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| Author |
Proops, L.; Burden, F.; Osthaus, B. |
| Title |
Mule cognition: a case of hybrid vigour? |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
12 |
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1 |
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75-84 |
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Abstract: This study compares the behaviour of the mule (Equus asinus x Equus caballus) with that of its parent species to assess the effects of hybridization on cognition. Six mules, six ponies (E. caballus) and six donkeys (E. asinus) were given a two choice visual discrimination learning task. Each session consisted of 12 trials and pass level was reached when subjects chose the correct stimulus for at least 9 out of the 12 trials in three consecutive sessions. A record was made of how many pairs each subject learnt over 25 sessions. The mules" performance was significantly better than that of either of the parent species (Kruskal-Wallis: Hx = 8.11, P = 0.017). They were also the only group to learn enough pairs to be able to show a successive reduction in the number of sessions required to reach criterion level. This study provides the first empirical evidence that the improved characteristics of mules may be extended from physical attributes to cognitive function. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4714 |
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de Latude, M.; Demange, M.; Bec, P.; Blois-Heulin, C. |
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Visual laterality responses to different emotive stimuli by red-capped mangabeys, Cercocebus torquatus torquatus |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
12 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
31-42 |
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Abstract: Hemispheric asymmetry in emotional perception has been put forward by different theories as the right hemisphere theory or the valence theory. But no consensus was found about the role played by both hemispheres. So, in order to test the different theories, we investigated preferential use of one eye in red-capped mangabeys, at the individual as well as at the group level. In this study we investigated the influence of the emotional value of stimuli on the direction and strength of visual preference of 14 red-capped mangabeys. Temporal stability of the bias of use of a given eye was evaluated by comparing our current results to those obtained 2.5 months previously. Two experimental devices, a tube and a box, tested five different stimuli: four food types varying in palatability and a neutral stimulus. The subjects" food preferences were evaluated before testing the laterality. The mangabeys used their left eyes predominantly at the group level for the tube task. The majority of the subjects showed a visual preference at the individual level for the box task, but this bias was not present at the group level. As the palatability of the stimuli increased, the number of lateralized subjects and the number of subjects using preferentially their left eye increased. Similarly, the strength of laterality was related to food preference. Strength of laterality was significantly higher for subjects using their left eye than for subjects using their right eye. Preferential use of a given eye was stable over short periods 2.5 months later. Our data agree with reports on visual laterality for other species. Our results support the valence theory of a hemispheric sharing of control of emotions in relation to their emotional value. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4721 |
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Giret, N.; Miklósi, Á.; Kreutzer, M.; Bovet, D. |
| Title |
Use of experimenter-given cues by African gray parrots ( Psittacus erithacus ) |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
12 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
1-10 |
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African gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus) – Gaze – Heterospecific communication – Object-choice – Pointing – Referential signals |
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Abstract: One advantage of living in a social group is the opportunity to use information provided by other individuals. Social information can be based on cues provided by a conspecific or even by a heterospecific individual (e.g., gaze direction, vocalizations, pointing gestures). Although the use of human gaze and gestures has been extensively studied in primates, and is increasingly studied in other mammals, there is no documentation of birds using these cues in a cooperative context. In this study, we tested the ability of three African gray parrots to use different human cues (pointing and/or gazing) in an object-choice task. We found that one subject spontaneously used the most salient pointing gesture (looking and steady pointing with hand at about 20 cm from the baited box). The two others were also able to use this cue after 15 trials. None of the parrots spontaneously used the steady gaze cues (combined head and eye orientation), but one learned to do so effectively after only 15 trials when the distance between the head and the baited box was about 1 m. However, none of the parrots were able to use the momentary pointing nor the distal pointing and gazing cues. These results are discussed in terms of sensitivity to joint attention as a prerequisite to understand pointing gestures as it is to the referential use of labels. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4748 |
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Hothersall, B.; Gale, E.; Harris, P.; Nicol, C. |
| Title |
Cue use by foals (Equus caballus) in a discrimination learning task |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2010 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
13 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
63-74 |
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Abstract Discrimination learning studies suggest that horses learn more easily using spatial than visible object-specific (OS) cues. However, spatial cues have generally confounded intra-array, distal and/or egocentric spatial information. It is also unclear whether conflicting cues compete for association or are redundantly encoded, and furthermore, the influence of prior experiences or training has not been quantified so far. We examined the effect of cue modality on unweaned foals’ performance in a discrimination learning task. After a pilot study confirmed that horses could perform the required OS cue discrimination, nine foals learnt to find food in one of three covered buckets, in any of four positions within a test arena. In Stage 1 the rewarded bucket was signified both by OS cues (pattern) and by relative spatial cues (position). On reaching criterion, cues were separated and foals had to ignore the inappropriate cue (Stage 2). Foals assigned to follow spatial cues (n = 5) completed Stage 2 faster than foals for whom OS cues remained consistent (n = 4). Spatial group foals all reached criterion without delay; no foal in the OS group reached criterion within the testing period. OS group foals initially persisted in responding to the previously correct position, adopting spatially-based strategies when this proved unsuccessful. The findings show for the first time that, even in the absence of distal spatial information, intra-array spatial cues were more salient than OS cues for foals in a food-finding task and learning appeared rather inflexible. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5082 |
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Sommer, V.; Lowe, A.; Dietrich, T. |
| Title |
Not eating like a pig: European wild boar wash their food |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2016 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
19 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
245-249 |
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Carrying food to water and either dunking or manipulating it before consumption has been observed in various taxa including birds, racoons and primates. Some animals seem to be simply moistening their food. However, true washing aims to remove unpleasant surface substrates such as grit and sand and requires a distinction between items that do and do not need cleaning as well as deliberate transportation of food to a water source. We provide the first evidence for food washing in suids, based on an incidental observation with follow-up experiments on European wild boar (Sus scrofa) kept at Basel Zoo, Switzerland. Here, all adult pigs and some juveniles of a newly formed group carried apple halves soiled with sand to the edge of a creek running through their enclosure where they put the fruits in the water and pushed them to and fro with their snouts before eating. Clean apple halves were never washed. This indicates that pigs can discriminate between soiled and unsoiled foods and that they are able to delay gratification for long enough to transport and wash the items. However, we were unable to ascertain to which degree individual and/or social learning brought this behaviour about. |
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1435-9456 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Sommer2016 |
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6132 |
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Griffin, A.S.; Tebbich, S.; Bugnyar, T. |
| Title |
Animal cognition in a human-dominated world |
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Journal Article |
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2017 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
20 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
1-6 |
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In the USA, each year, up to one billion birds are estimated to die from colliding with windowpanes (Sabo et al. 2016). A further 573,000 are struck down by wind turbines, along with 888,000 bats (Smallwood 2013). Worldwide, unintended capture in fishing devices is recognized as the single most serious global threat to migratory, long-lived marine taxa including turtles, birds, mammals and sharks (Wallace et al. 2013). Estimates put the number of amphibians killed per year on Australian roads at 5 million (Seiler 2003). The likelihood of a green turtle erroneously ingesting plastic debris, often by mistaking them for food, rose from 30% in 1985 to almost 50% in 2012 (Schuyler et al. 2013). Human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC, sensu Sih et al. 2011) is filling animals’ environments with new threats which bear little or excessive similarity to those they have encountered in their evolutionary history (Dwernychuk and Boag 1972; Patten and Kelley 2010; Witherington 1997). As a consequence, many of the stimuli involved fall outside the adaptive processing space of animals’ evolutionary perceptual, learning, memory and decision-making systems, making individuals particularly vulnerable to their impact. |
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1435-9456 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Griffin2017 |
Serial |
6129 |
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Ducatez, S.; Audet, J.-N.; Rodriguez, J.R.; Kayello, L.; Lefebvre, L. |
| Title |
Innovativeness and the effects of urbanization on risk-taking behaviors in wild Barbados birds |
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Journal Article |
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2017 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
20 |
Issue |
1 |
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33-42 |
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The effects of urbanization on avian cognition remain poorly understood. Risk-taking behaviors like boldness, neophobia and flight distance are thought to affect opportunism and innovativeness, and should also vary with urbanization. Here, we investigate variation in risk-taking behaviors in the field in an avian assemblage of nine species that forage together in Barbados and for which innovation rate is known from previous work. We predicted that birds from highly urbanized areas would show more risk-taking behavior than conspecifics from less urbanized parts of the island and that the differences would be strongest in the most innovative of the species. Overall, we found that urban birds are bolder, less neophobic and have shorter flight distances than their less urbanized conspecifics. Additionally, we detected between-species differences in the effect of urbanization on flight distance, more innovative species showing smaller differences in flight distance between areas. Our results suggest that, within successful urban colonizers, species differences in innovativeness may affect the way species change their risk-taking behaviors in response to the urban environment. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Ducatez2017 |
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6128 |
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Cinková, I.; Policht, R. |
| Title |
Discrimination of familiarity and sex from chemical cues in the dung by wild southern white rhinoceros |
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Journal Article |
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2015 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
18 |
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1 |
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385-392 |
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Communication in rhinos is primarily mediated by the vocal and olfactory signals as they have relatively poor eyesight. White rhinos are the most social of all the rhinoceros species, they defecate at common dungheaps and the adult bulls use dung and urine to mark their territory. Chemical communication may therefore be particularly important in the social interactions of white rhinos, and its knowledge could be very helpful in their management and conservation. However, no studies have investigated up until now the olfactory discrimination in any rhinoceros species in the wild. We have experimentally studied the reactions of the wild southern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) to the dung of familiar and unfamiliar adult females and adult territorial males. We registered the number of sniffing events, the duration of sniffing and the latency of the vigilance posture from the onset of sniffing. The dung of unfamiliar rhinos was sniffed longer than that of familiar rhinos. The rhinos showed a shorter latency of vigilance posture to the familiar dung of males than that of females. For unfamiliar dung, they displayed a shorter latency of vigilance posture to female than male dung. Our results indicate that the rhinos are able to discriminate the familiarity and sex of conspecifics from the smell of their dung. Olfactory cues could therefore play an important role in the social relationships and spatial organization of the southern white rhinoceros. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Cinková2015 |
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6143 |
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Brust, V.; Guenther, A. |
| Title |
Domestication effects on behavioural traits and learning performance: comparing wild cavies to guinea pigs |
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Journal Article |
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2015 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
18 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
99-109 |
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The domestication process leads to a change in behavioural traits, usually towards individuals that are less attentive to changes in their environment and less aggressive. Empirical evidence for a difference in cognitive performance, however, is scarce. Recently, a functional linkage between an individual's behaviour and cognitive performance has been proposed in the framework of animal personalities via a shared risk-reward trade-off. Following this assumption, bolder and more aggressive animals (usually the wild form) should learn faster. Differences in behaviour may arise during ontogeny due to individual experiences or represent adaptations that occurred over the course of evolution. Both might singly or taken together account for differences in cognitive performance between wild and domestic lineages. To test for such possible linkages, we compared wild cavies and domestic guinea pigs, both kept in a university stock for more than 30 years under highly comparable conditions. Animals were tested in three behavioural tests as well as for initial and reversal learning performance. Guinea pigs were less bold and aggressive than their wild congeners, but learnt an association faster. Additionally, the personality structure was altered during the domestication process. The most likely explanation for these findings is that a shift in behavioural traits and their connectivity led to an altered cognitive performance. A functional linkage between behavioural and cognitive traits seems to exist in the proposed way only under natural selection, but not in animals that have been selected artificially over centuries. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Brust2015 |
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6194 |
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Miyata, H.; Gajdon, G.K.; Huber, L.; Fujita, K. |
| Title |
How do keas (Nestor notabilis) solve artificial-fruit problems with multiple locks? |
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Journal Article |
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2011 |
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Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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14 |
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1 |
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45-58 |
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Keas, a species of parrots from New Zealand, are an interesting species for comparative studies of problem solving and cognition because they are known not only for efficient capacities for object manipulation but also for explorative and playful behaviors. To what extent are they efficient or explorative, and what cognitive abilities do they use? We examined how keas would solve several versions of artificial-fruit box problems having multiple locks. After training keas to remove a metal rod from over a Plexiglas lid that had to be opened, we exposed the birds to a variety of tasks having two or more locks. We also introduced a preview phase during which the keas had extended opportunity to look at the tasks before the experimenter allowed the birds to solve them, to examine whether the preview phase would facilitate the birds' performance on the tasks. In a large number of tests, the keas showed a strong trend to solve the tasks with no positive effect of previewing the tasks. When the tasks became complex, however, the keas corrected inappropriate responses more quickly when they had had chance to preview the problems than when they had not. The results suggest that the keas primarily used explorative strategies in solving the lock problems but might have obtained some information about the tasks before starting to solve them. This may reflect a good compromise of keas' trial-and-error tendency and their good cognitive ability that result from a selection pressure they have faced in their natural habitat. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Miyata2011 |
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6549 |
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