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Author Labruna, M.B.; Amaku, M. doi  openurl
  Title Rhythm of engorgement and detachment of Anocentor nitens females feeding on horses Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Veterinary Parasitology Abbreviated Journal Vet Parasitol  
  Volume 137 Issue 3-4 Pages 316-332  
  Keywords Animals; Bites and Stings; Feeding Behavior; Female; Horses/*parasitology; Ixodidae/*physiology; Seasons; Tick Infestations/parasitology/*veterinary; Time Factors  
  Abstract The present study evaluated the engorgement and drop-off rhythms of Anocentor nitens females feeding on horses. Drop-off rhythm was evaluated at 6h-intervals (06:00, 12:00, 18:00, and 00:00 h) on horses held in stalls or in a pasture. A new method of marking feeding female ticks (the bowknot technique) was developed to evaluate ticks on horses in pasture that attached to different parts of the horse's body. This technique was highly successful, indicating no significant interference on tick engorgement rate or final tick weight, length and reproductive capability. Horses held in the pasture during the summer produced only 28.2% of the tick detachment during the daylight period from 06:00 to 18:00 h. In contrast, 53.4% of the ticks detached during this same 12 h-period during the winter. This difference was probably related to the longer scotoperiod during the winter. Different drop-off rhythms were observed for females attached to different anatomical parts of the horse's body. For example, ticks attached to the ears, perineum, and tail showed similar drop-off patterns, but were different from ticks attached to mane, rump and other body parts. The idiosoma length of the feeding female ticks was individually measured every 6 h until the engorged female detached naturally. The engorgement rate (increase in millimeters of the body length per hour) was evaluated during the last 96 h of parasitism. The highest engorgement rates were observed during the last 24 h of parasitism (approximately 0.16 mm/h), which were four-fold higher than the engorgement rates of the previous 3 days ( approximately 0.04 mm/h), demonstrating that these lower and higher values corresponded to the slow and rapid feeding phases reported elsewhere. Based on these data, the 6 mm idiosoma length was estimated as the minimal length that would correspond to the time point (i.e. 24 h before detachment) during which ticks would undergo the rapid feeding phase and detach as fully engorged females. When this 6 mm length was tested to estimate the number of engorged females detaching from horses in a period of 24 h, the estimated accuracy varied from 58.5 to 97.7% (mean: 73.3%).  
  Address Departamento de Medicina Veterinaria Preventiva e Saude Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinaria e Zootecnia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Av. Prof. Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87, Cidade Universitaria, Sao Paulo, SP 05508-000, Brazil. labruna@usp.br  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0304-4017 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16481114 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1877  
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Author Bugnyar, T.; Heinrich, B. doi  openurl
  Title Pilfering ravens, Corvus corax, adjust their behaviour to social context and identity of competitors Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 369-376  
  Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Competitive Behavior; Crows/*physiology; *Deception; Feeding Behavior; Female; Male; Social Behavior; *Social Environment  
  Abstract Like other corvids, food-storing ravens protect their caches from being pilfered by conspecifics by means of aggression and by re-caching. In the wild and in captivity, potential pilferers rarely approach caches until the storers have left the cache vicinity. When storers are experimentally prevented from leaving, pilferers first search at places other than the cache sites. These behaviours raise the possibility that ravens are capable of withholding intentions and providing false information to avoid provoking the storers' aggression for cache protection. Alternatively, birds may refrain from pilfering to avoid conflicts with dominants. Here we examined whether ravens adjust their pilfer tactics according to social context and type of competitors. We allowed birds that had witnessed a conspecific making caches to pilfer those caches either in private, together with the storer, or together with a conspecific bystander that had not created the caches (non-storer) but had seen them being made. Compared to in-private trials, ravens delayed approaching the caches only in the presence of storers. Furthermore, they quickly engaged in searching away from the caches when together with dominant storers but directly approached the caches when together with dominant non-storers. These findings demonstrate that ravens selectively alter their pilfer behaviour with those individuals that are likely to defend the caches (storers) and support the interpretation that they are deceptively manipulating the others' behaviour.  
  Address Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. thomas.bugnyar@univie.ac.at  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16909235 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2449  
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Author Gajdon, G.K.; Fijn, N.; Huber, L. doi  openurl
  Title Limited spread of innovation in a wild parrot, the kea (Nestor notabilis) Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 3 Pages 173-181  
  Keywords Animal Communication; Animals; Diffusion of Innovation; Feeding Behavior; Female; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; *Motor Skills; *Parrots; *Problem Solving; Sex Factors; Social Dominance; Social Environment; Statistics, Nonparametric  
  Abstract In the local population of kea in Mount Cook Village, New Zealand, some keas open the lids of rubbish bins with their bill to obtain food scraps within. We investigated the extent to which this innovation has spread in the local population, and what factors limit the acquisition of bin opening. Only five males of 36 individually recognised birds were observed to have performed successful bin opening. With one exception there were always other keas present, watching successful bin opening. Seventeen additional individuals were seen to have benefitted from lid opening. Their foraging success was less than that of the bin openers. Social status of bin openers did not differ from scrounging males. Among the individuals that were regularly seen at the site of the bins but were not successful in bin opening, social status and the ratio of feeding directly from open bins correlated with the amount of opening attempts. We conclude that scrounging facilitated certain behavioural aspects of bin opening rather than inhibiting them. The fact that only 9% of opening attempts were successful, and the long period of time required to increase efficiency in lid opening shows that mainly individual experience, and to a lesser extent insight and social learning, play key roles in acquisition of the opening technique. The results indicate that the spread of innovative solutions of challenging mechanical problems in animals may be restricted to only a few individuals.  
  Address Department for Behavior, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria. gyula.gajdon@univie.ac.at  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16568276 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2472  
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Author Lonsdorf, E.V. doi  openurl
  Title What is the role of mothers in the acquisition of termite-fishing behaviors in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)? Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 36-46  
  Keywords Animals; Animals, Wild; *Behavior, Animal; Cooking and Eating Utensils; Feeding Behavior/*psychology; Female; *Imitative Behavior; Learning; Mothers/*psychology; Motor Skills; Pan troglodytes/*psychology; Problem Solving  
  Abstract This paper explores the role of maternal influences on the acquisition of a tool-using task in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in order to build on and complement previous work done in captivity. Young chimpanzees show a long period of offspring dependency on mothers and it is during this period that offspring learn several important skills, especially how to and on what to forage. At Gombe National Park, one skill that is acquired during dependency is termite-fishing, a complex behavior that involves inserting a tool made from the surrounding vegetation into a termite mound and extracting the termites that attack and cling to the tool. All chimpanzees observed at Gombe have acquired the termite-fishing skill by the age of 5.5 years. Since the mother is the primary source of information throughout this time period, I investigated the influence of mothers' individual termite-fishing characteristics on their offsprings' speed of acquisition and proficiency at the skill once acquired. Mother's time spent alone or with maternal family members, which is highly correlated to time spent termite-fishing, was positively correlated to offspring's acquisition of critical elements of the skill. I also investigated the specific types of social interactions that occur between mothers and offspring at the termite mound and found that mothers are highly tolerant to offspring, even when the behavior of the offspring may disrupt the termite-fishing attempt. However, no active facilitation by mothers of offsprings' attempts were observed.  
  Address Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. elonsdorf@lpzoo.org  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16195914 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2480  
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Author Vlasak, A.N. doi  openurl
  Title Global and local spatial landmarks: their role during foraging by Columbian ground squirrels (Spermophilus columbianus) Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 71-80  
  Keywords Animals; Cues; Feeding Behavior/*psychology; Female; *Memory; Mental Recall; Orientation; Sciuridae/*psychology; *Space Perception; *Spatial Behavior  
  Abstract Locating food and refuge is essential for an animal's survival. However, little is known how mammals navigate under natural conditions and cope with given environmental constraints. In a series of six experiments, I investigated landmark-based navigation in free-ranging Columbian ground squirrels (Spermophilus columbianus). Squirrels were trained individually to find a baited platform within an array of nine identical platforms and artificial landmarks set up on their territories. After animals learned the location of the food platform in the array, the position of the latter with respect to local artificial, local natural, and global landmarks was manipulated, and the animal's ability to find the food platform was tested. When only positions of local artificial landmarks were changed, squirrels located food with high accuracy. When the location of the array relative to global landmarks was altered, food-finding accuracy decreased but remained significant. In the absence of known global landmarks, the presence of a familiar route and natural local landmarks resulted in significant but not highly accurate performance. Squirrels likely relied on multiple types of cues when orienting towards a food platform. Local landmarks were used only as a secondary mechanism of navigation, and were not attended to when a familiar route and known global landmarks were present. This study provided insights into landmark use by a wild mammal in a natural situation, and it demonstrated that an array of platforms can be employed to investigate landmark-based navigation under such conditions.  
  Address Biology Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. avlasak@sas.upenn.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16163480 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2483  
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Author Ordakowski-Burk, A.L.; Quinn, R.W.; Shellem, T.A.; Vough, L.R. doi  openurl
  Title Voluntary intake and digestibility of reed canarygrass and timothy hay fed to horses Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2006 Publication Journal of Animal Science Abbreviated Journal J. Anim Sci.  
  Volume 84 Issue 11 Pages 3104-3109  
  Keywords Animal Feed/*analysis; Animal Nutrition Physiology; Animals; Diet/*veterinary; Digestion/*physiology; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Horses/*physiology; Male; Poaceae/*metabolism  
  Abstract Thousands of hectares of timothy (Phleum pretense L.) grown in the Mid-Atlantic region are infected by cereal rust mite (Abacarus hysterix) that causes discoloration and curling of leaves, decreased nutritional quality, and substantial decreases in yield. A decline in production of timothy hay can lower income for hay producers and cause horse owners to search for alternative hays. Low alkaloid reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) hay has potential as an alternative to timothy hay because it grows well in the Mid-Atlantic region, is believed to have a similar nutrient quality to timothy, and is not as susceptible to cereal rust mite. Eleven mature, stalled Thoroughbred geldings (549 +/- 12.1 kg) that were exercised daily were used to compare voluntary DMI and apparent nutrient DM digestibility of timothy and low-alkaloid Chiefton variety reed canarygrass hay. Horses were paired by age and BW and randomly assigned to timothy or reed canarygrass hay during a 14-d period to measure voluntary DMI followed by a 4-d period to measure apparent DM digestibility. Both hays met the minimum requirements for DE, CP, Ca, P, K, Fe, and Mn, but they did not meet the minimum requirements for Cu, Zn, and Na for horses at maintenance and averaging 550 kg of BW. Timothy hay seemed to have a lower CP concentration (14.4%) compared with reed canarygrass hay (17.1%) and a more desirable Ca:P ratio at 1.6:1 compared with 0.8:1 for reed canarygrass hay. Horses fed timothy consumed more hay (P <0.001) during the voluntary DMI period compared with horses fed reed canarygrass. Greater voluntary DMI of timothy occurred on d 1, 3, and 5 (P <0.05), but DMI was similar for other days. Apparent DM digestibility was greater in horses fed timothy hay by 9.6% compared with horses fed reed canarygrass hay (P <0.05). Horses fed timothy had greater DM digestibility of ADF (P = 0.001), NDF (P = 0.001), sugar (P = 0.05), and Ca (P = 0.001) but lower apparent DM digestibility of CP (P = 0.012) and crude fat (P = 0.004). Timothy hay was superior in voluntary DMI and apparent DM digestibility compared with low-alkaloid reed canarygrass hay fed to horses.  
  Address Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA. amyburk@umd.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1525-3163 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17032805 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4236  
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Author Shettleworth, S.J. doi  openurl
  Title Animal behaviour: planning for breakfast Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature  
  Volume 445 Issue 7130 Pages 825-826  
  Keywords Animals; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; *Food; Haplorhini/physiology; Memory/physiology; Songbirds/*physiology; Thinking/*physiology  
  Abstract  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17314961 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 356  
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Author Cameron, E.Z.; du Toit, J.T. doi  openurl
  Title Winning by a neck: tall giraffes avoid competing with shorter browsers Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication The American naturalist Abbreviated Journal Am Nat  
  Volume 169 Issue 1 Pages 130-135  
  Keywords Acacia/growth & development; Animals; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Neck/*anatomy & histology; Plant Leaves/growth & development; Ruminants/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; South Africa  
  Abstract With their vertically elongated body form, giraffes generally feed above the level of other browsers within the savanna browsing guild, despite having access to foliage at lower levels. They ingest more leaf mass per bite when foraging high in the tree, perhaps because smaller, more selective browsers deplete shoots at lower levels or because trees differentially allocate resources to promote shoot growth in the upper canopy. We erected exclosures around individual Acacia nigrescens trees in the greater Kruger ecosystem, South Africa. After a complete growing season, we found no differences in leaf biomass per shoot across height zones in excluded trees but significant differences in control trees. We conclude that giraffes preferentially browse at high levels in the canopy to avoid competition with smaller browsers. Our findings are analogous with those from studies of grazing guilds and demonstrate that resource partitioning can be driven by competition when smaller foragers displace larger foragers from shared resources. This provides the first experimental support for the classic evolutionary hypothesis that vertical elongation of the giraffe body is an outcome of competition within the browsing ungulate guild.  
  Address Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ezcameron@zoology.up.ac.za  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1537-5323 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17206591 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 410  
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Author Hirsch, B.T. doi  openurl
  Title Costs and benefits of within-group spatial position: a feeding competition model Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication The Quarterly review of biology Abbreviated Journal Q Rev Biol  
  Volume 82 Issue 1 Pages 9-27  
  Keywords Animals; Competitive Behavior/*physiology; Dominance-Subordination; Feeding Behavior/*physiology/*psychology; Population Dynamics; Predatory Behavior/*physiology  
  Abstract An animal's within-group spatial position has several important fitness consequences. Risk of predation, time spent engaging in antipredatory behavior and feeding competition can all vary with respect to spatial position. Previous research has found evidence that feeding rates are higher at the group edge in many species, but these studies have not represented the entire breadth of dietary diversity and ecological situations faced by many animals. In particular the presence of concentrated, defendable food patches can lead to increased feeding rates by dominants in the center of the group that are able to monopolize or defend these areas. To fully understand the tradeoffs of within-group spatial position in relation to a variety of factors, it is important to be able to predict where individuals should preferably position themselves in relation to feeding rates and food competition. A qualitative model is presented here to predict how food depletion time, abundance of food patches within a group, and the presence of prior knowledge of feeding sites affect the payoffs of different within-group spatial positions for dominant and subordinate animals. In general, when feeding on small abundant food items, individuals at the front edge of the group should have higher foraging success. When feeding on slowly depleted, rare food items, dominants will often have the highest feeding rates in the center of the group. Between these two extreme points of a continuum, an individual's optimal spatial position is predicted to be influenced by an additional combination of factors, such as group size, group spread, satiation rates, and the presence of producer-scrounger tactics.  
  Address Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA. BTHIRSCH@IC.SUNYSB.EDU  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0033-5770 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17354992 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 803  
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Author Li, F.-H.; Zhong, W.-Q.; Wang, Z.; Wang, D.-H. doi  openurl
  Title Rank in a food competition test and humoral immune functions in male Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) Type Journal Article
  Year (up) 2007 Publication Physiology & behavior Abbreviated Journal Physiol. Behav.  
  Volume 90 Issue 2-3 Pages 490-495  
  Keywords Animals; Antibody Formation/*physiology; Arvicolinae/immunology/*physiology; Competitive Behavior/*physiology; *Dominance-Subordination; Feeding Behavior/physiology; Hydrocortisone/blood; Male; *Social Dominance; Spleen/immunology/physiology  
  Abstract Social status can influence an animal's immune and reproductive functions, eventually leading to alterations in immunocompetence and reproductive success. Here, we report that rank assessed in a food competition test, considered as an index of social status, has significant influences on humoral immune functions in male Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) living in a group. Our data reveal a negative correlation of the spleen mass and serum antibody levels with social status, as well as a positive correlation of serum cortisol levels with social status. Males winning in food competition had a smaller spleen, a lower level of serum antibodies, and a higher level of serum cortisol than did their conspecific counterparts. These data indicate interactions between social status and humoral immune functions and might illustrate a trade-off between infection risks and reproductive success in male Brandt's voles.  
  Address State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 25 Beisihuan Xilu, Zhongguancun, Haidian, Beijing 100080, China  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0031-9384 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17141282 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 804  
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