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Author Rogers, A.R. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Does Biology Constrain Culture? Type Journal Article
  Year 1988 Publication American Anthropologist Abbreviated Journal Am Anthropol  
  Volume 90 Issue 4 Pages 819-831  
  Keywords models, learning, evolution, culture, fitness, adaptive, environment, human, natural selection, behavior  
  Abstract Most social scientists would agree that the capacity for human culture was probably fashioned by natural selection, but they disagree about the implications of this supposition. Some believe that natural selection imposes important constraints on the ways in which culture can vary, while others believe that any such constraints must be negligible. This article employs a “thought experiment” to demonstrate that neither of these positions can be justified by appeal to general properties of culture or of evolution. Natural selection can produce mechanisms of cultural transmission that are neither adaptive nor consistent with the predictions of acultural evolutionary models (those ignoring cultural evolution). On the other hand, natural selection can also produce mechanisms of cultural transmission that are highly consistent with acultural models. Thus, neither side of the sociobiology debate is justified in dismissing the arguments of the other. Natural selection may impose significant constraints on some human behaviors, but negligible constraints on others. Models of simultaneous genetic/cultural evolution will be useful in identifying domains in which acultural evolutionary models are, and are not, likely to be useful.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ citeulike:907484 Serial 4199  
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Author Taillon, J.; Cote, S.D. doi  openurl
  Title Social rank and winter forage quality affect aggressiveness in white-tailed deer fawns Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 74 Issue 2 Pages 265-275  
  Keywords aggressiveness; agonistic behaviour; body mass loss; dominance status; forage intake; Odocoileus virginianus; resource competition; social behaviour; white-tailed deer; winter forage quality  
  Abstract Achieving a high social rank may be advantageous for individuals at high population densities, because dominance status may determine the priority of access to limited resources and reduce individual loss of body mass. The establishment of dominance relationships between individuals involves variable levels of aggressiveness that can be influenced by resource availability. The relationship between social rank and aggressiveness and the impacts of resource abundance on aggressiveness are, however, poorly understood, but may be relevant to understand the mechanisms determining dominance relationships between individuals. We experimentally simulated, in seminatural enclosures, a deterioration of winter forage quality induced by a high-density deer population and examined the effects of (1) social dominance and (2) diet quality on aggressiveness, forage intake and body mass loss of white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, fawns during two winters. Within diet-quality treatments, fawns were consistently organized into linear hierarchies and showed clear dominance relationships. Dominants initiated more interactions and showed higher aggressiveness than subordinates, but subordinates had higher forage intake than dominants throughout winter. Social rank did not influence cumulative body mass loss of fawns. During both winters, fawns fed the control diet maintained their aggressiveness level, whereas fawns fed the poor-quality diet decreased it. Our experimental approach revealed that white-tailed deer responded to a reduction in winter forage quality by modifying their aggressiveness, indicating that ungulates may show plasticity not only in their foraging behaviour in response to decreased resources but also in their social behaviour.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4203  
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Author Lingle, S.; Rendall, D.; Pellis, S.M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Altruism and recognition in the antipredator defence of deer: 1. Species and individual variation in fawn distress calls Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 73 Issue 5 Pages 897-905  
  Keywords acoustic signals; aggressive defence; altruism; cooperation; mule deer; Odocoileus hemionus; Odocoileus virginianus; olfactory cues; recognition error; white-tailed deer  
  Abstract Mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus, females actively defend fawns against predators, including nonoffspring conspecific fawns and heterospecific white-tailed deer, O. virginianus, fawns. We hypothesized that the defence of nonoffspring fawns was due to a recognition error. During a predator attack, females may have to decide whether to defend a fawn with imperfect information on its identity obtained from hearing only a few distress calls. We examined fawn distress calls to determine whether calls made by the two species and by different individuals within each species were acoustically distinctive. The mean and maximum fundamental frequencies of mule deer fawns were nearly double those of white-tailed deer fawns, with no overlap, enabling us to classify 100% of calls to the correct species using a single trait. A large proportion of calls was also assigned to the correct individual using a multivariate analysis (66% and 70% of mule deer and white-tailed deer fawns, respectively, chance = 6% and 10%); however, there was considerable statistical uncertainty in the probability of correct classification. We observed fawns approach conspecific females in an attempt to nurse; females probed most offspring fawns with their noses before accepting them, and always probed nonoffspring fawns before rejecting them, suggesting that close contact and olfactory information were needed to unequivocally distinguish nonoffspring from offspring fawns. Taken together, these results suggest that acoustic variation alone would probably be sufficient to permit rapid and reliable species discrimination, but it may not be sufficient for mothers to unequivocally distinguish their own fawn from conspecific fawns.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4210  
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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.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4211  
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Author Val-Laillet, D.; Passille, A.M. de; Rushen, J.; von Keyserlingk, M.A.G. url  doi
openurl 
  Title The concept of social dominance and the social distribution of feeding-related displacements between cows Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 111 Issue 1-2 Pages 158-172  
  Keywords Cattle; Social dominance; Competitive success; Hierarchy; Feeding competition  
  Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which the classical properties of social dominance describe the pattern of feeder-related displacements with groups of cattle. We also compared the advantages and disadvantages of three dominance indices for describing the competitive success at the feeder. We observed displacements at the feeder within six groups of 12 lactating dairy cows over 72 h per group. We demonstrated that the cattle in our experiment established a quasi-linear hierarchy at the feeder where many dominance relationships were bi-directional (52.0 +/- 5.9%); namely, dominance relationships were significantly linear (P < 0.05 in five of the six groups) but contained many circular triads (45.0 +/- 5.6%). Dominance rank influenced the milk production (r = 0.36, P = 0.002) and the time budget of the animals: high-ranking cows were found spending more time at the feeder during the 120 min following provision of fresh food than low-ranking cows (P = 0.022), but dominance indices based on the occurrence of displacements at the feeder did not correlate with actual time spent at the feeder. The presence of numerous circular triads and bi-directional relationships suggests that the classical properties of social dominance do not correspond to the pattern of displacements that occur at feeders within small groups of cattle. Instead, the competitive success may also be affected by motivation or persistence by the animal to gain access to the food resource.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4213  
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Author Dalmau, A.; Ferret, A.; Chacon, G.; Manteca, X. doi  openurl
  Title Seasonal Changes in Fecal Cortisol Metabolites in Pyrenean Chamois Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Journal of Wildlife Management Abbreviated Journal J Wildl Manag  
  Volume 71 Issue 1 Pages 190-194  
  Keywords Cadí-Moixeró, Nature Reserve, chamois, cortisol metabolites, feces, hunting reserve, Pyrenees, Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica, seasonal rhythm, stress  
  Abstract We studied seasonal changes in fecal cortisol metabolites (FCM), which have been widely used as indicators of stress, in a population of Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica) in the Cad&#237; Range of northeastern Spain. We collected fecal samples from 2001 to 2003 in 3 particular locations with different altitudes and male or female presence, and we analyzed them for FCM and fecal nitrogen as an indicator of diet quality. We observed a clear seasonal pattern, with the highest FCM in winter, and we obtained correlations between FCM and monthly mean minimum temperatures and fecal nitrogen. We observed no effects of tourism presence, trophy hunting, or rut season on FCM. Analysis of cortisol metabolites in feces can be a good measure of winter stress in Pyrenean chamois.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4254  
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Author Valone; Thomas J.; Templeton, Jennifer J. url  openurl
  Title Public information for the assessment of quality: a widespread social phenomenon Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 357 Issue 1427 Pages 1549-1557  
  Keywords Breeding Patch Assessment Eavesdropping Fighting Mate Choice Copying Sociality Vicarious Sampling  
  Abstract We propose that the use of public information about the quality of environmental resources, obtained by monitoring the sampling behaviour of others, may be a widespread social phenomenon allowing individuals to make faster, more accurate assessments of their environment. To demonstrate this (i) we define public information and distinguish it from other kinds of social information; (ii) we review empirical work demonstrating the benefits and costs of using public information to estimate food patch quality; (iii) we examine recent work showing that individuals may also be using public information to improve their estimates of the quality of such disparate environmental parameters as breeding patches, opponents and mates; and finally (iv) we suggest avenues of future work to better understand the nature of public information use and when it might be used or ignored. Such work should lead to a more complete understanding of the behaviour of individuals in social aggregations.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4273  
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Author Lloyd, A.S.; Martin, J.E.; Bornett-Gauci, H.L.I.; Wilkinson, R.G. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Horse personality: Variation between breeds Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 112 Issue 3-4 Pages 369-383  
  Keywords Horse personality; Breed; Assessment; Questionnaire survey; Animal  
  Abstract Anecdotal evidence from horse owners and handlers suggests the existence of breed typical behaviour and personality in horses. This is further supported by current research on heritability of personality characteristics in a range of species. The Horse Personality Questionnaire (HPQ) is a 25-item rating method that has previously been shown to be reliable for the assessment of personality in horses. Principal component analysis on HPQ data has identified six underlying personality components in horses. These are Dominance, Anxiousness, Excitability, Protection, Sociability and Inquisitiveness. Using the HPQ a survey of 1223 horses of eight different breeds was completed. Data were analysed to explore any differences in personality between breeds across the six personality components. Breed differences in personality were identified, and it was noted that variability between breeds varied between personality components. Anxiousness and Excitability showed the most variation between breeds, whilst Dominance and Protection showed the least variance. The results identified breed typical personalities that were comparable to results from previous studies as well as anecdotal evidence provided by the popular equine literature. The results are discussed in terms of the potential selection pressures that may have resulted in these differences.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4279  
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Author Beaugrand, J.P doi  openurl
  Title Relative importance of initial individual differences, agonistic experience, and assessment accuracy during hierarchy formation: a simulation study Type Journal Article
  Year 1997 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 41 Issue Pages 177-192  
  Keywords Dominance; Hierarchy formation; RHP; Agonistic experience; Assessment; Self-organization; Simulation  
  Abstract This simulation study explores some conditions leading to transitivity within dominance orders. Combinations of three parameters were varied to study their consequences upon hierarchy formation and upon the degree of linearity of resultant structures. The factors studied were: (1) the importance of initial resource holding potentials (RHPs); (2) changes brought in RHPs by successive victories and defeats; and (3) accuracy of RHP assessment made by opponents. Results show that initial differences in RHP always lead to perfectly transitive chains whose rank order reflects the importance of initial differences. Even when simulated animals make important errors while assessing each other during round robin tournaments, emerging dominance structures are perfectly linear and ranks obtained in the structure are highly correlated with initial values in RHPs. Moreover, accumulated experiences of victory and/or defeat alone always lead to perfectly linear hierarchies. Their combination with initial individual differences in RHP led to the same conclusion. Even when assessment was far from being perfect, not only perfect chains were formed but initial values in RHPs significantly influenced rank order when the contribution of victory and defeat to RHP was relatively unimportant. The higher the importance of victory and defeat to RHP as compared to that of initial RHP values, the lower was the correlation between initial RHP values and the ranks order reached by individuals in the resultant hierarchies. In general also, the lower the variation within initial RHPs, the lower was the correlation between initial RHPs and ranks in the hierarchy. At a given level of initial RHP dispersion, increasing the contribution of victory and defeat to RHP diminished the correlation between initial RHP values and obtained ranks. In addition, inaccurate assessment reduced the overall correlation, especially when dispersion of initial RHP values was low and the contribution of victory and defeat relatively unimportant. These results shed some light on the controversy about the respective roles of initial individual attributes and that of patterns of resolution in the formation of animal hierarchies. We present the emergence of social order within closed systems as those simulated here as a case of self-organization.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4290  
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Author Beaugrand, J.P. url  openurl
  Title Relative importance of initial individual differences, victory and defeat experiences, and assessment accuracy during hierarchy formation: A simulation study Type Miscellaneous
  Year 1997 Publication Cogprints Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 41 Issue Pages 177-192  
  Keywords Dominance; Hierarchy formation; RHP; agonistic experience; Assessment; Self-organization; Simulation  
  Abstract This simulation study explores some conditions leading to transitivity within dominance orders. Combinations of three parameters were varied to study their consequences upon hierarchy formation and upon the degree of linearity of resultant structures. The factors studied were (i) the importance of initial Resource Holding Potentials (RHPs) , (ii) changes brought in RHPs by successive victories and defeats, and (iii) accuracy of RHP assessment made by opponents. Results show that initial differences in RHP always lead to perfectly transitive chains whose rank order reflects the importance of initial differences. Even when simulated animals make important errors while assessing each other during round robin tournaments, emerging dominance structures are perfectly linear and ranks obtained in the structure are highly correlated with initial values in RHPs. Moreover, accumulated experiences of victory and/or defeat alone always lead to perfectly linear hierarchies. Their combination with initial individual differences in RHP led to the same conclusion. Even when assessment was far from being perfect, not only perfect chains were formed but initial values in RHPs significantly influenced rank order when the contribution of victory and defeat to RHP was relatively unimportant. The higher the importance of victory and defeat to RHP as compared to that of initial RHP values, the lower was the correlation between initial RHP values and the ranks order reached by individuals in the resultant hierarchies. In general also, the lower the variation within initial RHPs, the lower was the correlation between initial RHPs and ranks in the hierarchy. At a given level of initial RHP dispersion, increasing the contribution of victory and defeat to RHP diminished the correlation between initial RHP values and obtained ranks. In addition, inaccurate assessment reduced the overall correlation, especially when dispersion of initial RHP values was low and the contribution of victory and defeat was high. These results shed some light on the controversy about the respective roles of initial individual attributes and that of patterns of resolution in the formation of animal hierarchies. We present the emergence of social order within closed systems as those simulated here as a case of self-organization.  
  Address  
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  Publisher Elsevier Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ cogprints:1965 Serial 4291  
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