| Records |
| Author |
Wilson, A.M.; McGuigan, M.P.; Su, A.; van Den Bogert, A.J. |
| Title |
Horses damp the spring in their step |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal  |
Nature |
| Volume |
414 |
Issue |
6866 |
Pages |
895-899 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Biomechanics; Elasticity; Forelimb; Gait; Horses/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Leg Bones/*physiology; Locomotion; Models, Biological; Muscle Fibers/physiology; Muscle, Skeletal/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Tendons/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Vibration |
| Abstract |
The muscular work of galloping in horses is halved by storing and returning elastic strain energy in spring-like muscle-tendon units.These make the legs act like a child's pogo stick that is tuned to stretch and recoil at 2.5 strides per second. This mechanism is optimized by unique musculoskeletal adaptations: the digital flexor muscles have extremely short fibres and significant passive properties, whereas the tendons are very long and span several joints. Length change occurs by a stretching of the spring-like digital flexor tendons rather than through energetically expensive length changes in the muscle. Despite being apparently redundant for such a mechanism, the muscle fibres in the digital flexors are well developed. Here we show that the mechanical arrangement of the elastic leg permits it to vibrate at a higher frequency of 30-40 Hz that could cause fatigue damage to tendon and bone. Furthermore, we show that the digital flexor muscles have minimal ability to contribute to or regulate significantly the 2.5-Hz cycle of movement, but are ideally arranged to damp these high-frequency oscillations in the limb. |
| Address |
Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, The Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Herts AL9 7TA, UK. awilson@rvc.ac.uk |
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English |
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0028-0836 |
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| Notes |
PMID:11780059 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2300 |
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| Author |
Marean, C.W.; Gifford-Gonzalez, D. |
| Title |
Late Quaternary extinct ungulates of East Africa and palaeoenvironmental implications |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1991 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
350 |
Issue |
6317 |
Pages |
418-420 |
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| Abstract |
UNGULATE communities of two East African savannas, the Serengeti and Athi-Kapiti Plains, are dominated by wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) supplemented by zebra (Equus burchelli), topi (Damaliscus lunatus), hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), buffalo (Syncerus caffer) eland (Taurotragus oryx) and gazelles (Gazella grand and G. thomsoni)1-3. Before this research, little was known of East African large mammal communities in the Late Pleistocene and early to middle Holocene. We document an extinct impala-sized alcelaphine antelope that is numerically dominant in Late Pleistocene archaeofaunal assemblages from the Athi-Kapiti Plains. The extinct giant buffalo Pelorovis antiquus is present, and a number of arid-adapted regionally extinct species are common. The small alcelaphine is rare in northern Tanzania, but regionally extinct arid-adapted species are present in Late Pleistocene deposits. These data indicate that as recently as 12,000 years ago, the large mammal community structure of East African savannas was very different and dry grasslands and arid-adapted ungulates expanded at least as far south as northern Tanzania during the Last Glacial Maximum. |
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| Notes |
10.1038/350418a0 |
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no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2345 |
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| Author |
Terrace, H.S. |
| Title |
Chunking by a pigeon in a serial learning task |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1987 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
325 |
Issue |
7000 |
Pages |
149-151 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae/*physiology; Feedback; Learning/*physiology; Male |
| Abstract |
A basic principle of human memory is that lists that can be organized into memorable 'chunks' are easier to remember. Memory span is limited to a roughly constant number of chunks and is to a large extent independent of the amount of informaton contained in each chunk. Depending on the ingenuity of the code used to integrate discrete items into chunks, one can substantially increase the number of items that can be recalled correctly. Newly developed paradigms for studying memory in non-verbal organisms allow comparison of the abilities of human and non-human subjects to memorize lists. Here I present two types of evidence that pigeons 'chunk' 5-element lists whose components (colours and achromatic geometric forms) are clustered into distinct groups. Those lists were learned twice as rapidly as a homogeneous list of colours or heterogeneous lists in which the elements are not clustered. The pigeons were also tested for knowledge of the order of two elements drawn from the 5-element lists. They responded in the correct order only to those subsets that contained a chunk boundary. Thus chunking can be studied profitably in animal subjects; the cognitive processes that allow an organism to form chunks do no presuppose linguistic competence. |
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0028-0836 |
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| Notes |
PMID:3808071 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2792 |
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| Author |
Matsuzawa, T. |
| Title |
Use of numbers by a chimpanzee |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1985 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
315 |
Issue |
6014 |
Pages |
57-59 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Cognition; Female; Mathematics; Pan troglodytes/*physiology |
| Abstract |
Recent studies have examined linguistic abilities in apes. However, although human mathematical abilities seem to be derived from the same foundation as those in language, we have little evidence for mathematical abilities in apes (but for exceptions see refs 7-10). In the present study, a 5-yr-old female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), 'Ai', was trained to use Arabic numerals to name the number of items in a display. Ai mastered numerical naming from one to six and was able to name the number, colour and object of 300 types of samples. Although no particular sequence of describing samples was required, the chimpanzee favoured two sequences (colour/object/number and object/colour/number). The present study demonstrates that the chimpanzee was able to describe the three attributes of the sample items and spontaneously organized the 'word order'. |
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English |
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0028-0836 |
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| Notes |
PMID:3990808 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2793 |
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| Author |
McGonigle, B. |
| Title |
Can apes learn to count? |
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| Year |
1985 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
315 |
Issue |
6014 |
Pages |
16-17 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Cognition; Pan troglodytes/*physiology |
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English |
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0028-0836 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:3990806 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2794 |
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| Author |
Crook, J.H. |
| Title |
On attributing consciousness to animals |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1983 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
303 |
Issue |
5912 |
Pages |
11-14 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; *Consciousness; Evolution; Learning |
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English |
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0028-0836 |
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| Notes |
PMID:6843653 |
Approved |
no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2795 |
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| Author |
Goodall J |
| Title |
Tool-using and aimed throwing in a community of free-living chimpanzees |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1964 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
201 |
Issue |
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Pages |
1264 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
3000 |
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| Author |
Sugiyama Y |
| Title |
Tool use by wild chimpanzees |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1994 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
376 |
Issue |
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Pages |
327 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
3041 |
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| Author |
Novacek, M.J. |
| Title |
Mammalian phylogeny: shaking the tree |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1992 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
356 |
Issue |
6365 |
Pages |
121-125 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Evolution; Fossils; Mammals/classification/*genetics; *Phylogeny |
| Abstract |
Recent palaeontological discoveries and the correspondence between molecular and morphological results provide fresh insight on the deep structure of mammalian phylogeny. This new wave of research, however, has yet to resolve some important issues. |
| Address |
American Museum of Natural History, New York 10024 |
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English |
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0028-0836 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:1545862 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
3546 |
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| Author |
Wolf, M.; van Doorn, G.S.; Leimar, O.; Weissing, F.J. |
| Title |
Life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of animal personalities |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
447 |
Issue |
7144 |
Pages |
581-584 |
| Keywords |
Aggression/physiology/psychology; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Evolution; Exploratory Behavior/physiology; Models, Biological; Personality/*physiology; Predatory Behavior/physiology; Reproduction/physiology; Risk-Taking; Selection (Genetics) |
| Abstract |
In recent years evidence has been accumulating that personalities are not only found in humans but also in a wide range of other animal species. Individuals differ consistently in their behavioural tendencies and the behaviour in one context is correlated with the behaviour in multiple other contexts. From an adaptive perspective, the evolution of animal personalities is still a mystery, because a more flexible structure of behaviour should provide a selective advantage. Accordingly, many researchers view personalities as resulting from constraints imposed by the architecture of behaviour (but see ref. 12). In contrast, we show here that animal personalities can be given an adaptive explanation. Our argument is based on the insight that the trade-off between current and future reproduction often results in polymorphic populations in which some individuals put more emphasis on future fitness returns than others. Life-history theory predicts that such differences in fitness expectations should result in systematic differences in risk-taking behaviour. Individuals with high future expectations (who have much to lose) should be more risk-averse than individuals with low expectations. This applies to all kinds of risky situations, so individuals should consistently differ in their behaviour. By means of an evolutionary model we demonstrate that this basic principle results in the evolution of animal personalities. It simultaneously explains the coexistence of behavioural types, the consistency of behaviour through time and the structure of behavioural correlations across contexts. Moreover, it explains the common finding that explorative behaviour and risk-related traits like boldness and aggressiveness are common characteristics of animal personalities. |
| Address |
Theoretical Biology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Kerklaan 30, 9751 NN Haren, The Netherlands |
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English |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:17538618 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4098 |
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