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Author Cameron, E.Z.; du Toit, J.T. doi  openurl
  Title Winning by a neck: tall giraffes avoid competing with shorter browsers Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication The American naturalist Abbreviated Journal Am Nat  
  Volume 169 Issue 1 Pages 130-135  
  Keywords Acacia/growth & development; Animals; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Neck/*anatomy & histology; Plant Leaves/growth & development; Ruminants/*anatomy & histology/*physiology; South Africa  
  Abstract With their vertically elongated body form, giraffes generally feed above the level of other browsers within the savanna browsing guild, despite having access to foliage at lower levels. They ingest more leaf mass per bite when foraging high in the tree, perhaps because smaller, more selective browsers deplete shoots at lower levels or because trees differentially allocate resources to promote shoot growth in the upper canopy. We erected exclosures around individual Acacia nigrescens trees in the greater Kruger ecosystem, South Africa. After a complete growing season, we found no differences in leaf biomass per shoot across height zones in excluded trees but significant differences in control trees. We conclude that giraffes preferentially browse at high levels in the canopy to avoid competition with smaller browsers. Our findings are analogous with those from studies of grazing guilds and demonstrate that resource partitioning can be driven by competition when smaller foragers displace larger foragers from shared resources. This provides the first experimental support for the classic evolutionary hypothesis that vertical elongation of the giraffe body is an outcome of competition within the browsing ungulate guild.  
  Address Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. ezcameron@zoology.up.ac.za  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1537-5323 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17206591 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 410  
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Author Seed, A.M.; Clayton, N.S.; Emery, N.J. doi  openurl
  Title Postconflict third-party affiliation in rooks, Corvus frugilegus Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Current biology : CB Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol  
  Volume 17 Issue 2 Pages 152-158  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Conflict features in the lives of many animal species and induces social stress mediated by glucocorticoid hormones [1]. Postconflict affiliation, between former opponents (reconciliation) or between former opponents and a bystander (third-party affiliation), has been suggested as a behavioral mechanism for reducing such stress [2], but has been studied almost exclusively in primates [3]. As with many primates, several bird species live in social groups and form affiliative relationships [4]. Do these distantly related animals also use affiliative behavior to offset the costs of conflict? We studied postconflict affiliation in a captive group of rooks. Unlike polygamous primates, monogamous rooks did not reconcile with former opponents. However, we found clear evidence of third-party affiliation after conflicts. Both initiators and targets of aggression engaged in third-party affiliation with a social partner and employed a specific behavior, bill twining, during the postconflict period. Both former aggressors and uninvolved third parties initiated affiliative contacts. Despite the long history of evolutionary divergence, the pattern of third-party affiliation in rooks is strikingly similar to that observed in tolerant primate species. Furthermore, the absence of reconciliation in rooks makes sense in light of the species differences in social systems.  
  Address Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17240341 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 534  
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Author Grosenick, L.; Clement, T.S.; Fernald, R.D. doi  openurl
  Title Fish can infer social rank by observation alone Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Nature Abbreviated Journal Nature  
  Volume 445 Issue 7126 Pages 429-432  
  Keywords Aggression/physiology; Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Female; Fishes/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Male; Models, Biological; *Social Dominance; Territoriality  
  Abstract Transitive inference (TI) involves using known relationships to deduce unknown ones (for example, using A > B and B > C to infer A > C), and is thus essential to logical reasoning. First described as a developmental milestone in children, TI has since been reported in nonhuman primates, rats and birds. Still, how animals acquire and represent transitive relationships and why such abilities might have evolved remain open problems. Here we show that male fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) can successfully make inferences on a hierarchy implied by pairwise fights between rival males. These fish learned the implied hierarchy vicariously (as 'bystanders'), by watching fights between rivals arranged around them in separate tank units. Our findings show that fish use TI when trained on socially relevant stimuli, and that they can make such inferences by using indirect information alone. Further, these bystanders seem to have both spatial and featural representations related to rival abilities, which they can use to make correct inferences depending on what kind of information is available to them. Beyond extending TI to fish and experimentally demonstrating indirect TI learning in animals, these results indicate that a universal mechanism underlying TI is unlikely. Rather, animals probably use multiple domain-specific representations adapted to different social and ecological pressures that they encounter during the course of their natural lives.  
  Address Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA. logang@stanford.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1476-4687 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17251980 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 600  
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Author Horner, V.; Whiten, A. doi  openurl
  Title Learning from others' mistakes limits on understanding a trap-tube task by young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens) Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Journal of comparative psychology Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume 121 Issue 1 Pages 12-21  
  Keywords  
  Abstract A trap-tube task was used to determine whether chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens) who observed a model's errors and successes could master the task in fewer trials than those who saw only successes. Two- to 7-year-old chimpanzees and 3- to 4-year-old children did not benefit from observing errors and found the task difficult. Two of the 6 chimpanzees developed a successful anticipatory strategy but showed no evidence of representing the core causal relations involved in trapping. Three- to 4-year-old children showed a similar limitation and tended to copy the actions of the demonstrator, irrespective of their causal relevance. Five- to 6-year-old children were able to master the task but did not appear to be influenced by social learning or benefit from observing errors.  
  Address Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK. vhorner@rmy.emory.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Washington, D.C. : 1983 Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17324071 Approved yes  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 728  
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Author Whiten, A.; van Schaik, C.P. doi  openurl
  Title The evolution of animal 'cultures' and social intelligence Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences Abbreviated Journal Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci  
  Volume 362 Issue 1480 Pages 603-620  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Decades-long field research has flowered into integrative studies that, together with experimental evidence for the requisite social learning capacities, have indicated a reliance on multiple traditions ('cultures') in a small number of species. It is increasingly evident that there is great variation in manifestations of social learning, tradition and culture among species, offering much scope for evolutionary analysis. Social learning has been identified in a range of vertebrate and invertebrate species, yet sustained traditions appear rarer, and the multiple traditions we call cultures are rarer still. Here, we examine relationships between this variation and both social intelligence-sophisticated information processing adapted to the social domain-and encephalization. First, we consider whether culture offers one particular confirmation of the social ('Machiavellian') intelligence hypothesis that certain kinds of social life (here, culture) select for intelligence: 'you need to be smart to sustain culture'. Phylogenetic comparisons, particularly focusing on our own study animals, the great apes, support this, but we also highlight some paradoxes in a broader taxonomic survey. Second, we use intraspecific variation to address the converse hypothesis that 'culture makes you smart', concluding that recent evidence for both chimpanzees and orang-utans support this proposition.  
  Address Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0962-8436 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17255007 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 729  
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Author Hirsch, B.T. doi  openurl
  Title Costs and benefits of within-group spatial position: a feeding competition model Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication The Quarterly review of biology Abbreviated Journal Q Rev Biol  
  Volume 82 Issue 1 Pages 9-27  
  Keywords Animals; Competitive Behavior/*physiology; Dominance-Subordination; Feeding Behavior/*physiology/*psychology; Population Dynamics; Predatory Behavior/*physiology  
  Abstract An animal's within-group spatial position has several important fitness consequences. Risk of predation, time spent engaging in antipredatory behavior and feeding competition can all vary with respect to spatial position. Previous research has found evidence that feeding rates are higher at the group edge in many species, but these studies have not represented the entire breadth of dietary diversity and ecological situations faced by many animals. In particular the presence of concentrated, defendable food patches can lead to increased feeding rates by dominants in the center of the group that are able to monopolize or defend these areas. To fully understand the tradeoffs of within-group spatial position in relation to a variety of factors, it is important to be able to predict where individuals should preferably position themselves in relation to feeding rates and food competition. A qualitative model is presented here to predict how food depletion time, abundance of food patches within a group, and the presence of prior knowledge of feeding sites affect the payoffs of different within-group spatial positions for dominant and subordinate animals. In general, when feeding on small abundant food items, individuals at the front edge of the group should have higher foraging success. When feeding on slowly depleted, rare food items, dominants will often have the highest feeding rates in the center of the group. Between these two extreme points of a continuum, an individual's optimal spatial position is predicted to be influenced by an additional combination of factors, such as group size, group spread, satiation rates, and the presence of producer-scrounger tactics.  
  Address Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA. BTHIRSCH@IC.SUNYSB.EDU  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0033-5770 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17354992 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 803  
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Author Li, F.-H.; Zhong, W.-Q.; Wang, Z.; Wang, D.-H. doi  openurl
  Title Rank in a food competition test and humoral immune functions in male Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Physiology & behavior Abbreviated Journal Physiol. Behav.  
  Volume 90 Issue 2-3 Pages 490-495  
  Keywords Animals; Antibody Formation/*physiology; Arvicolinae/immunology/*physiology; Competitive Behavior/*physiology; *Dominance-Subordination; Feeding Behavior/physiology; Hydrocortisone/blood; Male; *Social Dominance; Spleen/immunology/physiology  
  Abstract Social status can influence an animal's immune and reproductive functions, eventually leading to alterations in immunocompetence and reproductive success. Here, we report that rank assessed in a food competition test, considered as an index of social status, has significant influences on humoral immune functions in male Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) living in a group. Our data reveal a negative correlation of the spleen mass and serum antibody levels with social status, as well as a positive correlation of serum cortisol levels with social status. Males winning in food competition had a smaller spleen, a lower level of serum antibodies, and a higher level of serum cortisol than did their conspecific counterparts. These data indicate interactions between social status and humoral immune functions and might illustrate a trade-off between infection risks and reproductive success in male Brandt's voles.  
  Address State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 25 Beisihuan Xilu, Zhongguancun, Haidian, Beijing 100080, China  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0031-9384 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17141282 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 804  
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Author Robinson, H.C. openurl 
  Title Equine interspecies aggression Type
  Year 2007 Publication The Veterinary record Abbreviated Journal Vet. Rec.  
  Volume 160 Issue 7 Pages 244  
  Keywords *Aggression; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Equidae; Horses/*physiology/*psychology  
  Abstract  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0042-4900 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17308028 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1773  
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Author Dugatkin LA. doi  openurl
  Title Developmental environment, cultural transmission, and mate choice copying Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Naturwissenschaften Abbreviated Journal Naturwissenschaften  
  Volume 94 Issue 8 Pages 651-656  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Using female mate choice copying as a rudimentary form of cultural transmission, this study provides evidence that social environment during development has a significant effect on the tendency to use culturally acquired information. Groups of newborn guppies (Poecilia reticulata) were raised for 35 days in 1 of 5 “developmental environments”. Groups of 15 newborns were raised in pools with no adults (treatment 1), both adult male and female guppies (treatments 2 and 3), only adult females (treatment 4) or only adult males (treatment 5). Mature females raised in treatments 1 and 2, but not treatments 3, 4, and 5, copied the mate choice of others. Treatments 1 and 2 correspond to social structures that guppies experience during their development in the wild. Newborn guppies swim together in shoals (analogous to treatment 1). As they mature, juveniles join schools of adult males and females (analogous to treatments 2). At no time during the normal developmental process are juveniles found with males, but only unreceptive females (as was the case for long periods in treatment 3) or in the presence of adults of only one sex (analogous to treatments 4 and 5). As such, normal developmental environments prime guppies for cultural transmission, while unnatural environments fail to do so.  
  Address Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA, Lee.Dugatkin@louisville.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0028-1042 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17354007 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1819  
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Author Elhay, M.; Newbold, A.; Britton, A.; Turley, P.; Dowsett, K.; Walker, J. doi  openurl
  Title Suppression of behavioural and physiological oestrus in the mare by vaccination against GnRH Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Australian Veterinary Journal Abbreviated Journal Aust Vet J  
  Volume 85 Issue 1-2 Pages 39-45  
  Keywords Animals; Antibodies/blood; Estradiol/blood; *Estrus/drug effects/physiology; Female; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone/*immunology/*pharmacology; Horses/*physiology; Luteinizing Hormone/blood; Ovulation/*drug effects/physiology; Progesterone/blood; Safety; Sexual Behavior, Animal/drug effects/physiology; Time Factors; Vaccination/veterinary  
  Abstract OBJECTIVE: To examine the immunogenicity of an equine immunocontraceptive vaccine and its efficacy in controlling hormone-related behaviour. DESIGN: A total of 24 mares at two sites in Australia were vaccinated with an immunocontraceptive vaccine comprising gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) conjugated to a carrier protein in immunostimulating complex as an adjuvant. Twelve animals at each site received a placebo of adjuvant alone and served as controls for seasonal oestrus, hormonal and behaviour patterns. Animals were observed for injection site reactions, ovarian and follicular activity, and serum levels of antibody, 17beta-oestradiol and progesterone in the weeks following vaccination. Mares were also examined for oestrous behaviour by teasing with a stallion. RESULTS: All mares responded to vaccination. Two weeks following the second vaccination there was a peak in antibody response to GnRH that declined gradually over the following weeks. Commensurate with the elevated anti-GnRH antibody there was a marked effect on ovarian activity with a reduction in 17beta-oestradiol and progesterone levels in the 24 vaccinated mares. There was also a reduction of oestrus-related behaviour as determined by a teaser stallion. This effect lasted a minimum of 3 months and correlated with the initial level of antibody response. CONCLUSION: Following a conventional two-dose immunisation regime this commercially available equine immunocontraceptive vaccine was effective at inhibiting oestrous behaviour for at least 3 months. This vaccine has a high level of safety since there were no significant local reactions nor were there any adverse systemic responses to vaccination.  
  Address Veterinary Medicines Research and Development, Pfizer Animal Health, Parkville, VIC 3052. Martin.Elhay@pfizer.com  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language (up) English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0005-0423 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17300452 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1831  
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