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Author Daniel, J.C.; Mikulka, P.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Discrimination learning in the white rhinoceros Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 58 Issue (down) 1–2 Pages 197-202  
  Keywords Rhinoceros; Learning  
  Abstract This study examined the ability of two adult white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum simum) to develop a visual discrimination between an open circle and a triangle. These stimuli were presented as black symbols on large white cards. The cards were presented 4.6 m apart and a food reward was given if the subject approached the open circle. Ten discrimination choices were given daily until each subject reached the criterion of 80% correct responding over a block of 50 trials. The female reached the criterion over trials 151–200, while the male required considerably longer (trials 501–550). The male's discrimination was dramatically affected by a shift in the food reward. This study demonstrates that these rhinos were able to develop a successful discrimination and this protocol could be used to further examine their visual acuity.  
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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6145  
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Author Liker, A.; Bókony, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Larger groups are more successful in innovative problem solving in house sparrows Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci USA  
  Volume 106 Issue (down) 19 Pages 7893-7898  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Group living offers well-known benefits to animals, such as better predator avoidance and increased foraging success. An important additional, but so far neglected, advantage is that groups may cope more effectively with unfamiliar situations through faster innovations of new solutions by some group members. We tested this hypothesis experimentally by presenting a new foraging task of opening a familiar feeder in an unfamiliar way to house sparrows in small and large groups (2 versus 6 birds). Group size had strong effects on problem solving: sparrows performed 4 times more and 11 times faster openings in large than in small groups, and all members of large groups profited by getting food sooner (7 times on average). Independently from group size, urban groups were more successful than rural groups. The disproportionately higher success in large groups was not a mere consequence of higher number of attempts, but was also related to a higher effectiveness of problem solving (3 times higher proportion of successful birds). The analyses of the birds' behavior suggest that the latter was not explained by either reduced investment in antipredator vigilance or reduced neophobia in large groups. Instead, larger groups may contain more diverse individuals with different skills and experiences, which may increase the chance of solving the task by some group members. Increased success in problem solving may promote group living in animals and may help them to adapt quickly to new situations in rapidly-changing environments.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6538  
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Author Marneweck, C.; Jürgens, A.; Shrader, A.M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Dung odours signal sex, age, territorial and oestrous state in white rhinos Type Journal Article
  Year 2017 Publication Proc Biol Sci Abbreviated Journal Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B  
  Volume 284 Issue (down) 1846 Pages  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Mammals commonly communicate olfactorily via urine. However, the extent to which they communicate via dung, another waste product, is unknown. Behavioural studies suggest that mammals can obtain information from dung odours but are unclear about the information transmitted. Moreover, an understanding of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from dung is limited. To address this, we analysed the odours emitted from the dung of free-ranging white rhinos, and found that 2,3-dimethylundecane signalled an individual's sex, heptanal discriminated age class, nonane defined male territorial status and 2,6-dimethylundecane indicated female oestrous state. To validate these findings, we artificially reproduced key elements of the territorial and oestrous odour profiles (i.e. profiles likely to elicit behavioural responses from receivers). We then exposed free-ranging territorial males to these odours. In response, males elicited behaviours associated with the specific odours (e.g. territorial male (potential threat): reduced latency in assuming vigilance; oestrous female (potential mate): increased investigation). These results indicate that the VOCs identified from the dung of free-ranging individuals do transmit key information. Moreover, as white rhinos of all ages and sexes defecate communally, middens probably act as information centres. Furthermore, as many other mammals defecate communally, olfactory communication via dung odours is likely a widespread phenomenon.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6147  
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Author Chapron, G.; Treves, A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Blood does not buy goodwill: allowing culling increases poaching of a large carnivore Type Journal Article
  Year 2016 Publication Proc Biol Sci Abbreviated Journal Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B  
  Volume 283 Issue (down) 1830 Pages  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Quantifying environmental crime and the effectiveness of policy interventions is difficult because perpetrators typically conceal evidence. To prevent illegal uses of natural resources, such as poaching endangered species, governments have advocated granting policy flexibility to local authorities by liberalizing culling or hunting of large carnivores. We present the first quantitative evaluation of the hypothesis that liberalizing culling will reduce poaching and improve population status of an endangered carnivore. We show that allowing wolf (Canis lupus) culling was substantially more likely to increase poaching than reduce it. Replicated, quasi-experimental changes in wolf policies in Wisconsin and Michigan, USA, revealed that a repeated policy signal to allow state culling triggered repeated slowdowns in wolf population growth, irrespective of the policy implementation measured as the number of wolves killed. The most likely explanation for these slowdowns was poaching and alternative explanations found no support. When the government kills a protected species, the perceived value of each individual of that species may decline; so liberalizing wolf culling may have sent a negative message about the value of wolves or acceptability of poaching. Our results suggest that granting management flexibility for endangered species to address illegal behaviour may instead promote such behaviour.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6379  
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Author Liberg, O.; Chapron, G.; Wabakken, P.; Pedersen, H.C.; Hobbs, N.T.; Sand, H. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Shoot, shovel and shut up: cryptic poaching slows restoration of a large carnivore in Europe Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Proc Biol Sci Abbreviated Journal Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B  
  Volume 279 Issue (down) 1730 Pages 910-915  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Poaching is a widespread and well-appreciated problem for the conservation of many threatened species. Because poaching is illegal, there is strong incentive for poachers to conceal their activities, and consequently, little data on the effects of poaching on population dynamics are available. Quantifying poaching mortality should be a required knowledge when developing conservation plans for endangered species but is hampered by methodological challenges. We show that rigorous estimates of the effects of poaching relative to other sources of mortality can be obtained with a hierarchical state-space model combined with multiple sources of data. Using the Scandinavian wolf (Canis lupus) population as an illustrative example, we show that poaching accounted for approximately half of total mortality and more than two-thirds of total poaching remained undetected by conventional methods, a source of mortality we term as 'cryptic poaching'. Our simulations suggest that without poaching during the past decade, the population would have been almost four times as large in 2009. Such a severe impact of poaching on population recovery may be widespread among large carnivores. We believe that conservation strategies for large carnivores considering only observed data may not be adequate and should be revised by including and quantifying cryptic poaching.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6380  
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Author Tebbich Sabine; Griffin Andrea S.; Peschl Markus F.; Sterelny Kim url  doi
openurl 
  Title From mechanisms to function: an integrated framework of animal innovation Type Journal Article
  Year 2016 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci  
  Volume 371 Issue (down) 1690 Pages 20150195  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Animal innovations range from the discovery of novel food types to the invention of completely novel behaviours. Innovations can give access to new opportunities, and thus enable innovating agents to invade and create novel niches. This in turn can pave the way for morphological adaptation and adaptive radiation. The mechanisms that make innovations possible are probably as diverse as the innovations themselves. So too are their evolutionary consequences. Perhaps because of this diversity, we lack a unifying framework that links mechanism to function. We propose a framework for animal innovation that describes the interactions between mechanism, fitness benefit and evolutionary significance, and which suggests an expanded range of experimental approaches. In doing so, we split innovation into factors (components and phases) that can be manipulated systematically, and which can be investigated both experimentally and with correlational studies. We apply this framework to a selection of cases, showing how it helps us ask more precise questions and design more revealing experiments.  
  Address  
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  Publisher Royal Society Place of Publication Editor  
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  Notes doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0195 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6557  
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Author Webster, M.M.; Laland, K.N. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social learning strategies and predation risk: minnows copy only when using private information would be costly Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Proc Biol Sci Abbreviated Journal Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B  
  Volume 275 Issue (down) 1653 Pages 2869-2876  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Animals can acquire information from the environment privately, by sampling it directly, or socially, through learning from others. Generally, private information is more accurate, but expensive to acquire, while social information is cheaper but less reliable. Accordingly, the 'costly information hypothesis' predicts that individuals will use private information when the costs associated with doing so are low, but that they should increasingly use social information as the costs of using private information rise. While consistent with considerable data, this theory has yet to be directly tested in a satisfactory manner. We tested this hypothesis by giving minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) a choice between socially demonstrated and non-demonstrated prey patches under conditions of low, indirect and high simulated predation risk. Subjects had no experience (experiment 1) or prior private information that conflicted with the social information provided by the demonstrators (experiment 2). In both experiments, subjects spent more time in the demonstrated patch than in the non-demonstrated patch, and in experiment 1 made fewer switches between patches, when risk was high compared with when it was low. These findings are consistent with the predictions of the costly information hypothesis, and imply that minnows adopt a 'copy-when-asocial-learning-is-costly' learning strategy.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6196  
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Author Mann Janet; Patterson Eric M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Tool use by aquatic animals Type Journal Article
  Year 2013 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 368 Issue (down) 1630 Pages 20120424  
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  Publisher Royal Society Place of Publication Editor  
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  Notes doi: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0424 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6579  
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Author Thornton Alex; Lukas Dieter url  doi
openurl 
  Title Individual variation in cognitive performance: developmental and evolutionary perspectives Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci  
  Volume 367 Issue (down) 1603 Pages 2773-2783  
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  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Royal Society Place of Publication Editor  
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  Notes doi: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0214 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6555  
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Author Krueger, K.; Trager, L.; Farmer, K.; Byrne, R. doi  openurl
  Title Tool Use in Horses Type Journal Article
  Year 2022 Publication Animals Abbreviated Journal Animals  
  Volume 12 Issue (down) 15 Pages 1876  
  Keywords crowdsourcing; horse; innovation; mule; management; tool use  
  Abstract Tool use has not yet been confirmed in horses, mules or donkeys. As this subject is difficult to research with conventional methods, we used a crowdsourcing approach to gather data. We contacted equid owners and carers and asked them to report and video examples of â��unusualâ�� behaviour via a dedicated website. We also searched YouTube and Facebook for videos of equids showing tool use. From 635 reports, including 1014 behaviours, we found 20 cases of tool use, 13 of which were unambiguous in that it was clear that the behaviour was not trained, caused by reduced welfare, incidental or accidental. We then assessed (a) the effect of management conditions on tool use and (b) whether the animals used tools alone, or socially, involving other equids or humans. We found that management restrictions were associated with corresponding tool use in 12 of the 13 cases (p = 0.01), e.g., equids using sticks to scrape hay within reach when feed was restricted. Furthermore, 8 of the 13 cases involved other equids or humans, such as horses using brushes to groom others. The most frequent tool use was for foraging, with seven examples, tool use for social purposes was seen in four cases, and there was just one case of tool use for escape. There was just one case of tool use for comfort, and in this instance, there were no management restrictions. Equids therefore can develop tool use, especially when management conditions are restricted, but it is a rare occurrence.  
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  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title Animals  
  Series Volume 12 Series Issue 15 Edition  
  ISSN 2076-2615 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6695  
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