Wynne C. D. L. (2001). Animal Cognition: The Mental Lives of Animals. Palgrave.
Abstract: Covering a wide range of key topics, from reasoning and communication to sensation and complex problem-solving, this engagingly-written text presents a comprehensive survey of contemporary research on animal cognition. Written for anyone with an interest in animal cognition, but without a background in animal behaviour, it endeavours to explain what makes animals tick.
With numerous illustrations and including exciting recent studies from many little-studied species (such as the weakly electric African fish), this text is ideal for psychology students who are interested in how much of our human cognition is shared by other species, for students of biology who want to know how complex animal behaviour can get, and for all those with an interest in the animal mind.
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Munksgaard, L., DePassillé, A. M., Rushen, J., Herskin, M. S., & Kristensen, A. M. (2001). Dairy cows' fear of people: social learning, milk yield and behaviour at milking. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 73(1), 15–26.
Abstract: We examined the effects of the presence of an unfamiliar, a gentle or an aversive handler during milking on behaviour and milk yield, and whether cows can learn to approach or avoid a handler by observing the neighbouring cow?s responses. In Experiment 1, Danish Friesian cows (n=16) were treated gently (offering hay and concentrates) by one handler and aversively (hit every 15s on the head with the hand) by another handler for six periods of 2min each. The two handlers wore different coloured overalls, and each cow received either gentle or aversive treatment in the first week and the other treatment the following week. All cows kept a longer distance to the aversive than to the gentle handler in a 1min test after treatment. Milk yield and residual milk did not differ when the aversive or the gentle handler was standing in front of the cow during milking, although the cows moved their legs and tail less when the aversive handler was present. When an unfamiliar person was standing in front of the cows during milking, behaviour and milk yield did not differ from control milkings. Cows and heifers (n=10) that had observed their neighbours receiving gentle treatment by one handler and aversive treatment from another handler did not differ in the distance they kept from these two handlers. In Experiment 2, cows (n=15) that had observed the neighbours receiving a gentle treatment (eight times for 2min) kept a shorter distance to that handler after treatment of their neighbours, and the distance they kept was correlated with the distance kept by the neighbouring cows. This suggests that responses of observer cows may be affected by the responses of the cows being treated. The cows rapidly learned to avoid an aversive handler, but although the cows showed clear avoidance response to the aversive handler there was no effect on milk yield when the aversive handler was present at milking.
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Tebbich, S., Taborsky, M., Fessl, B., & Blomqvist, D. (2001). Do woodpecker finches acquire tool-use by social learning? Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci., 268(1482), 2189–2193.
Abstract: Tool–use is widespread among animals, but except in primates the development of this behaviour is poorly known. Here, we report on the first experimental study to our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of tool–use in a bird species. The woodpecker finch Cactospiza pallida, endemic to the Galápagos Islands, is a famous textbook example of tool–use in animals. This species uses modified twigs or cactus spines to pry arthropods out of tree holes. Using nestlings and adult birds from the field, we tested experimentally whether woodpecker finches learn tool–use socially. We show that social learning is not essential for the development of tool–use: all juveniles developed tool–use regardless of whether or not they had a tool–using model. However, we found that not all adult woodpecker finches used tools in our experiments. These non–tool–using individuals also did not learn this task by observing tool–using conspecifics. Our results suggest that tool–use behaviour depends on a very specific learning disposition that involves trial–and–error learning during a sensitive phase early in ontogeny.
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Hau, J., Andersson, E., & Carlsson, H. - E. (2001). Development and validation of a sensitive ELISA for quantification of secretory IgA in rat saliva and faeces. Laboratory Animals, 35(4), 301–306.
Abstract: Non-invasive measures of immunological markers are an attractive means of stress assessment in laboratory animals. Salivary IgA has been used successfully as a stress marker in the human, and several reports indicate the potential of secretory IgA as a non-invasive measure of stress in animals. The present paper describes the development of an ELISA using commercially available components for the quantification of rat IgA and validation of this assay for the quantification of rat secretory IgA in saliva and faeces. The concentration of IgA in rat saliva varied significantly between duplicate samples obtained from individual rats, and the viscosity and small total volume of rat saliva gave unsatisfactory results for IgA. Faecal IgA was present in high concentrations, and duplicate samples varied by only 2-3%. However, faecal IgA seemed less stable than IgA in other biological compartments, and this finding must be taken into consideration when using quantitative measurements of IgA as a marker of mucous humoral immune status.
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Gibbs, P. G., & Cohen, N. D. (2001). Early management of race-bred weanlings and yearlings on farms. J. Equine Vet. Sci., 21(6), 279–283.
Abstract: A total of 58 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse farms
that managed 1,987 weanlings and yearlings responded to
a survey designed to better characterize early management
of racing prospects. Average age at weaning was 5.5 months
and over half of all farms kept almost three-fourths of all
weanlings to be placed in pre-race training. Variation in
feeding practices was evident and while well over half
of all farms provided balanced nutrient supply to young
horses, 20% to 40% likely fed unbalanced diets. An obvious
preference existed for semi-confinement in young horses
with plenty of free exercise. The majority of farms reported
that young prospects were fed and managed for a moderate
rate of growth. Forced exercise occurred to a much larger
extent with yearlings than weanlings and 40% of farms
described the footing as soft, but not deep. Response to the
prevalence of developmental orthopedic diseases appeared
somewhat guarded, and average injury rate was low on
farms that attributed much of injury to horses playing too
hard. Technological advancements such as photoperiod
manipulation in broodmares were widely used, while
valuable tools such as body condition scoring were utilized
to a lesser extent.
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Ferenc S. (2001). Computer-ssisted analysis of the developing brain motor system and coordinated locomotion in the foal. Ph.D. thesis, , .
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Gröschl, M., Wagner, R., Rauh, M., & Dörr, H. G. (2001). Stability of salivary steroids: the influences of storage, food and dental care. Steroids, 66(10), 737–741.
Abstract: We studied influences of dental care, food and storage on the reproducibility of salivary steroid levels. Cortisol (F), 17OH-progesterone (17OHP) and Progesterone (P) were measured using adapted commercial radioimmunoassays. Saliva samples of healthy adults (n = 15; m:8; f:7) were collected directly before and after dental care, and directly before and after breakfast with various foodstuffs. A second experiment investigated stability of steroids under different storage conditions. Four series of identical saliva portions (I: Native saliva; II: Centrifuged saliva; III: Saliva with trifluor acetate (TFA); IV: Saliva with 0.5% NaN3) were stored at room temperature and at 4°C for up to three weeks. To demonstrate influences of repeated thawing and re-freezing of saliva on steroid values, saliva samples (n = 15) were divided into identical portions. These portions were frozen and re-thawed up to 5 times before measurement. Neither dental care nor intake of bread or milk effected the reproducibility of F, 170HP, and P. Steroid levels decreased significantly in the course of three weeks under different storage conditions (P < 0.001). This decrease was clinically relevant from the second week onward, with exception of NaN3 treated samples. After repeated freezing and re-thawing 17OHP and P decreased slightly (about 5%). Only F decreased significantly after the third thawing (P < 0.001). The results show the usefulness of standardized handling of saliva samples for improving reproducibility and reliability of salivary steroid measurements.
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Watt, L. M., & McDonnell, S. M. (2001). Demonstration of Concept Formation in the Horse. Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania.
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Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (2001). Books Received. Animal Behaviour, 61(1), 269–270.
Abstract: The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey
Parrots. By I. M. PEPPERBERG. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press (1999).
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Harris, L. J., Almerigi, J. B., Carbary, T. J., & Fogel, T. G. (2001). Left-side infant holding: A test of the hemispheric arousal -attentional hypothesis. Brain and Cognition, 46(1-2), 159–165.
Abstract: When asked to hold a young infant in their arms, most adults hold on the left side (Harris, 1997). In a prior study, we found the same bias when we asked adults merely to imagine holding an infant in their arms (Harris, Almerigi, & Kirsch, 1999). It has been hypothesized that the left-side bias is the product of right-hemisphere arousal accompanying certain aspects of the act, causing attention to be driven to the contralateral, or left, side of personal space. Left-side holding, whether actual or imagined, thus would be consistent with the direction to which the holder's attention has been endogenously directed. We tested this hypothesis by giving 250 college students the “imagine-holding” task and then, as an independent measure of lateralized hemispheric arousal, a 34-item Chimeric Faces Test (CFT). On the “imagine” test, a significant majority reported a left-side hold, and, on the CFT, left-side holders had a significantly stronger left-hemispace bias than right-side holders, although both left- and right- side holders had left-hemispace CFT biases. The results thus support the attentional-arousal hypothesis but indicate that other factors are contributing as well.
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