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Author Whiten, A.; van Schaik, C.P.
Title (down) 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
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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
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ISSN 0962-8436 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17255007 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 729
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Author Kokko, H.; Lopez-Sepulcre, A.
Title (down) The ecogenetic link between demography and evolution: can we bridge the gap between theory and data? Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Ecology Letters Abbreviated Journal
Volume 10 Issue 9 Pages 773-782
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Abstract Abstract Calls to understand the links between ecology and evolution have been common for decades. Population dynamics, i.e. the demographic changes in populations, arise from life history decisions of individuals and thus are a product of selection, and selection, on the contrary, can be modified by such dynamical properties of the population as density and stability. It follows that generating predictions and testing them correctly requires considering this ecogenetic feedback loop whenever traits have demographic consequences, mediated via density dependence (or frequency dependence). This is not an easy challenge, and arguably theory has advanced at a greater pace than empirical research. However, theory would benefit from more interaction between related fields, as is evident in the many near-synonymous names that the ecogenetic loop has attracted. We also list encouraging examples where empiricists have shown feasible ways of addressing the question, ranging from advanced data analysis to experiments and comparative analyses of phylogenetic data.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4226
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Author Schmidt, R.; Amrhein, V.; Kunc, H.P.; Naguib, M.
Title (down) The day after: effects of vocal interactions on territory defence in nightingales Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication The Journal of Animal Ecology Abbreviated Journal T. J. Anim. Ecol.
Volume 76 Issue 1 Pages 168-173
Keywords Aggression; Animals; Male; Songbirds/*physiology; *Territoriality; Time Factors; Vocalization, Animal/*physiology
Abstract 1. Models on territory acquisition and tenure predict that territorial animals benefit by adjusting territorial defence behaviour to previous challenges they had experienced within the socially complex environment of communication networks. 2. Here, we addressed such issues of social cognition by investigating persisting effects of vocal contests on territory defence behaviour in nightingales Luscinia megarhynchos (Brehm). 3. Using interactive playback during nocturnal song of subjects, a rival was simulated to countersing either aggressively (by song overlapping) or moderately (by song alternating) from outside the subjects' territory. Thereby, the time-specific singing strategy provided an experimentally controlled source of information on the motivation of an unfamiliar rival. 4. Expecting that nightingales integrate information with time, the same rival was simulated to return as a moderately singing intruder on the following morning. 5. The results show that the vigour with which male nightingales responded to the simulated intrusion of an opponent during the day depended on the nature of the nocturnal vocal interaction experienced several hours before. 6. Males that had received the song overlapping playback the preceding night approached the simulated intruder more quickly and closer and sang more songs near the loudspeaker than did males that had received a song alternating playback. 7. This adjustment of territory defence strategies depending on information from prior signalling experience suggests that integrating information with time plays an important part in territory defence by affecting a male's decision making in a communication network.
Address Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, PO Box 100 131, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany. rouven.schmidt@uni-bielefeld.de
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ISSN 0021-8790 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17184365 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2749
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Author Meehan, C.L.; Mench, J.A.
Title (down) The challenge of challenge: Can problem solving opportunities enhance animal welfare? Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 102 Issue 3-4 Pages 246-261
Keywords Cognition; Environmental enrichment; Challenge; Eustress; Problem solving; Intrinsic motivation
Abstract Cognitive mechanisms are an important part of the organization of the behavior systems of animals. In the wild, animals regularly face problems that they must overcome in order to survive and thrive. Solving such problems often requires animals to process, store, retrieve, and act upon information from the environment--in other words, to use their cognitive skills. For example, animals may have to use navigational, tool-making or cooperative social skills in order to procure their food. However, many enrichment programs for captive animals do not include the integration of these types of cognitive challenges. Thus, foraging enrichments typically are designed to facilitate the physical expression of feeding behaviors such as food-searching and food consumption, but not to facilitate complex problem solving behaviors related to food acquisition. Challenging animals by presenting them with problems is almost certainly a source of frustration and stress. However, we suggest here that this is an important, and even necessary, feature of an enrichment program, as long as animals also possess the skills and resources to effectively solve the problems with which they are presented. We discuss this with reference to theories about the emotional consequences of coping with challenge, the association between lack of challenge and the development of abnormal behavior, and the benefits of stress (arousal) in facilitating learning and memory of relevant skills. Much remains to be done to provide empirical support for these theories. However, they do point the way to a practical approach to improving animal welfare--to design enrichments to facilitate the cognitive mechanisms which underlie the performance of complex behaviors that cannot be performed due to the restrictions inherent to the captive environment.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2890
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Author Zentall, T.R.
Title (down) Temporal discrimination learning by pigeons Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Behavioural processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 74 Issue 2 Pages 286-292
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Abstract Memory for time by animals appears to undergo a systematic shortening. This so-called choose-short effect can be seen in a conditional temporal discrimination when a delay is inserted between the sample and comparison stimuli. We have proposed that this temporal shortening may result from a procedural artifact in which the delay appears similar to the intertrial interval and thus, produces an inadvertent ambiguity or 'instructional failure'. When this ambiguity is avoided by distinguishing the intertrial interval from the delay, as well as the samples from the delay, the temporal shortening effect and other asymmetries often disappear. By avoiding artifacts that can lead to a misinterpretation of results, we may understand better how animals represent time. An alternative procedure for studying temporal discriminations is with the psychophysical bisection procedure in which following conditional discrimination training, intermediate durations are presented and the point of subjective equality is determined. Research using the bisection procedure has shown that pigeons represent temporal durations not only as their absolute value but also relative to durations from which they must be discriminated. Using this procedure, we have also found that time passes subjectively slower when animals are required to respond to the to-be-timed stimulus.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, United States. zentall@uky.edu
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ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17110057 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 216
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Author Murphy, J.; Arkins, S.
Title (down) Synthesizing what we know of equine learning behaviour Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 76 Issue Pages 57-60
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Call Number Serial 876
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Author Sarova, R.; Spinka, M.; Panama, J.L.A.
Title (down) Synchronization and leadership in switches between resting and activity in a beef cattle herd--A case study Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 108 Issue 3-4 Pages 327-331
Keywords Beef cattle; Activity synchronization; Leadership; Dominance
Abstract The mechanisms of activity synchronization in group living ungulates are not well understood. In a case study on herd of 15 Gasconne beef cows with calves observed during a total of 25 summer daylight periods in 2004 and 2005, we examined whether cows similar to each other in body weight or in reproductive status were more synchronized and whether the timing of activity switches were determined by specific leading animals. We calculated the synchronization of all possible pairs of cows in the herd and tested the effects of similarity in body weight and in reproductive status (lactating versus non-lactating) on synchronization in the pair. Further, we assessed whether any specific individuals, and especially the dominant cows, were more able, through their own activity switch, to incite another cow to follow shortly with her switch in activity. We found that body weight differences had a negative influence on pair synchronization (GLMM, F1,65 = 6.79; p < 0.05), but reproductive status did not affect the synchronization. Cows' individual identity explained only a small proportion (<2%) of variability in intervals between switches of subsequent cows. Furthermore, dominance status of an individual cow did not correlate with mean interval between her activity switches and activity switches of the next cow (lying down: Spearman correlation, rs = -0.16, n = 14, p > 0.10; standing up: Spearman correlation, rs = -0.38, n = 14, p > 0.10), indicating that there were no leading animals initiating switches in activity in our herd.
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Call Number Serial 2025
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Author Elhay, M.; Newbold, A.; Britton, A.; Turley, P.; Dowsett, K.; Walker, J.
Title (down) 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
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ISSN 0005-0423 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17300452 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1831
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Author Hayashi, M.
Title (down) Stacking of blocks by chimpanzees: developmental processes and physical understanding Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 89-103
Keywords Animals; Cognition/*physiology; Female; Male; Motor Skills/*physiology; Pan troglodytes/*physiology/*psychology
Abstract The stacking-block task has been used to assess cognitive development in both humans and chimpanzees. The present study reports three aspects of stacking behavior in chimpanzees: spontaneous development, acquisition process following training, and physical understanding assessed through a cylindrical-block task. Over 3 years of longitudinal observation of block manipulation, one of three infant chimpanzees spontaneously started to stack up cubic blocks at the age of 2 years and 7 months. The other two infants began stacking up blocks at 3 years and 1 month, although only after the introduction of training by a human tester who rewarded stacking behavior. Cylindrical blocks were then introduced to assess physical understanding in object-object combinations in three infant (aged 3-4) and three adult chimpanzees. The flat surfaces of cylinders are suitable for stacking, while the rounded surface is not. Block manipulation was described using sequential codes and analyzed focusing on failure, cause, and solution in the task. Three of the six subjects (one infant and two adults) stacked up cylindrical blocks efficiently: frequently changing the cylinders' orientation without contacting the round side to other blocks. Rich experience in stacking cubes may facilitate subjects' stacking of novel, cylindrical shapes from the beginning. The other three subjects were less efficient in stacking cylinders and used variable strategies to achieve the goal. Nevertheless, they began to learn the effective way of stacking over the course of testing, after about 15 sessions (75 trials).
Address JSPS Research Fellow, Section of Language and Intelligence, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan. misato@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16909233 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2451
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Author Bannasch, D.; Rinaldo, C.; Millon, L.; Latson, K.; Spangler, T.; Hubberty, S.; Galuppo, L.; Lowenstine, L.
Title (down) SRY negative 64,XX intersex phenotype in an American saddlebred horse Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Veterinary Journal (London, England : 1997) Abbreviated Journal Vet J
Volume 173 Issue 2 Pages 437-439
Keywords Animals; Female; Genitalia/abnormalities; Hermaphroditism/*veterinary; Horse Diseases/*diagnosis/genetics; Horses/*genetics/*physiology; Karyotyping; Phenotype; Sex Differentiation; Sex Differentiation Disorders/diagnosis/veterinary; Sex-Determining Region Y Protein/genetics/*metabolism
Abstract A female American saddlebred horse was presented for surgical correction of a possible pseudohermaphrodite condition. The horse had abnormal external genitalia and exhibited stallion-like behaviour. No evidence of uterine or ovarian tissue was identified on laparoscopic examination, but hypoplastic testicular-like tissue was removed, although this was found to contain no spermatogonia upon histopathological examination. A karyotype was performed and showed the normal chromosomal complement for a female horse (64,XX). Polymerase chain reaction to detect the SRY gene was negative in peripheral blood as well as the testicular-like tissue. This case represents the first report of an SRY negative XX-male sex reversal intersex phenotype, which is a potentially inherited condition, in an American saddlebred horse.
Address Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. dlbannasch@ucdavis.edu
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Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1090-0233 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:16386440 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1882
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