Behavioral variation among cloned pigs

The variability of behavior among cloned animals has yet to be studied. Through a series of behavior tests, we quantified the variation in food preference, temperament, and time budgets of two genetically identical Duroc litters ( n=5, 4) and their naturally bred controls ( n=4, 4). All litters of pigs were tested for their food preference using apples, bananas, crackers, and carrots. Variation in temperament was determined by timing latency to remove a towel (Towel Test) and by counting vocalizations and escape attempts during Back and Pick-up Tests. Seventy-two hours of time lapse video were used to determine time budgets of the pigs consisting of the following behaviors: lying in bedding, lying on concrete, standing, feeding, and play/fighting. An F-test was used to determine differences in variation between litter variations. The clones were similarly or more variable ( P