|
|
Galef, B. G., & Laland, K. N. (2005). Social Learning in Animals: Empirical Studies and Theoretical Models. BioScience, 55(6), 489–499.
Abstract: AbstractThe last two decades have seen a virtual explosion in empirical research on the role of social interactions in the development of animals' behavioral repertoires, and a similar increase in attention to formal models of social learning. Here we first review recent empirical evidence of social influences on food choice, tool use, patterns of movement, predator avoidance, mate choice, and courtship, and then consider formal models of when animals choose to copy behavior, and which other animals' behavior they copy, together with empirical tests of predictions from those models.
|
|
|
|
Passilongo, D., Marchetto, M., & Apollonio, M. (2017). Singing in a wolf chorus: structure and complexity of a multicomponent acoustic behaviour. Hysterix, 28(2), 180–185.
Abstract: Wolf choruses ( Canis lupus ) are complex, multicomponent signals, composed by a series of different vocalizations emitted by a pack. Although howls, the main component, have been highly studied, poor attention has been drawn upon the other vocalizations of the chorus. In this study, we investigate the structure of the chorus by means of the analysis and the quantification of the different components, taking advantage both of the digital sound recording and analysis, and of the modern statistical methodologies. We provide for the first time a detailed, objective description of the types of call emitted during the wolf howlings, combining spectrographic examinations, spectral analyses and automated classifications, with the aim to identify different types of call. Our results show that wolf choruses have a rich, complex structure, that reveals six other types of call, to be added to those howls already described in literature. Wolf choruses are typically composed by other three different types of calls: the bark, i.e. relatively long calls characterized by low frequencies and the presence of harsh components (deterministic chaos); the whimper, characterized by a harmonic structure and a very short duration; and the growl, a call with a noisy structure, low frequencies but relative long duration. Although further investigations are necessary to understand the meaning of the different calls, this research provides a basis for those studies that aim to compare wolves and other canids vocal behaviour.
|
|
|
|
Bottom, S. H. Age-related changes in taste and gustatory response and feeding behaviour in the stabled horse.. Nottingham, UK: Nottingham Trent University.
Abstract: There is a paucity of research relating to the anatomy and physiology of gustation and olfaction in the horse. Moreover, whilst an age-related decline in gustation and olfaction has been recorded in humans, no such study has been conducted in the horse. The horse is reliant on gustation and olfaction to make appropriate decisions relating to both short and long term diet selection and thus, any compromise in function, has implications for food intake and potentially welfare. The principal aim of this study was to establish if, and to what extent, taste andgustatory responses are affected by age in the horse. Horses were allocated to the age groups Young (2-5 years), Middle (8-14 years) and Old (16 plus years) for the study of taste (n=18) and to Young (4-6 years), Middle (10-14 years) and Old (16 plus years) for the study of gustation (n=18). Individual taste responses and gustatory responses (taste in the absence of additional olfactory cues) were identified using two-choice preference testing and monadic testing. Statistical analysis was conducted using Minitab 14.0 and behaviour data was analysed using The Observer 5.0 (Noldus, Netherlands). No effect of age on taste response or gustatory response was recorded.
|
|
|
|
Golynski, M., Szczepanik, M. P., Wilkolek, P. M., Adamek, L. R., Sitkowski, W., & Taszkun, I. (2018). Influence of hair clipping on transepidermal water loss values in horses: a pilot study. Polish Journal of Veterinary Sciences, vol. 21(No 1).
|
|
|
|
Liberg, O., Chapron, G., Wabakken, P., Pedersen, H. C., Hobbs, N. T., & Sand, H. (2012). Shoot, shovel and shut up: cryptic poaching slows restoration of a large carnivore in Europe. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 279(1730), 910–915.
Abstract: Poaching is a widespread and well-appreciated problem for the conservation of many threatened species. Because poaching is illegal, there is strong incentive for poachers to conceal their activities, and consequently, little data on the effects of poaching on population dynamics are available. Quantifying poaching mortality should be a required knowledge when developing conservation plans for endangered species but is hampered by methodological challenges. We show that rigorous estimates of the effects of poaching relative to other sources of mortality can be obtained with a hierarchical state-space model combined with multiple sources of data. Using the Scandinavian wolf (Canis lupus) population as an illustrative example, we show that poaching accounted for approximately half of total mortality and more than two-thirds of total poaching remained undetected by conventional methods, a source of mortality we term as 'cryptic poaching'. Our simulations suggest that without poaching during the past decade, the population would have been almost four times as large in 2009. Such a severe impact of poaching on population recovery may be widespread among large carnivores. We believe that conservation strategies for large carnivores considering only observed data may not be adequate and should be revised by including and quantifying cryptic poaching.
|
|
|
|
Chapron, G., & Treves, A. (2016). Blood does not buy goodwill: allowing culling increases poaching of a large carnivore. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 283(1830).
Abstract: Quantifying environmental crime and the effectiveness of policy interventions is difficult because perpetrators typically conceal evidence. To prevent illegal uses of natural resources, such as poaching endangered species, governments have advocated granting policy flexibility to local authorities by liberalizing culling or hunting of large carnivores. We present the first quantitative evaluation of the hypothesis that liberalizing culling will reduce poaching and improve population status of an endangered carnivore. We show that allowing wolf (Canis lupus) culling was substantially more likely to increase poaching than reduce it. Replicated, quasi-experimental changes in wolf policies in Wisconsin and Michigan, USA, revealed that a repeated policy signal to allow state culling triggered repeated slowdowns in wolf population growth, irrespective of the policy implementation measured as the number of wolves killed. The most likely explanation for these slowdowns was poaching and alternative explanations found no support. When the government kills a protected species, the perceived value of each individual of that species may decline; so liberalizing wolf culling may have sent a negative message about the value of wolves or acceptability of poaching. Our results suggest that granting management flexibility for endangered species to address illegal behaviour may instead promote such behaviour.
|
|
|
|
Zajonc, R. B. (1965). Social Facilitation. Science, 149(3681), 269–274.
Abstract: 300 Multiple ChoicesThis is a pdf-only article and there is no markup to show you.full-text.pdf
|
|
|
|
John, E. R., Chesler, P., Bartlett, F., & Victor, I. (1968). Observation Learning in Cats. Science, 159(3822), 1489–1491.
Abstract: In two experiments cats acquired a stimulus-controlled approach or avoidance response by observational or conventional shaping procedures. Observer cats acquired the avoidance response (hurdle jumping in response to a buzzer stimulus) significantly faster and made fewer errors than cats that were conventionally trained. Observer cats acquired the approach response (lever pressing for food in response to a light stimulus) with significantly fewer errors than cats that were conventionally trained. In some cases, observer cats committed one or no errors while reaching criterion.
|
|
|
|
Outram, A. K., Stear, N. A., Bendrey, R., Olsen, S., Kasparov, A., Zaibert, V., et al. (2009). The Earliest Horse Harnessing and Milking. Science, 323(5919), 1332–1335.
Abstract: Horse domestication revolutionized transport, communications, and warfare in prehistory, yet the identification of early domestication processes has been problematic. Here, we present three independent lines of evidence demonstrating domestication in the Eneolithic Botai Culture of Kazakhstan, dating to about 3500 B.C.E. Metrical analysis of horse metacarpals shows that Botai horses resemble Bronze Age domestic horses rather than Paleolithic wild horses from the same region. Pathological characteristics indicate that some Botai horses were bridled, perhaps ridden. Organic residue analysis, using δ13C and δD values of fatty acids, reveals processing of mare's milk and carcass products in ceramics, indicating a developed domestic economy encompassing secondary products.
|
|
|
|
Marr, I., Farmer, K., & Krueger, K. (2018). Evidence for Right-Sided Horses Being More Optimistic than Left-Sided Horses. Animals, 8(12), 219.
Abstract: An individual's positive or negative perspective when judging an ambiguous stimulus (cognitive bias) can be helpful when assessing animal welfare. Emotionality, as expressed in approach or withdrawal behaviour, is linked to brain asymmetry. The predisposition to process information in the left or right brain hemisphere is displayed in motor laterality. The quality of the information being processed is indicated by the sensory laterality. Consequently, it would be quicker and more repeatable to use motor or sensory laterality to evaluate cognitive bias than to perform the conventional judgment bias test. Therefore, the relationship between cognitive bias and motor or sensory laterality was tested. The horses (n = 17) were trained in a discrimination task involving a box that was placed in either a “positive” or “negative” location. To test for cognitive bias, the box was then placed in the middle, between the trained positive and negative location, in an ambiguous location, and the latency to approach the box was evaluated. Results indicated that horses that were more likely to use the right forelimb when moving off from a standing position were more likely to approach the ambiguous box with a shorter latency (generalized linear mixed model, p < 0.01), and therefore displayed a positive cognitive bias (optimistic).
|
|
