Kendal, R. L., Coe, R. L., & Laland, K. N. (2005). Age differences in neophilia, exploration, and innovation in family groups of callitrichid monkeys. Am. J. Primatol., 66(2), 167–188.
Abstract: The prevailing assumption in the primate literature is that young or juvenile primates are more innovative than adult individuals. This innovative tendency among the young is frequently thought to be a consequence, or side effect, of their increased rates of exploration and play. Conversely, Reader and Laland's [International Journal of Primatology 22:787-806, 2001] review of the primate innovation literature noted a greater reported incidence of innovation in adults than nonadults, which they interpreted as (in part) a reflection of the greater experience and competence of older individuals. Within callitrichids there is contradictory evidence for age differences in response to novel objects, foods, and foraging tasks. By presenting novel extractive foraging tasks to family groups of callitrichid monkeys in zoos, we examined, in a large sample, whether there are positive or negative relationships of age with neophilia, exploration, and innovation, and whether play or experience most facilitates innovation. The results indicate that exploration and innovation (but not neophilia) are positively correlated with age, perhaps reflecting adults' greater manipulative competence. To the extent that there was evidence for play in younger individuals, it did not appear to contribute to innovation. The implications of these findings for the fields of innovation and conservation through reintroduction are considered.
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Yang, S. (2000). Melioidosis research in China. Acta Trop, 77(2), 157–165.
Abstract: Research on melioidosis and its pathogen has been ongoing in China for more than two decades. It has been demonstrated that the natural foci are located predominantly in Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi province, where there is a good correlation between soil isolation and the serum prevalence of antibodies to Burkholderia pseudomallei. The cases of melioidosis reported up to now are concentrated in the Hainan and Zhanjiang peninsula. Investigations on serotype, virulence, ecology, antibiotic susceptibility, whole cell analysis by gas chromatography, and genetics have led to a new understanding of the pathology of the disease. Immunological cross reactions between Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei and the difference between melioidosis and glanders in horses is discussed.
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