Records |
Author |
Nguyen, N.; Van Horn, R.; Alberts, S.; Altmann, J. |
Title |
“Friendships” between new mothers and adult males: adaptive benefits and determinants in wild baboons (Papio cynocephalus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. |
Volume |
63 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
1331-1344 |
Keywords |
Biomedical and Life Sciences |
Abstract |
Close associations between adult males and lactating females and their dependent infants are not commonly described in non-monogamous mammals. However, such associations [sometimes called friendships (Smuts 1985)] are regularly observed in several primate species in which females mate with multiple males during the fertile period. The absence of mating exclusivity among friends suggests that males should invest little in infant care, raising questions about the adaptive significance of friendship bonds. Using data from genetic paternity analyses, patterns of behavior, and long-term demographic and reproductive records, we evaluated the extent to which friendships in four multi-male, multi-female yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) groups in Amboseli, Kenya represent joint parental care of offspring or male mating effort. We found evidence that mothers and infants benefited directly from friendships; friendships provided mother–infant dyads protection from harassment from other adult and immature females. In addition, nearly half of all male friends were the genetic fathers of offspring and had been observed mating with mothers during the days of most likely conception for those offspring. In contrast, nearly all friends who were not fathers were also not observed to consort with the mother during the days of most likely conception, suggesting that friendships between mothers and non-fathers did not result from paternity confusion. Finally, we found no evidence that prior friendship increased a male’s chances of mating with a female in future reproductive cycles. Our results suggest that, for many male–female pairs at Amboseli, friendships represented a form of biparental care of offspring. Males in the remaining friendship dyads may be trading protection of infants in exchange for some resources or services not yet identified. Our study is the first to find evidence that female primates gain social benefits from their early associations with adult males. |
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Springer Berlin / Heidelberg |
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0340-5443 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5243 |
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Author |
Warneken, F.; Tomasello, M. |
Title |
Varieties of altruism in children and chimpanzees |
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Abstract |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Trends in cognitive sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Trends Cogn Sci |
Volume |
13 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
397-402 |
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Recent empirical research has shed new light on the perennial question of human altruism. A number of recent studies suggest that from very early in ontogeny young children have a biological predisposition to help others achieve their goals, to share resources with others and to inform others of things helpfully. Humans nearest primate relatives, such as chimpanzees, engage in some but not all of these behaviors: they help others instrumentally, but they are not so inclined to share resources altruistically and they do not inform others of things helpfully. The evolutionary roots of human altruism thus appear to be much more complex than previously supposed. |
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Elsevier Science, |
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1364-6613 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ S1364-6613(09)00149-1 DOI - 10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.008 |
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5608 |
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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 |
2009 |
Publication |
Ethology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Ethology |
Volume |
115 |
Issue |
8 |
Pages |
758-766 |
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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. |
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Unidad de Zoologa, Dpto. Biologa, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Department of Animal Physiology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany |
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© 2009 Blackwell Verlag GmbH |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4994 |
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Author |
Gácsi, M.; Gyoöri, B.; Virányi, Z.; Kubinyi, E.; Range, F.; Belényi, B.; Miklósi, Á. |
Title |
Explaining Dog Wolf Differences in Utilizing Human Pointing Gestures: Selection for Synergistic Shifts in the Development of Some Social Skills |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
PLoS ONE |
Abbreviated Journal |
PLoS ONE |
Volume |
4 |
Issue |
8 |
Pages |
e6584 |
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<sec> <title>Background</title> <p>The comparison of human related communication skills of socialized canids may help to understand the evolution and the epigenesis of gesture comprehension in humans. To reconcile previously contradicting views on the origin of dogs' outstanding performance in utilizing human gestures, we suggest that dog-wolf differences should be studied in a more complex way.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Methodology/Principal Findings</title> <p>We present data both on the performance and the behaviour of dogs and wolves of different ages in a two-way object choice test. Characteristic behavioural differences showed that for wolves it took longer to establish eye contact with the pointing experimenter, they struggled more with the handler, and pups also bit her more before focusing on the human's signal. The performance of similarly hand-reared 8-week-old dogs and wolves did not differ in utilizing the simpler proximal momentary pointing. However, when tested with the distal momentary pointing, 4-month-old pet dogs outperformed the same aged hand reared wolves. Thus early and intensive socialisation does not diminish differences between young dogs and wolves in behaviour and performance. Socialised adult wolves performed similarly well as dogs in this task without pretraining. The success of adult wolves was accompanied with increased willingness to cooperate.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Conclusion/Significance</title> <p>Thus, we provide evidence for the first time that socialised adult wolves are as successful in relying on distal momentary pointing as adult pet dogs. However, the delayed emergence of utilising human distal momentary pointing in wolves shows that these wild canines react to a lesser degree to intensive socialisation in contrast to dogs, which are able to control agonistic behaviours and inhibition of actions in a food related task early in development. We suggest a “synergistic” hypothesis, claiming that positive feedback processes (both evolutionary and epigenetic) have increased the readiness of dogs to attend to humans, providing the basis for dog-human communication.</p> </sec> |
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Public Library of Science |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5196 |
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Author |
Clutton-Brock, T. |
Title |
Cooperation between non-kin in animal societies |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
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Abbreviated Journal |
Nature |
Volume |
462 |
Issue |
7269 |
Pages |
51-57 |
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Explanations of cooperation between non-kin in animal societies often suggest that individuals exchange resources or services and that cooperation is maintained by reciprocity. But do cooperative interactions between unrelated individuals in non-human animals really resemble exchanges or are they a consequence of simpler mechanisms? Firm evidence of reciprocity in animal societies is rare and many examples of cooperation between non-kin probably represent cases of intra-specific mutualism or manipulation. |
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Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved |
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0028-0836 |
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10.1038/nature08366 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5270 |
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Author |
Harrison, S.A.; Tong, F. |
Title |
Decoding reveals the contents of visual working memory in early visual areas |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
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Nature |
Volume |
458 |
Issue |
7238 |
Pages |
632-635 |
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Visual working memory provides an essential link between perception and higher cognitive functions, allowing for the active maintenance of information about stimuli no longer in view1, 2. Research suggests that sustained activity in higher-order prefrontal, parietal, inferotemporal and lateral occipital areas supports visual maintenance3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and may account for the limited capacity of working memory to hold up to 3–4 items9, 10, 11. Because higher-order areas lack the visual selectivity of early sensory areas, it has remained unclear how observers can remember specific visual features, such as the precise orientation of a grating, with minimal decay in performance over delays of many seconds12. One proposal is that sensory areas serve to maintain fine-tuned feature information13, but early visual areas show little to no sustained activity over prolonged delays14, 15, 16. Here we show that orientations held in working memory can be decoded from activity patterns in the human visual cortex, even when overall levels of activity are low. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and pattern classification methods, we found that activity patterns in visual areas V1–V4 could predict which of two oriented gratings was held in memory with mean accuracy levels upwards of 80%, even in participants whose activity fell to baseline levels after a prolonged delay. These orientation-selective activity patterns were sustained throughout the delay period, evident in individual visual areas, and similar to the responses evoked by unattended, task-irrelevant gratings. Our results demonstrate that early visual areas can retain specific information about visual features held in working memory, over periods of many seconds when no physical stimulus is present. |
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Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved |
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0028-0836 |
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10.1038/nature07832 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4944 |
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Author |
Ohtsuki, H.; Iwasa, Y.; Nowak, M.A. |
Title |
Indirect reciprocity provides only a narrow margin of efficiency for costly punishment |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
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Nature |
Volume |
457 |
Issue |
7225 |
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79-82 |
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Indirect reciprocity1, 2, 3, 4, 5 is a key mechanism for the evolution of human cooperation. Our behaviour towards other people depends not only on what they have done to us but also on what they have done to others. Indirect reciprocity works through reputation5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. The standard model of indirect reciprocity offers a binary choice: people can either cooperate or defect. Cooperation implies a cost for the donor and a benefit for the recipient. Defection has no cost and yields no benefit. Currently there is considerable interest in studying the effect of costly (or altruistic) punishment on human behaviour18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. Punishment implies a cost for the punished person. Costly punishment means that the punisher also pays a cost. It has been suggested that costly punishment between individuals can promote cooperation. Here we study the role of costly punishment in an explicit model of indirect reciprocity. We analyse all social norms, which depend on the action of the donor and the reputation of the recipient. We allow errors in assigning reputation and study gossip as a mechanism for establishing coherence. We characterize all strategies that allow the evolutionary stability of cooperation. Some of those strategies use costly punishment; others do not. We find that punishment strategies typically reduce the average payoff of the population. Consequently, there is only a small parameter region where costly punishment leads to an efficient equilibrium. In most cases the population does better by not using costly punishment. The efficient strategy for indirect reciprocity is to withhold help for defectors rather than punishing them. |
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Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved |
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0028-0836 |
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10.1038/nature07601 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4705 |
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Author |
John L. Orrock; Brent J. Danielson |
Title |
Temperature and Cloud Cover, but Not Predator Urine, Affect Winter Foraging of Mice |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
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Ethology |
Volume |
115 |
Issue |
7 |
Pages |
641 - 648 |
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Although homeotherms likely experience costs of both predation risk and thermoregulation while foraging, it is unclear how foragers contend with these costs. We used foraging trays placed in sheltered microsites to determine whether temperature, a direct cue of predator presence (predator urine) and an indirect cue of predation risk (cloudy nights) affect foraging of white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus, in winter. Mice were presented with urine from bobcats, Lynx rufus, red foxes, Vulpes vulpes, and coyotes, Canis latrans, an herbivore (whitetailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus), and a water control. To measure rodent foraging, we used seeds of millet mixed with sand to quantify giving-up densities (the number of seeds left in each foraging tray). Giving-up density was not affected by predator urine. Rather, rodent foraging was affected by an interaction of temperature and weather. On overcast nights, when predation risk was likely lower, mice foraged more when soil temperature was higher, presumably reducing thermoregulatory costs. On clear nights, foraging was low regardless of soil temperature, presumably because foraging was more risky. These results suggest that mice consider thermoregulatory costs and predation risk when making foraging decisions, and that the indirect cue afforded by weather, rather than the direct cue of predator urine, is among the cues used to make foraging decisions. Moreover, these results suggest that sensitivity to a particular cue is likely to be context-dependent. |
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Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA DOI – 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2009.01654.x |
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© 2009 Blackwell Verlag GmbH |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4948 |
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Sih, A.; Hanser, S.; McHugh, K. |
Title |
Social network theory: new insights and issues for behavioral ecologists |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. |
Volume |
63 |
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7 |
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975-988 |
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Abstract Until recently, few studies have used social network theory (SNT) and metrics to examine how social network structure (SNS) might influence social behavior and social dynamics in non-human animals. Here, we present an overview of why and how the social network approach might be useful for behavioral ecology. We first note four important aspects of SNS that are commonly observed, but relatively rarely quantified: (1) that within a social group, differences among individuals in their social experiences and connections affect individual and group outcomes; (2) that indirect connections can be important (e.g., partners of your partners matter); (3) that individuals differ in their importance in the social network (some can be considered keystone individuals); and (4) that social network traits often carry over across contexts (e.g., SN position in male–male competition can influence later male mating success). We then discuss how these four points, and the social network approach in general, can yield new insights and questions for a broad range of issues in behavioral ecology including: mate choice, alternative mating tactics, male–male competition, cooperation, reciprocal altruism, eavesdropping, kin selection, dominance hierarchies, social learning, information flow, social foraging, and cooperative antipredator behavior. Finally, we suggest future directions including: (1) integrating behavioral syndromes and SNT; (2) comparing space use and SNS; (3) adaptive partner choice and SNS; (4) the dynamics and stability (or instability) of social networks, and (5) group selection shaping SNS. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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4990 |
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Author |
Lusseau, D.; Conradt, L. |
Title |
The emergence of unshared consensus decisions in bottlenose dolphins |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. |
Volume |
63 |
Issue |
7 |
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1067-1077 |
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Behavioral ecology – Decision-making process – Bottlenose dolphin – Group living |
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Abstract Unshared consensus decision-making processes, in which one or a small number of individuals make the decision for the rest of a group, are rarely documented. However, this mechanism can be beneficial for all group members when one individual has greater knowledge about the benefits of the decision than other group members. Such decisions are reached during certain activity shifts within the population of bottlenose dolphins residing in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand. Behavioral signals are performed by one individual and seem to precipitate shifts in the behavior of the entire group: males perform side flops and initiate traveling bouts while females perform upside-down lobtails and terminate traveling bouts. However, these signals are not observed at all activity shifts. We find that, while side flops were performed by males that have greater knowledge than other male group members, this was not the case for females performing upside-down lobtails. The reason for this could have been that a generally high knowledge about the optimal timing of travel terminations rendered it less important which individual female made the decision. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5109 |
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