|   | 
Details
   web
Records
Author Ward, C.; Trisko, R.; Smuts, B.B.
Title Third-party interventions in dyadic play between littermates of domestic dogs, Canis lupus familiaris Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 78 Issue 5 Pages (down) 1153-1160
Keywords Canis lupus familiaris; domestic dog; littermates; play; social development; third-party interventions
Abstract Interventions occur when animals interfere in competitive interactions between two or more individuals. Interveners can alter the nature of the ongoing interaction by targeting one party (attacking, biting) and supporting the other. Three theories have been proposed to account for intervention behaviour: kin selection, reciprocity and direct benefits. The kin selection hypothesis predicts that interveners will selectively support relatives over nonrelatives; the reciprocity hypothesis predicts that when intervener [`]A' supports individual [`]B', later [`]B' will intervene and support [`]A'; and the direct benefits hypothesis predicts that target/support patterns should serve the immediate interests of the intervener. We tested the reciprocity and direct benefits hypotheses by exploring third-party interventions in play fighting among littermates of domestic dogs. Interveners in dyadic play did not preferentially target or support preferred playmates of the intervener. Interveners targeted the dog in the losing role at the time of the intervention, and they did not show reciprocity in support. Taken together, these last two findings suggest that littermates benefit directly and use interventions opportunistically to practise offence behaviours directed at littermates already behaving subordinately. Opportunities to practise targeting in a playful setting may help structure dominance relationships among littermates. Additionally, the tendency for puppies to do what the other is doing (target the dog in the losing role) may pave the way for synchronizing cooperative behaviours during group hunting and territorial defence. The types of behaviours used to intervene changed over development, but the outcome following an intervention remained stable.
Address
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 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5090
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Sara J. Shettleworth
Title Female mate choice in swordtails and mollies: symmetry assessment or Weber's law? Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 58 Issue 5 Pages (down) 1139-1142
Keywords
Abstract
Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
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 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:10564618 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 374
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Earley, R.L.; Druen, M.; Alan Dugatkin, L.
Title Watching fights does not alter a bystander's response towards naive conspecifics in male green swordtail fish, Xiphophorus helleri Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 69 Issue 5 Pages (down) 1139-1145
Keywords
Abstract Bystanders are capable of extracting cues from signalling interactions between others and appear to use information gained via eavesdropping when confronted with the watched individuals. A question that has gained little attention is whether observing fights affects bystander behaviour outside the context of interacting with the watched individuals. Our aim was to determine whether watching fights elicits general changes in bystander aggression levels in Xiphophorus helleri. We manipulated the bystanders' ability to witness encounters using clear, one-way-mirror and opaque partitions. After watching (or not watching) an initial contest, the bystanders were pitted against naive conspecifics instead of the animals they had seen fight. Observing fights did not alter the bystanders' propensity to initiate aggression, escalate, or win against naive individuals, indicating that bystanders do not experience general changes in aggressive behaviour after watching a fight. Earlier work in this species, however, has shown that bystanders respond in predictable ways to individuals they have witnessed winning or losing a fight. Taken together, these data support the notion that bystanders consistently modify their behaviour towards previously watched winners or losers in response to information gained via eavesdropping. We discuss our results in light of some recent work on the behavioural and endocrinological responses triggered by watching fights and suggest that comparative approaches to understanding networking phenomena may be productive.
Address
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 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 394
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author McElreath, R.; Strimling, P.
Title How noisy information and individual asymmetries can make `personality' an adaptation: a simple model Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 72 Issue 5 Pages (down) 1135-1139
Keywords
Abstract Recent attention has been drawn to the existence of individual differences in correlated behaviour across contexts, animal `personality' (Gosling 2001, Psychological Bulletin, 127, 45-86) and behavioural syndromes (Sih et al. 2004b, Quarterly Review of Biology, 79, 241-277). The causes of these patterns of behaviour are subjects of debate. Here, we present a very simple model of how adaptively managing noisy information, combined with differences in individual state, can lead to evolutionarily stable differences in how individuals respond to environmental cues. When information is very noisy, behavioural syndromes are most likely, but as long as there is some error, some types of individuals display the same behaviour in all contexts. In extreme cases, very few individuals display flexible behaviour, and different stable behavioural types dominate the population.
Address
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 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4280
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Bateson, M.; Kacelnik, A.
Title Starlings' preferences for predictable and unpredictable delays to food Type Journal Article
Year 1997 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 53 Issue 6 Pages (down) 1129-1142
Keywords
Abstract Risk-sensitive foraging theory is based on the premise that unpredictable runs of good or bad luck can cause a variable food source to differ in fitness value from a fixed food source yielding the same average rate of gain but no unpredictability. Thus, risk-sensitive predictions are dependent on the food intake from variable sources being not only variable but also unpredictable or `risky' in outcome. This study tested whether unpredictability is a component of the value that foraging starlings,Sturnus vulgarisattribute to food sources that are variable in the delay to obtain food. Two groups of birds chose between a fixed and a variable delay option; the variable option was unpredictable in the risky group and predictable in the risk-free group in the overall rate of intake it yielded. In both groups the fixed option was adjusted by titration to quantify the magnitude of preference for predictable and unpredictable variance. On negative energy budgets both groups were significantly risk-prone, with the risky group being significantly more risk-prone than the risk-free group. Switching the birds to positive budgets by doubling the size of each food reward had no significant effect on preference, and similar trends to those found with negative budgets were observed. These results are not readily explained by risk-sensitive foraging theory, but may be explained by the algorithm used by the birds to attribute value to average expected rewards.
Address
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 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 2108
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Lonsdorf, E.V.; Ross, S.R.; Linick, S.A.; Milstein, M.S.; Melber, T.N.
Title An experimental, comparative investigation of tool use in chimpanzees and gorillas Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication Animal Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 77 Issue 5 Pages (down) 1119-1126
Keywords chimpanzee; gorilla; Gorilla gorilla gorilla; Pan troglodytes; social structure; tool use
Abstract Studies of ape tool use have been conducted in captivity since the early 1900s and in the wild since the 1960s. Chimpanzees are the most prolific tool users among the apes, and are known to use more tools than any other nonhuman animal. In contrast, reports of gorilla tool use are rare both in wild and captive settings. Studies of the processes involved in tool use learning have been limited in the wild by the lack of ability to control several unpredictable variables, and in captivity by tool use opportunities that are often presented in non-naturalistic contexts. We attempted to address both of these limitations by providing naïve subjects with a naturalistic tool use device (built to simulate a termite mound) while housed in a more natural social setting to approximate how learning would occur in the wild. Both gorillas and chimpanzees participated in the experiment to allow comparative analyses of acquisition of tool behaviour and the factors that may affect acquisition. Both species showed low frequencies of interaction with the mound in the baseline condition, before baiting with a food reward. Once baited, chimpanzees both attempted and succeeded to extract the reward more quickly than did gorillas. The number of social group members at the mound was significantly higher for chimpanzees than for gorillas and may have affected skill acquisition. We advocate that comparative approaches to skill acquisition and learning are valuable, but that researchers need to be cognizant of species differences in social structure that may affect results.
Address
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 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5858
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Becker, C. D.; Ginsberg, J. R.
Title Mother-infant behaviour of wild Grevy's zebra: adaptations for survival in semidesert East Africa Type Journal Article
Year 1990 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 40 Issue 6 Pages (down) 1111-1118
Keywords
Abstract Mother-infant interactions and patterns of foal behaviour in the Grevy's zebra, Equus grevyi, differe from those reported for other equids. Grevy's zebra foals exhibit longer intervals between suckling bouts, do not drink water until they are 3 months old, and reach independence from the mare sooner than other equids. Furthermore, Grevy's zebra foals advance their acquisition of adult feeding behaviour. A 6-week-old Grevy's zebra foal spends as much time feeding as a 5-month-old wild horse foal. From the time their foals are born until the foals reach an age of 3 months, females form small groups (three females and their foals). These groups are never found further than 2·0 km from surface water and are usually associated with a territorial male. Unlike other equids, the foals of which always follow their mares, when female Grevy's zebra go to drink, they leave their foals in “kindergartens”, which are guarded by a single adult animal, usually a territorial male. It is proposed that many of these differences in behaviour and rates of juvenile development are the result of adaptation to an arid environment. Water requirements during early lactation appear to influence strongly the social behaviour of the Grevy's zebra and should also be a strong influence on the mother-infant behaviour of other arid-living ungulates.
Address
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 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes from Professor Hans Klingels Equine Reference List Approved yes
Call Number Serial 927
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Pongrácz, P.; Miklósi, Á.; Kubinyi, E.; Gurobi, K.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V.
Title Social learning in dogs: the effect of a human demonstrator on the performance of dogs in a detour task Type Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 62 Issue 6 Pages (down) 1109-1117
Keywords
Abstract We recorded the behaviour of dogs in detour tests, in which an object (a favourite toy) or food was placed behind a V-shaped fence. Dogs were able to master this task; however, they did it more easily when they started from within the fence with the object placed outside it. Repeated detours starting from within the fence did not help the dogs to obtain the object more quickly if in a subsequent trial they started outside the fence with the object placed inside it. While six trials were not enough for the dogs to show significant improvement on their own in detouring the fence from outside, demonstration of this action by humans significantly improved the dogs' performance within two-three trials. Owners and strangers were equally effective as demonstrators. Our experiments show that dogs are able to rely on information provided by human action when confronted with a new task. While they did not copy the exact path of the human demonstrator, they easily adopted the detour behaviour shown by humans to reach their goal.
Address
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 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 847
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Richards, S.A.; de Roos, A.M.
Title When is habitat assessment an advantage when foraging? Type Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 61 Issue 6 Pages (down) 1101-1112
Keywords
Abstract Foragers can often show a broad range of strategies when searching for resources. The simplest foraging strategy is to search randomly within a habitat; however, foragers can often assess habitat quality over various spatial scales and use this information to keep themselves in, or direct themselves to, regions of high resource abundance or low predation risk. We investigated models that describe a population of consumers competing for a renewable resource that is distributed among discrete patches. Our aim was to identify what foraging strategy or strategies are expected to persist within a population, where strategies differ in the degree of habitat assessment (i.e. none, local, or global). We were interested in how the optimal strategies are dependent on the cost of assessment and habitat structure (i.e. the variation in renewal rates and predation risks among patches). The models showed that the simple random foraging strategy (i.e. make no habitat assessments) often persisted even when the cost of habitat assessment was low. Persistence could occur when habitat assessment and population dynamics generated an ideal free distribution because it could be exploited by the random foragers. Habitat assessment was more advantageous when consumers could not achieve ideal free distributions, which was more likely as patches became less productive. When productivity was low we sometimes observed the situation where different foraging strategies generated resource heterogeneities that promoted their coexistence, and this could occur even when all patches were intrinsically identical.
Address
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 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 2153
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Whitehead, H.
Title Precision and power in the analysis of social structure using associations Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 75 Issue 3 Pages (down) 1093-1099
Keywords association; precision; social structure; statistical power
Abstract I develop guidelines for assessing the precision and power of statistical techniques that are frequently used to study nonhuman social systems using observed dyadic associations. Association indexes estimate the proportion of time that two individuals are associated. Binomial approximation and nonparametric bootstrap methods produce similar estimates of the precision of association indexes. For a mid-range (0.4-0.9) association index to have a standard error of less than 0.1 requires about 15 observations of the pair associated, and for it to be less than 0.05, this rises to 50 observations. The coefficient of variation among dyads of the proportion of time that pairs of individuals are actually associated describes social differentiation (S), and this may be estimated from association data using maximum likelihood. With a poorly differentiated population (S~0.2), a data set needs about five observed associations per dyad to achieve a correlation between true and estimated association indexes of r=~0.4. It requires about 10 times as much data to achieve a representation with r=~0.8. Permutation tests usually reject the null hypothesis that individuals have no preferred associates when S2H>5, where H is the mean number of observed associations per individual. Thus most situations require substantial numbers of observations of associations to give useful portrayals of social systems, and sparse association data inform only when social differentiation is high.
Address
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 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4692
Permanent link to this record