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Author Tommasi, L.; Polli, C. doi  openurl
  Title Representation of two geometric features of the environment in the domestic chick ( Gallus gallus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 53-59  
  Keywords Animals; Chickens/*physiology; *Cues; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual/*physiology  
  Abstract (up) We report experiments based on a novel test in domestic chicks ( Gallus gallus), designed to examine the encoding of two different geometric features of an enclosed environment: relative lengths of the walls and amplitude of the corners. Chicks were trained to search for a food reward located in one corner of a parallelogram-shaped enclosure. Between trials, chicks were passively disoriented and the enclosure was rotated, making reorientation possible only on the basis of the internal spatial structure of the enclosure. In order to reorient, chicks could rely on two sources of information: the relative lengths of the walls of the enclosure (associated to their left-right sense order) and the angles subtended by walls at corners. Chicks learned the task choosing equally often the reinforced corner and its rotational equivalent. Results of tests carried out in novel enclosures, the shapes of which were chosen ad hoc (1) to induce reorientation based only on the ratio of walls lengths plus sense (rectangular enclosure), or (2) to induce reorientation based only on corner angles (rhombus-shaped enclosure), suggested that chicks encoded both features of the environment. In a third test, in which chicks faced a conflict between these geometric features (mirror parallelogram-shaped enclosure), reorientation seemed to depend on the salience of corner angles. These results shed light on the elements of the environmental geometry which control spatial reorientation, and broaden the knowledge on the geometric representation of space in animals.  
  Address Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padua, Italy. ltommasi@unipd.it  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12884079 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2561  
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Author Munoz-Sanz, A. openurl 
  Title [Christopher Columbus flu. A hypothesis for an ecological catastrophe] Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiologia Clinica Abbreviated Journal Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin  
  Volume 24 Issue 5 Pages 326-334  
  Keywords Animals; Atlantic Islands; Birds; Chickens; Disease Outbreaks/*history; Disease Reservoirs; Disease Susceptibility; Ecology; Europe/ethnology; History, 15th Century; Horses; Humans; Indians, South American; Influenza A virus/classification/genetics/pathogenicity; Influenza in Birds/epidemiology/history/transmission/virology; Influenza, Human/epidemiology/*history/mortality/transmission; Models, Biological; Orthomyxoviridae Infections/epidemiology/history/veterinary/virology; Poultry Diseases/epidemiology/history/transmission/virology; Reassortant Viruses/genetics/pathogenicity; Species Specificity; Sus scrofa; Swine Diseases/history/transmission/virology; Terminology; West Indies/epidemiology  
  Abstract (up) When Christopher Columbus and his men embarked on the second Colombian expedition to the New World (1493), the crew suffered from fever, respiratory symptoms and malaise. It is generally accepted that the disease was influenza. Pigs, horses and hens acquired in Gomera (Canary Islands) traveled in the same ship. The pigs may well have been the origin of the flu and the intermediary hosts for genetic recombination of other viral subtypes. The Caribbean archipelago had a large population of birds, the natural reservoir of the avian influenza virus. In this ecological scenario there was a concurrence of several biological elements that had never before coexisted in the New World: pigs, horses, the influenza virus and humans. We propose that birds are likely to have played an important role in the epidemiology of the flu occurring on the second Colombian trip, which caused a fatal demographic catastrophe, with an estimated mortality of 90% among the natives.  
  Address Unidad de Patologia Infecciosa, Hospital Universitario Infanta Cristina, Servicio Extremeno de Salud, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Espana. infectio@unex.es  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Spanish Summary Language Original Title La gripe de Cristobal Colon. Hipotesis sobre una catastrofe ecologica  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0213-005X ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16762260 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2624  
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Author Cloutier, S.; Newberry, R.C.; Honda, K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Comparison of social ranks based on worm-running and aggressive behaviour in young domestic fowl Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 79-86  
  Keywords Aggression; Social behaviour; Dominance; Play; Chickens; Animal welfare  
  Abstract (up) Worm-running is behaviour in which a chick runs carrying a worm-like object while flock mates follow and attempt to grab the object from its beak. We hypothesised that social ranks based on worm-running frequency are stable over time and are positively correlated with social ranks based on success in aggressive interactions when older. At 8-12 days of age, we scored worm-running in 17 groups of 12 female White Leghorn chicks during three 10-min tests. Based on instantaneous scans at 5-s intervals, the bird carrying the `worm' most often was placed in rank one and so on down the rank order. These tests were repeated at 68-70 days of age. An aggression index for each bird was calculated as the number of aggressive acts given, divided by the number given and received, during three 1-h observation periods when the birds were 68-70 days. Ranks obtained in worm-running tests were positively correlated over the two age periods (P<0.05) but were not correlated with ranks based on the aggression index (P>0.05). Our results indicate that worm-running ranks are not predictive of success in aggressive interactions. Instead, worm-running fits some criteria for play.  
  Address  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2090  
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