This indicates that for a domestic non-companion animal species, domestication and selection for certain breeding objectives did not measurably shape the physical and cognitive skills of goats. We did not find performance differences between the three groups in the cognitive test battery for either physical or social cues. To increase the heterogeneity of our test samples, data for domestic goats were collected by two experimenters at two research stations (Agroscope Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology). Using a cognitive test battery, we investigated the ability of wild goats (non-domestic, seven subjects), dwarf goats (domestic, not selected for milk production, 15 subjects) and dairy goats (domestic, selected for high milk yield, 18 subjects) to utilise physical and social cues in an object choice task. However, most previous cognitive research comparing domestic and wild animals has focused on companion animals such as canids, limiting any general claims about the effects of artificial selection by humans.
Artificial selection by humans, either through domestication or subsequent selection for specific breeding objectives, drives changes in animal cognition and behaviour.
