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Flauger, B., & Krueger, K. (2008). Ecology and evolution of equine cognitive abilities. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: The cognitive abilities of social ungulates, in particular horses, have widely been neglected. Preliminary results suggest that horses are capable of social cognition which they acquire through social learning. They gain information from the observation of the interaction of a conspecific and a human experimenter, and adjust their own behaviour towards the experimenter with respect to the observed horse"s reaction and relative dominance status (Krueger and Heinze, 2007). Horses are a highly social species that still exists in different evolutionary stages: domestic horses, feral horses and wild horses (Przewalski horses). Additionally, domestic and wild horses differ in their individual social behaviour. For example, in social interactions Przewalski horses appear to act significantly more aggressively than domestic horses. Therefore studies on horses are particularly suitable to investigate whether convergent social evolution favours convergent cognitive evolution. By a comparative study concerning their reasoning abilities in a specific situation, we will attempt to determine the influence of domestication and feralisation on the evolution of social cognition and to investigate possible differences in their abilities to cope with stressful situations. We started to observe the behaviour of domestic and wild horses, in particular during the integration into new social groups, especially in relation with their knowledge of the social structure of new groups and their own relative social status. Selected agonistic interactions will be measured and statistically evaluated. Additionally, the stress level of the horses will be determined by an analysis of stress hormone levels, particularly cortisol metabolites, in plasma, saliva and faeces.
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Wolter, R., Pantel, N., Möstl, E., & Krueger, K. (2013). Die Rolle des Alpha-Hengstes in einer Przewalski Bachelor-Gruppe beim Erkunden einer neuen Fläche in einem Semi-Reservat. (Vol. Göttinger Pferdetage'13, 66).
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Fuchs, K., Götz, K., Manschel, K., Pohl, L., Preisendanz, L., Weil, S., et al. (2013). Vergleich der Interaktionen von Pferden in Boxenhaltung mit Weidegang und Pferden in Offenstallhaltung. In Göttinger Pferdetage’13 (65).
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Ruess, M., Schmelz, A., & Krueger, K. (2013). Einfluss vitomechanischer Schwingungen auf das Muskuloskeletalsystem der Pferde. In Göttinger Pferdetage’13 (111).
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Lerbs, S., Raue, T., & Krueger, K. (2013). Untersuchung der natürlichen Schiefe der Fohlen in Abhängigkeit zur sensorischen und motorischen Lateralität, sowie zur Seitenpräferenz beim Saugen. In Göttinger Pferdetage’13.
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Krueger, K., & Lerbs, S. (2013). Die Schiefe, und die motorische sowie sensorische Lateralität des Pferdes. In Jahrestagung der DVG, Fachgruppe: Tierschutz & Ethologie und Tierhaltung Umwelt und Tierhygiene.
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Krueger, K. (2014). Die Bedeutung der Schiefe, Händigkeit und sensorische Lateralität der Pferde. In Pferdetage Baden-Württemberg 2014. Stuttgart: Matthaes Medien.
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Schneider, G., & Krueger, K. (2012). Third-party intervention. In Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (73). Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: Third-party intervention is the interruption of a dyadic interaction by a third animal. We observed such interventions in affiliative interactions in free-ranging Esperia-ponies (Equus caballus). It is known that horses intervene in affiliative contexts especially when a preferred partner is involved, probably to protect their social bond to this preferred partner. To prove this hypothesis the present study investigated whether the preferred partner was targeted, i.e. challenged, or supported by the intervener or both randomly. Therefore we examined the social relationship between the intervener and both dyadic interacting individuals. We found that interveners usually supported individuals to which they have stronger social bonds than to other group mates, while they have no particular relationship to the targeted animals. This indicates that interveners in stable horse groups protect their social bonds to the supported animals by challenging their interaction partners. Of all observed horses only some mares showed intervention behaviour. Their social position, reflected by their position in the dominance hierarchy, social networks, and the spatial group structure were investigated. We found that interveners occupy no unique position, but they are involved in a high amount of affiliative interactions, high-ranking, and relatively aggressive. KW -
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Pick, D., & Krueger, K. (2012). Heuristics and complex decisions in man and horses. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (Vol. in press). Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: Darwin’s claim of differences in mental abilities between man and other animals is a matter of degree rather than of kind and appears to apply nicely to a comparison of choice behaviour in humans and equine. Humans and horses make two kinds of decisions, fast reflexive decisions based on heuristics, and slower more considered decisions that require more complex cognitive processing. Heuristic use is adaptive in that decisions based on them are most often useful in helping an organism to survive while requiring little time and cognitive effort. There is considerable evidence that there is an innate basis to many heuristics in humans as well as horses. A case will be made that the investigation of heuristics specific to horses will lead to an understanding of equine behaviour that has not been possible using traditional learning theories alone. Traditional learning theories are restricted in explaining behaviour to appeals to reinforcement regimes or to the formation of associations between novel stimuli and stimuli that cause innate reflexes, but they are of no use when behaviour is controlled by stimuli that have never been reinforced or been systematically paired with other stimuli that cause reflexive responses. For example, a horse in a two-choice discrimination task may choose a familiar stimulus which has never been reinforced over a new stimulus added to the discrimination task, simply due to the use of an heuristic that usually works -- when in doubt, choose a more familiar object over an unfamiliar one. Conflict resolution strategies provide another good example of heuristic vs. slow decision making. In both humans and horses, conflict resolution strategies are used within, but not typically between social groups. Such groups can be defined as community of interest. Depending on the resource that has to be defended, groups may well be small identities, such as human families or horse harems, or large aggregations such as herds in horses, or religious groups or nations in humans. Fast and simple resolution is possible with stable social identities in simple environments, but more complicated and time consuming deliberative processes are required to resolve conflict over long-term resource acquisition, for decisions in complex conflicts situations and complex social settings.
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Krueger, K. (2012). Konfliktlösungsstrategien der Menschen und Pferde. In Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (Vol. in press). Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: Abstract Missing KW -
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