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Gabor, V., & Gerken, M. (2010). Horses use procedural learning rather than conceptual learning to solve matching to sample. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 126(3-4), 119–124.
Abstract: Research into higher cognitive abilities of the horse may be limited by developing the adequate experimental design. In this study four pony mares between 8 and 19 years old were included. Three of them reached the criterion to be tested in a new design of matching to sample using a black circle and a cross as visual cues attached to an apparatus. The attention was directed to the question of whether the animals are able to concept formation in a given time period or if their decisions depend on other cues or strategies. After familiarization to the testing area and the test procedure, the animals were given 27 sessions of 20 trials each during 14 weeks. While there was no preference for one of the stimuli used, horses showed a significant left sidedness. None of the mares reached the learning criterion of 80% correct answers in one session. However, the ponies showed procedural learning based on correction runs that were given between incorrect decisions, by then selecting the correct stimulus on the other side of the apparatus. This learning type arose in three individuals in session four, six and eleven, respectively. It is concluded that discrimination tasks may be biased by the involvement of unexpected learning strategies, which complicates the interpretation of such tests and may even mask possible conceptualization capabilities.
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Sueur, C., Jacobs, A., Amblard, F., Petit, O., & King, A. J. (2010). How can social network analysis improve the study of primate behavior? Am. J. Primatol., 73(8), 703–719.
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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Rose-Meierhöfer, S., Standke, K., & Hoffmann, G. (2010). Auswirkungen verschiedener Gruppengrößen auf Bewegungsaktivität, Body Condition Score, Liege- und Sozialverhalten bei Jungpferden. Züchtungskunde, 82(4), 282–291.
Abstract: Ziel der Untersuchung war es, herauszufinden, welche Auswirkungen eine Erhöhung der
Gruppengröße bei Jungpferden auf die Bewegungsaktivität, das Liege- und Sozialverhalten
und die Körperkondition hat. Hierfür wurden insgesamt 42 Pferde im Alter von ein
bis zwei Jahren in Laufstallhaltung in die Untersuchung einbezogen. Die Jungpferde aus
der Bewegungs- und Liegeverhaltensanalyse waren in zwei Kleingruppen (acht und
11 Tiere) und einer Großgruppe (23 Tiere) aufgestallt.
In der Bewegungsaktivität waren deutliche Unterschiede zu erkennen. Es ließ sich ein
positiver Einfluss einer höheren Tierzahl nachweisen, aber kein Einfluss des Alters. Beim
Ruheverhalten konnten höhere Liegezeiten und -frequenzen mit einer Zunahme der
Gruppengröße und eine Abnahme der Liegezeit mit zunehmendem Alter ermittelt werden.
Eine Störung des Liegeverhaltens durch Gruppengrößen, die nicht der natürlichen
Herdenstruktur des Pferdes entsprechen, wurde nicht nachgewiesen. Jedoch hatte die
Haltung der Jährlinge in der großen Gruppe einen Anstieg der repulsiven Verhaltensweisen
zur Konsequenz. Zudem zeigte die Bestimmung des Body Condition Scores
Unterschiede in der Körperkondition bei den Jährlingen der Groß- bzw. der Kleingruppe.
Einem Mangel an Bewegung, der für das Auftreten von Gliedmaßenerkrankungen und
Verhaltensstörungen verantwortlich gemacht wird, kann durch die Haltung von Jungpferden
in großen Gruppen entgegengewirkt werden.
[It is often discussed that the inactivity of horses causes diseases of their musculoskeletal system. Due to these problems the objective of the investigation was to quantify if the size of a group has an effect on the behaviour of young horses. Data from 42 horses in the age of one to two years have been involved in the investigation. The data of two small groups were compared with data of one big group with 23 horses. The movement and lying behaviour of 28 horses were measured with ALT pedometers. The social behaviour of 33 yearlings was documented by direct observation. The results show that the median of the movement time of horses in group A is 82 minutes per day. In group B this increases to a median of 101 and group C reaches the highest median of 149. In the case of lying time an increasing group size leads to a longer duration and a higher frequency of lying, whereas an increase in the age reduces the lying duration. International research studies have shown that keeping of horses in big group husbandry systems is not very common by the owners of horses. In contrast these investigations have shown that horse keeping in big groups has no negative influence on the social behaviour and the Body Condition Score of young horses.]
Keywords: Liegen, Aktivität, Gruppenhaltung, Jungpferde, Sozialverhalten, Body Condition Score [Lying behaviour, activity behaviour, group housing, young horses, social behaviour, Body Condition Score]
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van Schaik, C. P. (2010). Social learning and culture in animals. In P. Kappeler (Ed.), Animal Behaviour: Evolution and Mechanisms (pp. 623–653). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Most animals must learn some of the behaviours in their repertoire, and some must learn most. Although learning is often thought of as an individual exercise, in nature much learning is social, i.e. under the influence of conspecifics. Social learners acquire novel information or skills faster and at lower cost, but risk learning false information or useless skills. Social learning can be divided into learning from social information and learning through social interaction. Different species have different mechanisms of learning from social information, ranging from selective attention to the environment due to the presence of others to copying of complete motor sequences. In vertical (or oblique) social learning, naïve individuals often learn skills or knowledge from parents (or other adults), whereas horizontal social learning is from peers, either immatures or adults, and more often concerns eavesdropping and public information use. Because vertical social learning is often adaptive, maturing individuals often have a preference for it over individual exploration. The more cognitively demanding social learning abilities probably evolved in this context, in lineages where offspring show long association with parents and niches are complex. Because horizontal learning can be maladaptive, especially when perishable information has become outdated, animals must decide when to deploy social learning. Social learning of novel skills can lead to distinct traditions or cultures when the innovations are sufficiently rare and effectively transmitted socially. Animal cultures may be common but to date taxonomic coverage is insufficient to know how common. Cultural evolution is potentially powerful, but largely confined to humans, for reasons currently unknown. A general theory of culture is therefore badly needed.
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Kerth, G. (2010). Group decision-making in animal societies. In P. Kappeler (Ed.), Animal Behaviour: Evolution and Mechanisms (pp. 241–265). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Individuals need to coordinate their activities to benefit from group living. Thus group decisions are essential for societies, especially if group members cooperate with each other. Models show that shared (democratic) decisions outperform unshared (despotic) decisions, even if individuals disagree about actions. This is surprising as in most other contexts, differences in individual preferences lead to sex-, age-, or kin-specific behaviour. Empirical studies testing the predictions of the theoretical models have only recently begun to emerge. This applies particularly to group decisions in fission-fusion societies, where individuals can avoid decisions that are not in their interest. After outlining the basic ideas and theoretical models on group decision-making I focus on the available empirical studies. Originally most of the relevant studies have been on social insects and fish but recently an increasing number of studies on mammals and birds have been published, including some that deal with wild long-lived animals living in complex societies. This includes societies where group members have different interests, as in most mammals, and which have been less studied compared to eusocial insects that normally have no conflict among their colony members about what to do. I investigate whether the same decision rules apply in societies with conflict and without conflict, and outline open questions that remain to be studied. The chapter concludes with a synthesis on what is known about group decision-making in animals and an outlook on what I think should be done to answer the open questions.
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Chaplin, S. J., & Gretgrix, L. (2010). Effect of housing conditions on activity and lying behaviour of horses. animal, 4(5), 792–795.
Abstract: Housing conditions for horses impose various levels of confinement, which may compromise welfare. Lying behaviour and activity can be used as welfare indicators for domestic animals and rebound behaviour suggests a build-up of motivation resulting from deprivation. The objective of this study was to determine if activity and lying behaviour of horses are affected by housing conditions and to investigate the occurrence of rebound behaviour after release from confinement. Eight horses were subjected, in pairs, to each of four experimental treatments; paddock (P), fully stabled (FS), partly stabled (PS) and yard (Y). Each horse received 6 days acclimatisation prior to the 24 h recording period. Time spent in lying and activity were electronically recorded using a tilt switch and motion sensor connected to a data logger worn on the horse's left foreleg. Time spent active during the first 5 min of release from stable to paddock in the PS treatment (days 1 and 5) and at the same time of day in the P treatment was used as a measure of rebound behaviour. Effect of housing conditions on total time spent active was highly significant (FS = 123 s, PS = 158 s, Y = 377 s, P = 779 s, P < 0.001). Housing conditions did not significantly affect total time spent lying (P = 0.646). Horses were significantly more active, compared with baseline paddock behaviour, on release from stabling on both days 1 (P = 0.006) and 5 (P = 0.025) of PS treatment. These results suggest that activity patterns of horses, but not lying behaviour, are affected by the housing conditions tested and that rebound activity occurs in horses after a period of confinement.
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Takimoto, A., Kuroshima, H., & Fujita, K. (2010). Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) are sensitive to others’ reward: an experimental analysis of food-choice for conspecifics. Anim. Cogn., 13(2), 249–261.
Abstract: Abstract The issue whether non-human primates have other-regarding preference and/or inequity aversion has been under debate. We investigated whether tufted capuchin monkeys are sensitive to others’ reward in various experimental food sharing settings. Two monkeys faced each other. The operator monkey chose one of two food containers placed between the participants, each containing a food item for him/herself and another for the recipient. The recipient passively received either high- or low-value food depending on the operator’s choice, whereas the operator obtained the same food regardless of his/her choice. The recipients were either the highest- or lowest-ranking member of the group, and the operators were middle-ranking. In Experiment 1, the operators chose the high-value food for the subordinate recipient more frequently than when there was no recipient, whereas they were indifferent in their choice for the dominant. This differentiated behavior could have been because the dominant recipient frequently ate the low-value food. In Experiment 2, we increased the difference in the value of the two food items so that both recipients would reject the low-value food. The results were the same as in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we placed an opaque screen in front of the recipient to examine effects of visual contact between the participants. The operators’ food choice generally shifted toward providing the low-value food for the recipient. These results suggest that capuchins are clearly sensitive to others’ reward and that they show other-regarding preference or a form of inequity aversion depending upon the recipients and the presence of visual contact.
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Sankey, C., Richard-Yris, M. - A., Henry, S., Fureix, C., Nassur, F., & Hausberger, M. (2010). Reinforcement as a mediator of the perception of humans by horses (Equus caballus). Anim. Cogn., 13(5), 753-764.
Abstract: A central question in the interspecific human/animal relationship is how domestic animals perceive humans as a significant element of their environment. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the use of positive or negative reinforcement in horse training may have consequences on the animals’ perception of humans, as a positive, negative or neutral element. Two groups of ponies were trained to walk backwards in response to a vocal order using either positive or negative reinforcement. Heart rate monitors and behavioural observations were used to assess the animals’ perception of humans on the short (just after training) and long (5 months later) terms. The results showed that the type of reinforcement had a major effect on the subsequent animals’ perception of familiar and unfamiliar humans. Negative reinforcement was rapidly associated with an increased emotional state, as revealed by heart rate measurements and behavioural observations (head movements and ears laid back position). Its use led the ponies to seek less contact with humans. On the contrary, ponies trained with positive reinforcement showed an increased interest in humans and sought contact after training. This is especially remarkable as it was reached in a maximum of 5 sessions of 1 to 3 min (i.e. 5 to 15 min) and had lasting effects (visible after 5 months). Even learning was positively influenced by positive reinforcement. Overall, horses seem capable of associating humans to particular experiences and display extended long-term memory abilities.
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Zeitler-Feicht, M. H., Streit, S., & Dempfle, L. (2010). Automatic feeding systems for horses in group housing systems with regard to animal welfare. Part 1: Feeding stalls versus automatic feeding systems. Tierärztl Prax, 38(G), 363–370.
Abstract: Gegenstand und Ziel: Überprüfung der Tiergerechtheit von Abrufstationen
für Kraftfutter und Heu in der Gruppenhaltung von Pferden anhand
ethologischer und physiologischer Parameter im Vergleich zu konventionellen
Fressständen. Material und Methoden: Die Verhaltensbeobachtungen
fanden in 11 bzw. 10 Offenlaufställen mit Abrufstationen
bzw. Fressständen statt. 270 Pferde wurden individuell unterschieden.
Untersuchungsparameter waren: Drohverhalten mit und ohne Verletzungsrisiko,
Meideverhalten, Verdrängung aus dem Fressstand sowie
Herzfrequenz und Integumentverletzungen. In jedem Betrieb erfolgten
kontinuierliche Direktbeobachtungen für je einen 24-Stunden-Tag (Tortenstückverfahren).
Ergebnisse: Im Wartebereich der Abrufautomaten
traten signifikant mehr Drohgesten ohne bzw. mit Verletzungsgefahr je
Pferd und Tag (8,6 bzw. 3,0) auf als im Wartebereich der Fressstände
(3,4 bzw. 0,9). Demgegenüber konnten die Pferde in Abrufstationen
(1,4 Drohgesten je Pferd und Tag) ungestörter fressen als in Fressständen
(3,2 Drohgesten je Pferd und Tag). Insgesamt betrachtet ergab sich
jedoch bei beiden Fütterungssystemen eine geringe Anzahl an sozionegativen
Interaktionen im Bereich der Futtereinrichtungen. Die Herzfrequenz
lag im Warteareal im Durchschnitt im physiologischen Bereich
(44,59 ± 11,73 Schläge/min). Integumentverletzungen im Zusammenhang
mit dem Fütterungssystem traten nicht auf. Der wichtigste Einflussfaktor
auf die Untersuchungskriterien war der Betrieb (Fläche, Konzeption,
Management). Schlussfolgerung: Unter dem Aspekt der Tiergerechtheit
hinsichtlich des Stress- und Verletzungsrisikos durch soziale
Interaktionen eignen sich bei ordnungsgemäßer Gruppenhaltung mit
fachgerechtem Management sowohl Fressstände als auch Abrufstationen
für Pferde im Offenlaufstall.
[Objective: A comparison with regard to animal welfare of feeding
stalls and automatic feeding systems for hay and concentrates in group
housing systems for horses using parameters of ethology and physiology.
Material and method: The observations of animal behaviour took
place in 10 stables with feeding stalls and in 11 stables with automatic
feeding systems. The field around the feeding systems was divided into
three areas with comparable dimensions (waiting area, exit area and
inside of the feeding system). 270 horses were individually observed.
Parameters of research comprised: threatening behaviour with and
without risk of injury, avoiding behaviour, ”chasing away from the feeding
place”, as well as heart rate and injuries of the integument. Every
group of horses was continuously observed for 24 hours. This observation
took place on four different days and comprised six sessions, each
of 4 hours. Results: In the waiting area of the automatic systems there
were significantly more threatening gestures with and without risk of
injuries for each horse and day (8.6 and 3.0, respectively) than in the
waiting area of the feeding stalls. In contrast, the horses could eat more
relaxed in the automatic systems (1.4 threatening gestures for each
horse and day) than in the feeding stalls (3.2 threatening gestures for
each horse and day). All together the number of negative interactions in
the feeding area of both feeding systems was relatively low. The heart
rate was within the physiological range (44,59 ± 11,73 beats/min) in
the waiting area. There were no injuries of the integument in correlation
with the feeding systems. The most important factor of the observation
criteria was the individual group housing system with its different dimension,
conception and management. Conclusion: Under the aspect
of animal welfare both feeding systems are suitable for horses with respect
to the risk of stress and injuries by social interactions and under
the condition of proper group housing with professional management.]
Keywords: Pferd, Fütterungseinrichtungen, soziale Interaktionen, Herzfrequenz, Verletzungsrisiko, Betriebseinfluss [Horse, feeding stations, social interactions, heart rate, risk of injury, individual farm management]
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Siniscalchi, M., Sasso, R., Pepe, A. M., Dimatteo, S., Vallortigara, G., & Quaranta, A. (2010). Catecholamine plasma levels following immune stimulation with rabies vaccine in dogs selected for their paw preferences. Neuroscience Letters, 476(3), 142–145.
Abstract: Epinephrine and norepinephrine plasma levels were assessed in dogs in relation to paw preference following an immune challenge with rabies vaccine. The results showed that both catecholamines increased after the vaccine administration, confirming the main role of the sympathetic nervous system in the modulation activity between the brain and the immune system. Moreover, ambidextrous dogs showed a significantly higher increase of epinephrine levels 8 days after immunization with respect to right- and left-pawed dogs, suggesting that the biological activity of this molecule could be key for a different immune response with regard to laterality.
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