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| Author |
Boogert, N.J.; Reader, S.M.; Laland, K.N. |
| Title |
The relation between social rank, neophobia and individual learning in starlings |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
72 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
1229-1239 |
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| Abstract |
Researchers with diverse interests in topics ranging from the formation of dominance hierarchies and social intelligence to animal personalities have predicted specific, and often conflicting, relations between social rank, neophobia and learning ability. We investigated the relations between these variables in captive groups of wild-caught starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, adopting a multidimensional approach to social rank and neophobia. Both agonistic and competitive rank orders were determined for each group and we tested individuals in the absence of their groupmates for object neophobia, latency to feed in a novel environment and performance on an extractive foraging task. In each starling group, the fastest learners occupied the highest competitive ranks, supporting the hypothesis that cognitive ability is positively correlated with social dominance. Competitive rank orders, however, did not correlate significantly with agonistic rank orders. Situation-specific foraging neophobia was suggested: individuals showed consistency in their latencies to feed near a variety of novel objects, but no significant correlation was found between this measure of object neophobia and latency to feed in a novel environment. Starlings fastest to feed in the novel environment were fastest in solving the foraging task. We discuss the implications of these findings for researchers studying hierarchy formation in animal groups, social intelligence and animal personalities. |
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yes |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ room B 3.029 |
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2074 |
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| Author |
Huber, L.; Gajdon, G.K. |
| Title |
Technical intelligence in animals: the kea model |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
9 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
295-305 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Comprehension; *Intelligence; Models, Psychological; Observation; *Parrots; *Problem Solving; Psychological Theory; Social Environment; *Tool Use Behavior |
| Abstract |
The ability to act on information flexibly is one of the cornerstones of intelligent behavior. As particularly informative example, tool-oriented behavior has been investigated to determine to which extent nonhuman animals understand means-end relations, object affordances, and have specific motor skills. Even planning with foresight, goal-directed problem solving and immediate causal inference have been a focus of research. However, these cognitive abilities may not be restricted to tool-using animals but may be found also in animals that show high levels of curiosity, object exploration and manipulation, and extractive foraging behavior. The kea, a New Zealand parrot, is a particularly good example. We here review findings from laboratory experiments and field observations of keas revealing surprising cognitive capacities in the physical domain. In an experiment with captive keas, the success rate of individuals that were allowed to observe a trained conspecific was significantly higher than that of naive control subjects due to their acquisition of some functional understanding of the task through observation. In a further experiment using the string-pulling task, a well-probed test for means-end comprehension, we found the keas finding an immediate solution that could not be improved upon in nine further trials. We interpreted their performance as insightful in the sense of being sensitive of the relevant functional properties of the task and thereby producing a new adaptive response without trial-and-error learning. Together, these findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the distribution of higher cognitive skills in the animal kingdom by showing high levels of sensorimotor intelligence in animals that do not use tools. In conclusion, we suggest that the 'Technical intelligence hypothesis' (Byrne, Machiavellian intelligence II: extensions and evaluations, pp 289-211, 1997), which has been proposed to explain the origin of the ape/monkey grade-shift in intelligence by a selection pressure upon an increased efficiency in foraging behavior, should be extended, that is, applied to some birds as well. |
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Department for Behavior, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria. ludwig.huber@univie.ac.at |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16909237 |
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2085 |
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Shultz, S.; Dunbar, R.I.M. |
| Title |
Both social and ecological factors predict ungulate brain size |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
273 |
Issue |
1583 |
Pages |
207-215 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Artiodactyla/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; Brain/*anatomy & histology/physiology; *Ecosystem; Organ Size; Perissodactyla/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; *Social Behavior |
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Among mammals, the members of some Orders have relatively large brains. Alternative explanations for this have emphasized either social or ecological selection pressures favouring greater information-processing capacities, including large group size, greater foraging efficiency, higher innovation rates, better invasion success and complex problem solving. However, the focal taxa for these analyses (primates, carnivores and birds) often show both varied ecological competence and social complexity. Here, we focus on the specific relationship between social complexity and brain size in ungulates, a group with relatively simple patterns of resource use, but extremely varied social behaviours. The statistical approach we used, phylogenetic generalized least squares, showed that relative brain size was independently associated with sociality and social complexity as well as with habitat use, while relative neocortex size is associated with social but not ecological factors. A simple index of sociality was a better predictor of both total brain and neocortex size than group size, which may indicate that the cognitive demands of sociality depend on the nature of social relationships as well as the total number of individuals in a group. |
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School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK. susanne.shultz@liv.ac.uk |
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0962-8452 |
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PMID:16555789 |
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no |
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2098 |
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Kenward, B.; Rutz, C.; Weir, A.A.S.; Kacelnik, A. |
| Title |
Development of tool use in New Caledonian crows: inherited action patterns and social influences |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
72 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
1329-1343 |
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New Caledonian crows, Corvus moneduloides, are the most advanced avian tool makers and tool users. We previously reported that captive-bred isolated New Caledonian crows spontaneously use twig tools and cut tools out of Pandanus spp. tree leaves, an activity possibly under cultural influence in the wild. However, what aspects of these behaviours are inherited and how they interact with individual and social experience remained unknown. To examine the interaction between inherited traits, individual learning and social transmission, we observed the ontogeny of twig tool use in hand-reared juveniles. Successful food retrieval was preceded by stereotyped object manipulation action patterns that resembled components of the mature behaviour, demonstrating that tool-oriented behaviours in this species are an evolved specialization. However, there was also an effect of social learning: juveniles that had received demonstrations of twig tool use by their human foster parent showed higher levels of handling and insertion of twigs than did their naive counterparts; a choice experiment showed that they preferred to handle objects that they had seen being manipulated by their human foster parent. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that individual learning, cultural transmission and creative problem solving all contribute to the acquisition of the tool-oriented behaviours in the wild, but inherited species-typical action patterns have a greater role than has been recognized. |
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2103 |
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Nocera, J.J.; Forbes, G.J.; Giraldeau, L.-A. |
| Title |
Inadvertent social information in breeding site selection of natal dispersing birds |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
273 |
Issue |
1584 |
Pages |
349-355 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Breeding; *Environment; Female; Logistic Models; Male; Songbirds/growth & development/*physiology |
| Abstract |
Several species use the number of young produced as public information (PI) to assess breeding site quality. PI is inaccessible for synchronously breeding birds because nests are empty by the time the young can collect this information. We investigate if location cues are the next best source of inadvertent social information (ISI) used by young prospectors during breeding site choice. We experimentally deployed ISI as decoys and song playbacks of breeding males in suitable and sub-optimal habitats during pre- and post-breeding periods, and monitored territory establishment during the subsequent breeding season for a social, bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and a more solitary species, Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus nelsoni). The sparrows did not respond to treatments, but bobolinks responded strongly to post-breeding location cues, irrespective of habitat quality. The following year, 17/20 sub-optimal plots to which bobolink males were recruited were defended for at least two weeks, indicating that song heard the previous year could exert a “carry-over attraction” effect on conspecifics the following year. Sixteen recruited males were natal dispersers, as expected when animals have little opportunity to directly sample their natal habitat quality. We suggest that differences in breeding synchronicity may induce an equivalent clinal distribution of ISI use. |
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Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Bag Service #45111, Fredericton, NB E3B 6E1, Canada. j.nocera@unb.ca |
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0962-8452 |
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PMID:16543178 |
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2129 |
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Langbein, J.; Nurnberg, G.; Puppe, B.; Manteuffel, G. |
| Title |
Self-Controlled Visual Discrimination Learning of Group-Housed Dwarf Goats (Capra hircus): Behavioral Strategies and Effects of Relocation on Learning and Memory |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Journal of Comparative Psychology |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Comp. Psychol. |
| Volume |
120 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
58-66 |
| Keywords |
dwarf goats; visual discrimination; operant learning; learning strategies; context |
| Abstract |
In most studies on animal learning, individual animals are tested separately in a specific learning environment and with a limited number of trials per day. An alternative approach is to test animals in a familiar environment in their social group. In this study, the authors--applying a fully automated learning device--investigated voluntary, self-controlled visual shape discrimination learning of group-housed dwarf goats (Capra hircus). The majority of the tested goats showed successful shape discrimination, which indicates the adaptive value of an effective learning strategy. However, in each group, a few individual goats developed behavioral strategies different from shape discrimination to get reward. Relocation impairs memory retrieval (probably by attention shifting) only temporarily for previously learnt shapes. The results demonstrate the usefulness of a self-controlled learning paradigm to assess learning abilities of social species in their normal social settings. This may be especially relevant for captive animals to improve their welfare. |
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2140 |
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Stevens, J.; Vervaecke, H.; De Vries, H.; Van Elsacker, L. |
| Title |
Social structures in Pan paniscus: testing the female bonding hypothesis |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
Publication |
Primates |
Abbreviated Journal |
Primates |
| Volume |
47 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
210-217 |
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Abstract Based on previous research in captivity, bonobos, Pan paniscus, have been called a female-bonded species. However, genetic and behavioural data indicate that wild females migrate. Bonding between these unrelated females would then be in contradiction with socio-ecological models. It has been argued that female bonding has been overemphasized in captive bonobos. We examine patterns of proximity, grooming and support behaviour in six well established captive groups of bonobos. We find that female bonding was not a typical characteristic of all captive bonobo groups. In only two groups there was a trend for females to prefer proximity with other females over association with males. We found no evidence that following or grooming between females was more frequent than between males and unrelated females or between males. Only in coalitions, females supported each other more than male-female or male-male dyads. We also investigated five mother-son pairs. Grooming was more frequent among mothers and sons than in any other dyad, but sons did not groom their mothers more than males groomed unrelated females. Mothers groomed their sons, or provided more support to them than females groomed or supported unrelated males. Thus, while bonds between females were clearly present, intersexual relations between males and either unrelated females or their mothers are of more, or equal importance. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2193 |
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Pluhácek,j.; Bartos,L.; Víchová,J. |
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Variation In Incidence Of Male Infanticide Within Subspecies Of Plains Zebra (Equus Burchelli) |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
Publication |
Journal of Mammalogy |
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87 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
35-40 |
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Social organization seems to determine the occurrence of male infanticide in equids. Although, no information concerning social organization of the maneless zebra (Equus burchelli borensis) has been available, we presumed that the occurrence of infanticide would be the same across all subspecies of plains zebra. We examined the occurrence of this phenomenon in 9 herds of 4 subspecies: the maneless zebra, Grant's zebra (E. burchelli boehmi), Chapmann's zebra (E. b. chapmanni), and the Damara zebra (E. b. antiquorum) at 4 zoos. The probability of a foal's death was affected by the presence of a new male and subspecies. Except for the maneless zebra, all subspecies showed existence of male infanticide. We found no occurrence of male infanticide in maneless zebras, which suggests a different social system. This would also support the subspecific status of the maneless zebra. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2212 |
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Pluhacek, J.; Bartos, L.; Culik, L. |
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High-ranking mares of captive plains zebra Equus burchelli have greater reproductive success than low-ranking mares |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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99 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
315-329 |
| Keywords |
Equus burchelli; Social hierarchy; Reproductive success; Inter-birth interval; Zoo; Zebra |
| Abstract |
Plains zebra live in harems that include one to six adult mares. Between these mares is a strong order of social hierarchy. The social rank of an equid mare is typically correlated with her age. Further, high-ranking captive plains zebra mares produce more surviving offspring than low-ranking mares. The objectives of this study were to, first, examined the factors that influence social rank of captive plains zebra mares, and second, test if high-ranking mares conceive earlier and if they have shorter inter-birth intervals than low-ranking ones. We observed three herds of captive plains zebra (a total of 18 mares) at the Dvur Kralove Zoo, Czech Republic. During the 831 h of observation, we recorded 1713 aggressive interactions (biting and offensive kicking) between the mares. These data were used to determine, for each mare, the total number of mares that dominated her in each period of social stability. The GLMM model revealed that older mares were dominated by a lower number of mares than the younger mares. We also found that the probability that a mare would conceive declined with the increasing number of dominant mares. Further, we tested the relationship between the number of dominant mares and the inter-birth interval using 29 intervals for 15 mares. These inter-birth intervals were divided into two groups. When a stallion was continuously present in the herd, the intervals lasted from one birth to the next birth (natural intervals). When a herd was without a stallion, the intervals lasted from the release of the stallion into the herd to the birth of foal (stallion-influenced intervals). The analysis revealed that the inter-birth intervals decreased with an increasing number of dominant mares and the natural intervals decreased with an increasing number of offspring successfully reared by a mare. This finding is the first one in equids and contributes to the previous findings that suggest that social status influences reproductive success. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2228 |
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Grange, S.; Duncan, P. |
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Bottom-up and top-down processes in African ungulate communities: resources and predation acting on the relative abundance of zebra and grazing bovids |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
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Ecography |
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29 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
899-907 |
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African ungulate populations appear to be limited principally by their food resources. Within ungulate communities, plains zebras coexist with grazing bovids of similar body size, but rarely are the dominant species. Given the highly effective nutritional strategy of the equids and the resistance of zebras to drought, this is unexpected and suggests that zebra populations may commonly be limited by other mechanisms. Long-term research in the Serengeti ecosystem and in the Kruger National Park suggests that zebra could be less sensitive to food shortage, and more sensitive to predation, than grazing bovids: if this is a general principle, then, at a larger scale, resource availability should have a weaker effect on the abundance of zebra than on grazing ruminants of similar body size (wildebeest and buffalo), and zebras should be relatively more abundant in ecosystems where predators are rare or absent. We test these expectations using data on 23 near-natural ecosystems in east and southern Africa. The abundance of wildebeest is more closely related to resources than is that of zebra; buffalo are intermediate. We show that hyena densities are closely correlated with those of lions, and use the abundance of lions as an index of predation by large predators. The numerical response of lions to increases in the abundance of their prey was linear for mesoherbivores, and apparently so for the three species alone. Finally, the abundance of zebra relative to grazing bovids is lower in ecosystems with high biomasses of lions. These results indicate that zebras may commonly be more sensitive to top-down processes than grazing bovids: the mechanism(s) have not been demonstrated, but predation could play a role. If it is true, then when numbers of the large mammalian predators decline, zebra populations should increase faster than buffalo and wildebeest. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Grange2006 |
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2313 |
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