示发现个体差异，而不针对局部提示发现个体差异，这表明要求苛刻的任务更有效地揭示了个体认知差异。我们的结果表明，考虑社会动机的变化可能会更全面地了解鸡的使用。