Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to give a short survey of the present problems concerning the genetic improvement of horse breeds. The evolution of these populations in Europe, characterized by a deep change from production of draught horses towards that of leisure horses, is described and the influence of the demographical parameters on the selection of these horse populations, is discussed. The generation interval represents an important handicap only surmounted in the case of racing breeds where a high selection intensity can be practised since all animals are subjected to performance testing. In the other cases, the farmer usually does not use modern breeding techniques, but uses crosses instead, which lead more easily to visible results. The available selection criteria are also dealt with. A distinction is made between direct estimates evaluating the abilities of the animals in practice and the indirect estimates measuring a character in correlation to previous ones. For the former estimates, a distinction is made between those resulting from competitions (handicap, records or earnings) and those resulting from direct in-station measurements (saddle, jumping, dressage abilities, draught power). For the indirect estimates, often used especially for the selection of mares, the most important analysis is obviously that of the conformation. However, in the future early selection criteria according to more physiological data should be sought and developed. Estimation of the breeding value according to a given ability is thereafter pointed out. There are two situations: “the panmictic case” concerning sport and draught horses and “the non-panmictic case” corresponding to racing horses, which give rise to some problems. The setting up of breeding plans is discussed. Due to the different economic situations and various objectives of horse production, conclusions are drawn about the role played by geneticists in the present development of this sector.

Abstract: Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) solve various cognitive tasks and acquire and use English speech in ways that often resemble those of very young children. Given that the psittacine brain is organized very differently from that of mammals, these results have intriguing implications for the study and evolution of vocal learning, communication, and cognition.

Abstract: Recently, training horses within round-pens has increased in popularity. Practitioners often maintain that the responses they elicit from horses are similar to signals used with senior conspecifics. To audit the responses of horses to conspecifics, 6 mare-young-horse dyads, this study introduced them to each other in a round-pen and videoed them for 8 min. These dyads spent significantly more time farther than 10 m apart than they did less than 1 m apart (p < .001). The time they spent less than 1 m apart decreased over the 8-min test period (p = .018). Mares occupied the center of the round-pen and chased youngsters for 0.73% of the test period (p < .001). Mares made all agonistic approaches (p < .001), and youngsters (p = .018) made all investigative approaches. Head lowering and licking-and-chewing were exhibited most when the youngsters were facing away from the mares (p < .001). The frequency of head lowering increased during the test period (p = .027), whereas the frequency of licking-and-chewing did not change. The results bring into question the popular interpretation and ethological relevance of equine responses commonly described in round-pen training and show that mares did not condition young horses to remain in close proximity to them.

Abstract: The social intelligence hypothesis posits that complex cognition and enlarged [`]executive brains' evolved in response to challenges that are associated with social complexity. This hypothesis has been well supported, but some recent data are inconsistent with its predictions. It is becoming increasingly clear that multiple selective agents, and non-selective constraints, must have acted to shape cognitive abilities in humans and other animals. The task now is to develop a larger theoretical framework that takes into account both inter-specific differences and similarities in cognition. This new framework should facilitate consideration of how selection pressures that are associated with sociality interact with those that are imposed by non-social forms of environmental complexity, and how both types of functional demands interact with phylogenetic and developmental constraints.