|   | 
Details
   web
Records
Author Biro, D.; Sumpter, D.J.T.; Meade, J.; Guilford, T.
Title From Compromise to Leadership in Pigeon Homing Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Current Biology Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol
Volume 16 Issue 21 Pages 2123-2128
Keywords (up) Animal Migration; Animals; Columbidae/*physiology; Decision Making; *Flight, Animal; *Homing Behavior; Models, Biological; Orientation; *Social Behavior; *Social Dominance
Abstract Summary A central problem faced by animals traveling in groups is how navigational decisions by group members are integrated, especially when members cannot assess which individuals are best informed or have conflicting information or interests , , , and . Pigeons are now known to recapitulate faithfully their individually distinct habitual routes home , and , and this provides a novel paradigm for investigating collective decisions during flight under varying levels of interindividual conflict. Using high-precision GPS tracking of pairs of pigeons, we found that if conflict between two birds' directional preferences was small, individuals averaged their routes, whereas if conflict rose over a critical threshold, either the pair split or one of the birds became the leader. Modeling such paired decision-making showed that both outcomes--compromise and leadership--could emerge from the same set of simple behavioral rules. Pairs also navigated more efficiently than did the individuals of which they were composed, even though leadership was not necessarily assumed by the more efficient bird. In the context of mass migration of birds and other animals, our results imply that simple self-organizing rules can produce behaviors that improve accuracy in decision-making and thus benefit individuals traveling in groups , and .
Address Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom. daro.biro@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Englisch Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0960-9822 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17084696 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2026
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Arnold, K.; Zuberbuhler, K.
Title Language evolution: semantic combinations in primate calls Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 441 Issue 7091 Pages 303
Keywords (up) Animal Migration; Animals; Eagles/physiology; *Evolution; Female; Haplorhini/*physiology; Male; Predatory Behavior; *Semantics; *Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Syntax sets human language apart from other natural communication systems, although its evolutionary origins are obscure. Here we show that free-ranging putty-nosed monkeys combine two vocalizations into different call sequences that are linked to specific external events, such as the presence of a predator and the imminent movement of the group. Our findings indicate that non-human primates can combine calls into higher-order sequences that have a particular meaning.
Address School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16710411 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 354
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Meunier, H.; Leca, J.B.; Deneubourg, J.L.; Petit, O.
Title Group movement decisions in capuchin monkeys: the utility of an experimental study and a mathematical model to explore the relationship between individual and collective behaviours Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour
Volume 143 Issue Pages 1511-1527
Keywords (up) animal society – collective decision-making – primates – group movement – mathematical modeling
Abstract In primate groups, collective movements are typically described as processes dependent on leadership mechanisms. However, in some species, decision-making includes negotiations and distributed leadership. These facts suggest that simple underlying processes may explain certain decision mechanisms during collective movements. To study such processes, we have designed experiments on white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) during which we provoked collective movements involving a binary choice. These experiments enabled us to analyse the spatial decisions of individuals in the group. We found that the underlying process includes anonymous mimetism, which means that each individual may influence all members of the group. To support this result, we created a mathematical model issued from our experimental data. A totally anonymous model does not fit perfectly with our experimental distribution. A more individualised model, which takes into account the specific behaviour of social peripheral individuals, revealed the validity of the mimetism hypothesis. Even though white-faced capuchins have complex cognitive abilities, a coexistence of anonymous and social mechanisms appears to influence their choice of direction during collective movements. The present approach may offer vital insights into the relationships between individual behaviours and their emergent collective acts.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 2066
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Huebener, E.
Title The Rider's Impacts and Their Timers – Example: Rider's Aids for Transitions Between Different Gaits. Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Tierärztliche Umschau Abbreviated Journal Tierärztl. Umschau
Volume 10 Issue Pages 515-532
Keywords (up) Animal-friendly rider-horse communication – signals for changing the footfall – knee-jerk impacts in the single “fitting” moment – singular timer for those – immediate “obedience”
Abstract The scientific investigation of the basics of the inherited riding teachings assists in conserving its values. Riding instructors should be able to teach not only “how” but also “why”.

The classic European riding teachings that have developed across the centuries are based on perceptions that have their roots in natural phenomena. They are being mirrored, for instance, in the aids to stimulate the change from one gait to the next.

The movements of the horse's trunk and back provide timers for horse-friendly, sensitive aids that create attentive, diligent and happily cooperating horses.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language German Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved yes
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 434
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Keay, J.M.; Singh, J.; Gaunt, M.C.; Kaur, T.
Title Fecal glucocorticoids and their metabolites as indicators of stress in various mammalian species: a literature review Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Journal of zoo and wildlife medicine : official publication of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Abbreviated Journal J Zoo Wildl Med
Volume 37 Issue 3 Pages 234-244
Keywords (up) Animals; *Animals, Wild/metabolism; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods/veterinary; Circadian Rhythm; Conservation of Natural Resources; *Ecosystem; Feces/*chemistry; Glucocorticoids/*analysis/metabolism; Humans; Seasons; Species Specificity; Specimen Handling/methods/veterinary; Stress, Psychological/*metabolism
Abstract Conservation medicine is a discipline in which researchers and conservationists study and respond to the dynamic interplay between animals, humans, and the environment. From a wildlife perspective, animal species are encountering stressors from numerous sources. With the rapidly increasing human population, a corresponding increased demand for food, fuel, and shelter; habitat destruction; and increased competition for natural resources, the health and well-being of wild animal populations is increasingly at risk of disease and endangerment. Scientific data are needed to measure the impact that human encroachment is having on wildlife. Nonbiased biometric data provide a means to measure the amount of stress being imposed on animals from humans, the environment, and other animals. The stress response in animals functions via glucocorticoid metabolism and is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Fecal glucocorticoids, in particular, may be an extremely useful biometric test, since sample collection is noninvasive to subjects and, therefore, does not introduce other variables that may alter assay results. For this reason, many researchers and conservationists have begun to use fecal glucocorticoids as a means to measure stress in various animal species. This review article summarizes the literature on many studies in which fecal glucocorticoids and their metabolites have been used to assess stress levels in various mammalian species. Variations between studies are the main focus of this review. Collection methods, storage conditions, shipping procedures, and laboratory techniques utilized by different researchers are discussed.
Address Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, 0442 Duck Pond Drive, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1042-7260 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17319120 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 616
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Thornton, A.; McAuliffe, K.
Title Teaching in wild meerkats Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 313 Issue 5784 Pages 227-229
Keywords (up) Animals; *Animals, Wild/psychology; Behavior, Animal; *Herpestidae/psychology; *Learning; *Predatory Behavior; South Africa; *Teaching; Vocalization, Animal
Abstract Despite the obvious benefits of directed mechanisms that facilitate the efficient transfer of skills, there is little critical evidence for teaching in nonhuman animals. Using observational and experimental data, we show that wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) teach pups prey-handling skills by providing them with opportunities to interact with live prey. In response to changing pup begging calls, helpers alter their prey-provisioning methods as pups grow older, thus accelerating learning without the use of complex cognition. The lack of evidence for teaching in species other than humans may reflect problems in producing unequivocal support for the occurrence of teaching, rather than the absence of teaching.
Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. jant2@cam.ac.uk
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16840701 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2834
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Boughner, R.L.; Papini, M.R.
Title Appetitive latent inhibition in rats: preexposure performance does not predict conditioned performance Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 72 Issue 1 Pages 42-51
Keywords (up) Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Association Learning; *Conditioning, Classical; *Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Individuality; *Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Motivation; Rats; Rats, Wistar; *Reaction Time
Abstract Nonreinforced preexposure to a conditioned stimulus impairs subsequent conditioning with that stimulus. The goal of these studies was to assess the extent to which acquisition performance could be predicted from preexposure performance using a correlational approach. For both preexposure and autoshaping, four measures of performance were computed, including overall average lever pressing, lever pressing in the initial session, percentage change in lever pressing, and slopes. These measures were correlated in a large sample of rats trained in an autoshaping situation. None of the three measures of autoshaping performance was consistently predicted by any of the three measures of preexposure performance. These results are consistent with the view that latent inhibition is not reducible to long-term habituation.
Address Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, TX 76129, United States
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16406375 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4147
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Paukner, A.; Anderson, J.R.; Fujita, K.
Title Redundant food searches by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): a failure of metacognition? Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 110-117
Keywords (up) Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Cebus; *Concept Formation; Female; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Problem Solving; *Visual Perception
Abstract This study investigated capuchin monkeys' understanding of their own visual search behavior as a means to gather information. Five monkeys were presented with three tubes that could be visually searched to determine the location of a bait. The bait's visibility was experimentally manipulated, and the monkeys' spontaneous visual searches before tube selection were analyzed. In Experiment 1, three monkeys selected the baited tube significantly above chance; however, the monkeys also searched transparent tubes. In Experiment 2, a bent tube in which food was never visible was introduced. When the bent tube was baited, the monkeys failed to deduce the bait location and responded randomly. They also continued to look into the bent tube despite not gaining any pertinent information from it. The capuchin monkeys' behavior contrasts with the efficient employment of visual search behavior reported in humans, apes and macaques. This difference is consistent with species-related variations in metacognitive abilities, although other explanations are also possible.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK. ap14@stir.ac.uk
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16184375 Approved no
Call Number Admin @ knut @ Serial 15
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Henderson, J.; Hurly, T.A.; Healy, S.D.
Title Spatial relational learning in rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 9 Issue 3 Pages 201-205
Keywords (up) Animals; *Association Learning; *Birds; *Concept Formation; Flowers; Form Perception; Male; *Orientation; Reward; Size Perception; *Space Perception; Spatial Behavior
Abstract There is increasing evidence that animals can learn abstract spatial relationships, and successfully transfer this knowledge to novel situations. In this study, rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) were trained to feed from either the lower or the higher of two flowers. When presented with a test pair of flowers, one of which was at a novel height, they chose the flower in the appropriate spatial position rather than the flower at the correct height. This response may also have been influenced by a preference for taller flowers as acquisition of the task during experimental training occurred more readily when the reward flower was the taller of the pair. Thus, it appears that although learning abstract relationships may be a general phenomenon across contexts, and perhaps across species, the ease with which they are learned and the context in which they are subsequently used may not be the same.
Address Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16767469 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2465
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Beckers, T.; Miller, R.R.; De Houwer, J.; Urushihara, K.
Title Reasoning rats: forward blocking in Pavlovian animal conditioning is sensitive to constraints of causal inference Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. General Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Gen
Volume 135 Issue 1 Pages 92-102
Keywords (up) Animals; *Association Learning; *Cognition; *Conditioning, Classical; Cues; Fear; Female; Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Motivation; *Problem Solving; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Abstract Forward blocking is one of the best-documented phenomena in Pavlovian animal conditioning. According to contemporary associative learning theories, forward blocking arises directly from the hardwired basic learning rules that govern the acquisition or expression of associations. Contrary to this view, here the authors demonstrate that blocking in rats is flexible and sensitive to constraints of causal inference, such as violation of additivity and ceiling considerations. This suggests that complex cognitive processes akin to causal inferential reasoning are involved in a well-established Pavlovian animal conditioning phenomenon commonly attributed to the operation of basic associative processes.
Address Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, NY, USA. tom.beckers@psy.kuleuven.be
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0096-3445 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16478318 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 155
Permanent link to this record