Living in groups has various advantages and disadvantages for group members. We
investigated the fitness consequences of early social connectivity (normalized Freeman
degrees based on nearest neighbour data), physiology (levels of excreted corticosterone
metabolites assayed from droppings), and agonistic interactions in a group of free-ranging
greylag geese (Anser anser). Forty-four greylag geese below 3 years of age were observed
in three different seasonal phases: during the re-aggregation of the flock in autumn, at the …