Records |
Author |
Burla, J.-B.; Siegwart, J.; Nawroth, C. |
Title |
Human Demonstration Does Not Facilitate the Performance of Horses (Equus caballus) in a Spatial Problem-Solving Task |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2018 |
Publication |
Animal |
Abbreviated Journal |
Animal |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
96 |
Keywords |
detour task; equids; social cognition; social learning; spatial cognition |
Abstract |
Horses’ ability to adapt to new environments and to acquire new information plays an important role in handling and training. Social learning in particular would be very adaptive for horses as it enables them to flexibly adjust to new environments. In the context of horse handling, social learning from humans has been rarely investigated but could help to facilitate management practices. We assessed the impact of human demonstration on the spatial problem-solving abilities of horses during a detour task. In this task, a bucket with a food reward was placed behind a double-detour barrier and 16 horses were allocated to two test groups of 8 horses each. One group received a human demonstration of how to solve the spatial task while the other group received no demonstration. We found that horses did not solve the detour task more often or faster with human demonstration. However, both test groups improved rapidly over trials. Our results suggest that horses prefer to use individual rather than social information when solving a spatial problem-solving task |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
6392 |
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Author |
Robinson, H.C. |
Title |
Equine interspecies aggression |
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Year |
2007 |
Publication |
The Veterinary record |
Abbreviated Journal |
Vet. Rec. |
Volume |
160 |
Issue |
7 |
Pages |
244 |
Keywords |
*Aggression; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Equidae; Horses/*physiology/*psychology |
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English |
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0042-4900 |
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PMID:17308028 |
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1773 |
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Author |
Briard, L.; Dorn, C.; Petit, O. |
Title |
Personality and Affinities Play a Key Role in the Organisation of Collective Movements in a Group of Domestic Horses |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Ethology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Ethology |
Volume |
121 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
888-902 |
Keywords |
decision-making; equids; hierarchy; leadership; social network |
Abstract |
Understanding how groups of individuals with different motives come to daily decisions about the exploitation of their environment is a key question in animal behaviour. While interindividual differences are often seen only as a threat to group cohesion, growing evidence shows that they may to some extent facilitate effective collective action. Recent studies suggest that personality differences influence how individuals are attracted to conspecifics and affect their behaviour as an initiator or a follower. However, most of the existing studies are limited to a few taxa, mainly social fish and arthropods. Horses are social herbivores that live in long-lasting groups and show identifiable personality differences between individuals. We studied a group of 38 individuals living in a 30-ha hilly pasture. Over 200 h, we sought to identify how far individual differences such as personality and affinity distribution affect the dynamic of their collective movements. First, we report that individuals distribute their relationships according to similar personality and hierarchical rank. This is the first study that demonstrates a positive assortment between unrelated individuals according to personality in a mammal species. Second, we measured individual propensity to initiate and found that bold individuals initiated more often than shy individuals. However, their success in terms of number of followers and joining duration did not depend on their individual characteristics. Moreover, joining process is influenced by social network, with preferred partners following each other and bolder individuals being located more often at the front of the movement. Our results illustrate the importance of taking into account interindividual behavioural differences in studies of social behaviours. |
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1439-0310 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
6153 |
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