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Author Murphy, J.; Waldmann, T.; Arkins, S. url  openurl
  Title Sex differences in equine learning skills and visuo-spatial ability Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 87 Issue 1-2 Pages 119-130  
  Keywords Horses; Sex differences; Visuo-spatial ability; Learning  
  Abstract There is evidence of superior visuo-spatial ability in males compared to females in most species investigated to-date. However, no known studies have addressed this issue in the equine. Equine visuo-spatial ability was investigated using a novel test apparatus with a sample of 62 horses (males=34 and females=28) during a series of six tests, where the horses were required to access a food source. The test apparatus consisted of a series of four adjacent stalls, each of which had a feed bin and a moveable barrier. The test apparatus was designed such that the breastplate barriers controlled and limited access by the horses to feed bins in all but one stall during each test. Male horses performed such that there were significant differences (P<0.05) in the ability of the subjects to complete all six tests in a mean time of 30 s or less per test. There were significant differences in mean completion times for male subjects between test 1 and test 2 (P<0.05), test 1 and test 3 (P<0.001), test 1 and test 4 (P<0.05) and test 1 and test 5 (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in mean completion times between any of the six tests for female subjects. Males had a lower mean total number of errors during all tests. Male horses also successfully completed significantly more tests than females (P<0.05). These results provide the first behavioural demonstration of superior visuo-spatial ability in male horses, similar to that reported in other species.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3560  
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Author Motch, S.M.; Harpster, H.W.; Ralston, S.; Ostiguy, N.; Diehl, N.K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title A note on yearling horse ingestive and agonistic behaviours in three concentrate feeding systems Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 106 Issue 1-3 Pages 167-172  
  Keywords Horse; Feeding; Agonistic behaviour; Social behaviour; Sex differences  
  Abstract The objective of this study was to compare behaviours of yearling horses fed concentrates under each of three management systems. Over two consecutive years, 16 yearling horses (n = 8/year; 4 fillies, 4 geldings, full siblings between years) were observed over a 60-day trial period/year at 15:30 h each day. The experimental design consisted of three factors (sex, feeder type, and year); repeated measures on feeder type: tire feeders (control system), individual tub feeders, and manger feeders. Frequency of agonistic interaction was affected by feeder type and sex. Fillies performed more than three times the total number of agonistic behaviours per feeding session as geldings. In both years, horses spent the most time eating and had the fewest agonistic interactions when fed in tire feeders.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 4342  
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Author Penn, D.; Potts, W.K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Untrained mice discriminate MHC-determined odors Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Physiology & Behavior Abbreviated Journal Physiol. Behav.  
  Volume 64 Issue 3 Pages 235-243  
  Keywords Major histocompatibility complex; Pheromones; Olfaction; Kin recognition; Sexual selection  
  Abstract PENN, D. AND W. K. POTTS. Untrained mice distinguish MHC-determined odors. PHYSIOL BEHAV 64(3) 235-243, 1998.--Immune recognition occurs when foreign antigens are presented to T-lymphocytes by molecules encoded by the highly polymorphic genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). House mice (Mus musculus) prefer to mate with individuals that have dissimilar MHC genes. Numerous studies indicate that mice recognize MHC identity through chemosensory cues; however, it is unclear whether odor is determined by classical, antigen-presenting MHC loci or closely linked genes. Previous studies have relied on training laboratory mice and rats to distinguish MHC-associated odors, but there are several reasons why training experiments may be inappropriate assays for testing if MHC genes affect odor. The aim of this study was to determine whether classical MHC genes affect individual odors and whether wild-derived mice can detect MHC-associated odors without training. In the first experiment, we found that wild-derived mice can be trained in a Y-maze to detect the odors of mice that differ genetically only in the MHC region. In the second and third experiments, we used a naturalistic habituation assay and found that wild-derived mice can, without training, distinguish the odors of mice that differ genetically only at one classical MHC locus (dm2 mutants).  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4418  
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Author Malmgren, L.; Andresen, Ø.; Dalin, A.-M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Effect of GnRH immunisation on hormonal levels, sexual behaviour, semen quality and testicular morphology in mature stallions Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Equine Veterinary Journal Abbreviated Journal Equine vet. J.  
  Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 75-83  
  Keywords horse; GnRH; immunisation; stallion; testosterone; oestrone sulphate; sexual behaviour; semen quality  
  Abstract Summary The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) immunisation on mature stallions that had been used for breeding. Four Standardbred stallions were used in the study: 3 experimental animals and 1 control animal. Semen was collected regularly, i.e. twice/week, during the 4 months prior to the experimental period. The stallions were immunised against GnRH with a GnRH-BSA conjugate. Equimune was used as the adjuvant. The stallions were immunised on 5 occasions, 4 at 2 week intervals, and the fifth 4 weeks after the fourth. Blood samples were taken once a week for analysis of GnRH antibody titre and every third week for testosterone and oestrone sulphate analyses. Semen was collected once a week, and libido and sexual behaviour were observed. Ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, total number of sperm in the ejaculate, sperm motility and sperm morphology were evaluated. Testicular size was measured once a week. At the end of the study, the stallions were castrated, and a histological examination of the testes performed. All immunised stallions produced antibodies against GnRH, and plasma testosterone concentration decreased. However, the effect of immunisation varied between stallions. In 2 of the stallions, high levels of antibodies were found, while in the third, the level was moderate. Four weeks after the first immunisation, a decrease in libido was observed. Two months after the first immunisation, marked changes in semen quality were observed in the 2 stallions with high antibody titres. Fourteen weeks after the first immunisation, the total number of sperm/ejaculate had decreased from >8.6×109 to<2.7×109, sperm motility from >59 to<10% and the frequency of morphological normal spermatozoa had decreased from >60 to<14%. The dominating abnormalities were abnormal head shapes, proximal cytoplasmic droplets and detached heads. In the third stallion, only slight changes in semen quality were found. No changes were observed in the control stallion. Decreases in testicular size were noted in all of the experimental stallions. Pronounced histological alterations in the testes were observed in 2 of the stallions. It is concluded that the vaccine was effective in stimulating production of GnRH antibodies and in suppressing testicular function and androgen secretion. However, there was an individual variation in the responses among the stallions and, further, libido was not totally suppressed.  
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  Publisher Blackwell Publishing Ltd Place of Publication Editor  
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  ISSN 2042-3306 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5312  
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Author Feh, C.; Munkhtuya, B. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Male infanticide and paternity analyses in a socially natural herd of Przewalski`s horses: Sexual selection? Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 78 Issue 3 Pages 335-339  
  Keywords DNA paternity analysis; Human disturbance; Male infanticide; Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii); Sexual selection  
  Abstract The sexual selection hypothesis explains infanticide by males in many mammals. In our 11-year study, we investigated this hypothesis in a herd of Przewalski's horses where we had witnessed infanticidal attacks. Infanticide was highly conditional and not simply linked to takeovers. Attacks occurred in only five of 39 cases following a takeover, and DNA paternity revealed that, although infanticidal stallions were not the genetic fathers in four cases out of five, stallions present at birth did not significantly attempt to kill unrelated foals. Infanticide did not reduce birth intervals; only in one case out of five was the infanticidal stallion, the father of the next foal; mothers whose foals were attacked subsequently avoided associating with infanticidal stallions. Therefore, evidence for the sexual selection hypothesis was weak. The “human disturbance” hypothesis received some support, as only zoo bred stallions which grew up in unnatural social groups attacked foals of mares which were pregnant during takeovers.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4632  
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Author Scordato, E.S.; Drea, C.M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Scents and sensibility: information content of olfactory signals in the ringtailed lemur, Lemur catta Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 73 Issue 2 Pages 301-314  
  Keywords chemical communication; female dominance; individual recognition; intrasexual competition; Lemur catta; mate choice; reproductive signalling; ringtailed lemur; scent marking; seasonality  
  Abstract The function of olfactory signalling in social species is less well understood than in asocial species. Consequently, we examined olfactory communication in the ringtailed lemur, a socially complex primate that retains a functional vomeronasal organ, has well-developed scent glands and shows a suite of scent-marking behaviour. To assess the information content of different types of scent gland secretions, we decoupled olfactory cues from the visual and behavioural modalities with which scent marking is normally associated. We presented male and female subjects (signal receivers) with a series of choice tests between odours derived from conspecific donors (signal senders) varying by sex, age, social status and reproductive condition. We additionally examined the influence of the receivers' reproductive state and familiarity with the signaller. The reproductive condition, social status and familiarity of senders and receivers affected signal transmission; specifically, male receivers attended most to the odours of conspecifics in breeding condition and to the odours of familiar, dominant animals. By contrast, females varied their responses according to both their own reproductive state and that of the sender. Based on male and female patterns of countermarking, we suggest that scent marking serves a function in intergroup spacing and intrasexual competition for both sexes, as might be expected in a female-dominant species. By contrast, minimal female interest in male odours counters a female mate choice function for scent marking in this species. Nevertheless, scent marks are critical to male-male competition and, therefore, may be subject to sexual selection.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4648  
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Author Gosden, T. P.; Svensson, E. I. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Density-Dependent Male Mating Harassment, Female Resistance, and Male Mimicry Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication The American Naturalist Abbreviated Journal Am Nat  
  Volume 173 Issue 6 Pages 709-721  
  Keywords tolerance, sexual conflict, path analysis, mating behavior, polymorphism, fecundity.  
  Abstract Abstract:

Genetic variation in female resistance and tolerance to male mating harassment can affect the outcome of sexually antagonistic mating interactions. We investigated female mating rates and male mating harassment in natural populations of a damselfly (Ischnura elegans). This damselfly species has a heritable sex&#8208;limited polymorphism in females, where one of the morphs is a male mimic (androchrome females). The three female morphs differ in mating rates, and these differences are stable across populations and years. However, the degree of premating resistance toward male mating attempts varied across generations and populations. Male mating harassment of the female morphs changed in a density&#8208;dependent fashion, suggesting that male mate preferences are plastic and vary with the different morph densities. We quantified morph differences in male mating harassment and female fecundity, using path analysis and structural equation modeling. We found variation between the morphs in the fitness consequences of mating, with the fecundity of one of the nonmimetic morphs declining with increasing male mating harassment. However, androchrome females had lower overall fecundity, presumably reflecting a cost of male mimicry. Density&#8208;dependent male mating harassment on the morphs and fecundity costs of male mimicry are thus likely to contribute to the maintenance of this female polymorphism.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4999  
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Author Conradt, L.; Roper, T.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Deciding group movements: Where and when to go Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 84 Issue 3 Pages 675-677  
  Keywords activity synchronisation; aggregation rules; collective decisions; democracy; group decisions; sexual segregation; decision sharing; social choice theory  
  Abstract A group of animals can only move cohesively, if group members “somehow” reach a consensus about the timing (e.g., start) and the spatial direction/destination of the collective movement. Timing and spatial decisions usually differ with respect to the continuity of their cost/benefit distribution in such a way that, in principle, compromises are much more feasible in timing decision (e.g. median preferred time) than they are in spatial decisions. The consequence is that consensus costs connected to collective timing decisions are usually less skewed amongst group members than are consensus costs connected to spatial decisions. This, in turn, influences the evolution of decision sharing: sharing in timing decisions is most likely to evolve when conflicts are high relative to group cohesion benefits, while sharing in spatial decisions is most likely to evolve in the opposite situation. We discuss the implications of these differences for the study of collective movement decisions.  
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  ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5086  
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Author Conradt, L.; Krause, J.; Couzin, I. D.; Roper, T. J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title “Leading According to Need” in Self-Organizing Groups Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication The American Naturalist Abbreviated Journal Am Nat  
  Volume 173 Issue 3 Pages 304-312  
  Keywords behavioral synchrony, collective group decisions, democracy and egalitarianism in animals, public goods experiments, sexual segregation, social choice theory  
  Abstract Self&#8208;organizing&#8208;system approaches have shed significant light on the mechanisms underlying synchronized movements by large groups of animals, such as shoals of fish, flocks of birds, or herds of ungulates. However, these approaches rarely consider conflicts of interest between group members, although there is reason to suppose that such conflicts are commonplace. Here, we demonstrate that, where conflicts exist, individual members of self&#8208;organizing groups can, in principle, increase their influence on group movement destination by strategically changing simple behavioral parameters (namely, movement speed, assertiveness, and social attraction range). However, they do so at the expense of an increased risk of group fragmentation and a decrease in movement efficiency. We argue that the resulting trade&#8208;offs faced by each group member render it likely that group movements are led by those members for which reaching a particular destination is most crucial or group cohesion is least important. We term this phenomenon leading according to “need” or “social indifference,” respectively. Both kinds of leading can occur in the absence of knowledge of or communication about the needs of other group members and without the assumption of altruistic cooperation. We discuss our findings in the light of observations on fish and other vertebrates.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5121  
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Author Bartos, L..; Bartosova, J.; Pluhacek, J.; Sindelarova, J. pdf  openurl
  Title Promiscuous behaviour disrupts pregnancy block in domestic horse (Equus caballus) mares: A counterstrategy against possible male infanticide Type Conference Article
  Year 2012 Publication Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting Abbreviated Journal Proc. 2. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg  
  Volume in press Issue Pages  
  Keywords foetal loss, domestic horse, Bruce effect, sexual behaviour  
  Abstract It is a common practice that the domestic horse mare is removed from her home environment and transported elsewhere for mating. After conceiving she is returned back into her home environment and social group, containing often familiar stallions and geldings. If we presume that the behavioural adaptation for infanticide relevant for wild, or free-ranging horses has not be lost in domestication (and it is clear that it remains at least within feral populations), then we may expect that, unless prevented by fencing or other management measures, the dominant males in the home social group may subsequently attempt infanticide. Foetal loss is a common phenomenon in domestic horses, being usually substantially higher than that in other domestic ungulates reaching up to 40%. One adaptive response to infanticide risk in polygynous populations is the Bruce effect. Pregnant females terminate their pregnancies when exposed to a dominant strange male. Our previous studies on plain zebra suggested the possibility of the Bruce effect also in equids. In this study we therefore tested the presumption that the Bruce effect could explain foetal loss in domestic horses. Based on reproduction records from horse breeders, we have recently published that bringing a pregnant mare which had been mated away from home into a vicinity of a familiar male who was not the father of her foetus increased probability of pregnancy disruption (Behav Ecol Sociobiol DOI: 10.1007/s00265-011-1166-6). These mares aborted in 31% of cases, while none of those mated within the home stable aborted. Repeated sexual activity either by a stallion or dominant gelding from the normal home group was observed shortly after the mare came from away-mating. Pregnant mares isolated from home males by a fence were even seen soliciting them over the fence. Therefore, there is probably some other mechanism than the Bruce effect leading to pregnancy block in the mare. We speculate that, once returned to the home “herd”, and introduced to familiar males, mares were more likely to terminate their pregnancy to save energy and avoid likely future infanticidal loss of their progeny by dominant male(s) of the home social group. Additional data has now showed that if a mare was mated away from home and was brought into an environment containing mares only, she was less likely to abort than a mare returning to an environment containing familiar male or males. This further supports our above hypothesis. Supported by AWIN, EU FP7 project No. 266213.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Bartos, L. Thesis  
  Publisher Xenophon Publishing Place of Publication Wald Editor Krueger, K.  
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  ISSN 978-3-9808134-26 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5544  
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