Pannozzo, P. L., Phillips, K. A., Haas, M. E., & Mintz, E. M. (2007). Social Monitoring Reflects Dominance Relationships in a Small Captive Group of Brown Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella). Ethology, 113(9), 881–888.
Abstract: Abstract In several studies of social monitoring in primates, subordinate animals directed more visual attention toward dominant animals than vice versa. This behavior is thought to enable subordinate animals to avoid conflict. We sought to clarify whether visual attention behavior functions in this manner in a small captive group of brown capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella. We tested the hypothesis that social monitoring is related to dominance status. Dominance status was determined based on the directionality of aggressive behavior, and visual attention was quantified by using focal animal sampling. Subordinate animals directed significantly more visual attention toward others than dominant animals. Subordinate animals also looked more frequently at the animals that attacked them and others the most. The results indicate that social monitoring behavior in this captive group was driven by conflict-avoidance.
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Hemelrijk, C. K. (2002). Understanding Social Behaviour with the Help of Complexity Science (Invited Article). Ethology, 108(8), 655–671.
Abstract: Abstract In the study of complexity, a new kind of explanation has been developed for social behaviour. It shows how patterns of social behaviour can arise as a side-effect of the interaction of individuals with their social or physical environment (e.g. by self-organization). This development may influence our ideas about the direct causation and evolution of social behaviour. Furthermore, it may influence our theories about the integration of different traits. This new method has been made possible by the increase in computing power. It is now applied in many areas of science, such as physics, chemistry, sociology and economics. However, in zoology and anthropology it is still rare. The major aim of this paper is to make this method more generally accepted among behavioural scientists.
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Seferta, A., Guay, P. - J., Marzinotto, E., & Lefebvre, L. (2001). Learning Differences between Feral Pigeons and Zenaida Doves: The Role of Neophobia and Human Proximity. Ethology, 107, 281–293.
Abstract: Learning differences predicted from ecological variables can be confounded with differences in wariness of novel stimuli (neophobia). Previous work on feral pigeons (Columba livia), as well as on group-feeding and territorial zenaida doves (Zenaida aurita), reported individual and social learning differences predicted from social foraging mode. In the present study, we show that speed of learning a foraging task covaries with neophobia and latency to feed from a familiar dish in the three types of columbids. Pigeons were much faster than either territorial or group-feeding zenaida doves on all tests conducted in captivity, but showed unexpectedly strong neophobia in some urban flocks during field tests. Human proximity strongly affected performance in group-feeding doves both in the field and in captivity. They were slightly faster at learning than their territorial conspecifics in cage tests. In multiple regressions, species identity, but not social foraging mode, significantly predicted individual variation in learning, as did individual variation in neophobia. Wariness of novel stimuli and species differences associated with artificial selection appear to be more important than foraging mode and wariness of humans in accounting for learning differences between these columbids.
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Hampton, R. R. (2001). Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness. Ethology, 107, 1055–1056.
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Rendall, D. (1999). Review of Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations. Ethology, 105(2), 178–182.
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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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Dunbar, R. I. M., & Bever, J. (1998). Neocortex size predicts group size in carnivores and some insectivores. Ethology, 108(8), 695–708.
Abstract: Neocortex size has been shown to correlate with group size in primates. Data for carnivores and insectivores are used to test the generality of this relationship. The data suggest that carnivores lie on the same grade as the primates, but that insectivores lie on a separate grade to the left of these two orders. Among the insectivores, there appears to be a distinction between the 'advanced' genera (which show a relationship between group size and neocortex size) and the 'basal' genera (which do not).
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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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