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Author |
Johnstone, R.A.; Dugatkin, L.A. |
Title |
Coalition formation in animals and the nature of winner and loser effects |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2000 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
267 |
Issue |
1438 |
Pages |
17-21 |
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Abstract |
Coalition formation has been documented in a diverse array of taxa, yet there has been little formal analysis of polyadic interactions such as coalitions. Here, we develop an optimality model which examines the role of winner and loser effects in shaping coalition formation. We demonstrate that the predicted patterns of alliances are strongly dependent on the way in which winner and loser effects change with contestant strength. When winner and loser effects decrease with the resource-holding power (RHP) of the combatants, coalitions will be favoured between the strongest members of a group, but not between the weakest. If, in contrast, winner and loser effects increase with RHP, exactly the opposite predictions emerge. All other things being equal, intervention is more likely to prove worthwhile when the beneficiary of the aid is weaker (and its opponent is stronger), because the beneficiary is then less likely to win without help. Consequently, intervention is more probable when the impact of victory on the subsequent performance of a combatant increases with that individual's strength because this selects for intervention in favour of weaker combatants. The published literature on hierarchy formation does not reveal how winner and loser effects actually change with contestant strength and we therefore hope that our model will spur others to collect such data; in this light we suggest an experiment which will help to elucidate the nature of winner and loser effects and their impact on coalition formation in animals. |
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* aggression * dominance * hierarchy * intervention * reciprocity |
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10.1098/rspb.2000.0960 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5290 |
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Author |
Bugnyar, T. |
Title |
Knower–guesser differentiation in ravens: others' viewpoints matter |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
278 |
Issue |
1705 |
Pages |
634-640 |
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Differentiating between individuals with different knowledge states is an important step in child development and has been considered as a hallmark in human evolution. Recently, primates and corvids have been reported to pass knower–guesser tasks, raising the possibility of mental attribution skills in non-human animals. Yet, it has been difficult to distinguish ‘mind-reading’ from behaviour-reading alternatives, specifically the use of behavioural cues and/or the application of associatively learned rules. Here, I show that ravens (Corvus corax) observing an experimenter hiding food are capable of predicting the behaviour of bystanders that had been visible at both, none or just one of two caching events. Manipulating the competitors' visual field independently of the view of the test-subject resulted in an instant drop in performance, whereas controls for behavioural cues had no such effect. These findings indicate that ravens not only remember whom they have seen at caching but also take into account that the other's view was blocked. Notably, it does not suffice for the birds to associate specific competitors with specific caches. These results support the idea that certain socio-ecological conditions may select for similar cognitive abilities in distantly related species and that some birds have evolved analogous precursors to a human theory-of-mind. |
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raven; Corvus corax; knowledge attribution; perspective; competitive food retrieval; caching |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5287 |
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Bode, N.W.F.; Faria, J.J.; Franks, D.W.; Krause, J.; Wood, A.J. |
Title |
How perceived threat increases synchronization in collectively moving animal groups |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2010 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
277 |
Issue |
1697 |
Pages |
3065-3070 |
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Nature is rich with many different examples of the cohesive motion of animals. Previous attempts to model collective motion have primarily focused on group behaviours of identical individuals. In contrast, we put our emphasis on modelling the contributions of different individual-level characteristics within such groups by using stochastic asynchronous updating of individual positions and orientations. Our model predicts that higher updating frequency, which we relate to perceived threat, leads to more synchronized group movement, with speed and nearest-neighbour distributions becoming more uniform. Experiments with three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) that were exposed to different threat levels provide strong empirical support for our predictions. Our results suggest that the behaviour of fish (at different states of agitation) can be explained by a single parameter in our model: the updating frequency. We postulate a mechanism for collective behavioural changes in different environment-induced contexts, and explain our findings with reference to confusion and oddity effects. |
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10.1098/rspb.2010.0855 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5188 |
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Author |
Bugnyar, T.; Stöwe, M.; Heinrich, B. |
Title |
Ravens, Corvus corax, follow gaze direction of humans around obstacles |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
271 |
Issue |
1546 |
Pages |
1331-1336 |
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Abstract |
The ability to follow gaze (i.e. head and eye direction) has recently been shown for social mammals, particularly primates. In most studies, individuals could use gaze direction as a behavioural cue without understanding that the view of others may be different from their own. Here, we show that hand–raised ravens not only visually co–orient with the look–ups of a human experimenter but also reposition themselves to follow the experimenter's gaze around a visual barrier. Birds were capable of visual co–orientation already as fledglings but consistently tracked gaze direction behind obstacles not before six months of age. These results raise the possibility that sub–adult and adult ravens can project a line of sight for the other person into the distance. To what extent ravens may attribute mental significance to the visual behaviour of others is discussed. |
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10.1098/rspb.2004.2738 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5009 |
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Author |
Griffiths,S. W.; Brockmark, S.; Höjesjö,J.; Johnsson,J. I. |
Title |
Coping with divided attention: the advantage of familiarity |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
271 |
Issue |
1540 |
Pages |
695-699 |
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The ability of an animal to perform a task successfully is limited by the amount of attention being simultaneously focused on other activities. One way in which individuals might reduce the cost of divided attention is by preferentially focusing on the most beneficial tasks. In territorial animals where aggression is lower among familiar individuals, the decision to associate preferentially with familiar conspecifics may therefore confer advantages by allowing attention to be switched from aggression to predator vigilance and feeding. Wild juvenile brown trout were used to test the prediction that familiar fishes respond more quickly than unfamiliar fishes to a simulated predator attack. Our results confirm this prediction by demonstrating that familiar trout respond 14% faster than unfamiliar individuals to a predator attack. The results also show that familiar fishes consume a greater number of food items, foraging at more than twice the rate of unfamiliar conspecifics. To the best of our knowledge, these results provide the first evidence that familiarity–biased association confers advantages through the immediate fitness benefits afforded by faster predator–evasion responses and the long–term benefits provided by increased feeding opportunities. |
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10.1098/rspb.2003.2648 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5007 |
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Author |
Tibbetts, E.A. |
Title |
Visual signals of individual identity in the wasp Polistes fuscatus |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
269 |
Issue |
1423 |
Pages |
1423-1428 |
Keywords |
hymenoptera; individual-recognition; learning-insect |
Abstract |
Individual recognition is an essential component of interactions in many social systems, but insects are often thought incapable of the sophistication necessary to recognize individuals. If this were true, it would impose limits on the societies that insects could form. For example, queens and workers of the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus form a linear dominance hierarchy that determines how food, work and reproduction are divided within the colony. Such a stable hierarchy would be facilitated if individuals of different ranks have some degree of recognition. P. fuscatus wasps have, to our knowledge, previously undocumented variability in their yellow facial and abdominal markings that are intriguing candidates for signals of individual identity. Here, I describe these highly variable markings and experimentally test whether P. fuscatus queens and workers use these markings to identify individual nest-mates visually. I demonstrate that individuals whose yellow markings are experimentally altered with paint receive more aggression than control wasps who are painted in a way that does not alter their markings. Further, aggression declines towards wasps with experimentally altered markings as these novel markings become familiar to their nestmates. This evidence for individual recognition in P. fuscatus indicates that interactions between insects may be even more complex than previously anticipated.
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ 929 |
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4732 |
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Author |
Hunt, G.R.; Gray, R.D. |
Title |
The crafting of hook tools by wild New Caledonian crows |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
271 |
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Pages |
S88-S90 |
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The 'crafting' of tools involves (i) selection of appropriate raw material, (ii) preparatory trimming and (iii) fine, three-dimensional sculpting. Its evolution is technologically important because it allows the open-ended development of tools. New Caledonian crows manufacture an impressive range of stick and leaf tools. We previously reported that their toolkit included hooked implements made from leafy twigs, although their manufacture had never been closely observed. We describe the manufacture of 10 hooked-twig tools by an adult crow and its dependent juvenile. To make all 10 tools, the crows carried out a relatively invariant three-step sequence of complex manipulations that involved (i) the selection of raw material, (ii) trimming and (iii) a lengthy sculpting of the hook. Hooked-twig manufacture contrasts with the lack of sculpting in the making of wooden tools by other non-humans such as chimpanzees and woodpecker finches. This fine, three-stage crafting process removes another alleged difference between humans and other animals. |
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refbase @ user @ |
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3526 |
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Author |
Gerber, B.; Hendel, T. |
Title |
Outcome expectations drive learned behaviour in larval Drosophila |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
Volume |
273 |
Issue |
1604 |
Pages |
2965-2968 |
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Why does Pavlov's dog salivate? In response to the tone, or in expectation of food? While in vertebrates behaviour can be driven by expected outcomes, it is unknown whether this is true for non-vertebrates as well. We find that, in the Drosophila larva, odour memories are expressed behaviourally only if animals can expect a positive outcome from doing so. The expected outcome of tracking down an odour is determined by comparing the value of the current situation with the value of the memory for that odour. Memory is expressed behaviourally only if the expected outcome is positive. This uncovers a hitherto unrecognized evaluative processing step between an activated memory trace and behaviour control, and argues that learned behaviour reflects the pursuit of its expected outcome. Shown in a system with a simple brain, an apparently cognitive process like representing the expected outcome of behaviour seems to be a basic feature of behaviour control. |
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refbase @ user @ |
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3525 |
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Author |
Witter, M.S.; Swaddle, J.P. |
Title |
Fluctuating Asymmetries, Competition and Dominance |
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Journal Article |
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1994 |
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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
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256 |
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1347 |
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299-303 |
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Levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in the primary feathers of European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, have been shown to be sensitive to nutritional and energetic stress. Furthermore, between-individual variation in plumage FA has been found to be related to social dominance, even without social interactions during feather growth, with dominant birds exhibiting the highest levels of FA. Here we examine whether the relation between dominance and FA differs when birds are housed in social groups, under different degrees of competition for food, during moult. We reason that dominants should derive a greater benefit from their social status as competition for food increases. Our results support this proposition. The relation between dominance and FA differed significantly according to the degree of competition for food. However, in no cases did the dominants exhibit lower levels of FA than subdominants. When competition for food was low, dominants had higher levels of FA than subdominants. When competition for food was high, there was no systematic relation between dominance and FA. These results suggest that dominants may only derive a net benefit from their social status, under the circumstances of our experiment, during severe conditions of competition. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2203 |
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Swaddle, J.P.; Witter, M.S. |
Title |
Chest Plumage, Dominance and Fluctuating Asymmetry in Female Starlings |
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Journal Article |
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1995 |
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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |
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260 |
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1358 |
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219-223 |
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It has been proposed that levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) may be used in establishing and maintaining dominance hierarchies, as asymmetry reflects aspects of individual quality. However, previous manipulations of FA have failed to reveal that the level or outcome of agonistic intra-sexual interactions are affected by levels of FA. In female European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), correlational data suggest that FA of the speckled chest plumage may be related to dominance status. These data are confounded, however, by total number of spots on the chest and the proportion of the chest that is white, both of which positively covary with chest asymmetry. Thus, we deconfounded the effects of these plumage traits on dominance by experimentally manipulating the number of spots and spot number asymmetry in a factorial design. The results indicated that dominance is influenced by the number of spots on the chest, but not by spot asymmetry. Birds with spottier chests were dominant over birds with experimentally decreased spot number. We suggest that female starlings' chests are exposed to extensive abrasion throughout the breeding season and so are susceptible to damage asymmetries that may mask the `true' fluctuating asymmetry of the trait. This may devalue the use of chest asymmetry as a quality indicator. Spottier chests may be costly to maintain, in part because of increased susceptibility to abrasion, and so may be a better indicator of quality than asymmetry. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2202 |
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