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Author |
Creel, S. |
Title |
Social dominance and stress hormones |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2001 |
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Trends in Ecology & Evolution |
Abbreviated Journal |
Trends. Ecol. Evol |
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16 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
491-497 |
Keywords |
Dominance; rank; stress; glucocorticoids; cooperative breeding; sociality; behavioural endocrinology; mammals |
Abstract |
In most cooperatively breeding birds and mammals, reproductive rates are lower for social subordinates than for dominants, and it is common for reproduction in subordinates to be completely suppressed. Early research conducted in captivity showed that losing fights can increase glucocorticoid (GC) secretion, a general response to stress. Because GCs can suppress reproduction, it has been widely argued that chronic stress might underlie reproductive suppression of social subordinates in cooperative breeders. Contradicting this hypothesis, recent studies of cooperative breeders in the wild show that dominant individuals have elevated GCs more often than do subordinates. The findings that elevated GCs can be a consequence of subordination or a cost of dominance complicate the conventional view of social stress, with broad ramifications for the evolution of dominance and reproductive suppression. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4072 |
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Boyd, R.; Richerson, P.J. |
Title |
Why does culture increase human adaptability? |
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Journal Article |
Year |
1995 |
Publication |
Ethology and Sociobiology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Ethol. a. Sociob. |
Volume |
16 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
125-143 |
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Social learning; Adaptation; Culture; Sociobiology |
Abstract |
It is often argued that culture is adaptive because it allows people to acquire useful information without costly learning. In a recent paper Rogers (1989) analyzed a simple mathematical model that showed that this argument is wrong. Here we show that Rogers' result is robust. As long as the only benefit of social learning is that imitators avoid learning costs, social learning does not increase average fitness. However, we also show that social learning can be adaptive if it makes individual learning more accurate or less costly. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4196 |
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Giraldeau, Luc-Alain; Valone, Thomas, J.; Templeton, Jennifer, J. |
Title |
Potential disadvantages of using socially acquired information |
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 |
1559-1566 |
Keywords |
Public Information Informational Cascades Social Learning Sampling |
Abstract |
The acquisition and use of socially acquired information is commonly assumed to be profitable. We challenge this assumption by exploring hypothetical scenarios where the use of such information either provides no benefit or can actually be costly. First, we show that the level of incompatibility between the acquisition of personal and socially acquired information will directly affect the extent to which the use of socially acquired information can be profitable. When these two sources of information cannot be acquired simultaneously, there may be no benefit to socially acquired information. Second, we assume that a solitary individual's behavioural decisions will be based on cues revealed by its own interactions with the environment. However, in many cases, for social animals the only socially acquired information available to individuals is the behavioural actions of others that expose their decisions, rather than the cues on which these decisions were based. We argue that in such a situation the use of socially acquired information can lead to informational cascades that sometimes result in sub-optimal behaviour. From this theory of informational cascades, we predict that when erroneous cascades are costly, individuals should pay attention only to socially generated cues and not behavioural decisions. We suggest three scenarios that might be examples of informational cascades in nature. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4197 |
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Templeton, J.J.; Giraldeau, L.-A. |
Title |
Vicarious sampling: the use of personal and public information by starlings foraging in a simple patchy environment |
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Journal Article |
Year |
1996 |
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Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
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Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. |
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38 |
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2 |
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105-114 |
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Social foraging ? Patch sampling ? Public information ? Sturnidae |
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Group foragers may be able to assess patch quality more efficiently by paying attention to the sampling activities of conspecifics foraging in the same patch. In a previous field experiment, we showed that starlings foraging on patches of hidden food could use the successful foraging activities of others to help them assess patch quality. In order to determine whether a starling could also use another individual's lack of foraging success to assess and depart from empty patches more quickly, we carried out two experimental studies which compared the behaviour of captive starlings sampling artificial patches both when alone and when in pairs. Solitary starlings were first trained to assess patch quality in our experimental two-patch system, and were then tested on an empty patch both alone and with two types of partner bird. One partner sampled very few holes and thus provided a low amount of public information; the other sampled numerous holes and thus provided a high amount of public information. In experiment 1, we found no evidence of vicarious sampling. Subjects sampled a similar number of empty holes when alone as when with the low and high information partners; thus they continued to rely on their own personal information to make their patch departure decisions. In experiment 2, we modified the experimental patches, increasing the ease with which a bird could watch another's sampling activities, and increasing the difficulty of acquiring accurate personal sampling information. This time, subjects apparently did use public information, sampling fewer empty holes before departure when with the high-information partner than when with the low-information partner, and sampling fewer holes when with the low-information partner than when alone. We suggest that the degree to which personal and public information are used is likely to depend both on a forager's ability to remember where it has already sampled and on the type of environment in which foraging takes place. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4198 |
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Taillon, J.; Cote, S.D. |
Title |
Social rank and winter forage quality affect aggressiveness in white-tailed deer fawns |
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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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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4203 |
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Author |
Bonnie, K.E.; Earley, R.L. |
Title |
Expanding the scope for social information use |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
Volume |
74 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
171-18 |
Keywords |
behavioural cue; eavesdropping; public information; signalling; social information; social learning |
Abstract |
Our understanding of how, why, and the circumstances under which animals use social information has been facilitated by three principal areas of research, social learning, public information use and social eavesdropping. With few exceptions, these related concepts have remained remarkably distinct within the literature, with little discussion or integration among them. Are these distinctions warranted? We tackle the issue by exploring similarities and differences between the concepts with respect to how animals gather and use social information, the type of information gathered, how information is packaged, and the relative payoffs to individuals involved. We contend that none of the currently dominant paradigms, social learning, public information use, or social eavesdropping, provide a unifying theme for studying social information use. Instead, we favour the central characteristic of the three concepts, social information use, as the overarching umbrella, and advocate a broader conceptual framework for understanding more comprehensively how animals behave with their social environments. Our intention is not to revolutionize the fields of social learning, public information use or social eavesdropping, but rather to stimulate discussion among researchers investigating the abilities of animals to extract information from the social environment. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4205 |
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Beecher, M.D.; Burt, J.M.; O'Loghlen, A.L.; Templeton, C.N.; Campbell, S.E. |
Title |
Bird song learning in an eavesdropping context |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
Volume |
73 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
929-935 |
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eavesdropping; Melospiza melodia; passerine; social learning; song acoustics; song learning; song repertoire; song sparrow; vocal communication |
Abstract |
Bird song learning is a major model system for the study of learning with many parallels to human language development. In this experiment we examined a critical but poorly understood aspect of song learning: its social context. We compared how much young song sparrows, Melospiza melodia, learned from two kinds of adult `song tutors': one with whom the subject interacted vocally, and one whom the subject only overheard singing with another young bird. We found that although subjects learned from both song models, they learned more than twice as many songs from the overheard tutor. These results provide the first evidence that young birds choose their songs by eavesdropping on interactions, and in some cases may learn more by eavesdropping than by direct interaction. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4207 |
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Range, F.; Huber, L. |
Title |
Attention in common marmosets: implications for social-learning experiments |
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Journal Article |
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2007 |
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Animal Behaviour. |
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Anim. Behav. |
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73 |
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6 |
Pages |
1033-1041 |
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attention; Callithrix jacchus; common marmoset; imitation; social learning |
Abstract |
The question whether a certain species is or is not able to imitate has received much recent attention. However, the ability to copy a demonstrated action might depend not only on the imitative ability of the observer but also on its attention, a factor widely neglected in discussions and experiments. Since attention differs between species as well as between individuals, it is likely to influence the amount and type of information different species and/or observers may extract from a given demonstration. We studied attention in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. In a series of experimental sessions, individual marmosets watched different conspecific models that were searching, manipulating an object and feeding. The observers could see the demonstration through two observation holes, which allowed us to measure exactly how often and for how long they watched the model. Marmosets were more attentive towards conspecifics engaged in a problem-solving task than an exploring model. Individual variation in attention was large, ranging from less than 10% to over 49%. Attention also depended on the identity of the model with an increase in attention if it was of the opposite sex. Overall, attention of marmosets was short with a median duration of 6 s while the model manipulated an object. This study measured the real interest of the observer towards a model, which could be an important variable in social-learning experiments. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4208 |
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Shier, D.M.; Owings, D.H. |
Title |
Effects of social learning on predator training and postrelease survival in juvenile black-tailed prairie dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus |
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Journal Article |
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2007 |
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Animal Behaviour. |
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Anim. Behav. |
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73 |
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4 |
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567-577 |
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antipredator behaviour; black-tailed prairie dog; Cynomys ludovicianus; postrelease survival; predator avoidance; social learning |
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We examined how social context and experience affected development of antipredator behaviour and subsequent postrelease survival in the black-tailed prairie dog. Captive-reared juveniles were initially exposed to four stimulus animals: a ferret, a rattlesnake, a hawk and a cottontail control (pretraining tests). Subjects were then trained with or without an adult female demonstrator. Training involved exposure to each stimulus animal two to three times over 5 weeks. After training, each juvenile was retested with each stimulus animal (post-training tests). During pretraining tests, juveniles responded differentially to the stimulus animals. They were least active with the snake, fled the most in tests with the hawk, and were less vigilant with the ferret than with the snake. Following training, juveniles trained with experienced adults were more wary with all three predators than juveniles trained without an experienced adult present. We then compared the antipredator behaviour of captive-reared juveniles trained with experienced adult females with that of wild-reared juveniles of the same age. For all behavioural measures except shelter use, wild-experienced animals differentiated more strongly among predator types than did captive-trained juveniles. One year after reintroduction, survivorship of juveniles trained with experienced adults was higher than that of juveniles trained without experienced adults, but did not differ from that of wild-reared juveniles. These findings provide the first evidence that social transmission of antipredator behaviour during training can enhance long-term survival following release and that as long as a social training regime is used, predator avoidance training can emulate experience acquired in the wild. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4212 |
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Val-Laillet, D.; Passille, A.M. de; Rushen, J.; von Keyserlingk, M.A.G. |
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The concept of social dominance and the social distribution of feeding-related displacements between cows |
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2008 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
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Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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111 |
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1-2 |
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158-172 |
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Cattle; Social dominance; Competitive success; Hierarchy; Feeding competition |
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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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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4213 |
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