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Murphy, J., Sutherland, A., & Arkins, S. (2005). Idiosyncratic motor laterality in the horse. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 91(3-4), 297–310.
Abstract: Idiosyncratic motor behaviour was investigated during four experimental procedures in 40 horses (males = 20, females = 20) to establish if horses revealed evidence of significant right or left laterality. The experimental procedures included (1) detection of the preferred foreleg to initiate movement (walk or trot), (2) obstacle avoidance within a passageway (right or left), (3) obstacle avoidance when ridden and (4) idiosyncratic motor bias when rolling. The influence of the horses' sex on both the direction and the degree of the laterality was explored within and between experimental procedures. The findings showed that the direction, but not the degree of idiosyncratic motor preference in the horses was strongly sex-related. Male horses exhibited significantly more (t = 3.74, d.f. = 79, P < 0.001) left lateralised responses and female horses exhibited significantly more (t = -6.35, d.f. = 79, P < 0.01) right lateralised responses. There was also significant positive correlation (P < 0.05) between four of six possible inter-experimental relationships. The results suggest two discrete trends of laterality associated with the sex of the horse. The primary cause of idiosyncratic motor laterality may be genetically predetermined, influenced by environmental factors or a combination of these two and the current findings may support the development of sex-specific training schedules for the horse. Further, work in this area might assist in defining the mechanisms of brain hemisphere lateralisation and allocation of cognitive function in the horse.
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Deuel, N. R., & Lawrence, L. M. (1987). Laterality in the gallop gait of horses. J Biomech, 20(6), 645–649.
Abstract: Bilateral asymmetry in gallop stride limb contact patterns of four Quarter Horse fillies was documented by high-speed cinematography. Horses were filmed with rider by two cameras simultaneously while galloping along a straightaway. Even though signaled for each gallop lead an equivalent number of times, horses frequently switched leads, selecting the left lead nearly twice as often as the right. Velocities and stride lengths were greater for the left lead than the right, but stride frequencies did not differ between leads. Velocity effects were partitioned out in limb contact data analysis to enable the determination of persistent gallop stride asymmetries. The contact duration for the trailing (right) fore limb on the left lead exceeded the contact duration for the trailing (left) fore limb on the right lead. Selecting the right fore limb as the trailing fore limb may have allowed horses to use it to withstand the greater stresses and caused them to preferentially gallop with the left fore limb leading. Laterality may have an important influence on equine gallop motion patterns and thereby influence athletic performance.
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Amdam, G. V., Csondes, A., Fondrk, M. K., & Page, R. E. J. (2006). Complex social behaviour derived from maternal reproductive traits. Nature, 439(7072), 76–78.
Abstract: A fundamental goal of sociobiology is to explain how complex social behaviour evolves, especially in social insects, the exemplars of social living. Although still the subject of much controversy, recent theoretical explanations have focused on the evolutionary origins of worker behaviour (assistance from daughters that remain in the nest and help their mother to reproduce) through expression of maternal care behaviour towards siblings. A key prediction of this evolutionary model is that traits involved in maternal care have been co-opted through heterochronous expression of maternal genes to result in sib-care, the hallmark of highly evolved social life in insects. A coupling of maternal behaviour to reproductive status evolved in solitary insects, and was a ready substrate for the evolution of worker-containing societies. Here we show that division of foraging labour among worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) is linked to the reproductive status of facultatively sterile females. We thereby identify the evolutionary origin of a widely expressed social-insect behavioural syndrome, and provide a direct demonstration of how variation in maternal reproductive traits gives rise to complex social behaviour in non-reproductive helpers.
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Aureli, F., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). Natural conflict resolution. Berkley.
Abstract: Introduction FILIPPO AURELI & FRANS B. M. DE WAAL Menzel, C. R. 1993. van Schaik, C. P., & van Noordwijk, M. A. 1986. Communication by agonistic displays: What can games theory contribute to ethology? Chapais, B. 1995. Alliances as a means of competition in primates: Evolutionary, developmental, and cognitive aspects. Punishment in animal societies. Nature, 373: 209-216.
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Seed, A. M., Clayton, N. S., & Emery, N. J. (2007). Postconflict third-party affiliation in rooks, Corvus frugilegus. Curr Biol, 17(2), 152–158.
Abstract: Conflict features in the lives of many animal species and induces social stress mediated by glucocorticoid hormones [1]. Postconflict affiliation, between former opponents (reconciliation) or between former opponents and a bystander (third-party affiliation), has been suggested as a behavioral mechanism for reducing such stress [2], but has been studied almost exclusively in primates [3]. As with many primates, several bird species live in social groups and form affiliative relationships [4]. Do these distantly related animals also use affiliative behavior to offset the costs of conflict? We studied postconflict affiliation in a captive group of rooks. Unlike polygamous primates, monogamous rooks did not reconcile with former opponents. However, we found clear evidence of third-party affiliation after conflicts. Both initiators and targets of aggression engaged in third-party affiliation with a social partner and employed a specific behavior, bill twining, during the postconflict period. Both former aggressors and uninvolved third parties initiated affiliative contacts. Despite the long history of evolutionary divergence, the pattern of third-party affiliation in rooks is strikingly similar to that observed in tolerant primate species. Furthermore, the absence of reconciliation in rooks makes sense in light of the species differences in social systems.
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Proudman, C., Pinchbeck, G., Clegg, P., & French, N. (2004). Equine welfare: risk of horses falling in the Grand National. Nature, 428(6981), 385–386.
Abstract: As in other competitive sports, the famous Grand National steeplechase, which is held at Aintree in the United Kingdom and is watched by 600 million people worldwide, sometimes results in injury. By analysing data from the past 15 Grand National races (consisting of 560 starts by horses), we are able to identify several factors that are significantly associated with failure to complete the race: no previous experience of the course and its unique obstacles, unfavourable ground conditions (too soft or too hard), a large number of runners, and the length of the odds ('starting price'). We also find that there is an increased risk of falling at the first fence and at the jump known as Becher's Brook, which has a ditch on the landing side. Our findings indicate ways in which the Grand National could be made safer for horses and illustrate how epidemiological analysis might contribute to preventing injury in competitive sport.
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Doré, F. Y., Fiset, S., Goulet, S., Dumans, M. - C., & Gagnon, S. (1996). Search behavior in cats and dogs Interspecific differences in working memory and spatial cognition. Anim Learn. & Behav., 24(2), 142–149.
Abstract: Cats and dogs search behavior was compared in different problems where an object was visibly
moved behind a screen that was then visibly moved to a new position. In Experiments 1 (cats) and 2 (dogs),
one group was tested with identical screens and the other group was tested with dissimilar screens.
Results showed that in both species, search behavior was based on processing of spatial information
rather than on recognition of the visual features of the target screen. Cats and dogs were unable to find
the object by inferring its invisible movement. They reached a high level of success only if there was
direct perceptual evidence that the object could not be at its initial position. When the position change
was indicated by an indirect cue, cats searched more at the object`s initial than final position, whereas
dogs searched equally at both positions. Interspecific similarities and differences are interpreted in
terms of the requirements for resetting working memory.
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SYLVAIN GAGNON, F. R. A. N. C. O. I. S. Y. D. O. R. E. (1993). Search behavior of dogs (Canis familiaris) in invisible displacement problems. Anim Learn. & Behav., 21(3), 246–254.
Abstract: Gagnon and Dor (1992) showed that domestic dogs are able to solve a Piagetian object permanence
task called the invisible displacement problem. A toy is hidden in a container which is
moved behind a screen where the toy is removed and left. Dogs make more errors in these problems
than they do in visible displacement tests, in which the object is hidden directly behind
the target screen. In Experiment 1, we examinedcomponents ofthe standard procedure of invisible
displacements that may make encoding or retention of the hiding location more difficult than
it is in visible displacements. In Experiment 2, we compared dogs performances in visible and
invisible displacement problems when delays of 0, 10, and 20 sec were introduced between the
objects final disappearance and the subjects release. The results revealed that dogs poorer performance
in invisible displacement tests is related to the complex sequence of events that have
to be encoded or remembered as well as to a difficulty in representing the position change that
is signaled, but not directly perceived.
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Ord, T. J., & Evans, C. S. (2002). Interactive video playback and opponent assessment in lizards. Behav. Process., 59(2), 55–65.
Abstract: Video playback has been used to explore many issues in animal communication, but the scope of this work has been constrained by the lack of stimulus-subject interaction. In many natural contexts, each participant's signalling behaviour is dependent from moment-to-moment on that of the other. Analyses of acoustic communication demonstrate the value of reproducing such social contingencies. We assessed the utility of interactive playback for studies of visual signalling by comparing the responses of male Jacky dragons, Amphibolurus muricatus, to interactive and non-interactive digital video playbacks of a life-sized conspecific. Displays produced by lizards in the interactive condition had the effect of suppressing the aggressive display of their simulated opponent. Each stimulus sequence generated during an interactive playback was subsequently played to a size-matched control animal. Males that could interact with the video stimulus responded principally with aggressive displays, while those that could not produced a mixture of aggressive and appeasement signals. Adding a degree of receiver responsiveness is hence sufficient to alter the type of signal evoked, even when video stimuli are physically identical. Interactive playback permits the experimental study of a broader range of theoretical topics and can enhance the realism of video stimuli.
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Ord, T. J., Peters, R. A., Evans, C. S., & Taylor, A. J. (2002). Digital video playback and visual communication in lizards. Anim. Behav., 63(5), 879–890.
Abstract: Experimental analyses of dynamic visual signals have to overcome the technical obstacle of reproducing complex motor patterns such as those found in courtship and threat displays. Video playback offers a potential solution to this problem, but it has recently been criticized because of sensory differences between humans and nonhuman animals, which suggest that video stimuli might be perceived as deficient relative to live conspecifics. Quantitative comparisons are therefore necessary to determine whether video sequences reliably evoke natural responses. Male Jacky dragons, Amphibolurus muricatus, compete for territories using complex displays delivered in a rapid stereotyped sequence. We evaluated video playback as a technique for studying this visual signal. Digital video sequences depicting a life-sized displaying male were indistinguishable from live male conspecifics in the rate and structure of aggressive displays evoked. Other measures of social behaviour suggested that video stimuli were more effective in this context. Lizards produced significantly more appeasement displays and had higher rates of substrate licking and locomotor activity in response to video playback than to confined male opponents, which failed to produce aggressive displays. Lizards tracked temporal changes in the display rate of video stimuli and were also sensitive to individual differences in morphology and behaviour between video exemplars. These results show that video stimuli are appropriate for the experimental analysis of Jacky dragon aggressive displays. We compare the potential shortcomings of video playback with those of other techniques and conclude that no approach offers a panacea, but that several have complementary characteristics. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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