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Author Jennings, D.J.; Gammell, M.P.; Carlin, C.M.; Hayden, T.J.
Title Effect of body weight, antler length, resource value and experience on fight duration and intensity in fallow deer Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 68 Issue 1 Pages 213-221
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Abstract We tested predictions of evolutionary game theory focusing on fight duration and intensity during contests between European fallow deer, Dama dama L. We examined the relation between contest duration and intensity and resource-holding potential (RHP; body weight and antler size), in an effort to reveal the assessment rules used by competing males. We examined other potential determinants of duration and intensity: resource value (the oestrous female) and experience of agonistic interactions. Asymmetry in body weight or antler length of contestants was not correlated with fight duration. Body weight and antler length of the fight winner or loser were also not correlated with fight duration. Neither were the body weight of the heavier or lighter animal or the antler length of the animal that had longer or shorter antlers. A measure of intensity (the jump clash) was positively related to the body weight of the losing animal and the lighter member of the dyad. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that opponents escalate contest intensity based on assessment of their own ability rather than through mutual assessment. There was no evidence that resource value is an important factor in either fight duration or intensity in this population. As the number of fights between pairs of males increased, there was a decrease in fight duration. Fights were longer when at least one member of a competing pair of males had previously experienced a victory.
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Call Number Serial 2126
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Author Danchin, E.; Giraldeau, L.-A.; Valone, T.J.; Wagner, R.H.
Title Public information: from nosy neighbors to cultural evolution Type (up) 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
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15273386 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2131
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Author Gauvin, S.; Giraldeau, L.-A.
Title Nutmeg mannikins ( Lonchura punctulata) reduce their feeding rates in response to simulated competition Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Oecologia Abbreviated Journal Oecologia
Volume 139 Issue 1 Pages 150-156
Keywords Animals; *Feeding Behavior; Population Density; *Social Behavior; *Songbirds
Abstract Group feeding animals experience a number of competitive foraging costs that may result in a lowered feeding rate. It is important to distinguish between reductions in feeding rates that are caused by reduced food availability and physical interactions among foragers from those caused by the mere presence of foraging companions that may be self-imposed in order to obtain some benefit of group membership. Starlings ( Sturnus vulgaris) reduce their feeding rates when in the company of simulated competitors located in an adjacent cage that cannot affect the food availability or interact with the forager. In the present study, we investigate whether the presence of simulated competitors in another species of passerine, nutmeg mannikins ( Lonchura punctulata), can result in self-imposed reductions in feeding rates. When feeding in the company of simulated competitors, mannikins spent more non-foraging time near them, fed more slowly, reduced travel times between patches, reduced their scanning time and pecked more slowly. These results provide evidence that simulated competitors induce a reduction in pecking rate: behavioural interference. These self-imposed responses to competitors may have resulted from attempts to remain close to the non-feeding companions. Such self-imposed reductions in feeding rates may be a widespread yet generally unrecognised foraging cost to group feeding individuals.
Address Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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ISSN 0029-8549 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:14722748 Approved no
Call Number Serial 2133
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Author Langbein, J.; Puppe, B.
Title Analysing dominance relationships by sociometric methods--a plea for a more standardised and precise approach in farm animals Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 87 Issue 3-4 Pages 293-315
Keywords Dominance; Dyads; Social hierarchy; Sociometric measures; Pig; Dwarf goat
Abstract Social dominance is a multidimensional phenomenon occurring in all gregarious farm animals and finds its reflection in a dominance hierarchy. Hence, numerous studies have tried to analyse dominance relationships as well as to correlate outcoming results (mostly individual ranks) with other behavioural and/or physiological features of the animals. Although the concept of dominance, once established, has been developed continuously and several sociometric measures were cumulatively introduced, a consistent analysing approach has not been achieved, especially in farm animals. Thus, considerable inconsistencies in the used methodology may impair obtained results and interpretations. The present paper is a plea for a more standardised and complex approach when analysing dominance relationships, not only in farm animals. First, derived from a structural definition of dominance, we suggest in detail the preferably consistent use of appropriate sociometric measures at all social levels of analysis: the dyad as the starting level, the group as the highest level, and the individual as the basic level. Second, we applied this procedures in a case study to analyse social dominance in a group of dwarf goats (n=12) and pigs (n=10), respectively, to comparatively demonstrate benefits and problems of such an approach in two different farm animal species. It is concluded that the use of individual ranks is actually only reasonable when fundamental sociometric measures both at the dyadic level (e.g. percentage of dyads which have a significant asymmetric outcome) and at the group level (e.g. the strength of hierarchy) are successfully tested by statistical methods as also presented in this paper. The calculated sociometric measures deliver not only a more comprehensive “picture” of the social relationships within a group as simple ranks do, but also indicate possible reasons of differences in the behavioural development. For instance, whereas the dwarf goats maintained a quasi-linear dominance hierarchy over time with a high rate of overt agonistic behaviour, pigs after the establishment of their hierarchy showed a reduced agonistic behaviour which makes it questionable to calculate reliable sociometric measures. These species-dependent variations may be primarily caused by different kinds of the fighting behaviour in goats (i.e. ritualised, low costs) and pigs (i.e. more seriously, high costs). Overall, a more consistent and standardised approach of analysing social dominance in (farm) animals may improve the scientific value of single studies and makes it easier to compare various studies within a species and between species.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 2141
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Author Powell, F.; Banks, P.B.
Title Do house mice modify their foraging behaviour in response to predator odours and habitat? Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 67 Issue 4 Pages 753-759
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Abstract Predator odours and habitat structure are thought to influence the behaviour of small mammalian prey, which use them as cues to reduce risks of predation. We tested this general hypothesis for house mice, Mus domesticus, by manipulating fox odour density via addition of fox scats and habitat via patchy mowing of vegetation, for populations in 15 x 15-m field enclosures. Using giving-up densities (GUDs), the density of food remaining when an animal quits harvesting a patch, we measured foraging behaviours in response to these treatments. Mice consistently avoided open areas, leaving GUDs two to four times greater in these areas than in densely vegetated patches. However, mouse GUDs did not change in response to the addition of fox scats, even immediately after fresh scats were added. There was no interaction between fox odour and habitat use. We then tested whether habituation to fox odours had occurred, by comparing the individual responses to scats of eight mice born into enclosures with fox scats to those of eight mice born into scat-free enclosures and five wild mice. In smaller enclosures, GUDs of trays with scats did not differ from GUDs of trays without scats for any treatment. We conclude that exposure to high levels of fox odours did not alter the foraging behaviour of mice, but that mice did reduce foraging in areas where habitat was removed, perceiving predation risk to be greater in these areas than controls. We suggest further that studies using the `scat-at-trap' technique, which have shown avoidance of predator odours by mice and other small mammals, may overestimate the general avoidance of predator odours by free-living prey, which must forage with a constant background of predator odours.
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Call Number Serial 2142
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Author Sih, A.; Bell, A.; Johnson, J.C.
Title Behavioral syndromes: an ecological and evolutionary overview Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Trends in Ecology & Evolution Abbreviated Journal Trends. Ecol. Evol
Volume 19 Issue 7 Pages 372-378
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Abstract Recent studies suggest that populations and species often exhibit behavioral syndromes; that is, suites of correlated behaviors across situations. An example is an aggression syndrome where some individuals are more aggressive, whereas others are less aggressive across a range of situations and contexts. The existence of behavioral syndromes focuses the attention of behavioral ecologists on limited (less than optimal) behavioral plasticity and behavioral carryovers across situations, rather than on optimal plasticity in each isolated situation. Behavioral syndromes can explain behaviors that appear strikingly non-adaptive in an isolated context (e.g. inappropriately high activity when predators are present, or excessive sexual cannibalism). Behavioral syndromes can also help to explain the maintenance of individual variation in behavioral types, a phenomenon that is ubiquitous, but often ignored. Recent studies suggest that the behavioral type of an individual, population or species can have important ecological and evolutionary implications, including major effects on species distributions, on the relative tendencies of species to be invasive or to respond well to environmental change, and on speciation rates. Although most studies of behavioral syndromes to date have focused on a few organisms, mainly in the laboratory, further work on other species, particularly in the field, should yield numerous new insights.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2185
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Author Lamoot, I.; Callebaut, J.; Degezelle, T.; Demeulenaere, E.; Laquiere, J.; Vandenberghe, C.; Hoffmann, M.
Title Eliminative behaviour of free-ranging horses: do they show latrine behaviour or do they defecate where they graze? Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 86 Issue 1-2 Pages 105-121
Keywords Equids; Faeces avoidance; Grazing behaviour; Spatial differentiation; Urine; Horse marking
Abstract In contrast to horses in pastures, it is thought that free-ranging horses do not perform latrine behaviour, i.e. a behavioural pattern whereby the animals graze and defecate in separate areas. However, few studies deal with this particular subject, reporting contrasting conclusions. We hypothesize that horses free-ranging in large heterogeneous areas do not perform latrine behaviour. Thus, we believe that grazing and elimination behaviour are spatially related: where horses graze, they will also defecate. Behavioural data were collected from Konik horses, Haflinger horses, Shetland ponies and donkeys, grazing in different nature reserves (54-80 ha). Data for the different equids were analyzed separately, as well as data for mares and stallions (Konik and donkey stallions only). We investigated the proportion of the number of defecations/urinations while grazing on the total number of defecations/urinations; furthermore, we searched for the sequence of behaviours representing latrine behaviour in the strict sense. Additionally, we analyzed the correlation between grazing behaviour and eliminative behaviour on both vegetation type level and patch level. All the female equids often continued grazing while defecating. During urination, grazing ceases in the majority of instances. Cases where a mare terminated grazing in a certain vegetation type and sward height to eliminate in another vegetation type or in another sward height within the same vegetation type were rarely observed. On the vegetation type level as well as on the patch level, there was a highly significant (P<0.001) positive correlation between grazing time and number of eliminations (or eliminating time). The high values of the correlation coefficients (in case of the defecation variables r ranges between 0.553 and 0.955; in case of the urination variables r ranges between 0.370 and 0.839) illustrate that the spatial distribution of the eliminative behaviour can be explained to a high degree by the spatial distribution of the grazing behaviour. Results in the case of the stallions are preliminary, but indicate the same pattern. Horses, free-ranging in large heterogeneous areas, do not perform latrine behaviour, but defecate where they graze. Possibly, animal density is of major importance to explain this behavioural difference with horses in pastures. We suggest that also spatial vegetation heterogeneity and plant productivity of the grazed area, as well as parasite status of the grazing animals could play a role.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2339
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Author Allcroft, D. J.; Tolkamp, B. J.; Glasbey, C. A.; Kyriazakis, I.
Title The importance of `memory' in statistical models for animal feeding behaviour Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 67 Issue 1 Pages 99-109
Keywords Cow; Feeding data; Bouts; Memory; Satiety; Latent structure; Model comparison
Abstract We investigate models for animal feeding behaviour, with the aim of improving understanding of how animals organise their behaviour in the short term. We consider three classes of model: hidden Markov, latent Gaussian and semi-Markov. Each can predict the typical `clustered' feeding behaviour that is generally observed, however they differ in the extent to which `memory' of previous behaviour is allowed to affect future behaviour. The hidden Markov model has `lack of memory', the current behavioural state being dependent on the previous state only. The latent Gaussian model assumes feeding/non-feeding periods to occur by the thresholding of an underlying continuous variable, thereby incorporating some `short-term memory'. The semi-Markov model, by taking into account the duration of time spent in the previous state, can be said to incorporate `longer-term memory'. We fit each of these models to a dataset of cow feeding behaviour. We find the semi-Markov model (longer-term memory) to have the best fit to the data and the hidden Markov model (lack of memory) the worst. We argue that in view of effects of satiety on short-term feeding behaviour of animal species in general, biologically suitable models should allow `memory' to play a role. We conclude that our findings are equally relevant for the analysis of other types of short-term behaviour that are governed by satiety-like principles.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2350
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Author Sanchez-Vizcaino, J.M.
Title Control and eradication of African horse sickness with vaccine Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Developments in Biologicals Abbreviated Journal Dev Biol (Basel)
Volume 119 Issue Pages 255-258
Keywords African Horse Sickness/epidemiology/*prevention & control; African horse sickness virus/immunology; Animals; Disease Outbreaks/veterinary; Equidae/*virology; Horses; Insect Control; Insect Vectors/virology; Spain/epidemiology; Viral Vaccines/*administration & dosage
Abstract African horse sickness (AHS) is an infectious but no-contagious viral disease of equidae with high mortality in horses. The disease is caused by an arthropod-borne double-stranded RNA virus within the genus Orbivirus of the family Reoviridae transmitted by at least two species of Culicoides. Nine different serotypes have been described. The nine serotypes of AHS have been described in eastern and southern Africa. Only AHS serotypes 9 and 4 have been found in West Africa from where they occasionally spread into countries surrounding the Mediterranean. Examples of outbreaks that have occurred outside Africa are: in the Middle East (1959-1963), in Spain (serotype 9, 1966, serotype 4, 1987-1990), and in Portugal (serotype 4, 1989) and Morocco (serotype 4, 1989-1991). Laboratory diagnosis of AHS is essential. Although the clinical signs and lesions are characteristic, they can be confused with those of other diseases. Several techniques have been adapted for the detection of RNA segments, antibodies and antigen. Two types of vaccines have been described for AHS virus. Attenuated live vaccines (monovalent and polyvalent) for use in horses, mules and donkeys, are currently available, as well as a monovalent, serotype 4, inactivated vaccine, produced commercially but no longer available. New vaccines, including a subunit vaccine, have been evaluated experimentally. In this paper a review of the last AHS outbreaks in Spain, occurring during 1987-1990, and affecting the central and south part of the country, is presented. The role that vaccination played for the control and eradication of the disease, as well as other aspects such as climatological conditions, number of vectors and horse management, are also presented and evaluated.
Address Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. jmvizcaino@vet.ucm.es
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ISSN 1424-6074 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15742636 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2357
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Author Mellor, P.S.; Hamblin, C.
Title African horse sickness Type (up) Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Veterinary Research Abbreviated Journal Vet Res
Volume 35 Issue 4 Pages 445-466
Keywords African Horse Sickness/epidemiology/*prevention & control/*transmission/virology; African horse sickness virus/pathogenicity; Animals; Culicidae; Europe/epidemiology; Horses; Insect Vectors
Abstract African horse sickness virus (AHSV) causes a non-contagious, infectious insect-borne disease of equids and is endemic in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa and possibly Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula. However, periodically the virus makes excursions beyond its endemic areas and has at times extended as far as India and Pakistan in the east and Spain and Portugal in the west. The vectors are certain species of Culicoides biting midge the most important of which is the Afro-Asiatic species C. imicola. This paper describes the effects that AHSV has on its equid hosts, aspects of its epidemiology, and present and future prospects for control. The distribution of AHSV seems to be governed by a number of factors including the efficiency of control measures, the presence or absence of a long term vertebrate reservoir and, most importantly, the prevalence and seasonal incidence of the major vector which is controlled by climate. However, with the advent of climate-change the major vector, C. imicola, has now significantly extended its range northwards to include much of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece and has even been recorded from southern Switzerland. Furthermore, in many of these new locations the insect is present and active throughout the entire year. With the related bluetongue virus, which utilises the same vector species of Culicoides this has, since 1998, precipitated the worst outbreaks of bluetongue disease ever recorded with the virus extending further north in Europe than ever before and apparently becoming endemic in that continent. The prospects for similar changes in the epidemiology and distribution of AHSV are discussed.
Address Institute for Animal Health, Department of Arbovirology, Pirbright Laboratory, Ash Rd., Pirbright, Woking, Surrey, GU24 0NF, United Kingdom. philip.mellor@bbsrc.ac.uk
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ISSN 0928-4249 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:15236676 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2358
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