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Author Pérez-Barbería, F.J.; Shultz, S.; Dunbar, R.I.M.; Janis, C. doi  openurl
  Title Evidence For Coevolution Of Sociality And Relative Brain Size In Three Orders Of Mammals Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Evolution Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 61 Issue 12 Pages (down) 2811-2821  
  Keywords Brain size, carnivores, coevolution, primates, sociality, ungulates  
  Abstract Abstract

As the brain is responsible for managing an individual's behavioral response to its environment, we should expect that large relative brain size is an evolutionary response to cognitively challenging behaviors. The “social brain hypothesis” argues that maintaining group cohesion is cognitively demanding as individuals living in groups need to be able to resolve conflicts that impact on their ability to meet resource requirements. If sociality does impose cognitive demands, we expect changes in relative brain size and sociality to be coupled over evolutionary time. In this study, we analyze data on sociality and relative brain size for 206 species of ungulates, carnivores, and primates and provide, for the first time, evidence that changes in sociality and relative brain size are closely correlated over evolutionary time for all three mammalian orders. This suggests a process of coevolution and provides support for the social brain theory. However, differences between taxonomic orders in the stability of the transition between small-brained/nonsocial and large-brained/social imply that, although sociality is cognitively demanding, sociality and relative brain size can become decoupled in some cases. Carnivores seem to have been especially prone to this.
 
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  Notes doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00229.x Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4781  
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Author Valone; Thomas J.; Templeton, Jennifer J. url  openurl
  Title Public information for the assessment of quality: a widespread social phenomenon Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 357 Issue 1427 Pages (down) 1549-1557  
  Keywords Breeding Patch Assessment Eavesdropping Fighting Mate Choice Copying Sociality Vicarious Sampling  
  Abstract We propose that the use of public information about the quality of environmental resources, obtained by monitoring the sampling behaviour of others, may be a widespread social phenomenon allowing individuals to make faster, more accurate assessments of their environment. To demonstrate this (i) we define public information and distinguish it from other kinds of social information; (ii) we review empirical work demonstrating the benefits and costs of using public information to estimate food patch quality; (iii) we examine recent work showing that individuals may also be using public information to improve their estimates of the quality of such disparate environmental parameters as breeding patches, opponents and mates; and finally (iv) we suggest avenues of future work to better understand the nature of public information use and when it might be used or ignored. Such work should lead to a more complete understanding of the behaviour of individuals in social aggregations.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4273  
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Author Massen, J.; Sterck, E.; de Vos, H. url  openurl
  Title Close social associations in animals and humans: functions and mechanisms of friendship Type
  Year 2010 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 147 Issue 11 Pages (down) 1379  
  Keywords Both humans and group-living animals associate and behave affiliatively more with some individuals than others. Human friendship has long been acknowledged, and recently scientists studying animal behaviour have started using the term friendship for close social associates in animals. Yet, while biologists describe friends as social tools to enhance fitness, social scientists describe human friendship as unconditional. We investigate whether these different descriptions reflect true differences in human friendship and animal close social associations or are a by-product of different research approaches: namely social scientists focussing on proximate and biologists on ultimate explanations. We first stress the importance of similar measures to determine close social associations, thereafter examine their ultimate benefits and proximate motivations, and discuss the latest findings on the central-neural regulation of social bonds. We conclude that both human friendship and animal close social associations are ultimately beneficial. On the proximate level, motivations for friendship in humans and for close social associations in animals are not necessarily based on benefits and are often unconditional. Moreover, humans share with many animals a similar physiological basis of sociality. Therefore, biologists and social scientist describe the same phenomenon, and the use of the term friendship for animals seems justified.  
  Abstract Both humans and group-living animals associate and behave affiliatively more with some individuals than others. Human friendship has long been acknowledged, and recently scientists studying animal behaviour have started using the term friendship for close social associates in animals. Yet, while biologists describe friends as social tools to enhance fitness, social scientists describe human friendship as unconditional. We investigate whether these different descriptions reflect true differences in human friendship and animal close social associations or are a by-product of different research approaches: namely social scientists focussing on proximate and biologists on ultimate explanations. We first stress the importance of similar measures to determine close social associations, thereafter examine their ultimate benefits and proximate motivations, and discuss the latest findings on the central-neural regulation of social bonds. We conclude that both human friendship and animal close social associations are ultimately beneficial. On the proximate level, motivations for friendship in humans and for close social associations in animals are not necessarily based on benefits and are often unconditional. Moreover, humans share with many animals a similar physiological basis of sociality. Therefore, biologists and social scientist describe the same phenomenon, and the use of the term friendship for animals seems justified.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5813  
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Author Krueger, K.; Farmer, K.; Heinze, J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title The effects of age, rank and neophobia on social learning in horses Type Journal Article
  Year 2014 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 17 Issue 3 Pages (down) 645-655  
  Keywords Horse; Social learning; Sociality; Ecology; Social relationships  
  Abstract Social learning is said to meet the demands of complex environments in which individuals compete over resources and co-operate to share resources. Horses (Equus caballus) were thought to lack social learning skills because they feed on homogenously distributed resources with few reasons for conflict. However, the horse’s social environment is complex, which raises the possibility that its capacity for social transfer of feeding behaviour has been underestimated. We conducted a social learning experiment using 30 socially kept horses of different ages. Five horses, one from each group, were chosen as demonstrators, and the remaining 25 horses were designated observers. Observers from each group were allowed to watch their group demonstrator opening a feeding apparatus. We found that young, low ranking, and more exploratory horses learned by observing older members of their own group, and the older the horse, the more slowly it appeared to learn. Social learning may be an adaptive specialisation to the social environment. Older animals may avoid the potential costs of acquiring complex and potentially disadvantageous feeding behaviours from younger group members. We argue that horses show social learning in the context of their social ecology, and that research procedures must take such contexts into account. Misconceptions about the horse’s sociality may have hampered earlier studies.  
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  Publisher Springer Berlin Heidelberg Place of Publication Editor  
  Language 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 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5737  
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Author Creel, S. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social dominance and stress hormones Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Trends in Ecology & Evolution Abbreviated Journal Trends. Ecol. Evol  
  Volume 16 Issue 9 Pages (down) 491-497  
  Keywords Dominance; rank; stress; glucocorticoids; cooperative breeding; sociality; behavioural endocrinology; mammals  
  Abstract In most cooperatively breeding birds and mammals, reproductive rates are lower for social subordinates than for dominants, and it is common for reproduction in subordinates to be completely suppressed. Early research conducted in captivity showed that losing fights can increase glucocorticoid (GC) secretion, a general response to stress. Because GCs can suppress reproduction, it has been widely argued that chronic stress might underlie reproductive suppression of social subordinates in cooperative breeders. Contradicting this hypothesis, recent studies of cooperative breeders in the wild show that dominant individuals have elevated GCs more often than do subordinates. The findings that elevated GCs can be a consequence of subordination or a cost of dominance complicate the conventional view of social stress, with broad ramifications for the evolution of dominance and reproductive suppression.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4072  
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Author Krueger, K.; Heinze, J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Horse sense: social status of horses (Equus caballus) affects their likelihood of copying other horses` behavior Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 11 Issue 3 Pages (down) 431-439  
  Keywords copying, horse, social cognition, sociality  
  Abstract Animals that live in stable social groups need to gather information on their own relative position in the group`s social hierarchy, either by directly threatening or challenging others, or in a less costly manner, by observing interactions among others. Such indirect inference of dominance relationships has previously been reported from primates, rats, and birds and fish. Here, we show that domestic horses, Equus caballus, are similarly capable of social cognition. Taking advantage of a specific “following behavior” that horses show towards humans in a riding arena, we investigated whether bystander horses adjust their response to an experimenter according to the observed interaction and their own dominance relationship with the horse whose reaction to the experimenter they had observed before. Horses copied the following behavior towards an experimenter after watching a dominant horse following, but did not follow after observing a subordinate horse or a horse from another social group doing so. The following behavior which horses show towards an experimenter therefore appears to be affected by the demonstrator`s behavior and social status relative to the observer.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4324  
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Author Wey, T.; Blumstein, D.T.; Shen, W.; Jordán, F. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social network analysis of animal behaviour: a promising tool for the study of sociality Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 75 Issue 2 Pages (down) 333-344  
  Keywords animal behaviour; quantifying sociality; social network analysis; social structure  
  Abstract Social animals live and interact together, forming complex relationships and social structure. These relationships can have important fitness consequences, but most studies do not explicitly measure those relationships. An approach that explicitly measures relationships will further our understanding of social complexity and the consequences of both direct and indirect interactions. Social network analysis is the study of social groups as networks of nodes connected by social ties. This approach examines individuals and groups in the context of relationships between group members. Application of social network analysis to animal behaviour can advance the field by identifying and quantifying specific attributes of social relationships, many of which are not captured by more common measures of sociality, such as group size. Sophisticated methods for network construction and analysis exist in other fields, but until recently, have seen relatively little application to animal systems. We present a brief history of social network analysis, a description of basic concepts and previous applications to animal behaviour. We then highlight relevance and constraints of some network measures, including results from an original study of the effect of sampling on network parameter estimates, and we end with promising directions for research. By doing so, we provide a prospective overview of social network analysis' general utility for the study of animal social behaviour.  
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  ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4691  
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Author Mech L.D. url  openurl
  Title Leadership in Wolf, Canis lupus, Packs. Type Journal Article
  Year 2000 Publication Canadian Field-Naturalist Abbreviated Journal Can Field Nat  
  Volume 114 Issue 2 Pages (down) 259-263  
  Keywords Wolf, Canis lupus, leadership, behavior, foraging, movements, pup care, provisioning, sociality, reproduction, breeding, Northwest Territories.  
  Abstract I examine leadership in Wolf (Canis lupus) packs based on published observations and data gathered during summers from 1986 to 1998 studying a free-ranging pack of Wolves on Ellesmere Island that were habituated to my presence. The breeding male tended to initiate activities associated with foraging and travel, and the breeding female to initiate, and predominate in, pup care and protection. However, there was considerable overlap and interaction during these activities such that leadership could be considered a joint function. In packs with multiple breeders, quantitative information about leadership is needed.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4688  
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Author Beery, A.K.; Kaufer, D. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Stress, social behavior, and resilience: Insights from rodents Type Journal Article
  Year 2015 Publication Neurobiology of Stress Abbreviated Journal Neurobiol. Stress  
  Volume 1 Issue Stress Resilience Pages (down) 116-127  
  Keywords Stress; Anxiety; Social behavior; Sociality; Social stress; Social buffering  
  Abstract The neurobiology of stress and the neurobiology of social behavior are deeply intertwined. The social environment interacts with stress on almost every front: social interactions can be potent stressors; they can buffer the response to an external stressor; and social behavior often changes in response to stressful life experience. This review explores mechanistic and behavioral links between stress, anxiety, resilience, and social behavior in rodents, with particular attention to different social contexts. We consider variation between several different rodent species and make connections to research on humans and non-human primates.  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2352-2895 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6413  
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Author Connor, R.C.; Wells, R.S.; Mann, J.; Read,A.J. isbn  openurl
  Title The bottlenose dolphin: Social relationships in a fission-fusion society. Type Book Chapter
  Year 2000 Publication Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales. Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages (down) 91-126  
  Keywords cetacean social behavior, male alliance formation, most cetacean species, platanistid river dolphins, cetacean sociality, strategies and social bonds, female cetaceans, many cetologists, most mysticetes, sperm whale calves, passive fishing nets, variant whistles, historical whaling records, cetacean systematics, stable matrilineal groups, peak calving season, suction cup tags, mutualistic groups, cetacean vocalizations, focal animal studies, larger odontocetes, predictive signaling, individual cetaceans, sperm whale clicks, resident killer whales  
  Abstract Book Description

“Part review, part testament to extraordinary dedication, and part call to get involved, Cetacean Societies highlights the achievements of behavioral ecologists inspired by the challenges of cetaceans and committed to the exploration of a new world.”-from the preface by Richard Wrangham

Long-lived, slow to reproduce, and often hidden beneath the water's surface, whales and dolphins (cetaceans) have remained elusive subjects for scientific study even though they have fascinated humans for centuries. Until recently, much of what we knew about cetaceans came from commercial sources such as whalers and trainers for dolphin acts. Innovative research methods and persistent efforts, however, have begun to penetrate the depths to reveal tantalizing glimpses of the lives of these mammals in their natural habitats.

Cetacean Societies presents the first comprehensive synthesis and review of these new studies. Groups of chapters focus on the history of cetacean behavioral research and methodology; state-of-the-art reviews of information on four of the most-studied species: bottlenose dolphins, killer whales, sperm whales, and humpback whales; and summaries of major topics, including group living, male and female reproductive strategies, communication, and conservation drawn from comparative research on a wide range of species.

Written by some of the world's leading cetacean scientists, this landmark volume will benefit not just students of cetology but also researchers in other areas of behavioral and conservation ecology as well as anyone with a serious interest in the world of whales and dolphins.

Contributors are Robin Baird, Phillip Clapham, Jenny Christal, Richard Connor, Janet Mann, Andrew Read, Randall Reeves, Amy Samuels, Peter Tyack, Linda Weilgart, Hal Whitehead, Randall S. Wells, and Richard Wrangham.
 
  Address  
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  Publisher University of Chicago Press Place of Publication Chicago Editor Mann, J.;Connor, R.C.; Tyack, P.L.;Whitehead, H.  
  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN 978-0226503417 Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4427  
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