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Author Hemelrijk, C.K.; Hildenbrandt, H.
Title Self-Organized Shape and Frontal Density of Fish Schools Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2008 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 114 Issue 3 Pages 245-254
Keywords
Abstract Abstract Models of swarming (based on avoidance, alignment and attraction) produce patterns of behaviour also seen in schools of fish. However, the significance of such similarities has been questioned, because some model assumptions are unrealistic [e.g. speed in most models is constant with random error, the perception is global and the size of the schools that have been studied is small (up to 128 individuals)]. This criticism also applies to our former model, in which we demonstrated the emergence of two patterns of spatial organization, i.e. oblong school form and high frontal density, which are supposed to function as protection against predators. In our new model we respond to this criticism by making the following improvements: individuals have a preferred ‘cruise speed’ from which they can deviate in order to avoid others or to catch up with them. Their range of perception is inversely related to density, with which we take into account that high density limits the perception of others that are further away. Swarm sizes range from 10 to 2000 individuals. The model is three-dimensional. Further, we show that the two spatial patterns (oblong shape and high frontal density) emerge by self-organization as a side-effect of coordination at two speeds (of two or four body lengths per second) for schools of sizes above 20. Our analysis of the model leads to the development of a new set of hypotheses. If empirical data confirm these hypotheses, then in a school of real fish these patterns may arise as a side-effect of their coordination in the same way as in the model.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Blackwell Publishing Ltd Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1439-0310 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5202
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Author Powell, D.
Title Female–female competition or male mate choice? Patterns of courtship and breeding behavior among feral horses (Equus caballus) on Assateague Island Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2008 Publication Journal of Ethology Abbreviated Journal J. Ethol.
Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 137-144-144
Keywords Biomedical and Life Sciences
Abstract Previous research on the Assateague horses found that high-ranking females had more surviving offspring than low-ranking females. Variance in reproductive success may be the result of a variety of proximate processes that affect sexual behavior such as mate choice and mate competition. A study was done to determine whether patterns of courtship, social, and sexual behavior could be identified that would suggest mate choice and/or mate competition. Behavioral data were collected from approximately 40 sexually mature mares living in harem bands. Stallions showed more interest in the eliminations of dominant mares than subordinate mares. Males also engaged in significantly more high-intensity (e.g., mounts and copulations) sexual behavior with dominant mares than subordinate mares, and there was a trend for males to engage in more low-intensity (e.g., flehmen and ano-genital sniffing) sexual behavior with dominant mares than subordinate mares. There was no effect of mare rank on spatial relationships with the stallion; however, dominant mares did attempt to restrict reproductive access to the stallion by harassing and disrupting copulations. Higher foaling rates among dominant mares on Assateague Island could therefore be the result of rank-related mate choice by stallions and direct female competition for mating opportunities.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Springer Japan Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0289-0771 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5412
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Author Majolo, B.; Ventura, R.; Koyama, N. F.
Title A Statistical Modelling Approach to the Occurrence and Timing of Reconciliation in Wild Japanese Macaques Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 2 Pages 152-166
Keywords
Abstract In various social species, animals have been observed to share friendly relationships with some group members and to resolve conflicts through reconciliation, the exchange of affiliative behaviour soon after a conflict that functions to restore the relationship between the former opponents. The valuable relationship hypothesis predicts that reconciliation should be observed more often after conflicts between friends. Friendly relationships can be described by three dimensions (i.e. value, security and compatibility); however, research into the relative importance of these dimensions for the occurrence of reconciliation is sparse. Moreover, reconciliation may depend on factors other than the social relationship between opponents including, for example, their social status or the context of the conflict. Our study aimed at analysing which factors are important determinants of reconciliation and at testing the valuable relationship hypothesis, by analysing the relative effects of relationship value, security and compatibility on the occurrence and timing of reconciliation. We collected data on two troops of wild Japanese macaques living on Yakushima Island, Japan, and selected the best predicting variables of reconciliation using linear mixed models. Our results show that reconciliation occurs more frequently, and earlier, after conflicts between opponents who exchange a higher percentage of grooming. Two additional variables related to relationship security and value were selected in the best models: frequency of aggression and of approaches resulting in tolerated co-feeding. Among the variables not related to relationship quality, distance between opponents at the end of the conflict, kinship, sex of the opponents and context of conflict (i.e. during feeding or social time) were included in our models. Our findings support the valuable relationship hypothesis and, in particular, highlight that the fitness-related benefits of social relationships (i.e. the relationship value) are important determinants of the evolution of friendly relationships and reconciliation.
Address
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4745
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Author Griffin, A. S.
Title Temporal Limitations on Social Learning of Novel Predators by Indian Mynahs, Acridotheres tristis Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 3 Pages 287-295
Keywords
Abstract Antipredator vocalizations of social companions are important for facilitating long-term changes in the responses of prey to novel predator stimuli. However, dynamic variation in the time course of acoustic communication has important implications for learning of predator cues associated with auditory signals. While animals often experience acoustic signals simultaneously with predator cues, they may also at times experience signals and predator stimuli in succession. The ability to learn about stimuli that are perceived not only together, but also after, acoustic signals has the potential to expand the range of opportunities for learning about novel events. Earlier work in Indian mynahs (Acridotheres tristis) has revealed that subjects acquire a visual exploratory response to a novel avian mount after they have experienced it together with conspecific distress vocalizations, a call produced in response to seizure by a predator. The present study explored to what extent such learning occurred if the avian mount was experienced after, rather than simultaneously with, distress calls, such as might happen if call production is interrupted by prey death. Results showed that mynahs that experienced a novel avian mount simultaneously with the sound of distress calls exhibited a sustained exploratory response to the mount after training relative to before that was not apparent in birds that received distress calls and mount in succession. This finding suggests that vocal antipredator signals may only trigger learning of environmental stimuli with which they share some temporal overlap. Recipients may need to access complementary non-vocal cues from the prey victim to learn about predator stimuli that are perceived after vocal behaviour.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4747
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Author Bourjade, M.; Thierry, B.; Maumy, M.; Petit, O.
Title Decision-making in Przewalski horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) is driven by the ecological contexts of collective movements Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 4 Pages 321-330
Keywords
Abstract We addressed decision-making processes in the collective movements of

two groups of Przewalski horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) living in a semi

free-ranging population. We investigated whether different patterns of

group movement are related to certain ecological contexts (habitat use

and group activity) and analysed the possible decision-making processes

involved. We found two distinct patterns; ‘single-bout’ and ‘multiplebout’

movements occurred in both study groups. The movements were

defined by the occurrence of collective stops between bouts and differed

by their duration, distance covered and ecological context. For both

movements, we found that a preliminary period involving several horses

occurred before departure. In single-bout movements, all group members

rapidly joined the first moving horse, independently of the preliminary

period. In multiple-bout movements, however, the joining

process was longer; in particular when the number of decision-makers

and their pre-departure behaviour before departure increased. Multiplebout

movements were more often used by horses to switch habitats and

activities. This observation demonstrates that the horses need more time

to resolve motivational conflicts before these departures. We conclude

that decision-making in Przewalski horses is based on a shared consensus

process driven by ecological determinants.
Address
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4801
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Author Fedurek, P.; Dunbar, R. I. M.
Title What Does Mutual Grooming Tell Us About Why Chimpanzees Groom? Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 6 Pages 566 - 575
Keywords
Abstract Grooming might be a resource that is offered in exchange for some benefit (e.g. access to a feeding site or coalitionary support) or it might be a mechanism for building and servicing social relationships, whose function, in turn, is to facilitate the exchange of resources and services. Bi-directional (or simultaneous mutual) grooming is unusually common among chimpanzees (though rare in other primates) and we suggest that this might be because it is an especially strong indicator of social bonding. Because the bonding role of bi-directional grooming offers substantially different predictions from the interpretation offered by the models based on reciprocal altruism (RA), we use a critical tests methodology (i.e. tests that unequivocally support one hypothesis at the expense of the other) to differentiate between the bonding and RA hypotheses. We use data on the dynamics of grooming interactions from a captive group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to show that dominant individuals tolerated the individuals with whom they performed bi-directional grooming more than they did those who typically provided them unidirectional grooming. Dominants rejected and terminated grooming sessions more often with the individuals who provided them with mostly unidirectional grooming than with those with whom they groomed bi-directionally. In addition, animals engaged in bi-directional grooming more often with both relatives and those with whom they were often in proximity. These results support the bonding model of mutually reciprocated grooming at the expense of the RA model, and suggest that, at least in chimpanzees, simultaneous mutual grooming may play a particularly important role in social bonding.
Address School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK; Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK DOI – 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2009.01637.x
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication © 2009 Blackwell Verlag GmbH Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4941
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Author Amandine Ramseyer; Bernard Thierry; Alain Boissy; Bertrand Dumont
Title Decision-making Processes in Group Departures of Cattle Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 10 Pages 948-957
Keywords
Abstract To keep social cohesiveness, group-living animals have to reach consensus decisions through recruitment processes. This implies that decision-making depends on the behaviours and social relationships of several group members at different stages of movements. We tested these assumptions in a group of fifteen 18-mo-old Charolais heifers (Bos taurus) at pasture, in which two observers continuously videotaped social interactions and group departures after resting periods. These departures were preceded by a phase of preparation characterized by an increase in activity. The number of heifers participating to a movement increased with the number of group members oriented in the direction of the movement before departure. The first moving animal also recruited a higher number of mates when it had a greater number of close neighbours, the first individuals to follow being mainly its preferential partners. Coercive interactions such as pressing behaviours were observed within the 5 min preceding or following departure. After departure, the numbers of walks and restarts of the first two movers were still operative in recruiting others. The frequency of pauses of the first mover was significantly higher when it was not followed, meaning that it adjusted its behaviour to that of other group members. Decision-making was distributed among group members, with any individual being liable to move first. The behaviour of cows and their spatial distribution before departure, at departure and after departure significantly affected the number of participants in the movement, demonstrating that decision-making was time-distributed in the studied cattle group.
Address INRA, UR 1213 Herbivores, Saint-Gens-Champanelle, France; Dpartement Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, IPHC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universit de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication © 2009 Blackwell Verlag GmbH Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4992
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Author Raquel Monclús; Heiko G. Rödel
Title Influence of Different Individual Traits on Vigilance Behaviour in European Rabbits Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 8 Pages 758-766
Keywords
Abstract An animal's level of vigilance depends on various environmental factors such as predator presence or the proximity of conspecific competitors. In addition, several individual traits may influence vigilance. We investigated the effects of body condition, social rank and the state of pregnancy on individual vigilance (scanning) rates in individually marked European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) of a field enclosure population. We found lower rates in young rabbits than in adult females, but male and female juveniles did not differ. Vigilance of juveniles was positively correlated with their age-dependent body mass (used as a measure of body condition), i.e. young rabbits with lower body condition scanned less. We suggest that juveniles with low body condition were trading off vigilance against feeding to maximise their growth. In contrast, there was no significant correlation between body mass and vigilance in adult females. Adult females increased scanning rates during late pregnancy, which might constitute a behavioural compensation because of their lower capacity to escape predator attacks. In addition, adult females with low social ranks scanned more than high ranking individuals, likely because of their higher risk of attacks by conspecifics. In summary, our results highlight various individual characteristics that influence vigilance behaviour in European rabbits.
Address Unidad de Zoologa, Dpto. Biologa, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Department of Animal Physiology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication © 2009 Blackwell Verlag GmbH Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4994
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Author Majolo, B.; Ventura, R.; Koyama, N. F.
Title Anxiety Level Predicts Post-Conflict Behaviour in Wild Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui) Type
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 10 Pages 986-995
Keywords
Abstract Reconciliation (i.e. the post-conflict exchange of friendly behaviour between former opponents) functions to control for the detrimental effects that aggression may have on social relationships. Studies conducted so far have investigated intra-individual sources of variation in post-conflict behaviour, showing that animals have a stronger increase in anxiety and are more likely to reconcile after conflicts with valuable partners, such as kin. Much less attention has been given to how differences between individuals in emotional profiles affect post-conflict behaviour. Our aim was to analyse whether inter-individual differences in baseline anxiety levels predicted the magnitude of the increase in anxiety following a conflict and the occurrence of reconciliation. We collected data on two groups of wild Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui). Animals having a higher baseline level of anxiety had a more dramatic anxious response following a conflict while controlling for a series of factors (e.g. relationship quality between opponents). These more anxious animals were also less likely to reconcile than more relaxed individuals. Therefore, more anxious animals face some social costs by being less able to cope with the post-conflict condition. We propose that differences in anxiety levels may be interpreted as tradeoffs between benefits and costs across conditions. For example, more anxious animals, who are less able to reconcile conflicts, might also be less exploratory and thus face a lower risk to eat unknown, poisonous food.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, UK; Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Social and Health Sciences Division of Psychology, University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee, UK; Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology & Palaeoecology, School of Natural Science & Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK DOI – 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2009.01685.x
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication © 2009 Blackwell Verlag GmbH Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4996
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Author Fucikova, E.; Drent, P. J.; Smits,N.; van Oers, K.
Title Handling Stress as a Measurement of Personality in Great Tit Nestlings (Parus major) Type Journal Article
Year (up) 2009 Publication Ethology Abbreviated Journal Ethology
Volume 115 Issue 4 Pages 366 - 374
Keywords
Abstract nterest in personality is growing in a wide range of disciplines, but only in a few systems it is possible to assess the survival value of personality. Field studies looking at the relationship between personality and survival value early in life are greatly hampered by the fact that personality can at present only be assessed after individuals become independent from their parents. In passerines, for example, this is often after a period of intensive selection for the survival on fledglings. The main aim of this study is therefore to develop a method to measure personality before this period of selection. For this purpose, we developed the handling stress (HS) test. We measured HS in 14-d-old great tit nestlings by counting the number of breast movements (breath rate) in four subsequent 15-s bouts for 1 min; before and after they were socially isolated from their siblings for 15 min. To calculate the repeatability of HS, we repeated the test 6 mo later. To assess the relationship between HS and exploratory behaviour, we correlated the outcome of both tests. We ran tests both on birds of lines selected for extreme personality and on wild birds from a natural population. We found that birds selected for fast exploration reacted more to HS compared with birds selected for slow exploration and that HS was repeatable in different life phases. We confirmed this by finding an increase in the HS with increasing exploratory scores in wild birds. These results show that we can use the HS test as a measurement of personality, making it a potential tool for studying the relationship between personality and survival value early in life.
Address
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5072
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