Abstract: Lister hooded rats were trained on a forced-sample T-maze alternation task in an environment lacking spatial landmarks. An early study of spontaneous alternation on the T-maze had shown that rats use a “spatial sense” to select alternate maze arms across mazes. As this phenomenon may provide a useful tool for studying the neural substrates of a directional sense, we wished to confirm this finding on a different version of the T-maze task, with well-trained animals. We found that rats successfully selected the appropriate maze arm when the choice phase of the task was presented on a second maze, oriented in the same direction, and located in an adjacent room. However, choice performance fell to chance level when the second maze was oriented 90 degrees relative to the first. This result suggests that the rats do not simply alternate turns across the two environments, but rather that they rely on a sense of direction that is carried across environments.

Abstract: Learning is likely to be costly and thus subject to trade-off with other components of life history. An obvious prediction, therefore, is that investment in learning, and thus learning performance, will vary with individual life history strategy and the reproductive value of the learning outcome. We tested this idea in the context of social dominance in male laboratory mice, using a simple radial maze paradigm to compare the ability of high- and low-ranking male mice to track changing food location. We tested animals in randomly selected pairs before and after establishing aggressive rank relationships to distinguish intrinsic differences in learning ability from those attributable to acquiring high or low rank. There was no difference in learning between later dominants and subordinates prior to establishing rank relationships. After pairing, however, dominants showed a significantly greater percentage of correct responses, with the difference being greatest earlier in a sequence of trials. The percentage of correct responses also increased with the amount of aggression initiated during pairing. The results thus appeared to reflect a state-dependent change in learning associated with the aggressive social relationships formed during pairing.

Abstract: It is possible that non-specialised cues transmitted by conspecifics guide animals' food search provided they have the cognitive abilities needed to read these cues. Macaques often check the mouth of their group-mates by olfactory and/or visual inspection. We investigated whether Tonkean macaques ( Macaca tonkeana) can find the location of distant food on the basis of cues conveyed by group-mates. The subjects of the study were two 6-year-old males, who belonged to a social group of Tonkean macaques raised in semi-free-ranging conditions. In a first experiment, we tested whether the subject can choose between two sites after having sniffed a partner who has just eaten food corresponding to one of the sites. We found that both subjects were able to choose the matching site significantly above the chance level. This demonstrated that Tonkean macaques are capable of delayed olfactory matching. They could associate a food location with an odour conveyed by a partner. In a second experiment, the same subjects were allowed to see their partner through a Plexiglas window. Both subjects were still able to choose the matching site, demonstrating they could rely on visual cues alone. Passive recruitment of partners appears possible in macaques. They can improve their foraging performances by finding the location of environmental resources from olfactory or visual cues conveyed by group-mates.

Abstract: Introduction
Glucocorticoids are present in many biological fluids as a free fraction or bound to Corticoid
Binding Globulins (CBG) (Matteri et al, 2000). There are conflicting claims regarding the validity of
saliva as a biological fluid to measure cortisol in horses (Lebelt et al, 1996; McGreevy and Pell, 1998;
van der Kolk et al, 2001). Measuring changes in salivary cortisol levels in normal horses and horses
with Cushing`s disease van der Kolk and collaborators (2001) demonstrated the validity of saliva to
assess adrenal function. Puzzling results were reported by McGreevy and Pell (1998) who suggested
that plasma and salivary cortisol concentrations in horses showing oral stereotypies were correlated
but this association was non-existent in control animals. Investigating the responses of foals to
branding and foot-trimming Zanella et al (unpublished results) were unable to identify a relationship
between plasma and salivary cortisol levels in foals. In several species, levels of cortisol in plasma and
saliva are tightly correlated (Fenske, 1996). Cortisol found in blood consists of a fraction bound to
corticoid binding globulin (CBG) and a free, unbound fraction. Free cortisol represents the
biologically active fraction of this steroid hormone. Salivary cortisol reflects the unbound fraction
found in plasma or serum and it passes readily through the parotid membrane (Riad-Fahmy, 1983;
Horning Walker et al,1977). Unbound steroids transfer rapidly between plasma and saliva
(Walker,1989; Scott et al 1990). Saliva flow-rate does not appear to influence saliva cortisol levels in
different species (Hubert and de Jong-Meyer, 1989; Walker 1989, Scott et a, 1990). In horses, Lebelt
et al (1996) reported that salivary and plasma total cortisol in stallions were correlated. We
hypothesized that changes in salivary cortisol in foals would show a pattern that is correlated to that of
plasma free and plasma total cortisol concentrations in foals. In addition, we anticipated that the lack
of good sampling techniques provides an explanation for the failure in determining the association
between salivary and plasma cortisol in foals.

Abstract: Individual recognition is an essential component of interactions in many social systems, but insects are often thought incapable of the sophistication necessary to recognize individuals. If this were true, it would impose limits on the societies that insects could form. For example, queens and workers of the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus form a linear dominance hierarchy that determines how food, work and reproduction are divided within the colony. Such a stable hierarchy would be facilitated if individuals of different ranks have some degree of recognition. P. fuscatus wasps have, to our knowledge, previously undocumented variability in their yellow facial and abdominal markings that are intriguing candidates for signals of individual identity. Here, I describe these highly variable markings and experimentally test whether P. fuscatus queens and workers use these markings to identify individual nest-mates visually. I demonstrate that individuals whose yellow markings are experimentally altered with paint receive more aggression than control wasps who are painted in a way that does not alter their markings. Further, aggression declines towards wasps with experimentally altered markings as these novel markings become familiar to their nestmates. This evidence for individual recognition in P. fuscatus indicates that interactions between insects may be even more complex than previously anticipated.
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