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Author Dunbar, R.I.M.
Title Male and female brain evolution is subject to contrasting selection pressures in primates Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication BMC Biology Abbreviated Journal BMC Biol
Volume 5 Issue Pages 21
Keywords Animals; *Brain/physiology; *Evolution; Female; Humans; Male; *Selection (Genetics); *Sex Characteristics
Abstract The claim that differences in brain size across primate species has mainly been driven by the demands of sociality (the “social brain” hypothesis) is now widely accepted. Some of the evidence to support this comes from the fact that species that live in large social groups have larger brains, and in particular larger neocortices. Lindenfors and colleagues (BMC Biology 5:20) add significantly to our appreciation of this process by showing that there are striking differences between the two sexes in the social mechanisms and brain units involved. Female sociality (which is more affiliative) is related most closely to neocortex volume, but male sociality (which is more competitive and combative) is more closely related to subcortical units (notably those associated with emotional responses). Thus different brain units have responded to different selection pressures.
Address British Academy Centenary Research Project, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. rimd@liv.ac.uk
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 1741-7007 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17493267 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2100
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Author Fenton, B.; Ratcliffe, J.
Title Animal behaviour: eavesdropping on bats Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature
Volume 429 Issue 6992 Pages 612-613
Keywords Acoustics; Animals; Chiroptera/anatomy & histology/classification/genetics/*physiology; Echolocation/*physiology; *Evolution; Phylogeny; Predatory Behavior/physiology; Species Specificity
Abstract
Address
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 1476-4687 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15190335 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 500
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Author Hare, B.; Tomasello, M.
Title Human-like social skills in dogs? Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Trends in Cognitive Sciences Abbreviated Journal Trends. Cognit. Sci.
Volume 9 Issue 9 Pages 439-444
Keywords *Animal Communication; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition/*physiology; Dogs; *Evolution; Humans; *Social Behavior
Abstract Domestic dogs are unusually skilled at reading human social and communicative behavior--even more so than our nearest primate relatives. For example, they use human social and communicative behavior (e.g. a pointing gesture) to find hidden food, and they know what the human can and cannot see in various situations. Recent comparisons between canid species suggest that these unusual social skills have a heritable component and initially evolved during domestication as a result of selection on systems mediating fear and aggression towards humans. Differences in chimpanzee and human temperament suggest that a similar process may have been an important catalyst leading to the evolution of unusual social skills in our own species. The study of convergent evolution provides an exciting opportunity to gain further insights into the evolutionary processes leading to human-like forms of cooperation and communication.
Address Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, Germany. hare@eva.mpg.de
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 1364-6613 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16061417 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 546
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Author Hare, B.; Plyusnina, I.; Ignacio, N.; Schepina, O.; Stepika, A.; Wrangham, R.; Trut, L.
Title Social cognitive evolution in captive foxes is a correlated by-product of experimental domestication Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Current biology : CB Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol
Volume 15 Issue 3 Pages 226-230
Keywords Animals; *Animals, Domestic; Cognition/*physiology; *Cues; *Evolution; Foxes/*physiology; *Selection (Genetics); Social Behavior; Species Specificity
Abstract Dogs have an unusual ability for reading human communicative gestures (e.g., pointing) in comparison to either nonhuman primates (including chimpanzees) or wolves . Although this unusual communicative ability seems to have evolved during domestication , it is unclear whether this evolution occurred as a result of direct selection for this ability, as previously hypothesized , or as a correlated by-product of selection against fear and aggression toward humans--as is the case with a number of morphological and physiological changes associated with domestication . We show here that fox kits from an experimental population selectively bred over 45 years to approach humans fearlessly and nonaggressively (i.e., experimentally domesticated) are not only as skillful as dog puppies in using human gestures but are also more skilled than fox kits from a second, control population not bred for tame behavior (critically, neither population of foxes was ever bred or tested for their ability to use human gestures) . These results suggest that sociocognitive evolution has occurred in the experimental foxes, and possibly domestic dogs, as a correlated by-product of selection on systems mediating fear and aggression, and it is likely the observed social cognitive evolution did not require direct selection for improved social cognitive ability.
Address Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. hare@eva.mpg.de
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 0960-9822 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15694305 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 594
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Author Jansen, T.; Forster, P.; Levine, M.A.; Oelke, H.; Hurles, M.; Renfrew, C.; Weber, J.; Olek, K.
Title Mitochondrial DNA and the origins of the domestic horse Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Volume 99 Issue 16 Pages 10905-10910
Keywords Animals; Animals, Domestic/classification/*genetics; Base Sequence; DNA, Complementary; *DNA, Mitochondrial; *Evolution, Molecular; Horses/classification/*genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny
Abstract The place and date of the domestication of the horse has long been a matter for debate among archaeologists. To determine whether horses were domesticated from one or several ancestral horse populations, we sequenced the mitochondrial D-loop for 318 horses from 25 oriental and European breeds, including American mustangs. Adding these sequences to previously published data, the total comes to 652, the largest currently available database. From these sequences, a phylogenetic network was constructed that showed that most of the 93 different mitochondrial (mt)DNA types grouped into 17 distinct phylogenetic clusters. Several of the clusters correspond to breeds and/or geographic areas, notably cluster A2, which is specific to Przewalski's horses, cluster C1, which is distinctive for northern European ponies, and cluster D1, which is well represented in Iberian and northwest African breeds. A consideration of the horse mtDNA mutation rate together with the archaeological timeframe for domestication requires at least 77 successfully breeding mares recruited from the wild. The extensive genetic diversity of these 77 ancestral mares leads us to conclude that several distinct horse populations were involved in the domestication of the horse.
Address Biopsytec Analytik GmbH, Marie-Curie-Strasse 1, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany. jansen@biopsytec.com
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 0027-8424 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12130666 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 772
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Author Joffe, T.H.; Dunbar, R.I.
Title Visual and socio-cognitive information processing in primate brain evolution Type Journal Article
Year 1997 Publication Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society Abbreviated Journal Proc Biol Sci
Volume 264 Issue 1386 Pages 1303-1307
Keywords Animals; Brain/anatomy & histology/*physiology; Cognition/physiology; *Evolution; Geniculate Bodies/anatomy & histology/physiology; Humans; Mental Processes/physiology; Neocortex/physiology; Primates/anatomy & histology/*physiology/*psychology; *Social Behavior; Visual Cortex/anatomy & histology/physiology
Abstract Social group size has been shown to correlate with neocortex size in primates. Here we use comparative analyses to show that social group size is independently correlated with the size of non-V1 neocortical areas, but not with other more proximate components of the visual system or with brain systems associated with emotional cueing (e.g. the amygdala). We argue that visual brain components serve as a social information 'input device' for socio-visual stimuli such as facial expressions, bodily gestures and visual status markers, while the non-visual neocortex serves as a 'processing device' whereby these social cues are encoded, interpreted and associated with stored information. However, the second appears to have greater overall importance because the size of the V1 visual area appears to reach an asymptotic size beyond which visual acuity and pattern recognition may not improve significantly. This is especially true of the great ape clade (including humans), that is known to use more sophisticated social cognitive strategies.
Address School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK
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 0962-8452 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:9332015 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2095
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Author Kiltie, R.A.; Fan, J.; Laine, A.F.
Title A wavelet-based metric for visual texture discrimination with applications in evolutionary ecology Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication Mathematical Biosciences Abbreviated Journal Math Biosci
Volume 126 Issue 1 Pages 21-39
Keywords Animals; Carnivora; *Ecology; Equidae; *Evolution; Humans; Mathematics; Models, Biological; Moths; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Pigmentation
Abstract Much work on natural and sexual selection is concerned with the conspicuousness of visual patterns (textures) on animal and plant surfaces. Previous attempts by evolutionary biologists to quantify apparency of such textures have involved subjective estimates of conspicuousness or statistical analyses based on transect samples. We present a method based on wavelet analysis that avoids subjectivity and that uses more of the information in image textures than transects do. Like the human visual system for texture discrimination, and probably like that of other vertebrates, this method is based on localized analysis of orientation and frequency components of the patterns composing visual textures. As examples of the metric's utility, we present analyses of crypsis for tigers, zebras, and peppered moth morphs.
Address Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville
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 0025-5564 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:7696817 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2660
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Author Levy, J.
Title The mammalian brain and the adaptive advantage of cerebral asymmetry Type Journal Article
Year 1977 Publication Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Abbreviated Journal Ann N Y Acad Sci
Volume 299 Issue Pages 264-272
Keywords *Adaptation, Physiological; Adaptation, Psychological/physiology; Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Brain/*physiology; Cognition/physiology; Dominance, Cerebral/*physiology; *Evolution; Humans; Intelligence; Perception/physiology
Abstract
Address
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 0077-8923 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:280207 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4137
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Author Macfadden, B.J.
Title Evolution. Fossil horses--evidence for evolution Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 307 Issue 5716 Pages 1728-1730
Keywords Animals; Body Size; DNA, Mitochondrial; Diet; *Equidae/anatomy & histology/classification/genetics; *Evolution; Feeding Behavior; *Fossils; *Horses/anatomy & histology/classification/genetics; Paleodontology; Phylogeny; Time; Tooth/anatomy & histology
Abstract
Address Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. bmacfadd@flmnh.ufl.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 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:15774746 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1892
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Author Marino, L.
Title Convergence of complex cognitive abilities in cetaceans and primates Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Brain, Behavior and Evolution Abbreviated Journal Brain Behav Evol
Volume 59 Issue 1-2 Pages 21-32
Keywords Animal Communication; Animals; Brain/physiology; Cerebral Cortex/physiology; Cetacea/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; *Evolution; Humans; Intelligence; Primates/*physiology
Abstract What examples of convergence in higher-level complex cognitive characteristics exist in the animal kingdom? In this paper I will provide evidence that convergent intelligence has occurred in two distantly related mammalian taxa. One of these is the order Cetacea (dolphins, whales and porpoises) and the other is our own order Primates, and in particular the suborder anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, and humans). Despite a deep evolutionary divergence, adaptation to physically dissimilar environments, and very different neuroanatomical organization, some primates and cetaceans show striking convergence in social behavior, artificial 'language' comprehension, and self-recognition ability. Taken together, these findings have important implications for understanding the generality and specificity of those processes that underlie cognition in different species and the nature of the evolution of intelligence.
Address Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga. 30322, USA. lmarino@emory.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 0006-8977 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:12097858 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4158
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