Lafleur, D. L., Lozano, G. A., & Sclafani, M. (1997). Female mate-choice copying in guppies,Poecilia reticulata: a re-evaluation. Anim. Behav., 54(3), 579–586.
Abstract: It has been argued that intraspecific mate-choice copying can be adaptive under certain conditions. Dugatkin's (1992,Am. Nat.139, 1384-1389) work with guppies,Poecilia reticulataremains the most influential experimental demonstration of this phenomenon. We replicated Dugatkin's work using several choice criteria to ensure that our results were not dependent upon any single method of judging mate choice. We also tested our findings against two null hypotheses of differing stringency. Irrespective of the choice criteria or null hypothesis used, we did not observe any relationship between female mate choice and copying. We conclude that further experimental evidence of female mate-choice copying is required before the existence of this behaviour can be affirmed.
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Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2004). Chimpanzees are more skilful in competitive than in cooperative cognitive tasks. Anim. Behav., 68(3), 571–581.
Abstract: In a series of four experiments, chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, were given two cognitive tasks, an object choice task and a discrimination task (based on location), each in the context of either cooperation or competition. In both tasks chimpanzees performed more skilfully when competing than when cooperating, with some evidence that competition with conspecifics was especially facilitatory in the discrimination location task. This is the first study to demonstrate a facilitative cognitive effect for competition in a single experimental paradigm. We suggest that chimpanzee cognitive evolution is best understood in its socioecological context.
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Pompilio, L., & Kacelnik, A. (2005). State-dependent learning and suboptimal choice: when starlings prefer long over short delays to food. Anim. Behav., 70(3), 571–578.
Abstract: Recent studies have used labels such as `work ethics', `sunk costs' and `state-dependent preferences' for apparent anomalies in animals' choices. They suggest that preference between options relates to the options' history, rather than depending exclusively on the expected payoffs. For instance, European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, trained to obtain identical food rewards from two sources while in two levels of hunger preferred the food source previously associated with higher hunger, regardless of the birds' state at the time of testing. We extended this experimentally and theoretically by studying starlings choosing between sources that differed not only in history but also in the objective properties (delay until reward) of the payoffs they delivered. Two options (PF and H) were initially presented in single-option sessions when subjects were, respectively, prefed or hungry. While option PF offered a delay until reward of 10 s in all treatments, option H delivered delays of 10, 12.5, 15 and 17.5 s in four treatments. When training was completed, we tested preference between the options. When delays in both options were equal (10 s), the birds strongly preferred H. When delay in H was 17.5 s, the birds were indifferent, with intermediate results for intermediate treatments. Preference was not mediated by disrupted knowledge of the delays. Thus, preferences were driven by past state-dependent gains, rather than by the joint effect of the birds' state at the time of choice and knowledge of the absolute properties of each alternative, as assumed in state-dependent, path-independent models of optimal choice.
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Shier, D. M., & Owings, D. H. (2007). Effects of social learning on predator training and postrelease survival in juvenile black-tailed prairie dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus. Anim. Behav., 73(4), 567–577.
Abstract: We examined how social context and experience affected development of antipredator behaviour and subsequent postrelease survival in the black-tailed prairie dog. Captive-reared juveniles were initially exposed to four stimulus animals: a ferret, a rattlesnake, a hawk and a cottontail control (pretraining tests). Subjects were then trained with or without an adult female demonstrator. Training involved exposure to each stimulus animal two to three times over 5 weeks. After training, each juvenile was retested with each stimulus animal (post-training tests). During pretraining tests, juveniles responded differentially to the stimulus animals. They were least active with the snake, fled the most in tests with the hawk, and were less vigilant with the ferret than with the snake. Following training, juveniles trained with experienced adults were more wary with all three predators than juveniles trained without an experienced adult present. We then compared the antipredator behaviour of captive-reared juveniles trained with experienced adult females with that of wild-reared juveniles of the same age. For all behavioural measures except shelter use, wild-experienced animals differentiated more strongly among predator types than did captive-trained juveniles. One year after reintroduction, survivorship of juveniles trained with experienced adults was higher than that of juveniles trained without experienced adults, but did not differ from that of wild-reared juveniles. These findings provide the first evidence that social transmission of antipredator behaviour during training can enhance long-term survival following release and that as long as a social training regime is used, predator avoidance training can emulate experience acquired in the wild.
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Monard, A. - M., & Duncan, P. (1996). Consequences of natal dispersal in female horses. Anim. Behav., 52(3), 565–579.
Abstract: Social, genetic and reproductive consequences of natal dispersal were investigated in female horses,Equus caballus, living in a herd with a natural social structure. Dispersal did not as a rule reduce the level of competition the young mares faced: they did not selectively join groups with fewer resident females than the groups they left, and they did not attain higher ranks; there was also no tendency for females to disperse to groups with the fewest resident females, and they suffered more aggression from the mares in their new groups than in their natal groups. These results therefore do not support the hypothesis that a function of natal dispersal is to reduce intra-sexual competition. The young mares nevertheless dispersed non-randomly, generally joining harems with one stallion and at least two subadult females; and they preferred to move to groups with familiar females but no familiar males. As a result, most were closely related to some females of their new groups, but distantly related or unrelated to the male(s). Since after dispersal the young mares bred only with a male of their new groups, inbreeding coefficients of most (85%) of their offspring were lower than from matings between half siblings. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a function of natal dispersal is to avoid close inbreeding. Dispersal did not appear to involve reproductive costs: the young mares suffered no delay in age at first reproduction, and the survival rates of their first foals tended to be higher if the females had emigrated, although not significantly so.
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Hauser MD, Kralik J, & Botto-Mahan C. (1999). Problem solving and functional design features: experiments on cotton-top tamarins, Saguinus oedipus oedipus. Anim. Behav., 57, 565.
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Mesterton-Gibbons, M., & Dugatkin, L. A. (1997). Cooperation and the Prisoner's Dilemma: towards testable models of mutualism versus reciprocity. Anim. Behav., 54(3), 551–557.
Abstract: For the purpose of distinguishing between mutualism and reciprocity in nature, recent work on the evolution of cooperation has both oversimplifed and undersimplified the distinction between these two categories of cooperation. This article addresses the resulting issues of model testability, clarifies the role of time and argues that the category of `pseudo-reciprocity' is an unnecessary complication.
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Lefebvre, L., Whittle, P., Lascaris, E., & Finkelstein, A. (1997). Feeding innovations and forebrain size in birds. Anim. Behav., 53(3), 549–560.
Abstract: The links between ecology, behavioural plasticity and brain size are often tested via the comparative method. Given the problems in interpretating comparative tests of learning and cognition, however, alternative measures of plasticity need to be developed. From the short notes section of nine ornithological journals, two separate, exhaustive data sets have been collated on opportunistic foraging innovations in birds of North America (1973-1993;N=196) and the British Isles (1983-1993;N=126). Both the absolute and relative frequencies (corrected for species number per order) of innovations differ between bird orders in a similar fashion in the two geographical zones. Absolute and relative frequency of innovations per order are also related to two measures of relative forebrain size in the two zones. The study confirms predicted trends linking opportunism, brain size and rate of structural evolution. It also suggests that innovation rate in the field may be a useful measure of behavioural plasticity.
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Fawcett, T. W., Skinner, A. M. J., & Goldsmith, A. R. (2002). A test of imitative learning in starlings using a two-action method with an enhanced ghost control. Anim. Behav., 64(4), 547–556.
Abstract: Imitative learning, in which an individual learns to reproduce the behaviour pattern of another, has attracted considerable attention as a potentially powerful form of social learning. Despite extensive research, however, it has proved difficult to demonstrate in nonhuman animals. We investigated the ability of European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, to imitate the behaviour of a conspecific. Subjects watched a trained conspecific manipulating a plug for access to a food reward, using either a pushing or a pulling action. When later tested with the same apparatus these birds completed the task using the same action they had previously observed. In a second experiment, a separate group of starlings saw the plug move upwards or downwards automatically and a nearby conspecific obtain a food reward. When given access to the task these starlings failed to move the plug in the direction they had seen. Our experiment is an improvement on previous bidirectional control designs and provides strong evidence that starlings are capable of imitation. We advocate further use of this experimental design in attempts to demonstrate imitative learning. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Galef, B. G. J. R., & White, D. J. (1998). Mate-choice copying in Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica. Anim. Behav., 55(3), 545–552.
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