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Author McComb, K.; Shannon, G.; Durant, S.M.; Sayialel, K.; Slotow, R.; Poole, J.; Moss, C. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age Type Journal Article
  Year 2011 Publication Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B.  
  Volume 278 Issue 1722 Pages 3270-3276  
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  Abstract The value of age is well recognized in human societies, where older individuals often emerge as leaders in tasks requiring specialized knowledge, but what part do such individuals play in other social species? Despite growing interest in how effective leadership might be achieved in animal social systems, the specific role that older leaders may play in decision-making has rarely been experimentally investigated. Here, we use a novel playback paradigm to demonstrate that in African elephants (Loxodonta africana), age affects the ability of matriarchs to make ecologically relevant decisions in a domain critical to survival—the assessment of predatory threat. While groups consistently adjust their defensive behaviour to the greater threat of three roaring lions versus one, families with younger matriarchs typically under-react to roars from male lions despite the severe danger they represent. Sensitivity to this key threat increases with matriarch age and is greatest for the oldest matriarchs, who are likely to have accumulated the most experience. Our study provides the first empirical evidence that individuals within a social group may derive significant benefits from the influence of an older leader because of their enhanced ability to make crucial decisions about predatory threat, generating important insights into selection for longevity in cognitively advanced social mammals.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5652  
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Author Proops, L.; Rayner, J.; Taylor, A.M.; McComb, K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title The Responses of Young Domestic Horses to Human-Given Cues Type Journal Article
  Year 2013 Publication PLoS ONE Abbreviated Journal PLoS ONE  
  Volume 8 Issue 6 Pages e67000 EP -  
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  Abstract <p>It has been suggested that the process of domestication, at least in some species, has led to an innate predisposition to be skilled at reading human communicative and attentional cues. Adult domestic horses (<italic>Equus caballus</italic>) are highly sensitive to subtle bodily cues when determining if a person is attending to them but they are less adept at using human communicative cues in object choice tasks. Here we provide the first study into the ontogeny of such skills in order to gain insights into the mechanisms underlying these abilities. Compared with adult horses, youngsters under the age of three could use body orientation but not more subtle cues such as head movement and open/closed eyes to correctly choose an attentive person to approach for food. Across two object choice experiments, the performance of young horses was comparable to that of adult horses – subjects were able to correctly choose a rewarded bucket using marker placement, pointing and touching cues but could not use body orientation, gaze, elbow pointing or tapping cues. Taken together these results do not support the theory that horses possess an innate predisposition to be particularly skilled at using human cues. Horses' ability to determine whether humans are attending to them using subtle body cues appears to require significant experience to fully develop and their perhaps less remarkable use of limited cues in object choice tasks, although present at a much earlier age, is likely to reflect a more general learning ability related to stimulus enhancement rather than a specific ‘human-reading’ skill.</p>  
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  Publisher Public Library of Science Place of Publication Editor  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5676  
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Author McComb, K. isbn  openurl
  Title Social cognition and emotional awareness: studies on elephants and horses Type Conference Article
  Year 2015 Publication Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting Abbreviated Journal Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg  
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  Corporate Author McComb, K. Thesis  
  Publisher Xenophon Publishing Place of Publication Wald Editor Krueger, K.  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title Proc. 3. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg  
  Series Volume in prep Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) ISBN 978-3-95625-000-2 Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Id - Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5800  
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Author Smith, A.V.; Proops, L.; Grounds, K.; Wathan, J.; McComb, K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Functionally relevant responses to human facial expressions of emotion in the domestic horse (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2016 Publication Biology Letters Abbreviated Journal Biol. Lett.  
  Volume 12 Issue 2 Pages  
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  Abstract Whether non-human animals can recognize human signals, including emotions, has both scientific and applied importance, and is particularly relevant for domesticated species. This study presents the first evidence of horses' abilities to spontaneously discriminate between positive (happy) and negative (angry) human facial expressions in photographs. Our results showed that the angry faces induced responses indicative of a functional understanding of the stimuli: horses displayed a left-gaze bias (a lateralization generally associated with stimuli perceived as negative) and a quicker increase in heart rate (HR) towards these photographs. Such lateralized responses towards human emotion have previously only been documented in dogs, and effects of facial expressions on HR have not been shown in any heterospecific studies. Alongside the insights that these findings provide into interspecific communication, they raise interesting questions about the generality and adaptiveness of emotional expression and perception across species.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6010  
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Author McComb, K.; Moss, C.; Sayialel, S.; Baker, L. url  doi
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  Title Unusually extensive networks of vocal recognition in African elephants Type Journal Article
  Year 2000 Publication Anim Behav Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 59 Issue Pages  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ McComb2000 Serial 6281  
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