Koops, M. A., & Abrahams, M. V. (1999). Assessing the Ideal Free Distribution: Do Guppies Use Aggression as Public Information about Patch Quality? Ethology, 105(9), 737–746.
Abstract: Aggression can be costly to foragers, yet some recent research suggests that foragers should use aggression as a cue to patch quality (the attractive aggression hypothesis). If aggression is predictive of patch quality, then the attractive aggression hypothesis predicts that the distribution of foragers should follow the distribution of aggression. If, instead, aggression is repulsive because it is costly, then the distribution of foragers should diverge from the distribution of aggression. We tested the attractive aggression hypothesis using female guppies, Poecilia reticulata, and found that the distribution of foragers followed the distribution of food, but was unaffected by the distribution of aggression. These data do not support the attractive aggression hypothesis, but instead suggest that the distribution of aggression is a consequence of the distribution of foragers, and that aggression is not used as public information about patch quality.
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Wolff, A., & Hausberger, M. (1994). Behaviour of foals before weaning may have some genetic basis. Ethology, 96(1), 1–10.
Abstract: In this preliminary study on foal behaviour, 13 French saddlebred foals (2-3 mo old) and their dams were observed on pasture. The most important findings are the interindividual quantitative differences in foal behaviour patterns as well as in the amount of mainly foal-initiated time spent at given distances from their mares. Interindividual differences seem in part due to a sire effect
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Sakura O, & Matsuzawa T. (1991). Flexibility of wild chimpanzees nut-cracking behavior using stone hammers and anvils: an experimental analysis. Ethology, 87, 237.
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Noë, R., van Schaik, C. P., & van Hooff, J. A. R. A. M. (1991). The Market Effect: an Explanation for Pay-off Asymmetries among Collaborating Animals. Ethology, 87(1-2), 97–118.
Abstract: Abstract * 1Animals can derive leverage over others from (a) resource holding power, based for instance on fighting ability or dominance, and (b) the possession of commodities, such as special skills and resources that cannot be taken away by force. * 2We contend that power based on the possession of commodities strongly depends on the level of supply and demand for that commodity, a phenomenon we call the ‘market effect’. * 3Several theoretical and empirical examples are given of social systems in which animals belong to two distinct classes that offer two different kinds of commodities. * 4The relative frequency of occurrence of the two classes is shown to determine the relative power of their members. * 5We consider the theoretical properties of bargaining processes by which relative power is converted into corresponding pay-off distributions. * 6We propose coalition games, a class of games with more than two players and in which bargaining is possible, as suitable paradigms for collaboration among members of social units.
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Black, J. M. (1988). Preflight Signalling in Swans: A Mechanism for Group Cohesion and Flock Formation. Ethology, 79(2), 143–157.
Abstract: Abstract The preflight behaviour of whooper swans Cygnus cygnus and Bewick's swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii was examined to determine the adaptive significance of the ritual. Analysis of the preflight sequence revealed that the rate of signalling became significantly faster as the time of takeoff approached. This provides the first quantitative evidence that a threshold of excitability is responsible for triggering synchronised flight in social units. Two ultimate and two proximate factors that affect this threshold were uncovered. They are: 1) Maintaining proximity to partners—flight was delayed by birds with non-attentive mates and signalling lasted on average four times longer than those whose mates showed more interest. 2) Maintaining flock cohesiveness—birds which performed signals for longer periods while swimming among uninterested birds were successful in attracting followers 61% of the time. 3) The bird's feeding performance related to dominance status—less successful feeders (potentially hungry birds), flew after little time and few signals. 4) The type of feeding opportunity at the eventual destination—birds which flew to provided feeds (nutritious barley) spent less time performing preflight signals than when they flew to forage on grass fields.
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Rutberg, A. T. (1987). Horse Fly Harassment and the Social Behavior of Feral Ponies. Ethology, 75(2), 145–154.
Abstract: Abstract Horse flies (Tabanidae) on and around feral ponies in harem groups were counted at Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland, U.S.A., between June and August 1985. Harem stallions attracted the most flies; adult mares showed intermediate fly numbers, while few flies landed on foals under any circumstances. The use of thermal and chemical cues by flies selecting a host may have helped create this disparity. When flies were abundant, ponies reduced spacing within the group. Ponies in larger groups suffered from fewer flies than ponies in smaller groups. There was, however, no evidence that ponies merged into larger groups in response to fly harassment, suggesting that biting flies play little role in structuring pony social organization.
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Bourjade, M., Moulinot, M., Henry, S., & Richard-Yris, M. - A. H. M. (2008). Could Adults be Used to Improve Social Skills of Young Horses, Equus caballus? Ethology, 50(4), 408–417.
Abstract: We investigated the effects of the introduction of foreign adults on the behavior of young horses. First, we observed the behavior of 1- and 2-year-old domestic horses housed in same-age and same-sex groups (a standard housing system, but different from a natural situation). Then, two same-sex adults were introduced into each experimental group. Observations made before, during and after an introduction indicated that young horses reared in homogeneous groups of young had different behaviors compared to other domestic horses reared under more socially natural conditions. After the introduction of adults, young horses expressed new behaviors, preferential social associations emerged, positive social behavior increased and agonistic interactions decreased. These results have important implications both for understanding the influence that adults may have on the behavior of young horses, and in terms of husbandry, indicating the importance of keeping young horses with adults, although further studies are still necessary. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 408-417, 2008.
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Meriggi, A., Dagradi, V., Dondina, O., Perversi, M., Milanesi, P., Lombardini, M., et al. (2014). Short-term responses of wolf feeding habits to changes of wild and domestic ungulate abundance in Northern Italy. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 27(4), 389–411.
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Baragli, P., Paoletti, E., Vitale, V., & Sighieri, C. (2011). Looking in the correct location for a hidden object: brief note about the memory of donkeys (Equus asinus). Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 23(2), 187–192.
Abstract: In recent years, considerable literature has been published on cognition in horses; however, much less is known about the cognitive abilities of domestic donkey (Equus asinus). This study aimed to expand our knowledge of donkey cognition by assessing their short-term memory capacity. We employed a detour problem combined with the classic delayed-response task, which has been extensively used to compare working memory duration in a variety of different species. A two-point choice apparatus was used to investigate location recall and search behaviour for a food target, after a short delay following its disappearance. Four donkeys completed the task with a 10 sec delay, while four others were tested with a 30 sec delay. Overall, each group performed above chance level on the test, showing that subjects had successfully encoded, maintained, and retrieved the existence and location of the target despite the loss of visual contact.
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Bamford, A. J., Monadjem, A., & Hardy, I. C. W. (2010). Associations of Avian Facial Flushing and Skin Colouration with Agonistic Interaction Outcomes. Ethology, , no-no.
Abstract: Abstract Facial flushing, a colour change caused by variation of blood flow through highly vascularized skin, has been observed in taxonomically diverse bird species but the function of the behaviour has not been assessed. Lappet-faced vultures, Aegypius tracheliotos, have unfeathered heads that can rapidly flush from pink to dark red, and this has been hypothesized to indicate contest ability in vulture gatherings. We show that adults with flushed heads won most interactions against those with pale heads. A previously unnoticed colour variation of the throat, visible only when the head is flushed, was also related to the outcome of interactions: blue-throated adults participated in, and won, more interactions than red-throated adults. We suggest that the non-fixed groups of which lappet-faced vulture populations consist promote the evolution of signals of dominance that can be adjusted extremely rapidly.
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