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Author Péron, F.; Ward, R.; Burman, O. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Horses (Equus caballus) discriminate body odour cues from conspecifics Type Journal Article
  Year 2013 Publication Abbreviated Journal Animal Cognition  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-5  
  Keywords Body odour; Discrimination; Equus caballus; Habituation; Social memory  
  Abstract Knowledge about social recognition and memory in animals can help us to determine appropriate management and husbandry techniques. In this study, we used a habituation–discrimination procedure to investigate the ability of horses (Equus caballus) to distinguish between the body odour samples of unfamiliar conspecifics. To pick up body odour, we rubbed material on the coat of horses and presented these unknown body odours to 16 different conspecifics of the same sex and similar age. The test consisted of two successive two-min presentations of a sample from one individual (e.g. individual ‘A’) and a simultaneous presentation of samples from individual ‘A’ and a novel individual (e.g. individual ‘B’) during a final third presentation. The results showed that horses, regardless of sex, decreased the time they spent investigating conspecific body odour across the initial two presentations—demonstrating habituation. In the final presentation, the results demonstrated successful discrimination of the previously experienced odour because horses investigated the novel olfactory sample (‘B’) significantly more than the pre-exposed sample (‘A’). Taken together, these findings suggest, for the first time, that horses are able to discriminate two stimuli derived from body odours of unfamiliar conspecifics over short period of time.  
  Address (up)  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Springer Berlin Heidelberg 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 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5742  
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Author Lingle, S.; Rendall, D.; Wilson, W.F.; DeYoung, R.W.; Pellis, S.M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Altruism and recognition in the antipredator defence of deer: 2. Why mule deer help nonoffspring fawns Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 73 Issue 5 Pages 907-916  
  Keywords aggressive defence; altruism; behavioural discrimination; cooperation; motivational constraint; mule deer; Odocoileus hemionus; Odocoileus virginianus; recognition error; white-tailed deer  
  Abstract Both white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, and mule deer, O. hemionus, females defend fawns against coyotes, Canis latrans, but only mule deer defend nonoffspring conspecific and heterospecific fawns. During a predator attack, females may have to decide whether to defend a fawn while having imperfect information on its identity obtained from hearing a few distress calls. Although imperfect recognition can influence altruistic behaviour, few empirical studies have considered this point when testing functional explanations for altruism. We designed a series of playback experiments with fawn distress calls to test alternative hypotheses (by-product of parental care, kin selection, reciprocal altruism) for the mule deer's defence of nonoffspring, specifically allowing for the possibility that females mistake these fawns for their own. White-tailed deer females approached the speaker only when distress calls of white-tailed deer fawns were played and when their own fawn was hidden, suggesting that fawn defence was strictly a matter of parental care in this species. In contrast, mule deer females responded similarly and strongly, regardless of the caller's identity, the female's reproductive state (mother or nonmother) or the presence of their own offspring. The failure of mule deer females to adjust their responses to these conditions suggests that they do not defend nonoffspring because they mistake them for their own fawns. The lack of behavioural discrimination also suggests that kin selection, reciprocal altruism and defence of the offspring's area are unlikely to explain the mule deer's defence of nonoffspring. We identify causal and functional questions that still need to be addressed to understand why mule deer defend fawns so indiscriminately.  
  Address (up)  
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  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4211  
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Author Prato-Previde, E.; Marshall-Pescini, S.; Valsecchi, P. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Is your choice my choice` The owners effect on pet dogs? ( Canis lupus familiaris ) performance in a food choice task Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 167-174  
  Keywords Dog – Dog-owner relationship – Food choice task – Quantity discrimination  
  Abstract Abstract  This study investigates the influence of owners on their dogs performance in a food choice task using either different or equal quantities of food. Fifty-four pet dogs were tested in three different conditions. In Condition 1 we evaluated their ability to choose between a large and small amount of food (quantity discrimination task). In Condition 2 dogs were again presented with a choice between the large and small food quantity, but only after having witnessed their owner favouring the small quantity. In Condition 3 dogs were given a choice between two equally small quantities of food having witnessed their owner favouring either one or the other. A strong effect of the owner on the dogs`` performance was observed. In Condition 1 dogs as a group chose significantly more often the large food quantity, thus showing their ability to solve the quantity discrimination task. After observing their owner expressing a preference for the small food quantity they chose the large quantity of food significantly less than in the independent choice situation. The tendency to conform to the owner`s choice was higher when the dogs had to choose between equally small quantities of food (Condition 3) rather than between a large and a small one (Condition 2). These results provide evidence that dogs can be influenced by their owners even when their indications are clearly in contrast with direct perceptual information, thus leading dogs to ultimately make counterproductive choices.  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
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  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 4216  
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Author Uller, C.; Lewis, J. doi  openurl
  Title Horses (Equus caballus) select the greater of two quantities in small numerical contrasts Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 12 Issue 5 Pages 733-738  
  Keywords Quantity representation – Horses – Number discrimination  
  Abstract Abstract  The ability to select the greater numerosity over another in small sets seems to stem from the calculation of which set contains more, and has been taken as evidence of a primordial representation at the roots of the primate numerical system. We tested 56 horses (Equus caballus) in a paradigm previously used with human infants and nonhuman primates. Horses saw two quantities paired in contrasts—2 versus 1, 3 versus 2, 6 versus 4 and a control for volume, 2 versus 1 big—and had to make a choice by snout touching the container holding the numerosity selected. The horses spontaneously selected the greater of the two quantities when the numerosities were small. These results add to evidence showing spontaneous quantity assessment in a variety of species.  
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  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
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  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5028  
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Author Hanggi, E.B.; Ingersoll, J.F. doi  openurl
  Title Stimulus discrimination by horses under scotopic conditions Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 82 Issue 1 Pages 45-50  
  Keywords Discrimination learning; Equine; Horse; Night vision; Scotopic vision  
  Abstract Scotopic vision in horses (Equus caballus) was investigated using behavioral measurements for the first time. Four horses were tested for the ability to make simple visual discriminations of geometric figures (circles and triangles) under various brightness levels within an enclosed building. Measurements of brightness ranging from 10.37 to 24.12 magnitudes per square arcsecond (mag/arcsec2; in candelas per square meter--7.70 to 2.43E-05 cd/m2) were taken using a Sky Quality Meter. These values approximated outdoor conditions ranging from twilight in open country to a dark moonless night in dense forest. The horses were able to solve the discrimination problems in all brightness settings up to 23.77 mag/arcsec2 (3.35E-05 cd/m2). Moreover, they easily navigated their way around obstacles located within the testing area in extremely dim light (>23.50 mag/arcsec2; 4.30E-05 cd/m2), which were in conditions too dark for the human experimenters to see. These findings support physiological data that reveal a rod-dominated visual system as well as observations of equine activity at night.  
  Address (up)  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5051  
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Author Hothersall, B.; Harris, P.; Sörtoft, L.; Nicol, C.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Discrimination between conspecific odour samples in the horse (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 126 Issue 1-2 Pages 37-44  
  Keywords Horse; Olfaction; Social discrimination; Urine; Faeces  
  Abstract Behavioural observations suggest that smell is important in social discriminations between horses but balanced studies of this capacity are lacking. We used a habituation-discrimination procedure to investigate the ability of horses to distinguish between pairs of odour samples from different individuals. In Study 1, separate tests were conducted for urine, faeces or fleece fabric previously rubbed on the coat (to pick up body odour samples (BOS)) and donor pairs differed in sex, and age. 10 pregnant mares each underwent three tests, one per sample type. A test consisted of three successive 2-min presentations of a sample from Individual A with a simultaneous presentation of a sample from Individual B during the final presentation. Doubly repeated measures ANOVA indicated a main effect of sample type on investigative response (df = 2, f = 7.98, P = 0.004): durations were longer for BOS than for urine or faeces but habituation across trials was most consistent for urine. In the final presentation, mares demonstrated discrimination by investigating the novel urine sample (B) more than the repeated sample (novel: median 8.0 s, IQR = 10; repeated: median 2.5 s, IQR = 6; z = -2.558, P = 0.008). In Study 2, urine samples from castrated male donors were used and neither mares nor their 4-month-old foals discriminated between samples from different individuals in the final presentation. The findings suggest that urine odour may contain some information that horses can use to discriminate between conspecifics. This may be limited to the level of broad categories such as sex or reproductive status; further investigation is needed to reveal what functional information can be transmitted and what compounds are involved.  
  Address (up)  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5134  
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Author Gabor, V.; Gerken, M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Horses use procedural learning rather than conceptual learning to solve matching to sample Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 126 Issue 3-4 Pages 119-124  
  Keywords Horses; Concept learning; Visual discrimination; Cognition; Experimental design; Procedural learning  
  Abstract Research into higher cognitive abilities of the horse may be limited by developing the adequate experimental design. In this study four pony mares between 8 and 19 years old were included. Three of them reached the criterion to be tested in a new design of matching to sample using a black circle and a cross as visual cues attached to an apparatus. The attention was directed to the question of whether the animals are able to concept formation in a given time period or if their decisions depend on other cues or strategies. After familiarization to the testing area and the test procedure, the animals were given 27 sessions of 20 trials each during 14 weeks. While there was no preference for one of the stimuli used, horses showed a significant left sidedness. None of the mares reached the learning criterion of 80% correct answers in one session. However, the ponies showed procedural learning based on correction runs that were given between incorrect decisions, by then selecting the correct stimulus on the other side of the apparatus. This learning type arose in three individuals in session four, six and eleven, respectively. It is concluded that discrimination tasks may be biased by the involvement of unexpected learning strategies, which complicates the interpretation of such tests and may even mask possible conceptualization capabilities.  
  Address (up)  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5157  
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Author Blackmore, T.L.; Foster, T.M.; Sumpter, C.E.; Temple, W. url  doi
openurl 
  Title An investigation of colour discrimination with horses (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 78 Issue 3 Pages 387-396  
  Keywords Chromatic discrimination; Colour vision; Horse; Operant  
  Abstract The ability of four horses (Equus caballus) to discriminate coloured (three shades of blue, green, red, and yellow) from grey (neutral density) stimuli, produced by back projected lighting filters, was investigated in a two response forced-choice procedure. Pushes of the lever in front of a coloured screen were occasionally reinforced, pushes of the lever in front of a grey screen were never reinforced. Each colour shade was randomly paired with a grey that was brighter, one that was dimmer, and one that approximately matched the colour in terms of brightness. Each horse experienced the colours in a different order, a new colour was started after 85% correct responses over five consecutive sessions or if accuracy showed no trend over sessions. All horses reached the 85% correct with blue versus grey, three horses did so with both yellow and green versus grey. All were above chance with red versus grey but none reached criterion. Further analysis showed the wavelengths of the green stimuli used overlapped with the yellow. The results are consistent with histological and behavioural studies that suggest that horses are dichromatic. They differ from some earlier data in that they indicate horses can discriminate yellow and blue, but that they may have deficiencies in discriminating red and green.  
  Address (up)  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5336  
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Author Güntürkün, O.; Kesch, S. doi  openurl
  Title Visual lateralization during feeding in pigeons Type Journal Article
  Year 1987 Publication Behavioral Neuroscience Abbreviated Journal Behav. Neurosci.  
  Volume 101 Issue 3 Pages 433-435  
  Keywords use of right vs left eye, amount & accuracy of pecking in food discrimination task, homing pigeons, implications for lateralization of cerebral function  
  Abstract In a quasi-natural feeding situation, adult pigeons had to detect and consume 30 food grains out of about 1,000 pebbles of similar shape, size, and color within 30 s under monocular conditions. With the right eye seeing, the animals achieved a significantly higher discrimination accuracy and, consequently, a significantly higher proportion of grains grasped than with the left eye seeing. This result supports previous demonstrations of a left-hemisphere dominance for visually guided behavior in birds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)  
  Address (up)  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher US: American Psychological Association Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1939-0084(Electronic);0735-7044(Print) ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ 1987-30501-001 Serial 5588  
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Author Hanggi, E.B.; Ingersoll, J.F. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Lateral vision in horses: A behavioral investigation Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 91 Issue 1 Pages 70-76  
  Keywords Lateral vision; Horse; Equine; Stimulus discrimination; Field of view; Peripheral  
  Abstract This study investigated lateral vision in horses (Equus caballus) for the first time from a behavioral point of view. Three horses were tested using a novel experimental design to determine the range of their lateral and caudolateral vision with respect to stimulus detection and discrimination. Real-life stimuli were presented along a curvilinear wall in one of four different positions (A, B, C, D) and one of two height locations (Top, Bottom) on both sides of the horse. To test for stimulus detection, the correct stimulus was paired against a control; for stimulus discrimination, the correct stimulus was paired against another object. To indicate that the correct stimulus was detected or discriminated, the horses pushed one of two paddles. All horses scored significantly above chance on stimulus detection trials regardless of stimulus position or location. They also accurately discriminated between stimuli when objects appeared in positions A, B, and C for the top or bottom locations; however, they failed to discriminate these stimuli at position D. This study supports physiological descriptions of the equine eye and provides new behavioral data showing that horses can detect the appearance of objects within an almost fully encompassing circle and are able to identify objects within most but not all of their panoramic field of view.  
  Address (up)  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5621  
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