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Erhart, E., & Overdorff, D. (1999). Female Coordination of Group Travel in Wild Propithecus and Eulemur. Int. J. Primatol., 20(6), 927-940.
Abstract: Coordination of primate group movements by individual group members is generally categorized as leadership behavior, which entails several steps: deciding where to move next, initiating travel, and leading a group between food, water sources, and rest sites. Presumably, leaders are able to influence their daily foraging efficiency and nutritional intake, which could influence an individual's feeding ecology and long-term reproductive success. Within anthropoid species, females lead group movements in most female-bonded groups, while males lead groups in most nonfemale-bonded groups. Group leadership has not been described for social prosimians, which are typically not female-bonded. We describe group movements in two nonfemale-bonded, lemurid species living in southeastern Madagascar, Propithecus diadema edwardsi and Eulemur fulvus rufus. Although several social lemurids exhibit female dominance Eulemur fulvus rufus does not, and evidence for female dominance is equivocal in Propithecus diadema edwardsi. Given the ecological stresses that females face during reproduction, we predict that females in these two species will implement alternative behavioral strategies such as group leadership in conjunction with, or in the absence of, dominance interactions to improve access to food. We found that females in both species initiated and led group movements significantly more often than males did. In groups with multiple females, one female was primarily responsible for initiating and leading group movements. We conclude that female nutritional needs may determine ranging behavior to a large extent in these prosimian species, at least during months of gestation and lactation.
Keywords: Biomedical and Life Sciences
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Farmer-Dougan, V., & Dougan, J. (1999). The Man Who Listens To Behavior: Folk Wisdom And Behavior Analysis From A Real Horse Whisperer. J Exp Anal Behav, 72(1), 139–149.
Abstract: The popular novel and movie The Horse Whisperer are based on the work of several real-life horse
whisperers, the most famous of whom is Monty Roberts. Over the last 50 years, Roberts has developed a technique for training horses that is both more effective and less aversive than traditional training techniques. An analysis of Roberts` methods (as described in his book, The Man Who Listens to Horses) indicates a deep understanding of behavioral principles including positive reinforcement, timeout, species-specific defense reactions, learned helplessness, and the behavioral analysis of language. Roberts developed his theory and techniques on the basis of personal experience and folk wisdom, and not as the result of formal training in behavior analysis. Behavior analysts can clearly learn from such insightful yet behaviorally incorrect practitioners, just as such practitioners can benefit from the objective science of behavior analysts. |
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Feh, C. (1999). Alliances and reproductive success in Camargue stallions. Anim. Behav., 57(3), 705–713.
Abstract: A study of a herd of Camargue horsesEquus caballus, showed that while the majority of high-ranking stallions held single-male harems, some sons of low-ranking mares, being low ranking themselves, formed alliances that could last a lifetime. The two stallions were each other's closest associate and preferential grooming partner. Alliances were based on coalitions in which either both partners confronted an intruder synchronously or the dominant of the pair tended the female(s) while the subordinate simultaneously displayed towards the rival. Alliance partners were of similar age but were not more closely related to each other than to other stallions in the herd. Long-term paternity data revealed that subordinates sired close to a quarter of the foals born into the alliance group, and significantly more foals than low-ranking stallions in the herd adopting a `sneak'-mating strategy. The dominant appeared to benefit from the presence of his subordinate partner. Fights occurred all year round, and the subordinate stallion of each alliance pair fought outside competitors more than twice as often as the dominant. Forming short-term alliances before defending mares on their own may enhance long-term reproductive success for both partners. Other benefits to both partners include higher survivorship of their foals and increased access to proven reproductive mares. These results suggest that the relationship between alliance partners is based on mutualism, but several conditions for reciprocity seem to be fulfilled: the benefit to the dominant (assistance in fights), and the benefit to the subordinate (access to reproduction), are both costly to the other partner and delayed in time.
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Fishman, M. A. (1999). Predator Inspection: Closer Approach as a Way to Improve Assessment of Potential Threats. J. Theor. Biol., 196(2), 225–235.
Abstract: When detecting a predator, some prey animals respond in a counterintuitive fashion by approaching, rather than fleeing, that potential threat of extinction. This seemingly paradoxical behaviour, known aspredator inspection, has been reported for a wide variety of taxa--and therefore can be assumed to be adaptive. However, the view of predator inspection as a paradoxical behaviour rests on two implicit assumptions: (a) initial predator detecting is unambiguous, with no uncertainty in discriminating between hunting and non hunting members of predator species, or members of predator species and unrelated phenomena; (b) the costs of flight are negligible relative to the risk of predation. Upon reflection assumption (a) is not really tenable. Whereas assumption (b) is not consistent with experimental evidence [Godin & Crossman (1994)Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.34,359-366]. Given that predator detection is ambiguous and the costs of flight are not negligible, a prey individual may benefit by a closer approach to the source of the alarming signals, thus improving its assessment of the situation--despite the increased risk of predation. In this paper, the above statement is given rigor by reformulating the problem in game theoretical terms. The results indicate that a prey will minimize its costs by performing predator inspection whenever its degree of certainty regarding predator identification and/or assessment of its intentions is less than a threshold, which is determined by the model's parameters.
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Fountain, S. B., Rowan, J. D., & Benson, D. M. J. (1999). Rule learning in rats: serial tracking in interleaved patterns. Anim. Cogn., 2(1), 41–54.
Abstract: Humans have the ability to chunk together information from nonadjacent serial positions in sequential patterns. For example, human subjects can extrapolate the pattern, A-M-B-N-C-O-D-P-E-..., to find the missing element, Q, by sorting pattern elements into two component interleaved subpatterns: A-B-C-D-E and M-N-O-P-... Two experiments investigated the ability of rats to reorganize pattern elements from nonadjacent serial positions into chunks not presented by the experimenter. Rats learned either a structured or unstructured sequence interleaved with elements of a repeating sequence (experiment 1) or an alternation sequence (experiment 2). In both experiments, rats learned the interleaved subpatterns at different rates. Acquisition rate was correlated with the structural properties of component subpatterns and the nature of the rules required to describe the interleaved subpatterns. The results indicate that rats are sensitive to the organization of nonadjacent elements in serial patterns and that they can detect and sort structural relationships in interleaved patterns.
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Galef Jr., B. G., & Whiskin, E. E. (1999). Use of public information when foraging: effects of time available to sample foods. Anim. Cogn., 2(2), 103–107.
Abstract: It has been proposed that use of socially acquired information by animals should increase as the time available for individual resource sampling decreases. We gave Norway rat “observers” either 2 or 5 h day-1 to sample four foods. Three of these foods were relatively palatable, but protein-poor; the fourth was relatively unpalatable, but protein-rich. We found that observer rats that for 2 h day-1 both sampled foods and interacted with demonstrators eating only the protein-rich food ate more of the protein-rich food than did observers that sampled for 2 h day-1 but had no opportunity to interact with demonstrators. On the other hand, observer rats that could sample foods for 5 h day-1 ate equal amounts of protein-rich food whether they interacted with a demonstrator fed protein-rich food or not. Subsequent analyses showed that the time available to observers to sample foods, rather than the opportunity to interact with demonstrators determined whether such interaction influenced observers' food choices. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that animals increase their use of public information in response to temporal constraints on opportunities for resource sampling.
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Giraldeau, L. A., & Beauchamp, G. (1999). Food exploitation: searching for the optimal joining policy. Trends In Ecology And Evolution, 14(3), 102–106.
Abstract: Commonly invoked foraging advantages of group membership include increased mean food intake rates and/or reduced variance in foraging success. These foraging advantages rely on the occurrence of 'joining': feeding from food discovered or captured by others. Joining occurs in most social species but the assumptions underlying its analysis have been clarified only recently, giving rise to two classes of model: information-sharing and producer-scrounger models. Recent experimental evidence suggests that joining in ground-feeding birds might be best analysed as a producer-scrounger game, with some intriguing consequences for the spatial distribution of foragers and patch exploitation.
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Goodwin, D. (1999). The importance of ethology in understanding the behaviour of the horse. Equine Vet J Suppl, (28), 15–19.
Abstract: Domestication has provided the horse with food, shelter, veterinary care and protection, allowing individuals an increased chance of survival. However, the restriction of movement, limited breeding opportunities and a requirement to expend energy, for the benefit of another species, conflict with the evolutionary processes which shaped the behaviour of its predecessors. The behaviour of the horse is defined by its niche as a social prey species but many of the traits which ensured the survival of its ancestors are difficult to accommodate in the domestic environment. There has been a long association between horses and man and many features of equine behaviour suggest a predisposition to interspecific cooperation. However, the importance of dominance in human understanding of social systems has tended to overemphasize its importance in the human-horse relationship. The evolving horse-human relationship from predation to companionship, has resulted in serial conflicts of interest for equine and human participants. Only by understanding the nature and origin of these conflicts can ethologists encourage equine management practices which minimise deleterious effects on the behaviour of the horse.
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Gosling, S. D., & John, O. P. (1999). Personality Dimensions in Nonhuman Animals: A Cross-Species Review. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci., 8(3), 69–75.
Abstract: The evolutionary continuity between humans and other animals suggests that some dimensions of personality may be common across a wide range of species. Unfortunately, there is no unified body of research on animal personality; studies are dispersed across multiple disciplines and diverse journals. To review 19 studies of personality factors in 12 nonhuman species, we used the human Five-Factor Model plus Dominance and Activity as a preliminary framework. Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness showed the strongest cross-speciesgenerality, followed by Openness; a separate Conscientiousness dimension appeared only in chimpanzees, humans` closest relatives. Cross-species evidence was modest for a separate Dominance dimension but scant for Activity. The comparative approach taken here offers a fresh perspective on human personality and should facilitate hypothesis-driven research on the social and biological bases of personality.
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Gough, M. R. (1999). A note on the use of behavioural modification to aid clipping ponies. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 63(2), 171–175.
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