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| Author |
Lensink, J.; Veissier, I.; Boissy, A. |
| Title |
Enhancement of performances in a learning task in suckler calves after weaning and relocation: Motivational versus cognitive control?: A pilot study |
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Journal Article |
Year  |
2006 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume |
100 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
171-181 |
| Keywords |
Calves; Weaning; Learning; Cognition; Behavioural test |
| Abstract |
Weaning in suckler calves influences performance in a learning task. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the improved performance after weaning, including relocation, is due to differences in motivation for the reward or in learning abilities. Forty Aubrac calves were used; half of them were weaned from their dams at around eight months, the other half were weaned one month later. After weaning, calves were housed in groups of four in a new setting. From the day after weaning of the last group of calves, the animals were subjected to two tests: (1) an arena test, (2) a T-maze test where one arm led to either a social or a food reward. The T-maze test consisted of three sessions: in Session 1, trials were conducted until the animal acquired the task (i.e. did not take the unrewarded arm on three consecutive trials); in Session 2, the motivation for the reward was assessed via the walking time of the animal to reach the reward; in Session 3, the place of reward was reversed and the animals were trained until they acquired the new task. Calves weaned for one day explored more (P < 0.05) and had lower heart rates during the arena test (P < 0.05) compared to the ones weaned for one month. During the T-maze test, calves weaned for one month versus one day did not differ in their capacities to learn the initial route (Session 1) or in their motivation for either the social or food reward (Session 2). Calves weaned for one day learned significantly faster (P < 0.05) the reversed route (Session 3) than calves weaned for one month. Hence, the better performances at reversal in the T-maze by calves that have just been weaned cannot be accounted for by a higher motivation for the reward. A better cognitive control of their behaviour due to a lower stress state is suggested by our results. |
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285 |
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| Author |
Melis, A.P.; Hare, B.; Tomasello, M. |
| Title |
Engineering cooperation in chimpanzees: tolerance constraints on cooperation |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
72 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
275-286 |
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The cooperative abilities of captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, in experiments do not match the sophistication that might be predicted based on their naturally occurring cooperative behaviours. This discrepancy might partly be because in previous experiments potential chimpanzee cooperators were partnered without regard to their social relationship. We investigated the ability of chimpanzee dyads to solve a physical task cooperatively in relation to their interindividual tolerance levels. Pairs that were most capable of sharing food outside the test were also able to cooperate spontaneously (by simultaneously pulling two ropes) to obtain food. In contrast, pairs that were less inclined to share food outside of the test were unlikely to cooperate. Furthermore, previously successful subjects stopped cooperating when paired with a less tolerant partner, even when the food rewards were presented in a dispersed and divisible form to reduce competition between subjects. These results show that although chimpanzees are capable of spontaneous cooperation in a novel instrumental task, tolerance acts as a constraint on their ability to solve such cooperative problems. This finding highlights the importance of controlling such social constraints in future experiments on chimpanzee cooperation, and suggests that the evolution of human-like cooperative skills might have been preceded by the evolution of a more egalitarian social system and a more human-like temperament. |
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287 |
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Martin, T.I.; Zentall, T.R.; Lawrence, L. |
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Simple discrimination reversals in the domestic horse (Equus caballus): Effect of discriminative stimulus modality on learning to learn |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume |
101 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
328-338 |
| Keywords |
Horse; Learning-to-learn; Discrimination Reversal |
| Abstract |
The cognitive capacity of an organism, relative to that of other species, can be assessed by using a relative measure of learning. One such measure is the ability of an organism to learn about the reversal of a discrimination. The present study compared the performance of two groups of horses on a simple discrimination reversal task when the only difference between the groups was the modality of the relevant cue. For the visual group (absence or presence of a light), the spatial position was irrelevant. For the spatial group, a spatial cue (left/right) was available and the visual cue was irrelevant. Horses in the spatial group learned the original discrimination and six reversals; they also showed evidence of learning to learn. Horses in the visual group did not reach criterion during the study. As a result, there was no evidence of learning to learn. |
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289 |
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McGregor, A.; Saggerson, A.; Pearce, J.; Heyes, C. |
| Title |
Blind imitation in pigeons, Columba livia |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
72 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
287-296 |
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Pigeons that had been trained with a food reward both to peck at and to step on a horizontal plate were allowed to observe a conspecific demonstrator pecking at or stepping on the plate before a test in which the observers were not rewarded for either pecking or stepping. In experiment 1, the demonstrators were not rewarded while being observed. In spite of this, the observers provided evidence of imitation: those that had observed pecking made a greater proportion of pecking responses on test than observers of stepping. In experiment 2, each observer was exposed to a pecking or a stepping conspecific on two occasions. On one occasion, the demonstrator received a food reward for each demonstrated response (continuous reinforcement condition), and on the other the demonstrator's responses were rewarded only rarely (variable interval condition). The observers provided equally strong evidence of imitation in each of these conditions; on test, they made proportionally more of the observed response both when the demonstrators had been richly rewarded and when they had been rarely rewarded. These results show that pigeons engage in `blind' imitation, that is, their imitative behaviour is not always guided by observational learning about response outcomes. |
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294 |
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Kelly, C.D. |
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Fighting for harems: assessment strategies during male-male contests in the sexually dimorphic Wellington tree weta |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
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Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
72 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
727-736 |
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Females often aggregate at particular sites for feeding or shelter, thus giving adult males the opportunity to defend harems and increase male reproductive success. Rival males compete for control of harems via ritualized displays or direct combat using weaponry. Contests for harems or the resources required by females can be settled based on asymmetries in fighting ability or resource ownership. Males that accurately assess a rival's fighting ability prior to engaging in potentially costly combat should be favoured by selection. Game theory and optimality models provide three models to explain how individuals decide to persist in or flee from a fight. These models are the energetic war of attrition, the sequential assessment model and the cumulative assessment model. Using staged contests in the laboratory, I tested predictions of these models using the Wellington tree weta, Hemideina crassidens, a sexually dimorphic insect native to New Zealand. Male H. crassidens use their enlarged mandibles as weapons in fights for access to adult females that reside in cavities in trees. My results supported a prediction common to each assessment model: contest duration was negatively correlated with the asymmetry in opponent's weapon size. The sequential assessment model of contest settlement was partially supported but the strongest support was for the cumulative assessment model. Predictions of the latter model were supported because: (1) fights are apparently settled based on own-size assessment; (2) fights occur in a single phase and escalate; and (3) contests involve physical combat and injury. I suggest that, in nocturnal species, cumulative assessment will generally be most applicable. |
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297 |
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de Vries, H.; Stevens, J.M.G.; Vervaecke, H. |
| Title |
Measuring and testing the steepness of dominance hierarchies |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
71 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
585-592 |
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In the analysis of social dominance in groups of animals, linearity has been used by many researchers as the main structural characteristic of a dominance hierarchy. In this paper we propose, alongside linearity, a quantitative measure for another property of a dominance hierarchy, namely its steepness. Steepness of a hierarchy is defined here as the absolute slope of the straight line fitted to the normalized David's scores (calculated on the basis of a dyadic dominance index corrected for chance) plotted against the subjects' ranks. This correction for chance is an improvement of an earlier proposal by de Vries (appendix 2 in de Vries, Animal Behaviour, 1998, 55, 827-843). In addition, we present a randomization procedure for determining the statistical significance of a hierarchy's steepness, which can be used to test the observed steepness against the steepness expected under the null hypothesis of random win chances for all pairs of individuals. Whereas linearity depends on the number of established binary dominance relationships and the degree of transitivity in these relationships, steepness measures the degree to which individuals differ from each other in winning dominance encounters. Linearity and steepness are complementary measures to characterize a dominance hierarchy. |
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454 |
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Poisbleau, M.; Fritz, H.; Valeix, M.; Perroi, P.-Y.; Dalloyau, S.; Lambrechts, M.M. |
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Social dominance correlates and family status in wintering dark-bellied brent geese, Branta bernicla bernicla |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
71 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
1351-1358 |
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In many gregarious species, including ducks and geese, being dominant provides more benefits than costs, because dominants have better access to resources essential for survival or reproduction. In geese, being in better body condition during migration towards the breeding grounds positively influences reproductive success. However, underlying proximate mechanisms linking prebreeding body condition on the wintering grounds to breeding success remain poorly understood. We investigated social dominance correlates and family status, in three consecutive winters, in a free-ranging, migrating, dark-bellied brent goose population. Families with juveniles dominated pairs, and pairs dominated singletons. Dominance rank did not increase with the number of juveniles per family. Males were dominant over females. Social dominance and reproductive status for a given winter were significantly correlated with body mass, body size and body condition during the previous winter, suggesting that body condition in winter also affects subsequent breeding success and hence also dominance. Levels of testosterone and triiodothyronine were not correlated with immediate or later dominance or reproductive status. We discuss the role of family status as a signal of social status in determining reproductive strategies. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4690 |
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Poisbleau, M.; Jenouvrier, S.; Fritz, H. |
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Assessing the reliability of dominance scores for assigning individual ranks in a hierarchy |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
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Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
| Volume |
72 |
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4 |
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835-842 |
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The dominance score (number of wins divided by the total number of interactions) is the most widely used procedure in field studies to rank individuals. Its reliability depends on the number of interactions on which it is calculated. However, most authors use it without any estimate of the associated error. We describe the precision associated with a dominance score estimate as a function of the number of interactions on which it is based, and hence provide a tool to plan field protocols and effort. The precision error decreases according to a power function with increasing number of interactions, but with more precision for extreme scores for any given number of interactions. We discuss the fact that the minimum number of interactions should be based on the precision associated with the 50% score, the least precise of all scores. We also emphasize the trade-off between recording effort and precision of the estimator, and give an example of our choice of 26 interactions for fieldwork on ducks and geese. When comparing individual ranks based on dominance scores with ranks given by the dominance matrix, we found a good correlation, with more mismatches around the middle of the hierarchy. This was consistent with the precision calculated with our model. We conclude that dominance score is a reliable tool, but conclusions must take into account the number of interactions on which the calculations are done. We also discuss the importance of initial assumptions and sources of bias in field studies. |
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456 |
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Nicol, C.J. |
| Title |
How animals learn from each other |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume |
100 |
Issue |
1-2 |
Pages |
58-63 |
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Social learning; Chickens; Demonstrators; Dominance |
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This paper explores ways by which animals may learn from one another, using examples drawn mostly from the chicken, an animal for which social learning is likely to be less dangerous than individual learning. In early life, the behaviour of the hen is important in encouraging chicks to peck at edible items. Maternal display not only attracts chicks to profitable food items, but also redirects their attention away from harmful or non-profitable items. Older chicks can enhance their foraging success by observing the behaviour of conspecifics within their own social group. Hens have been trained to perform a novel behaviour (key-pecking for food) by observation of a trained demonstrator bird. Moreover, observers learnt most from watching dominant demonstrators. Thus the ability to learn from others is not `fixed', but depends on the context and the social identity of both the observer and the demonstrator. |
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564 |
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Lehmann, K.; Kallweit, E.; Ellendorff, F. |
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Social hierarchy in exercised and untrained group-housed horses--A brief report |
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Journal Article |
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2006 |
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
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Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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96 |
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3-4 |
Pages |
343-347 |
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Horses; Social hierarchy; Exercise; Group-housing |
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Changes in social hierarchy were evaluated in a herd of 3-year-old Hanoverian geldings. One group (n = 5) was exposed to a training programme, the other (n = 5) remained untrained. After 6 months, the groups were reversed. Hierarchical positions were evaluated by field observations and/or paired-feeding tests at the beginning, the middle, the end of the first and at the end of the second training period. Both methods yielded identical results. Almost all horses changed position in only one direction: either up or down. Neither increase in aggression nor mutual injuries were recorded during the whole experiment. No statistically verified differences in dominance ranking occurred between trained and untrained groups, but apparent differences were consistent. Thus, if horses are kept in the same group for a longer period of time, exercise induced changes in hierarchy are probably of minor importance and are unlikely to increase the incidence of injuries. This may have implications for the promotion of group-housing for sport horses. |
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