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Author Altmann, J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Observational Study of Behavior: Sampling Methods Type Journal Article
  Year 1974 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 49 Issue 3-4 Pages 227-266  
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  Abstract Seven major types of sampling for observational studies of social behavior have been found in the literature. These methods differ considerably in their suitability for providing unbiased data of various kinds. Below is a summary of the major recommended uses of each technique: In this paper, I have tried to point out the major strengths and weaknesses of each sampling method. Some methods are intrinsically biased with respect to many variables, others to fewer. In choosing a sampling method the main question is whether the procedure results in a biased sample of the variables under study. A method can produce a biased sample directly, as a result of intrinsic bias with respect to a study variable, or secondarily due to some degree of dependence (correlation) between the study variable and a directly-biased variable. In order to choose a sampling technique, the observer needs to consider carefully the characteristics of behavior and social interactions that are relevant to the study population and the research questions at hand. In most studies one will not have adequate empirical knowledge of the dependencies between relevant variables. Under the circumstances, the observer should avoid intrinsic biases to whatever extent possible, in particular those that direcly affect the variables under study. Finally, it will often be possible to use more than one sampling method in a study. Such samples can be taken successively or, under favorable conditions, even concurrently. For example, we have found it possible to take Instantaneous Samples of the identities and distances of nearest neighbors of a focal individual at five or ten minute intervals during Focal-Animal (behavior) Samples on that individual. Often during Focal-Animal Sampling one can also record All Occurrences of Some Behaviors, for the whole social group, for categories of conspicuous behavior, such as predation, intergroup contact, drinking, and so on. The extent to which concurrent multiple sampling is feasible will depend very much on the behavior categories and rate of occurrence, the observational conditions, etc. Where feasible, such multiple sampling can greatly aid in the efficient use of research time.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4684  
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Author Sigurjónsdóttir , H.; van Dierendonck, M.C.; Snorrason, S.; Thórhallsdóttir, A.G. url  doi
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  Title Social relationships in a group of horses without a mature stallion Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 140 Issue 6 Pages 783-804  
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  Abstract 1. The social relationships in a group of Icelandic horses without a mature stallion were studied. The horses were all familiar to each other. Mutual grooming and play relationships, spatial associations, dominance-subordinate relations and the effect of kinship on these relationships were analysed.TAGSTARTBRTAGEND 2. The social structure was clearly dominated by the behaviour of the adult mares. The horses preferred to form bonds within their social class (sex/age) and they kept close proximity with their friends. The group was effectively divided into two social subgroups, adult mares as one group and adult geldings and sub-adults as another group. The sub-adults and adult geldings formed associations, which were based on mutual grooming and play, while the adult mares did not play. Differences between the sexes were evident. Males played more than the females, had more playing partners and were more popular as playmates.TAGSTARTBRTAGEND 3. Aggression rates were low. The dominance hierarchy was linear. Adult mares ranked higher than adult geldings, sub-adults and the foals. Rank was significantly correlated with age. The closer the adult mares were in rank, the more they groomed with each other. Such relationships were not found amongst the other social group.TAGSTARTBRTAGEND 4. Kinship was calculated between all pairs of animals for up to 4 or 5 generations. Allogrooming and play frequencies and proximity were all positively correlated with kinship. Adult mares, which were close in the dominance hierarchy, were on average more related than those further apart.TAGSTARTBRTAGEND 5. The social relationships in the Icelandic herd were, to some extent, different from relationships reported from unmanaged and feral horse-herds with mature stallions and bachelors. Our results suggest that adult mares groom more in groups without a stallion. Furthermore, they have more preferred partners than in natural harems and their partners are other adult mares, not their weaned offspring as seems to be the case in feral herds. The sub-adults also seem to be more socially active in the absence of stallions. Interestingly, in the Icelandic group, the adult mares showed stallion like behaviours, like mounting and protecting foals. Only by studying the behaviour and the nature of the relationships of horses in groups of different compositions, can we expect to gain a comprehensive understanding about individual social strategies and cognitive capabilities of the species. Such knowledge is valuable for management and welfare of the horse.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2363  
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Author Vervaecke, H.; Vries, H.D.; Elsacker, L.V. doi  openurl
  Title An Experimental Evaluation Of The Consistency Of Competitive Ability And Agonistic Dominance In Different Social Contexts In Captive Bonobos Type Journal Article
  Year 1999 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 136 Issue 4 Pages 423-442  
  Keywords BONOBO PAN PANISCUS; RANK ORDERS; FEEDING SCORES; AGONISTIC RANKS; PEERING  
  Abstract Bonobos have been described as a relatively egalitarian and female dominant species. The exact nature and quality of their dominance relationships and the existence of female dominance are current topics of dispute. We investigated the consistency across social contexts, the stability in time, and the degree of expression of the competitive feeding ability and agonistic dominance in a captive group of bonobos. First, we examined whether the competitive feeding ranks and agonistic ranks differed in different dyadic contexts, triadic contexts and the whole group context. For some pairs of animals the dominance relationships with respect to competitive feeding altered with different group compositions. The agonistic dominance relationships changed accordingly. The competitive feeding ranks and agonistic ranks in the experiments correlated strongly with each other. The alpha position was occupied by a female, but not all females outranked all males. We suggest that females can profit from each others presence to gain inter-sexual dominance. Second, although the agonistic rank order in the whole group remained the same over at least five years, some dyadic competitive feeding ranks changed over time, resulting in a stronger female intersexual dominance. Third, the degree of expression of the behaviors used to quantify dyadic competitive and agonistic dominance was not high, in line with the popular 'egalitarian' epithet. Notwithstanding its low consistency across contexts, the dominance hierarchy in the whole group has a strong predictive value for other social relationships such as grooming. Given this strong effect of rank on other behaviours and given the strong dependency of rank on social context, the choice of the right party members may be a crucial factor in the fission-fusion processes of free-ranging bonobos.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2195  
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Author Lamprecht, J. doi  openurl
  Title Variable Leadership in Bar-Headed Geese (Anser Indicus) : an Analysis of Pair and Family Departures Type Journal Article
  Year 1992 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 122 Issue 1-2 Pages 105-119  
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  Abstract This paper reports quantitative leadership differences in semi-captive bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) at different times of the year, and in different types of groups. Leading is defined here as causing the departure or determining the direction of movement of the whole group. No permanent and exclusive leader of a pair or family group was found, rather relative leading frequencies of male, female and young showed a definite shifting pattern. Females led more often than their mates prior to breeding, and on nest pauses during the incubation period, but less often in summer, autumn and early winter. In families there was no difference between the frequencies of male and female leading. Family females led relatively more often than those of pairs without offspring. This difference was related to the presence, not the number, of young. Goslings led the family about as often as the parents during the rearing period in early summer, less often in autumn, winter and next spring. Such differences and changes are to be expected where competence in particular tasks and dependence on partners vary between group members, and where different situations require different abilities. For the geese, the results can be related to the different options of group members and to the different benefits they derive from leaving (or 'staying put') or following (or waiting for the others) in different situations.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5128  
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Author Schilder, M.B. H. doi  openurl
  Title Interventions in a herd of semi – captive Plains zebras Type Journal Article
  Year 1990 Publication Behavior Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 112 Issue 1-2 Pages 53-83  
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  Abstract n a herd of semi-captive plains zebras interventions, which occurred within the harems, were investigated in order to answer the question why zebras interfered. These interventions are of interest because they regulate the contacts between companions and because, as corrective and preventive measures, they reveal the normative principles underlying the behaviours by which animals structure their social environment. An attempt was made to deduce 1) the internal norms of the interferer; 2) his short term aims; 3) his tactis and 4) his perception of the social environment. The analysis revealed that in the case of an affiliative interaction foals, yearlings and adult mares started to interfere if a friend had an affiliative contact with another zebra. In view of the interferer's behaviours it was concluded that their aim was to break off the ongoing interaction and that zebras tended to protect friendship bonds. Foals and yearlings further interfered if their mother was being threatened, attacked or sexually approached by a stallion. In view of the interferer's behaviours its aim was to prevent iminent interactions or to break off ongoing interactions. This suggests that these interventions were of a protective nature. The interferer's behaviours in both contexts ware very much alike. Mares tended to interfere if their foal/yearling or adult daughter was threathened or aggressed or if a mare friend was being sexually approached by a stallion. This type of intervention was of a protective nature. Stallions in a multi male harem showed a high tendency to interfere in courtship interactions. From the resemblance between interventions in courtship and in aggressive interactions it is concluded that, at leat in a number of cases, the individuals have perceived courtship behaviour by the stallion as a threat towards the mare involved.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1565  
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Author Franke Stevens, E. doi  openurl
  Title Instability of harems of feral horses in relation to season and presence of subordinate stallions Type Journal Article
  Year 1990 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 112 Issue 3-4 Pages 149-161  
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  Abstract Male horses (Equus caballus) defend harems of females (bands) year-round and throughout their lifetimes. A male's lifetime reproductive success depends upon the number of females in his harem. Although harems have previously been reported as remaining stable over many years, during the two years of this study 30 % of the adult females in an island population of feral horses changed harems during late winter. The seasonal differences in harem stability resulted from seasonal differences in the abundance and distribution of food. The spacing between band members was greater and the frequency of social interactions between them was lower in winter than in summer. In addition, the amount of time devoted to grazing increased in winter. These differences are attributed to the lower availability of suitable vegetation duirng winter. Harem stability did not depend on the age of females, the size of the harem, nor the age of the harem stallion, but did depend on the presence of subordinate stallions attached to the band. All of the females that changed bands left single-male bands; multi-male bands were stable throughout the study.  
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  Notes from Professor Hans Klingels Equine Reference List Approved yes  
  Call Number Serial 1632  
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Author Schilder, M.B.H. doi  openurl
  Title Dominance relationships between adult Plains zebra stallions in semi – captivity Type Journal Article
  Year 1988 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 104 Issue 3-4 Pages 300-319  
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  Abstract The relationships between 4-5 adult zebra stallions, living in a safari park, were investigated over a period of 5 years. Asymmetries in the distributions of a number of behaviours could be explained by adopting dominance as an intervening variable. Dominance in stallions was of a bipolar nature with on the one hand behaviours representing subordinance and defence, and on the other hand behaviours reinforcing and confirming dominance. Expression of formal dominance seems to play a minor role. The dyadic relationships of stallions differed as to the number of behaviours reflecting dominance relationships. Although often linear rank-orders could be constructed, these rank-orders were not necessarily identical. This means that the concept of dominance is of only limited value for describing relationships between zebra stallions.  
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  Notes from Professor Hans Klingels Equine Reference List Approved yes  
  Call Number Serial 1564  
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Author Barette, C.; Vandal, D. doi  openurl
  Title Social rank, dominance, antler size, and access to food in snow-bound wild woodland caribou Type Journal Article
  Year 1986 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 97 Issue 1-2 Pages 118-146  
  Keywords Canada; Quebec; Artiodactyla; Social dominance; Feeding behavior; Morphology; Antler; Rangifer tarandus; North America; America; Ungulata; Mammalia; Vertebrata  
  Abstract We spent two winters studying the social behaviour of wild woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) at a time when their main food (ground lichens; Cladina sp.) is available only at snow craters dug by the animals. The competition for access to such craters was severe, the animals constantly trying to take over the craters of others. During a two-month period when a group maintained a constant size (20) and composition (all age-sex classes represented), we could rank the animals in a rather linear dominance hierarchy (Landau's index = 0.87). Rank was correlated with access to resources, percent of time spent active, and percent of time feeding in craters. It was also correlated with age and antler size. However, rank is not an attribute of individuals, but of a relationship between individuals. As such it is only an intervening variable between physical attributes and access to resources, a variable whose value has meaning only within a given group. Among the three attributes studied (age, sex, antler size), the latter was by far the best predictor of the occurrence and outcome of interactions. Between two individuals within any of the three age-sex classes studied (adult and yearling males and adult females), the one with larger antlers initiated significantly more often, escalated its aggression (to the point of hitting the target) less often, and enjoyed a higher success rate in obtaining resources. When their antlers were larger than those of an adult male target (i.e. males that had shed their antlers), adult females won almost all their interactions with adult males even though they escalated only one fourth of them. This clarifies the long-standing speculation that female caribou have antlers and shed them later than males, in order to overcome their sexual handicap in competition for food in the winter. We conclude that the link between rank and dominance of an individual on one hand, and some of its attributes on the other (e.g. sex, age, weight, antler size) is fundamentally realized by the animal itself through its active preference for targets it is likely to beat, i.e. targets with smaller antlers.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4269  
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Author Appleby, M.C. doi  openurl
  Title Social Rank and Food Access in Red Deer Stags Type Journal Article
  Year 1980 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 74 Issue Pages 294-309  
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  Abstract The behaviour of a free-living group of male red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) on the Isle of Rhum, Scotland, was studied throughout the year to investigate the relations between social dominance and food access. The study is based on the collection of agonistic interactions between members of the study group outside the rutting season. Analysis of these confirmed that dyadic dominance relationships summate to a very clear agonistic hierarchy, while seasonal changes in frequency and type of interactions suggested that rank in the hierarchy may affect access to food through direct feeding interference. This would constitute a selective advantage of the acquisition of high rank. A behaviour pattern in which a stag displaces a subordinate and takes over his feeding-site is proposed as a mechanism of direct feeding interference. It occurs throughout the year, but with a frequency closely related to changes in food availability and quality. The proportion of such interactions that an individual wins is related to his rank, so advantages gained from this behaviour would primarily benefit high-ranking stags. These are likely to consist of improved body condition and winter survival. The importance of high rank in obtaining access to limited food was supported by the results of a simple experiment providing a small area of fertilized grass. Most of the grazing in the area was due to the highest-ranking stag present at any time.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4860  
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Author Jarman, P.J . doi  openurl
  Title The social behaviour of antelope in relation to their ecology Type Journal Article
  Year 1974 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour  
  Volume 48 Issue 1-4 Pages 213-267  
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  Abstract The types of social organisation displayed by the African antelope species have been assigned in this paper to five classes, distinguished largely by the strategies used by the reproductively active males in securing mating rights, and the effects of those strategies on other social castes. The paper attempts to show that these strategies are appropriate to each class because of the effects of other, ecological, aspects of their ways of life. The paper describes different feeding styles among antelope, in terms of selection of food items and coverage of home ranges. It argues that these feeding styles bear a relationship to maximum group size of feeding animals through the influence of dispersion of food items upon group cohesion. The feeding styles also bear a relationship to body size and to habitat choice, both of which influence the antelope species' antipredator behaviour. Thus feeding style is related to anti-predator behaviour which, in many species, influences minimum group size. Group size and the pattern of movement over the annual home range affect the likelihood of females being found in a given place at a given time, and it is this likelihood which, to a large extent, determines the kind of strategy a male must employ to achieve mating rights. The effects of the different strategies employed by males can be seen in such aspects of each species' biology as sexual dimorphism, adult sex ratio, and differential distribution of the sexes.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4264  
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