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Author Todd, I.A.; Kacelnik, A.
Title Psychological mechanisms and the Marginal Value Theorem: dynamics of scalar memory for travel time Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 46 Issue 4 Pages 765-775
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Abstract Abstract. The relation between memory for travel time and foraging decisions was studied experimentally. The temporal properties of two environments with patchily distributed food were simulated in the laboratory using pigeons, Columba livia, as subjects. The two environments differed in mean travel time, while the coefficient of variation of travel time and the decelerated function relating cumulative food gain to time in the patch were held constant within and between environments. Each environment contained a uniform mixture of five travel times experienced in a random order. Two of the five travel times were common in both environments. Effects of travel time were studied by comparing prey collected per patch visit (PPV) after various travel times within each environment, and by comparing patch exploitation after equal travel times between environments. Within the environment with long mean travel time (LMT) PPV was positively correlated with the last and the penultimate travel times but not with travel times before that. The increase in PPV per second of last travel time was six times greater than the increase per second of penultimate travel time, implying very steep memory discounting. In the environment with short mean travel time (SMT), there was no correlation between PPV and previous travel times. However, comparisons between environments of visits following travel times common to both environments (thus removing the effect of the last travel time) showed that substantially more prey were taken after equal travel times in the LMT than in the SMT environment. This difference cannot be accounted for by the within-environment effect of penultimate travel time, implying that there is a different, less steeply devalued, effect of the mixture of travel times. A model of information processing based on combining Scalar Expectancy Theory with the predictions of rate maximization under the Marginal Value Theorem is presented. The model can approximate the results obtained in this and previous experiments and provides a framework for further analysis of memory mechanisms of foraging behaviour.
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Call Number Serial 2111
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Author Heyes, C.M.
Title Imitation, culture and cognition Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 46 Issue 5 Pages 999-1010
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Abstract Abstract. This paper examines the significance of imitation in non-human animals with respect to the phylogenetic origins of culture and cognitive complexity. It is argued that both imitation (learning about behaviour through nonspecific observation) and social learning (learning about the environment through conspecific observation) can mediate social transmission of information, and that neither is likely to play an important role in supporting behavioural traditions or culture. Current evidence suggests that imitation is unlikely to do this because it does not insulate information from modification through individual learning in the retention period between acquisition and re-transmission. Although insignificant in relation to culture, imitation apparently involves complex and little-understood cognitive operations. It is unique in requiring animals spontaneously to equate extrinsic visual input with proprioceptive and/or kinaesthetic feedback from their own actions, but not in requiring or implicating self-consciousness, representation, metarepresentation or a capacity for goal-directed action.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2920
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Author Barton, R.A.; Whiten, A.
Title Feeding competition among female olive baboons, Papio anubis Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 46 Issue 4 Pages 777-789
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Abstract Abstract. Competition for food is thought to play a key role in the social organization of group-living female primates, leading to the prediction that individual foraging success will be partly regulated by dominance relationships. Among adult females in a group of free-ranging olive baboons, dominance rank was significantly correlated with nutrient acquisition rates (feeding rates and daily intakes), but not with dietary diversity or quality, nor with activity budgets. The mean daily food intake of the three highest-ranking females was 30% greater than that of the three lowest-ranking females, providing an explanation for relationships between female rank and fertility found in a number of other studies of group-living primates. The intensity of feeding competition, as measured by supplant rates and spatial clustering of individuals, increased during the dry season, a period of low food availability, seemingly because foods eaten then were more clumped in distribution than those eaten in the wet season. Implications for models of female social structure and maximum group size are discussed.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4258
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Author Barton, R.A.
Title Sociospatial mechanisms of feeding competition in female olive baboons, Papio anubis Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 46 Issue 4 Pages 791-802
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Abstract Abstract. Social and spatial mechanisms of feeding competition among adult female olive baboons were studied in two free-ranging groups, one foraging for natural foods, and one that was being provisioned. Similar behavioural processes were found to underlie rank-related differences in food intake in the two situations. Dominance rank of females in the naturally foraging group was positively correlated with the rate at which other animals were supplanted from feeding sites, the ratio of supplants of others to supplants received, and the number of near neighbours while feeding on clumped foods. It is unlikely that the latter result was due to rank-related differences in matriline size, because no significant correlations between rank and neighbour density were found for non-feeding activities. Step-wise regression analysis indicated that both number of neighbours and the supplant ratio explained significant proportions of inter-individual variance in daily food intake, though only the supplant ratio contributed significantly to feeding rate. High-ranking females also had priority of access to feeding sites within trees, and competition was most intense for foods that were spatially clumped. Similarly, in the provisioned group, rank was correlated with the rate at which supplants were received, and with spatial indices estimating centrality and the area of unoccupied space around an individual. Over 99% of the inter-individual variance in feeding rate was explained in a step-wise regression with supplant rates and spatial indices as independent variables. It is concluded that both active supplanting and individuals' spatial positions within the group mediate rank-related differences in food intake.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4259
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Author Goldschmidt, T.; Bakker, T.C.M.; Feuth-de Bruijn, E.
Title Selective copying in mate choice of female sticklebacks Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 45 Issue 3 Pages 541-547
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Abstract There is evidence that female three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus L., prefer to mate with males whose nests contain eggs rather than with males with empty nests. While there is consensus on this point, a dispute exists about whether this preference should be attributed to a direct effect of the eggs on the female's entering the nest or, alternatively, to a positive impact of the eggs on the courtship behaviour and breeding coloration of the male. In the field experiment reported here females strongly preferred nests with eggs over empty nests. Additionally, females were less likely to enter risky nests with eggs: nests that contained fewer eggs than one average clutch or more eggs than the average nest content of parental males in this population. However, in the field possible differences in male attractiveness were not controlled for. In supplementary laboratory experiments the effect on female choice of possible changes in male attractiveness (intensified courtship and coloration) as a result of the presence of eggs in the nest was tested. Other differences in male attractiveness as a result of differences in male quality (body size, breeding coloration before the test, territory quality and size) were controlled for. When females had no access to the nests, they showed no preference for males with eggs in their nests in simultaneous choice tests. These results, together with the earlier published data, make it likely that the preference of females for nests with eggs is partly a direct consequence of the eggs themselves. So female sticklebacks are influenced by the mate choice behaviour of other females, but remain selective as to the actual nest content.
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Call Number Serial 1818
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Author Mulder, R.A.; Langmore, N.E.
Title Dominant males punish helpers for temporary defection in superb fairy-wrens Type Journal Article
Year 1993 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 45 Issue Pages 830-833
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Notes 10.1006/anbe.1993.1100 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4922
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Author Brunner, D.; Kacelnik, A.; Gibbon, J.
Title Optimal foraging and timing processes in the starling, Sturnus vulgaris: effect of inter-capture interval Type Journal Article
Year 1992 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 44 Issue 4 Pages 597-613
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Abstract Laboratory experiments with starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, were conducted to investigate the interaction between timing and cost-benefit considerations. The design simulated an environment in which food was distributed in patches. Patches contained a random number of food items (N=0-4) separated by a fixed inter-capture interval or fixed interval. All patches ended with sudden depletion. The time elapsed since the last prey capture was the only way to detect the depletion of the patch. Once the patch was depleted a new patch could be reached by travelling between two perches. Three measures of timing were taken: (1) rate of working for food as function of `waiting' time in a patch, (2) the time of the last response in a patch or `giving-in' time, and (3) the time at which travel was initiated or `moving-on' time. The fixed interval that characterized patches was varied between conditions. The mean time of the peak in working rate was consistently centred around the fixed interval, while the other two measures of timing kept a roughly linear relation to the fixed interval, with slope greater than one. In accordance with Scalar Expectancy Theory, variability in the three forms of timing was proportional to the magnitude of the fixed interval. The birds seemed to take account of this increase in variability as shown by the mean value of their giving-up criterion. These results imply that information-processing constraints are important for modelling behavioural optimality.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 2112
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Author Caraco, T.; Kacelnik, A.; Mesnick, N.; Smulewitz, M.
Title Short-term rate maximization when rewards and delays covary Type Journal Article
Year 1992 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 44 Issue Part 3 Pages 441-447
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Abstract In nature foragers must exploit resources that vary randomly in both the energy acquired per item (reward) and the time required to pursue, capture and process an item (delay). Furthermore, rewards and delays associated with particular resources may often covary significantly. An analytical model asks how variance-covariance levels for rewards and delays could influence choice of resources when lack of information or cognitive limitation implies that a consumer attempts to maximize its short-term rate of energy gain. Both greater expected reward and reduced expected delay clearly should enhance preference for a resource. The model predicts that increased delay variance and reduced reward-delay covariance should increase a forager's preference for a resource. A forager should be risk-averse towards reward variance when the reward-delay covariance is positive, but should become risk-prone towards reward variance when the reward-delay covariance is negative.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 2113
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Author Aureli, F.; Cossolino, R.; Cordischi, C.; Scucchi, S.
Title Kin-oriented redirection among Japanese macaques: an expression of a revenge system? Type Journal Article
Year 1992 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 44 Issue 2 Pages 283-291
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Abstract The ability to recognize the close associates of other group members may permit the display of redirected aggression against the relatives of the former aggressor. However, the dominance structure and the kin-based alliance system of macaque society are expected not to favour the occurrence of this kin-oriented redirection. Nevertheless, within 1 h of being the victim of an attack, Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata, were more likely to attack the former aggressor's kin than without such a conflict. The conditions under which the victim redirected against the former aggressor's kin were investigated. This kin-oriented redirection did not occur preferentially either after conflicts between individuals with unstable and/or uncertain dominance relationships or after conflicts with individuals that were unlikely to intervene in favour of their kin. Victims redirected against individuals that were younger than the former aggressor and often subordinate to the victim. They also redirected in an opportunistic way by joining polyadic interactions against the former aggressor's kin. The possibility that this kin-oriented redirection may have a long-term function in changing the aggressive attitude of the aggressor towards the victim is also discussed. In addition, the victim's kin also displayed a form of kin-oriented redirection. They were more likely to attack the kin of an individual after it had attacked their own kin.
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Notes 10.1016/0003-3472(92)90034-7 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4867
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Author Manson, J.H.
Title Measuring female mate choice in Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques Type Journal Article
Year 1992 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (down) 44 Issue Pages 405-416
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Abstract Few studies of female mate choice have been carried out among free-ranging non-human primates. To qualify as female mate choice, behaviour by oestrous females must predict the occurrence or rate of potentially fertile copulations, in comparisons between heterosexual dyads. In this paper, data are presented to show three behaviour patterns that meet this criterion in free-ranging rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta, at the island colony of Cayo Santiago: (1) selective cooperation with male sexual solicitations (hip-grasps), (2) restoration of proximity following attacks on females by intruding males, and (3) proximity maintenance (in one of two study groups). Oestrous females maintained proximity preferentially to lower ranking males, but this appeared to reflect differences in the tactics necessary to achieve copulations with males of different dominance ranks, rather than preference for lower ranking mates. Male-oestrous female dyads showed consistency over two consecutive mating seasons in which partner was responsible for proximity maintenance. Male dominance rank was positively correlated with copulatory rate with fertile females. However, in one study group, males to whom oestrous females maintained proximity more actively had higher copulatory rates with fertile females, independent of the effects of male dominance rank.
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Notes 10.1016/0003-3472(92)90051-A Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4889
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