Mostl, E., Rettenbacher, S., & Palme, R. (2005). Measurement of corticosterone metabolites in birds' droppings: an analytical approach. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1046, 17–34.
Abstract: Fecal steroid analyses are becoming increasingly popular among both field and laboratory scientists. The benefits associated with sampling procedures that do not require restraint, anesthesia, and blood collection include less risk to subject and investigator, as well as the potential to obtain endocrine profiles that are not influenced by the sampling procedure itself. In the feces, a species-specific pattern of metabolites is present, because glucocorticoids are extensively metabolized. Therefore, selection of adequate extraction procedures and immunoassays for measuring the relevant metabolites is a serious issue. In this review, emphasis is placed on the establishment and analytical validation of methods to measure glucocorticoid metabolites for a noninvasive evaluation of adrenocortical activity in droppings of birds.
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Palme, R., Rettenbacher, S., Touma, C., El-Bahr, S. M., & Mostl, E. (2005). Stress hormones in mammals and birds: comparative aspects regarding metabolism, excretion, and noninvasive measurement in fecal samples. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1040, 162–171.
Abstract: A multitude of endocrine mechanisms are involved in coping with challenges. Front-line hormones to overcome stressful situations are glucocorticoids (GCs) and catecholamines (CAs). These hormones are usually determined in plasma samples as parameters of adrenal activity and thus of disturbance. GCs (and CAs) are extensively metabolized and excreted afterwards. Therefore, the concentration of GCs (or their metabolites) can be measured in various body fluids or excreta. Above all, fecal samples offer the advantages of easy collection and a feedback-free sampling procedure. However, large differences exist among species regarding the route and time course of excretion, as well as the types of metabolites formed. Based on information gained from radiometabolism studies (reviewed in this paper), we recently developed and successfully validated different enzyme immunoassays that enable the noninvasive measurement of groups of cortisol or corticosterone metabolites in animal feces. The determination of these metabolites in fecal samples can be used as a powerful tool to monitor GC production in various species of domestic, wildlife, and laboratory animals.
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Fenton, B., & Ratcliffe, J. (2004). Animal behaviour: eavesdropping on bats. Nature, 429(6992), 612–613.
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Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew, W. C., Nishida, T., Reynolds, V., Sugiyama, Y., et al. (1999). Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature, 399(6737), 682–685.
Abstract: As an increasing number of field studies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have achieved long-term status across Africa, differences in the behavioural repertoires described have become apparent that suggest there is significant cultural variation. Here we present a systematic synthesis of this information from the seven most long-term studies, which together have accumulated 151 years of chimpanzee observation. This comprehensive analysis reveals patterns of variation that are far more extensive than have previously been documented for any animal species except humans. We find that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours, are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted. Among mammalian and avian species, cultural variation has previously been identified only for single behaviour patterns, such as the local dialects of song-birds. The extensive, multiple variations now documented for chimpanzees are thus without parallel. Moreover, the combined repertoire of these behaviour patterns in each chimpanzee community is itself highly distinctive, a phenomenon characteristic of human cultures but previously unrecognised in non-human species.
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Holekamp, K. E., Sakai, S. T., & Lundrigan, B. L. (2007). Social intelligence in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 362(1480), 523–538.
Abstract: If the large brains and great intelligence characteristic of primates were favoured by selection pressures associated with life in complex societies, then cognitive abilities and nervous systems with primate-like attributes should have evolved convergently in non-primate mammals living in large, elaborate societies in which social dexterity enhances individual fitness. The societies of spotted hyenas are remarkably like those of cercopithecine primates with respect to size, structure and patterns of competition and cooperation. These similarities set an ideal stage for comparative analysis of social intelligence and nervous system organization. As in cercopithecine primates, spotted hyenas use multiple sensory modalities to recognize their kin and other conspecifics as individuals, they recognize third-party kin and rank relationships among their clan mates, and they use this knowledge adaptively during social decision making. However, hyenas appear to rely more intensively than primates on social facilitation and simple rules of thumb in social decision making. No evidence to date suggests that hyenas are capable of true imitation. Finally, it appears that the gross anatomy of the brain in spotted hyenas might resemble that in primates with respect to expansion of frontal cortex, presumed to be involved in the mediation of social behaviour.
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Hare, B., Brown, M., Williamson, C., & Tomasello, M. (2002). The domestication of social cognition in dogs. Science, 298(5598), 1634–1636.
Abstract: Dogs are more skillful than great apes at a number of tasks in which they must read human communicative signals indicating the location of hidden food. In this study, we found that wolves who were raised by humans do not show these same skills, whereas domestic dog puppies only a few weeks old, even those that have had little human contact, do show these skills. These findings suggest that during the process of domestication, dogs have been selected for a set of social-cognitive abilities that enable them to communicate with humans in unique ways.
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Barton, R. A. (1996). Neocortex size and behavioural ecology in primates. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 263(1367), 173–177.
Abstract: The neocortex is widely held to have been the focus of mammalian brain evolution, but what selection pressures explain the observed diversity in its size and structure? Among primates, comparative studies suggest that neocortical evolution is related to the cognitive demands of sociality, and here I confirm that neocortex size and social group size are positively correlated once phylogenetic associations and overall brain size are taken into account. This association holds within haplorhine but not strepsirhine primates. In addition, the neocortex is larger in diurnal than in nocturnal primates, and among diurnal haplorhines its size is positively correlated with the degree of frugivory. These ecological correlates reflect the diverse sensory-cognitive functions of the neocortex.
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Lemasson, A., Koda, H., Kato, A., Oyakawa, C., Blois-Heulin, C., & Masataka, N. (2010). Influence of sound specificity and familiarity on Japanese macaques' (Macaca fuscata) auditory laterality. Behav. Brain. Res., 208(1), 286–289.
Abstract: Despite attempts to generalise the left hemisphere-speech association of humans to animal communication, the debate remains open. More studies on primates are needed to explore the potential effects of sound specificity and familiarity. Familiar and non-familiar nonhuman primate contact calls, bird calls and non-biological sounds were broadcast to Japanese macaques. Macaques turned their heads preferentially towards the left (right hemisphere) when hearing conspecific or familiar primates supporting hemispheric specialisation. Our results support the role of experience in brain organisation and the importance of social factors to understand laterality evolution.
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Connor, R. J., Kawaoka, Y., Webster, R. G., & Paulson, J. C. (1994). Receptor specificity in human, avian, and equine H2 and H3 influenza virus isolates. Virology, 205(1), 17–23.
Abstract: The receptor specificity of 56 H2 and H3 influenza virus isolates from various animal species has been determined to test the relevance of receptor specificity to the ecology of influenza virus. The results show that the receptor specificity of both H2 and H3 isolates evaluated for sialic acid linkage specificity and inhibition of hemagglutination by horse serum correlates with the species of origin, as postulated earlier for H3 strains based on a limited survey of five human, three avian, and one equine strain. Elucidation of the amino acid sequence of several human H2 receptor variants and analysis of known sequences of H2 and H3 isolates revealed that receptor specificity varies in association with an amino acid change at residues 228 in addition to the change at residue 226 previously documented to affect receptor specificity of H3 but not H1 isolates. Residues 226 and 228 are leucine and serine in human isolates, which preferentially bind sialic acid alpha 2,6-galactose beta 1,4-N-acetyl glucosamine (SA alpha 2,6Gal), and glutamine and glycine in avian and equine isolates, which exhibit specificity for sialic acid alpha-2,3-galactose beta-1,3-N-acetyl galactosamine (SA alpha 2,3Gal). The results demonstrate that the correlation of receptor specificity and species of origin is maintained across both H2 and H3 influenza virus serotypes and provide compelling evidence that influenza virus hosts exert selective pressure to maintain the receptor specificity characteristics of strains isolated from that species.
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Macholc, E. J. A. (2006). Equine interspecies aggression (Vol. 159).
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