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Author |
Miklósi, Á.; Soproni, K. |
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Title |
A comparative analysis of animals' understanding of the human pointing gesture |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
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Volume |
9 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
81-93 |
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Keywords |
*Animal Communication; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Child; Child, Preschool; Dogs; Fixation, Ocular; *Gestures; Hand; Humans; *Nonverbal Communication; Pinnipedia; Primates; Problem Solving; *Recognition (Psychology); Species Specificity |
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Abstract |
We review studies demonstrating the ability of some animals to understand the human pointing gesture. We present a 3-step analysis of the topic. (1) We compare and evaluate current experimental methods (2) We compare available experimental results on performance of different species and investigate the interaction of species differences and other independent variables (3) We evaluate how our present understanding of pointing comprehension answers questions about function, evolution and mechanisms. Recently, a number of different hypotheses have been put forward to account for the presence of this ability in some species and for the lack of such comprehension in others. In our view, there is no convincing evidence for the assumption that the competitive lifestyles of apes would inhibit the utilization of this human gesture. Similarly, domestication as a special evolutionary factor in the case of some species falls short in explaining high levels of pointing comprehension in some non-domestic species. We also disagree with the simplistic view of describing the phenomenon as a simple form of conditioning. We suggest that a more systematic comparative research is needed to understand the emerging communicative representational abilities in animals that provide the background for comprehending the human pointing gesture. |
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Department of Ethology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Pazmany P 1/c, H-1117, Budapest, Hungary. miklosa@ludens.elte.hu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:16235075 |
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refbase @ user @ |
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463 |
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Author |
Mulcahy, N.J.; Call, J. |
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Title |
Apes save tools for future use |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
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Volume |
312 |
Issue |
5776 |
Pages |
1038-1040 |
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Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; *Cognition; *Evolution; *Mental Processes; *Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; *Pongo pygmaeus |
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Abstract |
Planning for future needs, not just current ones, is one of the most formidable human cognitive achievements. Whether this skill is a uniquely human adaptation is a controversial issue. In a study we conducted, bonobos and orangutans selected, transported, and saved appropriate tools above baseline levels to use them 1 hour later (experiment 1). Experiment 2 extended these results to a 14-hour delay between collecting and using the tools. Experiment 3 showed that seeing the apparatus during tool selection was not necessary to succeed. These findings suggest that the precursor skills for planning for the future evolved in great apes before 14 million years ago, when all extant great ape species shared a common ancestor. |
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Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany |
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1095-9203 |
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PMID:16709782 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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466 |
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Dzieweczynski, T.L.; Eklund, A.C.; Rowland, W.J. |
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Title |
Male 11-ketotestosterone levels change as a result of being watched in Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
General and comparative endocrinology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Gen Comp Endocrinol |
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Volume |
147 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
184-189 |
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Keywords |
Aggression; Animals; Female; Fishes/*blood; Male; Nesting Behavior; *Social Behavior; Social Environment; Testosterone/*analogs & derivatives/blood |
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Abstract |
This study investigated the effects of nesting status and the presence of an audience on 11-ketotestosterone (11KT) levels in male Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Prior studies have demonstrated that both nesting status, an indicator of territory-holding power and reproductive state, and the sex of a conspecific audience lead to differences in male behavior during aggressive encounters. Since behavioral changes have already been demonstrated, we chose to investigate whether 11KT levels were also influenced by nesting status and audience presence as 11KT both stimulates, and is stimulated by, reproductive and aggressive behaviors in male teleosts. Male 11KT levels were measured from water samples taken from containers holding fish both before and after interaction. Males interacted under three treatment conditions: no audience, female audience, and male audience. Within these treatments were two nest paradigms: both males had nests or neither male had a nest. 11KT levels varied depending on nesting status and audience type. In general, 11KT levels were lower in interacting males when a female audience was present or when males had nests. Overall, 11KT showed increases or decreases as aggression increased or decreased, as shown by already established behavioral findings [see Dzieweczynski T.L., Green T.M., Earley R.L., Rowland W.J., 2005. Audience effect is context dependent in Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Behav. Ecol. 16, 1025-1030; Doutrelant, C., McGregor, P.K., Oliveira, R.F., 2001. Effect of an audience on intrasexual communication in male Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Behav. Ecol. 12, 283-286.]. Our results suggest that 11KT levels are influenced by reproductive status, as indicated by nest ownership, and audience presence and are most likely modulated by territorial behavior and social environment. |
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Department of Psychology, University of New England, Biddeford, ME 04005, USA. tdzieweczynski@une.edu |
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0016-6480 |
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PMID:16473353 |
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no |
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Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
502 |
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Author |
Scheffer, M.; van Nes, E.H. |
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Title |
Self-organized similarity, the evolutionary emergence of groups of similar species |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |
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Volume |
103 |
Issue |
16 |
Pages |
6230-6235 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Competitive Behavior; *Ecosystem; *Evolution; *Models, Biological |
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Ecologists have long been puzzled by the fact that there are so many similar species in nature. Here we show that self-organized clusters of look-a-likes may emerge spontaneously from coevolution of competitors. The explanation is that there are two alternative ways to survive together: being sufficiently different or being sufficiently similar. Using a model based on classical competition theory, we demonstrate a tendency for evolutionary emergence of regularly spaced lumps of similar species along a niche axis. Indeed, such lumpy patterns are commonly observed in size distributions of organisms ranging from algae, zooplankton, and beetles to birds and mammals, and could not be well explained by earlier theory. Our results suggest that these patterns may represent self-constructed niches emerging from competitive interactions. A corollary of our findings is that, whereas in species-poor communities sympatric speciation and invasion of open niches is possible, species-saturated communities may be characterized by convergent evolution and invasion by look-a-likes. |
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Address |
Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8080, 6700 DD, Wageningen, The Netherlands. marten.scheffer@wur.nl |
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0027-8424 |
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PMID:16585519 |
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no |
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Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
510 |
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Author |
Amdam, G.V.; Csondes, A.; Fondrk, M.K.; Page, R.E.J. |
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Title |
Complex social behaviour derived from maternal reproductive traits |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Nature |
Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
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Volume |
439 |
Issue |
7072 |
Pages |
76-78 |
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Keywords |
Aging/physiology; Animals; Bees/*physiology; *Evolution; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Female; Infertility, Female; Maternal Behavior/*physiology; Ovary/physiology; Pollen/metabolism; Reproduction/*physiology; *Social Behavior |
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A fundamental goal of sociobiology is to explain how complex social behaviour evolves, especially in social insects, the exemplars of social living. Although still the subject of much controversy, recent theoretical explanations have focused on the evolutionary origins of worker behaviour (assistance from daughters that remain in the nest and help their mother to reproduce) through expression of maternal care behaviour towards siblings. A key prediction of this evolutionary model is that traits involved in maternal care have been co-opted through heterochronous expression of maternal genes to result in sib-care, the hallmark of highly evolved social life in insects. A coupling of maternal behaviour to reproductive status evolved in solitary insects, and was a ready substrate for the evolution of worker-containing societies. Here we show that division of foraging labour among worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) is linked to the reproductive status of facultatively sterile females. We thereby identify the evolutionary origin of a widely expressed social-insect behavioural syndrome, and provide a direct demonstration of how variation in maternal reproductive traits gives rise to complex social behaviour in non-reproductive helpers. |
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Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. Gro.Amdam@asu.edu |
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1476-4687 |
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PMID:16397498 |
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no |
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Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
531 |
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Author |
Nicol, C.J. |
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Title |
How animals learn from each other |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
100 |
Issue |
1-2 |
Pages |
58-63 |
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Keywords |
Social learning; Chickens; Demonstrators; Dominance |
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Abstract |
This paper explores ways by which animals may learn from one another, using examples drawn mostly from the chicken, an animal for which social learning is likely to be less dangerous than individual learning. In early life, the behaviour of the hen is important in encouraging chicks to peck at edible items. Maternal display not only attracts chicks to profitable food items, but also redirects their attention away from harmful or non-profitable items. Older chicks can enhance their foraging success by observing the behaviour of conspecifics within their own social group. Hens have been trained to perform a novel behaviour (key-pecking for food) by observation of a trained demonstrator bird. Moreover, observers learnt most from watching dominant demonstrators. Thus the ability to learn from others is not `fixed', but depends on the context and the social identity of both the observer and the demonstrator. |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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564 |
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Author |
Nudds, M.; Hurley, S. |
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Title |
Rational Animals? |
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Book Whole |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Oxford University Press |
Abbreviated Journal |
Oxf. Univ. Pr. |
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To what extent can animal behaviour be described as rational? What does it even mean to describe behaviour as rational? This book focuses on one of the major debates in science today – how closely does mental processing in animals resemble mental processing in humans. It addresses the question of whether and to what extent non-human animals are rational, that is, whether any animal behaviour can be regarded as the result of a rational thought processes. It does this with attention to three key questions, which recur throughout the book and which have both empirical and philosophical aspects: What kinds of behavioural tasks can animals successfully perform? What if any mental processes must be postulated to explain their performance at these tasks? What properties must processes have to count as rational? The book is distinctive in pursuing these questions not only in relation to our closest relatives, the primates, whose intelligence usually gets the most attention, but also in relation to birds and dolphins, where striking results are also being obtained. Some chapters focus on a particular species. They describe some of the extraordinary and complex behaviour of these species – using tools in novel ways to solve foraging problems, for example, or behaving in novel ways to solve complex social problems – and ask whether such behaviour should be explained in rational or merely mechanistic terms. Other chapters address more theoretical issues and ask, for example, what it means for behaviour to be rational, and whether rationality can be understood in the absence of language. The book includes many of the world's leading figures doing empirical work on rationality in primates, dolphins, and birds, as well as distinguished philosophers of mind and science. The book includes an editors' introduction which summarises the philosophical and empirical work presented, and draws together the issues discussed by the contributors. |
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0198528272 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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608 |
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Author |
Allen, C. |
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Title |
Transitive inference in animals: Reasoning or conditioned associations? |
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Book Chapter |
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2006 |
Publication |
Rational Animals? |
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175-186 |
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It is widely accepted that many species of nonhuman animals appear to engage in transitive inference,
producing appropriate responses to novel pairings of non-adjacent members of an ordered series
without previous experience of these pairings. Some researchers have taken this capability as
providing direct evidence that these animals reason. Others resist such declarations, favouring instead
explanations in terms of associative conditioning. Associative accounts of transitive inference have
been refined in application to a simple 5-element learning task that is the main paradigm for
laboratory investigations of the phenomenon, but it remains unclear how well those accounts
generalise to more information-rich environments such as social hierarchies which may contain scores
of individuals, and where rapid learning is important. The case of transitive inference is an example of
a more general dispute between proponents of associative accounts and advocates of more cognitive
accounts of animal behaviour. Examination of the specific details of transitive inference suggests
some lessons for the wider debate. |
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Texas A&M University |
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Oxford University Press |
Place of Publication |
Oxford |
Editor |
Hurley, S.; Nudds, M. |
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978-0-19-852827-2 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
611 |
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Author |
Keay, J.M.; Singh, J.; Gaunt, M.C.; Kaur, T. |
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Title |
Fecal glucocorticoids and their metabolites as indicators of stress in various mammalian species: a literature review |
Type |
Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Journal of zoo and wildlife medicine : official publication of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Zoo Wildl Med |
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Volume |
37 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
234-244 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Animals, Wild/metabolism; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods/veterinary; Circadian Rhythm; Conservation of Natural Resources; *Ecosystem; Feces/*chemistry; Glucocorticoids/*analysis/metabolism; Humans; Seasons; Species Specificity; Specimen Handling/methods/veterinary; Stress, Psychological/*metabolism |
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Conservation medicine is a discipline in which researchers and conservationists study and respond to the dynamic interplay between animals, humans, and the environment. From a wildlife perspective, animal species are encountering stressors from numerous sources. With the rapidly increasing human population, a corresponding increased demand for food, fuel, and shelter; habitat destruction; and increased competition for natural resources, the health and well-being of wild animal populations is increasingly at risk of disease and endangerment. Scientific data are needed to measure the impact that human encroachment is having on wildlife. Nonbiased biometric data provide a means to measure the amount of stress being imposed on animals from humans, the environment, and other animals. The stress response in animals functions via glucocorticoid metabolism and is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Fecal glucocorticoids, in particular, may be an extremely useful biometric test, since sample collection is noninvasive to subjects and, therefore, does not introduce other variables that may alter assay results. For this reason, many researchers and conservationists have begun to use fecal glucocorticoids as a means to measure stress in various animal species. This review article summarizes the literature on many studies in which fecal glucocorticoids and their metabolites have been used to assess stress levels in various mammalian species. Variations between studies are the main focus of this review. Collection methods, storage conditions, shipping procedures, and laboratory techniques utilized by different researchers are discussed. |
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Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, 0442 Duck Pond Drive, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA |
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English |
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1042-7260 |
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PMID:17319120 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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616 |
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Author |
Izar, P.; Ferreira, R.G.; Sato, T. |
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Title |
Describing the organization of dominance relationships by dominance-directed tree method |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
American journal of primatology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am. J. Primatol. |
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Volume |
68 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
189-207 |
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Keywords |
Animals; Cebus/physiology; *Models, Biological; *Social Dominance |
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Abstract |
Methods to describe dominance hierarchies are a key tool in primatology studies. Most current methods are appropriate for analyzing linear and near-linear hierarchies; however, more complex structures are common in primate groups. We propose a method termed “dominance-directed tree.” This method is based on graph theory and set theory to analyze dominance relationships in social groups. The method constructs a transitive matrix by imposing transitivity to the dominance matrix and produces a graphical representation of the dominance relationships, which allows an easy visualization of the hierarchical position of the individuals, or subsets of individuals. The method is also able to detect partial and complete hierarchies, and to describe situations in which hierarchical and nonhierarchical principles operate. To illustrate the method, we apply a dominance tree analysis to artificial data and empirical data from a group of Cebus apella. |
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Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. patrizar@usp.br |
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0275-2565 |
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PMID:16429416 |
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no |
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Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
723 |
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