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Beveridge, W. I. (1993). Unravelling the ecology of influenza A virus. Hist Philos Life Sci, 15(1), 23–32.
Abstract: For 20 years after the influenza A virus was discovered in the early 1930s, it was believed to be almost exclusively a human virus. But in the 1950s closely related viruses were discovered in diseases of horses, pigs and birds. Subsequently influenza A viruses were found to occur frequently in many species of birds, particularly ducks, usually without causing disease. Researchers showed that human and animal strains can hybridise thus producing new strains. Such hybrids may be the cause of pandemics in man. Most pandemics have started in China or eastern Russia where many people are in intimate association with animals. This situation provides a breeding ground for new strains of influenza A virus.
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Barton, R. A., & Whiten, A. (1993). Feeding competition among female olive baboons, Papio anubis. Anim. Behav., 46(4), 777–789.
Abstract: Abstract. Competition for food is thought to play a key role in the social organization of group-living female primates, leading to the prediction that individual foraging success will be partly regulated by dominance relationships. Among adult females in a group of free-ranging olive baboons, dominance rank was significantly correlated with nutrient acquisition rates (feeding rates and daily intakes), but not with dietary diversity or quality, nor with activity budgets. The mean daily food intake of the three highest-ranking females was 30% greater than that of the three lowest-ranking females, providing an explanation for relationships between female rank and fertility found in a number of other studies of group-living primates. The intensity of feeding competition, as measured by supplant rates and spatial clustering of individuals, increased during the dry season, a period of low food availability, seemingly because foods eaten then were more clumped in distribution than those eaten in the wet season. Implications for models of female social structure and maximum group size are discussed.
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Barton, R. A. (1993). Sociospatial mechanisms of feeding competition in female olive baboons, Papio anubis. Anim. Behav., 46(4), 791–802.
Abstract: Abstract. Social and spatial mechanisms of feeding competition among adult female olive baboons were studied in two free-ranging groups, one foraging for natural foods, and one that was being provisioned. Similar behavioural processes were found to underlie rank-related differences in food intake in the two situations. Dominance rank of females in the naturally foraging group was positively correlated with the rate at which other animals were supplanted from feeding sites, the ratio of supplants of others to supplants received, and the number of near neighbours while feeding on clumped foods. It is unlikely that the latter result was due to rank-related differences in matriline size, because no significant correlations between rank and neighbour density were found for non-feeding activities. Step-wise regression analysis indicated that both number of neighbours and the supplant ratio explained significant proportions of inter-individual variance in daily food intake, though only the supplant ratio contributed significantly to feeding rate. High-ranking females also had priority of access to feeding sites within trees, and competition was most intense for foods that were spatially clumped. Similarly, in the provisioned group, rank was correlated with the rate at which supplants were received, and with spatial indices estimating centrality and the area of unoccupied space around an individual. Over 99% of the inter-individual variance in feeding rate was explained in a step-wise regression with supplant rates and spatial indices as independent variables. It is concluded that both active supplanting and individuals' spatial positions within the group mediate rank-related differences in food intake.
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Argue, C. K., & Clayton, H. M. (1993). A preliminary study of transitions between the walk and trot in dressage horses. Acta Anat (Basel), 146(2-3), 179–182.
Abstract: The object of this study was to determine the limb support sequence during the transitions from walk to trot and from trot to walk in dressage horses under saddle and to test the null hypothesis that the limb support sequence during the transitions is not related to the level of training. Sixteen dressage horses training at novice to FEI Grand Prix level were videotaped performing an average of 9 transitions each from walk to trot and from trot to walk. The 30-Hz videotapes were viewed in slow motion, and based on the limb support sequence the transitions were categorized into two types. In type 1 transitions there were no intermediate steps between the walk and trot sequences. Type 2 transitions were characterized by intermediate steps, including a single support phase. The Kendall rank-order correlation coefficient showed that a higher level of training was positively associated with an increased percentage of type 1 transitions for both walk-to-trot transitions (p < or = 0.05) and trot-to-walk transitions (p < or = 0.01). No significant preference for initiating or completing the trot on the left or right diagonal was found using the binomial test for individual horses and the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test for the group.
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(1993). Wolves in Europe: status and perspectives. Ettal, Germany: Munich Wildlife Society.
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