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Author Hausberger, M.; Bruderer, C.; Le Scolan, N.; Pierre, J.-S. doi  openurl
  Title Interplay between environmental and genetic factors in temperament/personality traits in horses (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Journal of Comparative Psychology Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume 118 Issue 4 Pages 434-446  
  Keywords *Affect; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Environment; Female; Horses/*psychology; Learning; Male; Memory/physiology  
  Abstract The aim of the present study was to broach the question of the relative influence of different genetic and environmental factors on different temperament/personality traits of horses (Equus caballus). The researchers submitted 702 horses to standardized experimental tests and investigated 9 factors, either genetic or environmental. Genetic factors, such as sire or breed, seemed to influence more neophobic reactions, whereas environmental factors, such as the type of work, seemed to play a more dominant role in reactions to social separation or learning abilities. Additive effects were evident, showing how environmental factors may modulate behavioral traits. This study constitutes a first step toward understanding the relative weights of genetic factors and how the environment may intervene in determining individual behavioral characteristics.  
  Address Ethologie-Evolution-Ecologie, Universite de Rennes 1, Rennes, France. Martine.Hausberger@univ-rennes1.fr  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Washington, D.C. : 1983 Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15584780 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1897  
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Author McCutcheon, L.J.; Geor, R.J. openurl 
  Title Influence of training on sweating responses during submaximal exercise in horses Type Journal Article
  Year 2000 Publication Journal of Applied Physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) Abbreviated Journal J Appl Physiol  
  Volume 89 Issue 6 Pages 2463-2471  
  Keywords Animals; Body Fluids/metabolism; Body Temperature; Body Weight; Environment; Female; Horses/*physiology; Ions; Male; Motor Activity/*physiology; Oxygen Consumption; Physical Conditioning, Animal/*physiology; Sweat/chemistry; Sweating/*physiology; Time Factors  
  Abstract Sweating responses were examined in five horses during a standardized exercise test (SET) in hot conditions (32-34 degrees C, 45-55% relative humidity) during 8 wk of exercise training (5 days/wk) in moderate conditions (19-21 degrees C, 45-55% relative humidity). SETs consisting of 7 km at 50% maximal O(2) consumption, determined 1 wk before training day (TD) 0, were completed on a treadmill set at a 6 degrees incline on TD0, 14, 28, 42, and 56. Mean maximal O(2) consumption, measured 2 days before each SET, increased 19% [TD0 to 42: 135 +/- 5 (SE) to 161 +/- 4 ml. kg(-1). min(-1)]. Peak sweating rate (SR) during exercise increased on TD14, 28, 42, and 56 compared with TD0, whereas SRs and sweat losses in recovery decreased by TD28. By TD56, end-exercise rectal and pulmonary artery temperature decreased by 0.9 +/- 0.1 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 degrees C, respectively, and mean change in body mass during the SET decreased by 23% (TD0: 10.1 +/- 0.9; TD56: 7.7 +/- 0.3 kg). Sweat Na(+) concentration during exercise decreased, whereas sweat K(+) concentration increased, and values for Cl(-) concentration in sweat were unchanged. Moderate-intensity training in cool conditions resulted in a 1.6-fold increase in sweating sensitivity evident by 4 wk and a 0.7 +/- 0.1 degrees C decrease in sweating threshold after 8 wk during exercise in hot, dry conditions. Altered sweating responses contributed to improved heat dissipation during exercise and a lower end-exercise core temperature. Despite higher SRs for a given core temperature during exercise, decreases in recovery SRs result in an overall reduction in sweat fluid losses but no change in total sweat ion losses after training.  
  Address Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1. jmccutch@uoguelph.ca  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 8750-7587 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:11090603 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 1922  
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Author Robert, N.; Walzer, C.; Ruegg, S.R.; Kaczensky, P.; Ganbaatar, O.; Stauffer, C. doi  openurl
  Title Pathologic findings in reintroduced Przewalski's horses (Equus caballus przewalskii) in southwestern Mongolia Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Journal of zoo and Wildlife Medicine : Official Publication of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Abbreviated Journal J Zoo Wildl Med  
  Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 273-285  
  Keywords Animals; Babesiosis/epidemiology/pathology/*veterinary; Cause of Death; Conservation of Natural Resources; Disease Susceptibility/veterinary; Environment; Female; Food Chain; Horse Diseases/*epidemiology/pathology; Horses; Male; Mongolia/epidemiology; Streptococcal Infections/epidemiology/pathology/*veterinary; *Streptococcus equi; Theileriasis/*epidemiology/pathology; Weather  
  Abstract The Przewalski's horse (Equus caballus przewalskii) was extinct in the wild by the mid 1960s. The species has survived because of captive breeding only. The Takhin Tal reintroduction project is run by the International Takhi Group; it is one of two projects reintroducing horses to the wild in Mongolia. In 1997 the first harem group was released. The first foals were successfully raised in the wild in 1999. Currently, 63 Przewalski's horses live in Takhin Tal. Little information exists on causes of mortality before the implementation of a disease-monitoring program in 1998. Since 1999, all dead horses recovered (n = 28) have been examined and samples collected and submitted for further investigation. Equine piroplasmosis, a tick-transmitted disease caused by Babesia caballi or Theileria equi, is endemic in Takhin Tal and was identified as the cause of death of four stallions and one stillborn foal. In December 2000, wolf predation was implicated in the loss of several Przewalski's horses. However, thorough clinical, pathologic, and bacteriologic investigations performed on dead and surviving horses of this group revealed lesions compatible with strangles. The extreme Mongolian winter of 2000-2001 is thought to have most probably weakened the horses, making them more susceptible to opportunistic infection and subsequent wolf predation. Other occasional causes of death since 1999 were trauma, exhaustion, wasting, urolithiasis, pneumonia, abortion, and stillbirth. The pathologic examination of the Przewalski's horses did not result in a definitive diagnosis in each case. Several disease factors were found to be important in the initial phase of the reintroduction, which could potentially jeopardize the establishment of a self-sustaining population.  
  Address Center for Fish and Wildlife Health, Institute of Animal Pathology, University of Berne, Langgass-Strasse 122, CH-3001 Berne, Switzerland  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1042-7260 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17323569 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2023  
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Author Nocera, J.J.; Forbes, G.J.; Giraldeau, L.-A. doi  openurl
  Title Inadvertent social information in breeding site selection of natal dispersing birds Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society Abbreviated Journal Proc Biol Sci  
  Volume 273 Issue 1584 Pages 349-355  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Breeding; *Environment; Female; Logistic Models; Male; Songbirds/growth & development/*physiology  
  Abstract Several species use the number of young produced as public information (PI) to assess breeding site quality. PI is inaccessible for synchronously breeding birds because nests are empty by the time the young can collect this information. We investigate if location cues are the next best source of inadvertent social information (ISI) used by young prospectors during breeding site choice. We experimentally deployed ISI as decoys and song playbacks of breeding males in suitable and sub-optimal habitats during pre- and post-breeding periods, and monitored territory establishment during the subsequent breeding season for a social, bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and a more solitary species, Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus nelsoni). The sparrows did not respond to treatments, but bobolinks responded strongly to post-breeding location cues, irrespective of habitat quality. The following year, 17/20 sub-optimal plots to which bobolink males were recruited were defended for at least two weeks, indicating that song heard the previous year could exert a “carry-over attraction” effect on conspecifics the following year. Sixteen recruited males were natal dispersers, as expected when animals have little opportunity to directly sample their natal habitat quality. We suggest that differences in breeding synchronicity may induce an equivalent clinal distribution of ISI use.  
  Address Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Bag Service #45111, Fredericton, NB E3B 6E1, Canada. j.nocera@unb.ca  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) 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:16543178 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2129  
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Author Huber, L.; Gajdon, G.K. doi  openurl
  Title Technical intelligence in animals: the kea model Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 295-305  
  Keywords Animals; *Comprehension; *Intelligence; Models, Psychological; Observation; *Parrots; *Problem Solving; Psychological Theory; Social Environment; *Tool Use Behavior  
  Abstract The ability to act on information flexibly is one of the cornerstones of intelligent behavior. As particularly informative example, tool-oriented behavior has been investigated to determine to which extent nonhuman animals understand means-end relations, object affordances, and have specific motor skills. Even planning with foresight, goal-directed problem solving and immediate causal inference have been a focus of research. However, these cognitive abilities may not be restricted to tool-using animals but may be found also in animals that show high levels of curiosity, object exploration and manipulation, and extractive foraging behavior. The kea, a New Zealand parrot, is a particularly good example. We here review findings from laboratory experiments and field observations of keas revealing surprising cognitive capacities in the physical domain. In an experiment with captive keas, the success rate of individuals that were allowed to observe a trained conspecific was significantly higher than that of naive control subjects due to their acquisition of some functional understanding of the task through observation. In a further experiment using the string-pulling task, a well-probed test for means-end comprehension, we found the keas finding an immediate solution that could not be improved upon in nine further trials. We interpreted their performance as insightful in the sense of being sensitive of the relevant functional properties of the task and thereby producing a new adaptive response without trial-and-error learning. Together, these findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the distribution of higher cognitive skills in the animal kingdom by showing high levels of sensorimotor intelligence in animals that do not use tools. In conclusion, we suggest that the 'Technical intelligence hypothesis' (Byrne, Machiavellian intelligence II: extensions and evaluations, pp 289-211, 1997), which has been proposed to explain the origin of the ape/monkey grade-shift in intelligence by a selection pressure upon an increased efficiency in foraging behavior, should be extended, that is, applied to some birds as well.  
  Address Department for Behavior, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria. ludwig.huber@univie.ac.at  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16909237 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2085  
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Author Danchin, E.; Giraldeau, L.-A.; Valone, T.J.; Wagner, R.H. doi  openurl
  Title Public information: from nosy neighbors to cultural evolution Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science  
  Volume 305 Issue 5683 Pages 487-491  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cues; *Cultural Evolution; *Decision Making; Environment; Evolution; Feeding Behavior; Female; Genes; Humans; Male; Reproduction; Sexual Behavior, Animal  
  Abstract Psychologists, economists, and advertising moguls have long known that human decision-making is strongly influenced by the behavior of others. A rapidly accumulating body of evidence suggests that the same is true in animals. Individuals can use information arising from cues inadvertently produced by the behavior of other individuals with similar requirements. Many of these cues provide public information about the quality of alternatives. The use of public information is taxonomically widespread and can enhance fitness. Public information can lead to cultural evolution, which we suggest may then affect biological evolution.  
  Address U.P.M.C. CNRS-UMR7625, Bat A-7e etage-Case 237, 7 quai Saint Bernard, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. edanchin@snv.jussieu.fr  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) 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:15273386 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2131  
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Author Dubois, F.; Giraldeau, L.-A. openurl 
  Title The forager's dilemma: food sharing and food defense as risk-sensitive foraging options Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication The American Naturalist Abbreviated Journal Am Nat  
  Volume 162 Issue 6 Pages 768-779  
  Keywords Animals; Competitive Behavior/*physiology; *Environment; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; *Game Theory; *Models, Biological; Population Density; Population Dynamics  
  Abstract Although many variants of the hawk-dove game predict the frequency at which group foraging animals should compete aggressively, none of them can explain why a large number of group foraging animals share food clumps without any overt aggression. One reason for this shortcoming is that hawk-dove games typically consider only a single contest, while most group foraging situations involve opponents that interact repeatedly over discovered food clumps. The present iterated hawk-dove game predicts that in situations that are analogous to a prisoner's dilemma, animals should share the resources without aggression, provided that the number of simultaneously available food clumps is sufficiently large and the number of competitors is relatively small. However, given that the expected gain of an aggressive animal is more variable than the gain expected by nonaggressive individuals, the predicted effect of the number of food items in a clump-clump richness-depends on whether only the mean or both the mean and variability associated with payoffs are considered. More precisely, the deterministic game predicts that aggression should increase with clump richness, whereas the stochastic risk-sensitive game predicts that the frequency of encounters resulting in aggression should peak at intermediate clump richnesses or decrease with increasing clump richness if animals show sensitivity to the variance or coefficient of variation, respectively.  
  Address Departement des Sciences Biologiques, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Case postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada. fdubois@u-bourgogne.fr  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0003-0147 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:14737714 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2132  
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Author Chiesa, A.D.; Pecchia, T.; Tommasi, L.; Vallortigara, G. doi  openurl
  Title Multiple landmarks, the encoding of environmental geometry and the spatial logics of a dual brain Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 281-293  
  Keywords Animals; Association Learning/*physiology; Chickens; *Cues; Dominance, Cerebral/*physiology; *Environment; Exploratory Behavior/*physiology; Logic; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/physiology  
  Abstract A series of place learning experiments was carried out in young chicks (Gallus gallus) in order to investigate how the geometry of a landmark array and that of a walled enclosure compete when disoriented animals could rely on both of them to re-orient towards the centre of the enclosure. A square-shaped array (four wooden sticks) was placed in the middle of a square-shaped enclosure, the two structures being concentric. Chicks were trained to ground-scratch to search for food hidden in the centre of the enclosure (and the array). To check for effects of array degradation, one, two, three or all landmarks were removed during test trials. Chicks concentrated their searching activity in the central area of the enclosure, but their accuracy was inversely contingent on the number of landmarks removed; moreover, the landmarks still present within the enclosure appeared to influence the shape of the searching patterns. The reduction in the number of landmarks affected the searching strategy of chicks, suggesting that they had focussed mainly on local cues when landmarks were present within the enclosure. When all the landmarks were removed, chicks searched over a larger area, suggesting an absolute encoding of distances from the local cues and less reliance on the relationships provided by the geometry of the enclosure. Under conditions of monocular vision, chicks tended to rely on different strategies to localize the centre on the basis of the eye (and thus the hemisphere) in use, the left hemisphere attending to details of the environment and the right hemisphere attending to the global shape.  
  Address Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Centre for Neuroscience, University of Trieste, via S. Anastasio 12, 34100, Trieste, Italy  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16941155 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2443  
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Author Bugnyar, T.; Heinrich, B. doi  openurl
  Title Pilfering ravens, Corvus corax, adjust their behaviour to social context and identity of competitors Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 369-376  
  Keywords Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Competitive Behavior; Crows/*physiology; *Deception; Feeding Behavior; Female; Male; Social Behavior; *Social Environment  
  Abstract Like other corvids, food-storing ravens protect their caches from being pilfered by conspecifics by means of aggression and by re-caching. In the wild and in captivity, potential pilferers rarely approach caches until the storers have left the cache vicinity. When storers are experimentally prevented from leaving, pilferers first search at places other than the cache sites. These behaviours raise the possibility that ravens are capable of withholding intentions and providing false information to avoid provoking the storers' aggression for cache protection. Alternatively, birds may refrain from pilfering to avoid conflicts with dominants. Here we examined whether ravens adjust their pilfer tactics according to social context and type of competitors. We allowed birds that had witnessed a conspecific making caches to pilfer those caches either in private, together with the storer, or together with a conspecific bystander that had not created the caches (non-storer) but had seen them being made. Compared to in-private trials, ravens delayed approaching the caches only in the presence of storers. Furthermore, they quickly engaged in searching away from the caches when together with dominant storers but directly approached the caches when together with dominant non-storers. These findings demonstrate that ravens selectively alter their pilfer behaviour with those individuals that are likely to defend the caches (storers) and support the interpretation that they are deceptively manipulating the others' behaviour.  
  Address Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. thomas.bugnyar@univie.ac.at  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16909235 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2449  
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Author Sovrano, V.A.; Bisazza, A.; Vallortigara, G. doi  openurl
  Title How fish do geometry in large and in small spaces Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 47-54  
  Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; Color Perception; Cues; *Discrimination Learning; *Distance Perception; *Fishes; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Social Environment; *Space Perception; Visual Perception  
  Abstract It has been shown that children and non-human animals seem to integrate geometric and featural information to different extents in order to reorient themselves in environments of different spatial scales. We trained fish (redtail splitfins, Xenotoca eiseni) to reorient to find a corner in a rectangular tank with a distinctive featural cue (a blue wall). Then we tested fish after displacement of the feature on another adjacent wall. In the large enclosure, fish chose the two corners with the feature, and also tended to choose among them the one that maintained the correct arrangement of the featural cue with respect to geometric sense (i.e. left-right position). In contrast, in the small enclosure, fish chose both the two corners with the features and the corner, without any feature, that maintained the correct metric arrangement of the walls with respect to geometric sense. Possible reasons for species differences in the use of geometric and non-geometric information are discussed.  
  Address Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padova, Italy. valeriaanna.sovrano@unipd.it  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16794851 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2462  
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