| Records |
| Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Cognitive science: rank inferred by reason |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
| Volume |
430 |
Issue |
7001 |
Pages |
732-733 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Group Structure; Male; *Social Dominance; Songbirds/*physiology |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1476-4687 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15306792 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
365 |
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| Author |
Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Memory and hippocampal specialization in food-storing birds: challenges for research on comparative cognition |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Brain, behavior and evolution |
Abbreviated Journal |
Brain Behav Evol |
| Volume |
62 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
108-116 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Birds/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Color Perception/physiology; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Hippocampus/*physiology; Memory/*physiology; Species Specificity |
| Abstract |
The three-way association among food-storing behavior, spatial memory, and hippocampal enlargement in some species of birds is widely cited as an example of a new 'cognitive ecology' or 'neuroecology.' Whether this relationship is as strong as it first appears and whether it might be evidence for an adaptive specialization of memory and hippocampus in food-storers have recently been the subject of some controversy [Bolhuis and Macphail, 2001; Macphail and Bolhuis, 2001]. These critiques are based on misconceptions about the nature of adaptive specializations in cognition, misconceptions about the uniformity of results to be expected from applying the comparative method to data from a wide range of species, and a narrow view of what kinds of cognitive adaptations are theoretically interesting. New analyses of why food-storers (black-capped chickadees, Poecile Atricapilla) respond preferentially to spatial over color cues when both are relevant in a memory task show that this reflects a relative superiority of spatial memory as compared to memory for color rather than exceptional spatial attention or spatial discrimination ability. New studies of chickadees from more or less harsh winter climates also support the adaptive specialization hypothesis and suggest that within-species comparisons may be especially valuable for unraveling details of the relationships among ecology, memory, and brain in food-storing species. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0006-8977 |
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| Notes |
PMID:12937349 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
367 |
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| Author |
Plotnik, J.M.; de Waal, F.B.M.; Reiss, D. |
| Title |
Self-recognition in an Asian elephant |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |
| Volume |
103 |
Issue |
45 |
Pages |
17053-17057 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Asia; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; Elephants/*psychology; Female; Photic Stimulation |
| Abstract |
Considered an indicator of self-awareness, mirror self-recognition (MSR) has long seemed limited to humans and apes. In both phylogeny and human ontogeny, MSR is thought to correlate with higher forms of empathy and altruistic behavior. Apart from humans and apes, dolphins and elephants are also known for such capacities. After the recent discovery of MSR in dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), elephants thus were the next logical candidate species. We exposed three Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) to a large mirror to investigate their responses. Animals that possess MSR typically progress through four stages of behavior when facing a mirror: (i) social responses, (ii) physical inspection (e.g., looking behind the mirror), (iii) repetitive mirror-testing behavior, and (iv) realization of seeing themselves. Visible marks and invisible sham-marks were applied to the elephants' heads to test whether they would pass the litmus “mark test” for MSR in which an individual spontaneously uses a mirror to touch an otherwise imperceptible mark on its own body. Here, we report a successful MSR elephant study and report striking parallels in the progression of responses to mirrors among apes, dolphins, and elephants. These parallels suggest convergent cognitive evolution most likely related to complex sociality and cooperation. |
| Address |
Living Links, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and Department of Psychology, Emory University, 532 North Kligo Circle, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0027-8424 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:17075063 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
408 |
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| Author |
Cameron, E.Z.; du Toit, J.T. |
| Title |
Winning by a neck: tall giraffes avoid competing with shorter browsers |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
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 |
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English |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1537-5323 |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:17206591 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
410 |
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| Author |
Cameron, E.Z. |
| Title |
Facultative adjustment of mammalian sex ratios in support of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis: evidence for a mechanism |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
271 |
Issue |
1549 |
Pages |
1723-1728 |
| Keywords |
Age Factors; Animals; Body Constitution; *Evolution; Female; Glucose/metabolism/physiology; Litter Size; Male; Mammals/*physiology; *Models, Biological; Reproduction/physiology; Seasons; Sex Factors; *Sex Ratio; Time Factors |
| Abstract |
Evolutionary theory predicts that mothers of different condition should adjust the birth sex ratio of their offspring in relation to future reproductive benefits. Published studies addressing variation in mammalian sex ratios have produced surprisingly contradictory results. Explaining the source of such variation has been a challenge for sex-ratio theory, not least because no mechanism for sex-ratio adjustment is known. I conducted a meta-analysis of previous mammalian sex-ratio studies to determine if there are any overall patterns in sex-ratio variation. The contradictory nature of previous results was confirmed. However, studies that investigated indices of condition around conception show almost unanimous support for the prediction that mothers in good condition bias their litters towards sons. Recent research on the role of glucose in reproductive functioning have shown that excess glucose favours the development of male blastocysts, providing a potential mechanism for sex-ratio variation in relation to maternal condition around conception. Furthermore, many of the conflicting results from studies on sex-ratio adjustment would be explained if glucose levels in utero during early cell division contributed to the determination of offspring sex ratios. |
| Address |
Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ezcameron@zoology.up.ac.za |
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English |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0962-8452 |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
PMID:15306293 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
413 |
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| Author |
Broom, M. |
| Title |
A unified model of dominance hierarchy formation and maintenance |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Journal of theoretical biology |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Theor. Biol. |
| Volume |
219 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
63-72 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Feeding Behavior; *Models, Psychological; *Social Dominance; Social Environment |
| Abstract |
In many different species it is common for animals to spend large portions of their lives in groups. Such groups need to divide available resources amongst the individuals they contain and this is often achieved by means of a dominance hierarchy. Sometimes hierarchies are stable over a long period of time and new individuals slot into pre-determined positions, but there are many situations where this is not so and a hierarchy is formed out of a group of individuals meeting for the first time. There are several different models both of the formation of such dominance hierarchies and of already existing hierarchies. These models often treat the two phases as entirely separate, whereas in reality, if there is a genuine formation phase to the hierarchy, behaviour in this phase will be governed by the rewards available, which in turn depends upon how the hierarchy operates once it has been formed. This paper describes a method of unifying models of these two distinct phases, assuming that the hierarchy formed is stable. In particular a framework is introduced which allows a variety of different models of each of the two parts to be used in conjunction with each other, thus enabling a wide range of situations to be modelled. Some examples are given to show how this works in practice. |
| Address |
Centre for Statistics and Stochastic Modelling, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, U.K. m.broom@sussex.ac.uk |
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English |
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0022-5193 |
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| Notes |
PMID:12392975 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
439 |
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| Author |
Chase, I.D.; Tovey, C.; Spangler-Martin, D.; Manfredonia, M. |
| Title |
Individual differences versus social dynamics in the formation of animal dominance hierarchies |
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 |
8 |
Pages |
5744-5749 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Fishes; Humans; *Social Behavior; *Social Dominance |
| Abstract |
Linear hierarchies, the classical pecking-order structures, are formed readily in both nature and the laboratory in a great range of species including humans. However, the probability of getting linear structures by chance alone is quite low. In this paper we investigate the two hypotheses that are proposed most often to explain linear hierarchies: they are predetermined by differences in the attributes of animals, or they are produced by the dynamics of social interaction, i.e., they are self-organizing. We evaluate these hypotheses using cichlid fish as model animals, and although differences in attributes play a significant part, we find that social interaction is necessary for high proportions of groups with linear hierarchies. Our results suggest that dominance hierarchy formation is a much richer and more complex phenomenon than previously thought, and we explore the implications of these results for evolutionary biology, the social sciences, and the use of animal models in understanding human social organization. |
| Address |
Department of Sociology, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4356, USA. Ichase@notes.cc.sunysb.edu |
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English |
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0027-8424 |
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| Notes |
PMID:11960030 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
442 |
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| Author |
Hemelrijk, C.K.; Wantia, J. |
| Title |
Individual variation by self-organisation |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews |
Abbreviated Journal |
Neurosci Biobehav Rev |
| Volume |
29 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
125-136 |
| Keywords |
Aggression; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Competitive Behavior/*physiology; Female; Humans; *Individuality; Male; Models, Psychological; Sex Characteristics; *Social Dominance; Time Factors |
| Abstract |
In this paper, we show that differences in dominance and spatial centrality of individuals in a group may arise through self-organisation. Our instrument is a model, called DomWorld, that represents two traits that are often found in animals, namely grouping and competing. In this model individual differences grow under the following conditions: (1) when the intensity of aggression increases and grouping becomes denser, (2) when the degree of sexual dimorphism in fighting power increases. In this case the differences among females compared to males grow too, (3) when, upon encountering another individual, the tendency to attack is 'obligate' and not conditional, namely 'sensitive to risks'. Results resemble phenomena described for societies of primates, mice, birds and pigs. |
| Address |
Theoretical Biology, University of Groningen, NN Haren, The Netherlands. hemelrij@ifi.unizh.ch |
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English |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0149-7634 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15652260 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
443 |
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| Author |
Miller, G. |
| Title |
Animal behavior. Signs of empathy seen in mice |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
| Volume |
312 |
Issue |
5782 |
Pages |
1860-1861 |
| Keywords |
Altruism; Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Empathy; Formaldehyde/administration & dosage; Mice/*psychology; Motivation; Pain/*psychology; *Social Behavior |
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| ISSN |
1095-9203 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16809499 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
461 |
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| Author |
Miklósi, Á.; Soproni, K. |
| Title |
A comparative analysis of animals' understanding of the human pointing gesture |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
9 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
81-93 |
| Keywords |
*Animal Communication; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Child; Child, Preschool; Dogs; Fixation, Ocular; *Gestures; Hand; Humans; *Nonverbal Communication; Pinnipedia; Primates; Problem Solving; *Recognition (Psychology); Species Specificity |
| Abstract |
We review studies demonstrating the ability of some animals to understand the human pointing gesture. We present a 3-step analysis of the topic. (1) We compare and evaluate current experimental methods (2) We compare available experimental results on performance of different species and investigate the interaction of species differences and other independent variables (3) We evaluate how our present understanding of pointing comprehension answers questions about function, evolution and mechanisms. Recently, a number of different hypotheses have been put forward to account for the presence of this ability in some species and for the lack of such comprehension in others. In our view, there is no convincing evidence for the assumption that the competitive lifestyles of apes would inhibit the utilization of this human gesture. Similarly, domestication as a special evolutionary factor in the case of some species falls short in explaining high levels of pointing comprehension in some non-domestic species. We also disagree with the simplistic view of describing the phenomenon as a simple form of conditioning. We suggest that a more systematic comparative research is needed to understand the emerging communicative representational abilities in animals that provide the background for comprehending the human pointing gesture. |
| Address |
Department of Ethology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Pazmany P 1/c, H-1117, Budapest, Hungary. miklosa@ludens.elte.hu |
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Edition |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:16235075 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
463 |
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