| Records |
Author  |
Bayly, K.L.; Evans, C.S.; Taylor, A. |
| Title |
Measuring social structure: A comparison of eight dominance indices |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
| Volume |
73 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
1-12 |
| Keywords |
Social status; Methods; Behaviour in groups |
| Abstract |
Measurement of social status is an important component of many behavioural studies. A variety of techniques have been developed and adopted, but while there have been some analyses of index properties using simulated data, the rationale for selecting a method remains poorly documented. As a first step in exploring the implications of index choice, we compared the characteristics of eight popular indices by applying each to the same data set from interactions between male fowl Gallus gallus, the system in which social hierarchies were first described. Data from eight social groups, observed over four successive breeding seasons, were analysed to determine whether different indices produced consistent dominance scores. These scores were then used in tests of the relation between social status and crowing to explore whether index choice affected the results obtained. We also examined the pattern of dominance index use over the last decade to infer whether this has likely been influenced by tradition, or by taxa of study animal. Overall agreement among methods was good when groups of birds had perfectly linear hierarchies, but results diverged when social structure was more complex, with either intransitive triads or reversals. While all regression analyses revealed a positive relationship between dominance and vocal behaviour, there were substantial differences in the amount of variance accounted for, even though the original data were identical in every case. Index selection can hence perturb estimates of the importance of dominance, relative to other factors. We also found that several methods have been adopted only by particular research teams, while the use of others has been taxonomically constrained, patterns implying that indices have not always been chosen solely upon their merits. Taken together, our results read as a cautionary tale. We suggest that selection of a dominance index requires careful consideration both of algorithm properties and of the factors affecting social status in the system of interest. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4289 |
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| Author |
Hunt, G.R.; Gray R.D.; Taylor, A.H. |
| Title |
Why is tool use rare in animals? |
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Book Whole |
| Year |
2013 |
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Tool Use in Animals: Cognition and Ecology |
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Cambridge University Press |
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Cambridge, MA. |
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anz C, Call J, Boesch C |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6658 |
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McCoy, D.E.; Schiestl, M.; Neilands, P.; Hassall, R.; Gray, R.D.; Taylor, A.H. |
| Title |
New Caledonian Crows Behave Optimistically after Using Tools |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2019 |
Publication |
Current Biology |
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tool use; New Caledonian crows; optimism; cognitive bias; animal emotion; intrinsic motivation; comparative cognition |
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Summary Are complex, species-specific behaviors in animals reinforced by material reward alone or do they also induce positive emotions? Many adaptive human behaviors are intrinsically motivated: they not only improve our material outcomes, but improve our affect as well [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Work to date on animal optimism, as an indicator of positive affect, has generally focused on how animals react to change in their circumstances, such as when their environment is enriched [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14] or they are manipulated by humans [15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23], rather than whether complex actions improve emotional state. Here, we show that wild New Caledonian crows are optimistic after tool use, a complex, species-specific behavior. We further demonstrate that this finding cannot be explained by the crows needing to put more effort into gaining food. Our findings therefore raise the possibility that intrinsic motivation (enjoyment) may be a fundamental proximate cause in the evolution of tool use and other complex behaviors. Video Abstract |
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0960-9822 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6581 |
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Ord, T.J.; Peters, R.A.; Evans, C.S.; Taylor, A.J. |
| Title |
Digital video playback and visual communication in lizards |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Behaviour. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Behav. |
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63 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
879-890 |
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Experimental analyses of dynamic visual signals have to overcome the technical obstacle of reproducing complex motor patterns such as those found in courtship and threat displays. Video playback offers a potential solution to this problem, but it has recently been criticized because of sensory differences between humans and nonhuman animals, which suggest that video stimuli might be perceived as deficient relative to live conspecifics. Quantitative comparisons are therefore necessary to determine whether video sequences reliably evoke natural responses. Male Jacky dragons, Amphibolurus muricatus, compete for territories using complex displays delivered in a rapid stereotyped sequence. We evaluated video playback as a technique for studying this visual signal. Digital video sequences depicting a life-sized displaying male were indistinguishable from live male conspecifics in the rate and structure of aggressive displays evoked. Other measures of social behaviour suggested that video stimuli were more effective in this context. Lizards produced significantly more appeasement displays and had higher rates of substrate licking and locomotor activity in response to video playback than to confined male opponents, which failed to produce aggressive displays. Lizards tracked temporal changes in the display rate of video stimuli and were also sensitive to individual differences in morphology and behaviour between video exemplars. These results show that video stimuli are appropriate for the experimental analysis of Jacky dragon aggressive displays. We compare the potential shortcomings of video playback with those of other techniques and conclude that no approach offers a panacea, but that several have complementary characteristics. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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refbase @ user @ |
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540 |
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Proops, L.; Rayner, J.; Taylor, A.M.; McComb, K. |
| Title |
The Responses of Young Domestic Horses to Human-Given Cues |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
PLoS ONE |
Abbreviated Journal |
PLoS ONE |
| Volume |
8 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
e67000 EP - |
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<p>It has been suggested that the process of domestication, at least in some species, has led to an innate predisposition to be skilled at reading human communicative and attentional cues. Adult domestic horses (<italic>Equus caballus</italic>) are highly sensitive to subtle bodily cues when determining if a person is attending to them but they are less adept at using human communicative cues in object choice tasks. Here we provide the first study into the ontogeny of such skills in order to gain insights into the mechanisms underlying these abilities. Compared with adult horses, youngsters under the age of three could use body orientation but not more subtle cues such as head movement and open/closed eyes to correctly choose an attentive person to approach for food. Across two object choice experiments, the performance of young horses was comparable to that of adult horses – subjects were able to correctly choose a rewarded bucket using marker placement, pointing and touching cues but could not use body orientation, gaze, elbow pointing or tapping cues. Taken together these results do not support the theory that horses possess an innate predisposition to be particularly skilled at using human cues. Horses' ability to determine whether humans are attending to them using subtle body cues appears to require significant experience to fully develop and their perhaps less remarkable use of limited cues in object choice tasks, although present at a much earlier age, is likely to reflect a more general learning ability related to stimulus enhancement rather than a specific ‘human-reading’ skill.</p> |
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Public Library of Science |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5676 |
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