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Author Lansade, L.; Simon, F.
Title (up) Horses' learning performances are under the influence of several temperamental dimensions Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.
Volume 125 Issue 1-2 Pages 30-37
Keywords Avoidance task; Equus caballus; Fearfulness; Learning; Personality; Temperament
Abstract Learning performances are influenced by many factors, not only breed, age and sex, but also temperament. The purpose of this study was to understand how different temperamental dimensions affect the learning performance of horses, Equus caballus. First, we carried out a series of behavioural tests on 36 Welsh ponies aged 5-7 years to measure five temperamental dimensions: fearfulness (novel area test and surprise test), gregariousness (social isolation test), reactivity to humans (passive human test), tactile sensitivity (von Frey filament test) and activity level (evaluation of locomotor activity during all the tests). We then presented them with two learning tasks (avoidance and backwards-forwards tasks). In the avoidance task they had to learn to jump over a fence when they heard a sound associated with an aversive stimulus (puff of air). In the backwards-forwards task they had to walk forwards or move backwards in response to a tactile or vocal command to obtain a food reward. There was no correlation between performances on the two learning tasks, indicating that learning ability is task-dependent. However, correlations were found between temperamental data and learning performance (Spearman correlations). The ponies that performed the avoidance task best were the most fearful and the most active ones. For instance, the number of trials required to perform 5 consecutive correct responses (learning criterion) was correlated with the variables aimed at measuring fearfulness (way of crossing a novel area: rs = -0.41, P = 0.01 and time to start eating again after a surprise effect: rs = -0.33, P = 0.05) and activity level (frequency of trotting during all the tests: rs = -0.40, P = 0.02). The animals that performed the backwards-forwards task best were the ones that were the least fearful and the most sensitive. For instance, the learning criterion (corresponding to the number of trials taken to achieve five consecutive correct responses) was correlated with the variables aimed at measuring fearfulness (latency to put one foot on the area: rs = 0.43, P = 0.01; way of crossing a novel area: rs = 0.31, P = 0.06; and time to start eating again after a surprise effect: rs = 0.43, P = 0.009) and tactile sensitivity (response to von Frey filaments: rs = -0.44, P = 0.008). This study revealed significant links between temperament and learning abilities that are highly task-dependent.
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Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5077
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Author Sueur, C.; Jacobs, A.; Amblard, F.; Petit, O.; King, A.J.
Title (up) How can social network analysis improve the study of primate behavior? Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication American Journal of Primatology Abbreviated Journal Am. J. Primatol.
Volume 73 Issue 8 Pages 703-719
Keywords interaction; association; social system; social structure; methodology; behavioral sampling
Abstract Abstract When living in a group, individuals have to make trade-offs, and compromise, in order to balance the advantages and disadvantages of group life. Strategies that enable individuals to achieve this typically affect inter-individual interactions resulting in nonrandom associations. Studying the patterns of this assortativity using social network analyses can allow us to explore how individual behavior influences what happens at the group, or population level. Understanding the consequences of these interactions at multiple scales may allow us to better understand the fitness implications for individuals. Social network analyses offer the tools to achieve this. This special issue aims to highlight the benefits of social network analysis for the study of primate behaviour, assessing it's suitability for analyzing individual social characteristics as well as group/population patterns. In this introduction to the special issue, we first introduce social network theory, then demonstrate with examples how social networks can influence individual and collective behaviors, and finally conclude with some outstanding questions for future primatological research. Am. J. Primatol. 73:703?719, 2011. ? 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Publisher Wiley-Blackwell Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0275-2565 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes doi: 10.1002/ajp.20915 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6410
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Author Gaunet, F.
Title (up) How do guide dogs and pet dogs (Canis familiaris) ask their owners for their toy and for playing? Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 311-323
Keywords Dog – Deictic behaviour – Intentional communication – Guide dogs – Socialisation – Play – Social cognition
Abstract Abstract  When apes are not fully understood by humans, they persist with attempts to communicate, elaborating their behaviours to better convey their meaning. Such abilities have never been investigated in dogs. The present study aimed to clarify any effect of the visual attentional state of the owner on dogs’ (Canis familiaris) social-communicative signals for interacting with humans, and to determine whether dogs persist and elaborate their behaviour in the face of failure to communicate a request. Gaze at a hidden target or at the owner, gaze alternation between a hidden target and the owner, vocalisations and contacts in 12 guide and 12 pet dogs were analysed (i) when the dogs were asked by their owners (blind or sighted) to fetch their inaccessible toy and (ii) when the dogs were subsequently given an unfamiliar object (apparent unsuccessful communication) or their toy (apparent successful communication). No group differences were found, indicating no effect of the visual status of the owner on the dogs’ socio-communicative modes (i.e. no sensitivity to human visual attention). Results, however, suggest that the dogs exhibited persistence (but not elaboration) in their “showing” behaviours in each condition, except that in which the toy was returned. Thus, their communication was about a specific item in space (the toy). The results suggest that dogs possess partially intentional non-verbal deictic abilities: (i) to get their inaccessible toy, the dogs gazed at their owners as if to trigger their attention; gaze alternation between the owner and the target direction, and two behaviours directed at the target were performed, apparently to indicate the location of the hidden toy; (ii) after the delivery of the toy, the dogs behaved as if they returned to the play routine, gazing at their owner whilst holding their toy. In conclusion, this study shows that dogs possess partially intentional non-verbal deictic abilities: they exhibit successive visual orienting between a partner and objects, apparent attention-getting behaviours, no sensitivity to the visual status of humans for communication, and persistence in (but no elaboration of) communicative behaviours when apparent attempts to “manipulate” the human partner fail.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5113
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Author Bode, N.W.F.; Faria, J.J.; Franks, D.W.; Krause, J.; Wood, A.J.
Title (up) How perceived threat increases synchronization in collectively moving animal groups Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci.
Volume 277 Issue 1697 Pages 3065-3070
Keywords
Abstract Nature is rich with many different examples of the cohesive motion of animals. Previous attempts to model collective motion have primarily focused on group behaviours of identical individuals. In contrast, we put our emphasis on modelling the contributions of different individual-level characteristics within such groups by using stochastic asynchronous updating of individual positions and orientations. Our model predicts that higher updating frequency, which we relate to perceived threat, leads to more synchronized group movement, with speed and nearest-neighbour distributions becoming more uniform. Experiments with three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) that were exposed to different threat levels provide strong empirical support for our predictions. Our results suggest that the behaviour of fish (at different states of agitation) can be explained by a single parameter in our model: the updating frequency. We postulate a mechanism for collective behavioural changes in different environment-induced contexts, and explain our findings with reference to confusion and oddity effects.
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Notes 10.1098/rspb.2010.0855 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5188
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Author Stone, S.
Title (up) Human facial discrimination in horses: can they tell us apart? Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 13 Issue Pages 51-61
Keywords
Abstract Abstract  The human–horse relationship has a long evolutionary history. Horses continue to play a pivotal role in the lives of humans and it is common for humans to think their horses recognize them by face. If a horse can distinguish his/her human companion from other humans, then evolution has supplied the horse with a very adaptive cognitive ability. The current study used operant conditioning trials to examine whether horses could discriminate photographed human faces and transfer this facial recognition ability a novel setting. The results indicated the horses (a) learned to discriminate photographs of the unrelated individuals, fraternal twins, and identical twins and (b) demonstrated transfer of facial recognition by spending more time with their S+ woman in the field test.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5004
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Author Truppa, V.; Garofoli, D.; Castorina, G.; Piano Mortari, E.; Natale, F.; Visalberghi, E.
Title (up) Identity concept learning in matching-to-sample tasks by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume 13 Issue 6 Pages 835-848-848
Keywords Biomedical and Life Sciences
Abstract The abstract concept of equivalence is considered one of the bases of higher-order cognition, and it has been the subject of considerable research in comparative cognition. This study examined the conditions under which tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) are able to acquire an identity concept. Six capuchin monkeys were trained to solve a visual matching-to-sample (MTS) task on the basis of perceptual identity. The acquisition of the identity rule was inferred from the subject’s ability to solve transfer tests with novel stimuli. We evaluated the ability of the capuchin monkeys to match the shape of novel stimuli after training with both several small stimulus sets (Experiment 1) and a large stimulus set (Experiment 2). Moreover, we examined the ability of capuchins to transfer the concept to novel visual dimensions, such as colour and size and to transfer to novel spatial arrangements of the stimuli (Experiment 2). We demonstrated that the ability of capuchins to match novel stimuli was improved by increasing the number of stimuli used during training (Experiments 1 and 2) and that after a widely applicable identity concept based on the stimulus shape was acquired, the capuchins were able to match stimuli according to an identity rule based on both the colour and size of the stimuli and when the spatial arrangement of the stimuli was varied (Experiment 2). This study is the first to demonstrate that the size of the training set affects the acquisition of an abstract identity concept in an MTS task in non-human primates.
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Publisher Springer Berlin / Heidelberg Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5274
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Author Zucca, P.; Baciadonna, L.; Masci, S.; Mariscoli, M.
Title (up) Illness as a source of variation of laterality in lions (Panthera leo) Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Laterality Abbreviated Journal Laterality
Volume 16 Issue 3 Pages 356-366
Keywords Brain lateralisation; Illness; Iions; Panthera leo; Footedness
Abstract Brain asymmetry—i.e. the specialisation of each cerebral hemisphere for sensorimotor processing mechanisms and for specific cognitive functions—is widely distributed among vertebrates. Several factors, such as embryological manipulations, sex, age, and breeds, can influence the maintenance, strength, and direction of laterality within a certain vertebrate species. Brain lateralisation is a universal phenomenon characterising not only cerebral control of cognitive or emotion-related functions but also cerebral regulation of somatic processes, and its evolution is strongly influenced by social selection pressure. Diseases are well known to be a cost of sociality but their role in influencing behaviour has received very little attention. The present study investigates the influence of illness conditions as a source of variation on laterality in a social keystone vertebrate predator model, the lion. In a preliminary stage, the clinical conditions of 24 adult lions were assessed. The same animals were scored for forelimb preference when in the quadrupedal standing position. Lions show a marked forelimb preference with a population bias towards the use of the right forelimb. Illness conditions strongly influenced the strength of laterality bias, with a significant difference between clinically healthy and sick lions. According to these results, health conditions should be recognised as an important source of variation in brain lateralisation.
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Publisher Psychology Press Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1357-650x ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5372
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Author Warner, S.M.; Koch, T.O.; Pfau, T.
Title (up) Inertial sensors for assessment of back movement in horses during locomotion over ground Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Equine Veterinary Journal Abbreviated Journal
Volume 42 Issue Pages 417-424
Keywords horse; back movement; inertial sensors; kinematics; over ground locomotion
Abstract Reasons for performing study: Assessing back movement is an important part of clinical examination in the horse and objective assessment tools allow for evaluating success of treatment. Objectives: Accuracy and consistency of inertial sensor measurements for quantification of back movement and movement symmetry during over ground locomotion were assessed; sensor measurements were compared to optical motion capture (mocap) and consistency of measurements focusing on movement symmetry was measured. Methods: Six nonlame horses were trotted in hand with synchronised mocap and inertial sensor data collection (landmarks: T6, T10, T13, L1 and S3). Inertial sensor data were processed using published methods and symmetry of dorsoventral displacement was assessed based on energy ratio, a Fourier based symmetry measure. Limits of agreement were calculated and visualised to compare mocap and sensor data. Consistency of sensor measurements was assessed using Pearson correlation coefficients and linear regression to investigate the effect of speed on movement symmetry. Results: Dorsoventral and mediolateral sensor displacement was observed to lie within ± 4–5 mm (± 2 s.d., 9–28% of movement amplitude) and energy ratio to lie within ± 0.03 of mocap data. High levels of correlation were found between strides and trials (0.86–1.0) for each horse and each sensor and variability of symmetry was lowest for T13 followed by T10, T6, L1 and S3 with no significant effect of speed at T6, T10 and T13. Conclusions: Inertial sensor displacement and symmetry data showed acceptable accuracy and good levels of consistency for back movement. The small mediolateral movement amplitude means that changes of <25% in mediolateral amplitude (also unlikely to be detected by visual assessment) may go undetected. New sensor generations with improved sensor sensitivity and ease of use of equipment indicate good potential for use in a field situation.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Blackwell Publishing Ltd Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2042-3306 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5926
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Author Oliveira-Santos, L.G.R.; Machado-Filho, L.C.P.; Tortato, M.A.; Brusius, L.
Title (up) Influence of extrinsic variables on activity and habitat selection of lowland tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) in the coastal sand plain shrub, southern Brazil Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Mammalian Biology – Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde Abbreviated Journal
Volume 75 Issue 3 Pages 219-226
Keywords Behaviour; Circadian rhythmic; Moonlight; Rainfall; Temperature
Abstract The objectives of this research were to: 1. evaluate the circadian activity patterns of lowland tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) throughout the seasons and 2. study the influence of moonlight, temperature and rainfall on the activity patterns and habitat selection of this species, in the coastal sand shrub in southern Brazil. From June 2005 to June 2006, eight tapirs were monitored in a large enclosure containing open and vegetation-covered areas, using four camera traps. Differences in activity patterns within seasons were found. Tapir predominately presented nocturnal-crepuscular activity; however, they differed in the winter, with cathemeral activity patterns. Covered areas were mostly used during periods of extreme temperatures, with less diurnal and more nocturnal activities within these areas, on hotter days. Activity in open areas mainly occurred during periods of intermediate temperatures, both during the day and in the night. Moonlight intensity did not influence nocturnal activities. On days of precipitation of 34 mm or more, there was no record of open-area activities, despite constant activity in covered-area.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1616-5047 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6140
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Author Lemasson, A.; Koda, H.; Kato, A.; Oyakawa, C.; Blois-Heulin, C.; Masataka, N.
Title (up) Influence of sound specificity and familiarity on Japanese macaques' (Macaca fuscata) auditory laterality Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Behavioural Brain Research Abbreviated Journal Behav. Brain. Res.
Volume 208 Issue 1 Pages 286-289
Keywords Auditory processing; Hemispheric specialisation; Specificity; Familiarity; Head-turn paradigm; Macaque
Abstract Despite attempts to generalise the left hemisphere-speech association of humans to animal communication, the debate remains open. More studies on primates are needed to explore the potential effects of sound specificity and familiarity. Familiar and non-familiar nonhuman primate contact calls, bird calls and non-biological sounds were broadcast to Japanese macaques. Macaques turned their heads preferentially towards the left (right hemisphere) when hearing conspecific or familiar primates supporting hemispheric specialisation. Our results support the role of experience in brain organisation and the importance of social factors to understand laterality evolution.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0166-4328 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5081
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