ScienceDirect - Animal Behaviour : Effects of group composition on the grazing behaviour of herbivores

ScienceDirect - Animal Behaviour : Effects of group composition on the grazing behaviour of herbivores: "Animal behaviour is often a function of the animal’s physiological state. Groups of animals will often contain individuals with a range of physiological states and the grazing behaviour of herbivores is affected by their physiological state. This study compared the grazing decisions of animals in groups of single and mixed physiological states. Using a grazing model that simulated individual herbivore behaviour in relation to environmental distributions of forage resource (grass) and parasites (faeces), we tested the hypothesis that an animal’s level of parasite exposure via the faecal–oral route is affected by the composition of physiological states in the group."