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Author Zhou, W.-X.; Sornette, D.; Hill, R.A.; Dunbar, R.I.M. doi  openurl
  Title Discrete hierarchical organization of social group sizes Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society Abbreviated Journal Proc Biol Sci  
  Volume 272 Issue 1561 Pages 439-444  
  Keywords Anthropology, Cultural; *Group Structure; Humans; *Models, Biological; *Social Behavior; *Social Environment  
  Abstract The 'social brain hypothesis' for the evolution of large brains in primates has led to evidence for the coevolution of neocortical size and social group sizes, suggesting that there is a cognitive constraint on group size that depends, in some way, on the volume of neural material available for processing and synthesizing information on social relationships. More recently, work on both human and non-human primates has suggested that social groups are often hierarchically structured. We combine data on human grouping patterns in a comprehensive and systematic study. Using fractal analysis, we identify, with high statistical confidence, a discrete hierarchy of group sizes with a preferred scaling ratio close to three: rather than a single or a continuous spectrum of group sizes, humans spontaneously form groups of preferred sizes organized in a geometrical series approximating 3-5, 9-15, 30-45, etc. Such discrete scale invariance could be related to that identified in signatures of herding behaviour in financial markets and might reflect a hierarchical processing of social nearness by human brains.  
  Address State Key Laboratory of Chemical Reaction Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0962-8452 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15734699 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 549  
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Author Janik, V.M. openurl 
  Title Whistle matching in wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2000 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science  
  Volume 289 Issue 5483 Pages 1355-1357  
  Keywords Animals; Animals, Wild/physiology; Dolphins/*physiology; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; *Social Behavior; *Vocalization, Animal  
  Abstract Dolphin communication is suspected to be complex, on the basis of their call repertoires, cognitive abilities, and ability to modify signals through vocal learning. Because of the difficulties involved in observing and recording individual cetaceans, very little is known about how they use their calls. This report shows that wild, unrestrained bottlenose dolphins use their learned whistles in matching interactions, in which an individual responds to a whistle of a conspecific by emitting the same whistle type. Vocal matching occurred over distances of up to 580 meters and is indicative of animals addressing each other individually.  
  Address School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, Bute Building, Fife KY16 9TS, UK  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0036-8075 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:10958783 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 550  
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Author Reluga, T.C.; Viscido, S. doi  openurl
  Title Simulated evolution of selfish herd behavior Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Journal of Theoretical Biology Abbreviated Journal J. Theor. Biol.  
  Volume 234 Issue 2 Pages 213-225  
  Keywords Selfish herd; Behavior; Evolution; Predation risk  
  Abstract Single species aggregations are a commonly observed phenomenon. One potential explanation for these aggregations is provided by the selfish herd hypothesis, which states that aggregations result from individual efforts to reduce personnel predation risk at the expense of group-mates. Not all movement rules based on the selfish herd hypothesis are consistent with observed animal behavior. Previous work has shown that herd-like aggregations are not generated by movement rules limited to local interactions between nearest neighbors. Instead, rules generating realistic herds appear to require delocalized interactions. To date, it has been an open question whether or not the necessary delocalization can emerge from local interactions under natural selection. To address this question, we study an individual-based model with a single quantitative genetic trait that controls the influence of neighbors as a function of distance. The results indicate that predation-based selection can increase the influence of distant neighbors relative to near neighbors. Our results lend support for the idea that selfish herd behavior can arise from localized movement rules under natural selection.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 553  
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Author Viscido, S.V.; Miller, M.; Wethey, D.S. openurl 
  Title The dilemma of the selfish herd: the search for a realistic movement rule Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Journal of theoretical biology Abbreviated Journal J. Theor. Biol.  
  Volume 217 Issue 2 Pages 183-194  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Mass Behavior; Models, Biological; *Motor Activity; Predatory Behavior  
  Abstract The selfish herd hypothesis predicts that aggregations form because individuals move toward one another to minimize their own predation risk. The “dilemma of the selfish herd” is that movement rules that are easy for individuals to follow, fail to produce true aggregations, while rules that produce aggregations require individual behavior so complex that one may doubt most animals can follow them. If natural selection at the individual level is responsible for herding behavior, a solution to the dilemma must exist. Using computer simulations, we examined four different movement rules. Relative predation risk was different for all four movement rules (p<0.05). We defined three criteria for measuring the quality of a movement rule. A good movement rule should (a) be statistically likely to benefit an individual that follows it, (b) be something we can imagine most animals are capable of following, and (c) result in a centrally compact flock. The local crowded horizon rule, which allowed individuals to take the positions of many flock-mates into account, but decreased the influence of flock-mates with distance, best satisfied these criteria. The local crowded horizon rule was very sensitive to the animal's perceptive ability. Therefore, the animal's ability to detect its neighbors is an important factor in the dynamics of group formation.  
  Address Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA. viscido@u.washington.edu  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0022-5193 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12202112 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 554  
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Author Viscido, S.V.; Miller, M.; Wethey, D.S. doi  openurl
  Title The response of a selfish herd to an attack from outside the group perimeter Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Journal of theoretical biology Abbreviated Journal J. Theor. Biol.  
  Volume 208 Issue 3 Pages 315-328  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Computer Simulation; Models, Biological; *Movement; Predatory Behavior  
  Abstract According to the selfish herd hypothesis, animals can decrease predation risk by moving toward one another if the predator can appear anywhere and will attack the nearest target. Previous studies have shown that aggregations can form using simple movement rules designed to decrease each animal's Domain of Danger. However, if the predator attacks from outside the group's perimeter, these simple movement rules might not lead to aggregation. To test whether simple selfish movement rules would decrease predation risk for those situations when the predator attacks from outside the flock perimeter, we constructed a computer model that allowed flocks of 75 simulated fiddler crabs to react to one another, and to a predator attacking from 7 m away. We attacked simulated crab flocks with predators of different sizes and attack speeds, and computed relative predation risk after 120 time steps. Final trajectories showed flight toward the center of the flock, but curving away from the predator. Path curvature depended on the predator's size and approach speed. The average crab experienced a greater decrease in predation risk when the predator was small or slow moving. Regardless of the predator's size and speed, however, predation risk always decreased as long as crabs took their flock-mates into account. We conclude that, even when flight away from an external predator occurs, the selfish avoidance of danger can lead to aggregation.  
  Address Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, U.S.A. viscido@u.washington.edu  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0022-5193 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11207093 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 555  
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Author Suzuki, Y.; Toquenaga, Y. doi  openurl
  Title Effects of information and group structure on evolution of altruism: analysis of two-score model by covariance and contextual analyses Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Journal of theoretical biology Abbreviated Journal J. Theor. Biol.  
  Volume 232 Issue 2 Pages 191-201  
  Keywords *Altruism; Analysis of Variance; *Communication; Cooperative Behavior; *Evolution; Game Theory; *Group Structure; Humans; Models, Genetic; Models, Psychological; Selection (Genetics); Trust  
  Abstract An altruistic individual has to gamble on cooperation to a stranger because it does not know whether the stranger is trustworthy before direct interaction. Nowak and Sigmund (Nature 393 (1998a) 573; J. Theor. Biol. 194 (1998b) 561) presented a new theoretical framework of indirect reciprocal altruism by image scoring game where all individuals are informed about a partner's behavior from its image score without direct interaction. Interestingly, in a simplified version of the image scoring game, the evolutionarily stability condition for altruism became a similar form of Hamilton's rule, i.e. inequality that the probability of getting correct information is more than the ratio of cost to benefit. Since the Hamilton's rule was derived by evolutionarily stable analysis, the evolutionary meaning of the probability of getting correct information has not been clearly examined in terms of kin and group selection. In this study, we applied covariance analysis to the two-score model for deriving the Hamilton's rule. We confirmed that the probability of getting correct information was proportional to the bias of altruistic interactions caused by using information about a partner's image score. The Hamilton's rule was dependent on the number of game bouts even though the information reduced the risk of cooperation to selfish one at the first encounter. In addition, we incorporated group structure to the two-score model to examine whether the probability of getting correct information affect selection for altruism by group selection. We calculated a Hamilton's rule of group selection by contextual analysis. Group selection is very effective when either the probability of getting correct information or that of future interaction, or both are low. The two Hamilton's rules derived by covariance and contextual analyses demonstrated the effects of information and group structure on the evolution of altruism. We inferred that information about a partner's behavior and group structure can produce flexible pathways for the evolution of altruism.  
  Address Integrative Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Ten-Nou-Dai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan. yukari@pe.ies.life.tsukuba.ac.jp  
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  ISSN 0022-5193 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:15530489 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 556  
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Author Brilot, B.O.; Johnstone, R.A. doi  openurl
  Title The limits to cost-free signalling of need between relatives Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society Abbreviated Journal Proc Biol Sci  
  Volume 270 Issue 1519 Pages 1055-1060  
  Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; Birds/physiology; Models, Biological; *Social Behavior  
  Abstract Theoretical models have demonstrated the possibility of stable cost-free signalling of need between relatives. The stability of these cost-free equilibria depends on the indirect fitness cost of cheating and deceiving a donor into giving away resources. We show that this stability is highly sensitive to the distribution of need among signallers and receivers. In particular, cost-free signalling is likely to prove stable only if there is very large variation in need (such that the least-needy individuals stand to gain much less than the most-needy individuals from additional resources). We discuss whether these conditions are likely to be found in altricial avian breeding systems--the most intensively studied instance of signalling of need between relatives. We suggest that cost-free signalling is more likely to prove stable and will provide parents with more information during the earlier phases of chick growth, when parents can more easily meet the demands of a brood (and chicks are more likely to reach satiation). Later, informative yet cost-free signalling is unlikely to persist.  
  Address Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. bob21@cam.ac.uk  
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  ISSN 0962-8452 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:12803895 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 558  
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Author Pepperberg, I.M. doi  openurl
  Title In search of king Solomon's ring: cognitive and communicative studies of Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Brain, behavior and evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol  
  Volume 59 Issue 1-2 Pages 54-67  
  Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; Attention/physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Cues; Form Perception/physiology; Humans; Intelligence; Learning/physiology; Male; Models, Psychological; Parrots/*physiology; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Reward; Social Behavior  
  Abstract During the past 24 years, I have used a modeling technique (M/R procedure) to train Grey parrots to use an allospecific code (English speech) referentially; I then use the code to test their cognitive abilities. The oldest bird, Alex, labels more than 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities to 6, 3 categories (color, shape, material) and uses 'no', 'come here', wanna go X' and 'want Y' (X and Y are appropriate location or item labels). He combines labels to identify, request, comment upon or refuse more than 100 items and to alter his environment. He processes queries to judge category, relative size, quantity, presence or absence of similarity/difference in attributes, and show label comprehension. He semantically separates labeling from requesting. He thus exhibits capacities once presumed limited to humans or nonhuman primates. Studies on this and other Greys show that parrots given training that lacks some aspect of input present in M/R protocols (reference, functionality, social interaction) fail to acquire referential English speech. Examining how input affects the extent to which parrots acquire an allospecific code may elucidate mechanisms of other forms of exceptional learning: learning unlikely in the normal course of development but that can occur under certain conditions.  
  Address The MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Mass. 02139, USA. impepper@media.mit.edu  
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  ISSN 0006-8977 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:12097860 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 579  
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Author Drent, P.J.; van Oers, K.; van Noordwijk, A.J. doi  openurl
  Title Realized heritability of personalities in the great tit (Parus major) Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society Abbreviated Journal Proc Biol Sci  
  Volume 270 Issue 1510 Pages 45-51  
  Keywords Aggression; Animals; Animals, Domestic; Animals, Wild; *Behavior, Animal; Breeding; Exploratory Behavior; Female; *Heredity; Male; Selection (Genetics); Songbirds/*genetics/*physiology; Variation (Genetics)  
  Abstract Behaviour under conditions of mild stress shows consistent patterns in all vertebrates: exploratory behaviour, boldness, aggressiveness covary in the same way. The existence of highly consistent individual variation in these behavioural strategies, also referred to as personalities or coping styles, allows us to measure the behaviour under standardized conditions on birds bred in captivity, link the standardized measurements to the behaviour under natural conditions and measure natural selection in the field. We have bred the great tit (Parus major), a classical model species for the study of behaviour under natural conditions, in captivity. Here, we report a realized heritability of 54 +/- 5% for early exploratory behaviour, based on four generations of bi-directional artificial selection. In addition to this, we measured hand-reared juveniles and their wild-caught parents in the laboratory. The heritability found in the mid-offspring-mid-parent regression was significantly different from zero. We have thus established the presence of considerable amounts of genetic variation for personality types in a wild bird.  
  Address Netherlands Institute of Ecology, PO Box 40, 6666 ZG Heteren, The Netherlands. drent@cto.nioo.knaw.nl  
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  ISSN 0962-8452 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12590770 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 591  
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Author Hare, B.; Plyusnina, I.; Ignacio, N.; Schepina, O.; Stepika, A.; Wrangham, R.; Trut, L. doi  openurl
  Title Social cognitive evolution in captive foxes is a correlated by-product of experimental domestication Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Current biology : CB Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol  
  Volume 15 Issue 3 Pages 226-230  
  Keywords Animals; *Animals, Domestic; Cognition/*physiology; *Cues; *Evolution; Foxes/*physiology; *Selection (Genetics); Social Behavior; Species Specificity  
  Abstract Dogs have an unusual ability for reading human communicative gestures (e.g., pointing) in comparison to either nonhuman primates (including chimpanzees) or wolves . Although this unusual communicative ability seems to have evolved during domestication , it is unclear whether this evolution occurred as a result of direct selection for this ability, as previously hypothesized , or as a correlated by-product of selection against fear and aggression toward humans--as is the case with a number of morphological and physiological changes associated with domestication . We show here that fox kits from an experimental population selectively bred over 45 years to approach humans fearlessly and nonaggressively (i.e., experimentally domesticated) are not only as skillful as dog puppies in using human gestures but are also more skilled than fox kits from a second, control population not bred for tame behavior (critically, neither population of foxes was ever bred or tested for their ability to use human gestures) . These results suggest that sociocognitive evolution has occurred in the experimental foxes, and possibly domestic dogs, as a correlated by-product of selection on systems mediating fear and aggression, and it is likely the observed social cognitive evolution did not require direct selection for improved social cognitive ability.  
  Address Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. hare@eva.mpg.de  
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  ISSN 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15694305 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 594  
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