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Briefer, E. F., Haque, S., Baciadonna, L., & McElligott, A. G. (2014). Goats excel at learning and remembering a highly novel cognitive task. Front. Zool., 11(1), 20.
Abstract: The computational demands of sociality (maintaining group cohesion, reducing conflict) and ecological problems (extractive foraging, memorizing resource locations) are the main drivers proposed to explain the evolution cognition. Different predictions follow, about whether animals would preferentially learn new tasks socially or not, but the prevalent view today is that intelligent species should excel at social learning. However, the predictions were originally used to explain primate cognition, and studies of species with relatively smaller brains are rare. By contrast, domestication has often led to a decrease in brain size, which could affect cognition. In domestic animals, the relaxed selection pressures compared to a wild environment could have led to reduced social and physical cognition. Goats possess several features commonly associated with advanced cognition, such as successful colonization of new environments and complex fission-fusion societies. Here, we assessed goat social and physical cognition as well as long-term memory of a complex two-step foraging task (food box cognitive challenge), in order to investigate some of the main selection pressures thought to affect the evolution of ungulate cognition.
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Zlatanova, D., Ahmed, A., Valasseva, A., & Genov, P. (2014). Adaptive Diet Strategy of the Wolf (Canis lupus L.) in Europe: a Review. Acta zool. bulg., 66(4), 439–452.
Abstract: The diet strategy of the wolf in Europe is reviewed on the basis of 74 basic and 14 additional literature
sources. The comparative analysis reveals clear dependence on the latitude (and, therefore, on the changing
environmental conditions) correlated with the wild ungulate abundance and diversity. Following a
geographic pattern, the wolf is specialised on different species of ungulates: moose and reindeer in Scandinavia,
red deer in Central and Eastern Europe and wild boar in Southern Europe. Where this large prey
is taken, the roe deer is hunted with almost the same frequency in every region. The wolf diet in Europe
shows two ecological adaptations formed by a complex of variables: 1. Wolves living in natural habitats
with abundance of wild ungulates feed mainly on wild prey. 2. In highly anthropogenic habitats, with low
abundance of wild prey, wolves feed on livestock (where husbandry of domestic animals is available) and
take also a lot of plant food, smaller prey (hares and rodents) and garbage food. The frequency of occurrence
of wild ungulates in the diet of wolves in North Europe varies from 54.0% in Belarus to 132.7% in
Poland, while that of livestock is in the range from 0.4% in Norway to 74.9% in Belarus. In South Europe,
the frequency of occurrence of wild prey varies from 0% in Italy and Spain to 136.0% in Italy, while of domestic
ungulates ranges between 0% and 100% in Spain. The low density or lack of wild prey triggers the
switch of the wolf diet to livestock, plant food (32.2-85% in Italy) or even garbage (up to 41.5% in Italy).
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Quaresmini, C., Forrester, G. S., Spiezio, C., & Vallortigara, G. (2014). Social environment elicits lateralized behaviors in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 128(3), 276–284.
Abstract: The influence of the social environment on lateralized behaviors has now been investigated across a wide variety of animal species. New evidence suggests that the social environment can modulate behavior. Currently, there is a paucity of data relating to how primates navigate their environmental space, and investigations that consider the naturalistic context of the individual are few and fragmented. Moreover, there are competing theories about whether only the right or rather both cerebral hemispheres are involved in the processing of social stimuli, especially in emotion processing. Here we provide the first report of lateralized social behaviors elicited by great apes. We employed a continuous focal animal sampling method to record the spontaneous interactions of a captive zoo-living colony of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and a biological family group of peer-reared western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). We specifically focused on which side of the body (i.e., front, rear, left, right) the focal individual preferred to keep conspecifics. Utilizing a newly developed quantitative corpus-coding scheme, analysis revealed both chimpanzees and gorillas demonstrated a significant group-level preference for focal individuals to keep conspecifics positioned to the front of them compared with behind them. More interestingly, both groups also manifested a population-level bias to keep conspecifics on their left side compared with their right side. Our findings suggest a social processing dominance of the right hemisphere for context-specific social environments. Results are discussed in light of the evolutionary adaptive value of social stimulus as a triggering factor for the manifestation of group-level lateralized behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
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Christensen, J. W., Beekmans, M., van Dalum, M., & VanDierendonck, M. (2014). Effects of hyperflexion on acute stress responses in ridden dressage horses. Physiol. Behav., 128, 39–45.
Abstract: The effects of hyperflexion on the welfare of dressage horses have been debated. This study aimed to investigate acute stress responses of dressage horses ridden in three different Head-and-Neck-positions (HNPs). Fifteen dressage horses were ridden by their usual rider in a standardised 10-min dressage programme in either the competition frame (CF), hyperflexion (“Low-Deep-and-Round”; LDR) or a looser frame (LF) in a balanced order on three separate test days. Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability parameters (HRV), behaviour and rein tension were recorded during the test. Salivary cortisol concentrations were measured 60min before and 0, 5, 15 and 30min after the test. Rein tension was significantly lower in LF and did not differ between CF and LDR; however approx. 15% of recordings in CF and LDR were above the sensor detection limit of 5kg. The horses had significantly higher cortisol concentrations directly after LDR compared to LF. In addition, the horses showed more distinctive head movements, including head waving, during LDR. There were no significant treatment effects on HR and HRV. In conclusion, the results indicate that LDR may be more stressful to these horses during riding.
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Bateson, P. (2014). Play, playfulness, creativity and innovation. Anim. Behav. Cogn., 1(2), 99–112.
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Griffin, A. S., & Guez, D. (2014). Innovation and problem solving: A review of common mechanisms. Behav. Process., 109, 121–134.
Abstract: Behavioural innovations have become central to our thinking about how animals adjust to changing environments. It is now well established that animals vary in their ability to innovate, but understanding why remains a challenge. This is because innovations are rare, so studying innovation requires alternative experimental assays that create opportunities for animals to express their ability to invent new behaviours, or use pre-existing ones in new contexts. Problem solving of extractive foraging tasks has been put forward as a suitable experimental assay. We review the rapidly expanding literature on problem solving of extractive foraging tasks in order to better understand to what extent the processes underpinning problem solving, and the factors influencing problem solving, are in line with those predicted, and found, to underpin and influence innovation in the wild. Our aim is to determine whether problem solving can be used as an experimental proxy of innovation. We find that in most respects, problem solving is determined by the same underpinning mechanisms, and is influenced by the same factors, as those predicted to underpin, and to influence, innovation. We conclude that problem solving is a valid experimental assay for studying innovation, propose a conceptual model of problem solving in which motor diversity plays a more central role than has been considered to date, and provide recommendations for future research using problem solving to investigate innovation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cognition in the wild.
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Dorey, N. R., Conover, A. M., & Udell, M. A. R. (2014). Interspecific communication from people to horses (Equus ferus caballus) is influenced by different horsemanship training styles. J. Comp. Psychol., 128(4), 337–342.
Abstract: The ability of many domesticated animals to follow human pointing gestures to locate hidden food has led to scientific debate on the relative importance of domestication and individual experience on the origins and development of this capacity. To further explore this question, we examined the influence of different prior training histories/methods on the ability of horses (Equus ferus caballus) to follow a momentary distal point. Ten horses previously trained using one of two methods (Parelli™ natural horsemanship or traditional horse training) were tested using a standard object choice task. The results show that neither group of horses was initially able to follow the momentary distal point. However, after more experience with the point, horses previously trained using the Parelli natural horsemanship method learned to follow momentary distal points significantly faster than those previously trained with traditional methods. The poor initial performance of horses on distal pointing tasks, coupled with the finding that prior training history and experimental experience can lead to success on this task, fails to support the predictions of the domestication hypothesis and instead lends support to the two-stage hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
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Cozzi, B., Povinelli, M., Ballarin, C., & Granato, A. (2014). The Brain of the Horse: Weight and Cephalization Quotients. Brain Behav Evol, 83(1), 9–16.
Abstract: The horse is a common domestic animal whose anatomy has been studied since the XVI century. However, a modern neuroanatomy of this species does not exist and most of the data utilized in textbooks and reviews derive from single specimens or relatively old literature. Here, we report information on the brain of Equus caballus obtained by sampling 131 horses, including brain weight (as a whole and subdivided into its constituents), encephalization quotient (EQ), and cerebellar quotient (CQ), and comparisons with what is known about other relevant species. The mean weight of the fresh brains in our experimental series was 598.63 g (SEM ± 7.65), with a mean body weight of 514.12 kg (SEM ± 15.42). The EQ was 0.78 and the CQ was 0.841. The data we obtained indicate that the horse possesses a large, convoluted brain, with a weight similar to that of other hoofed species of like mass. However, the shape of the brain, the noteworthy folding of the neocortex, and the peculiar longitudinal distribution of the gyri suggest an evolutionary specificity at least partially separate from that of the Cetartiodactyla (even-toed mammals and cetaceans) with whom Perissodactyla (odd-toed mammals) are often grouped.
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Meriggi, A., Dagradi, V., Dondina, O., Perversi, M., Milanesi, P., Lombardini, M., et al. (2014). Short-term responses of wolf feeding habits to changes of wild and domestic ungulate abundance in Northern Italy. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 27(4), 389–411.
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Krueger, K., Farmer, K., & Heinze, J. (2014). The effects of age, rank and neophobia on social learning in horses. Anim. Cogn., 17(3), 645–655.
Abstract: Social learning is said to meet the demands of complex environments in which individuals compete over resources and co-operate to share resources. Horses (Equus caballus) were thought to lack social learning skills because they feed on homogenously distributed resources with few reasons for conflict. However, the horse’s social environment is complex, which raises the possibility that its capacity for social transfer of feeding behaviour has been underestimated. We conducted a social learning experiment using 30 socially kept horses of different ages. Five horses, one from each group, were chosen as demonstrators, and the remaining 25 horses were designated observers. Observers from each group were allowed to watch their group demonstrator opening a feeding apparatus. We found that young, low ranking, and more exploratory horses learned by observing older members of their own group, and the older the horse, the more slowly it appeared to learn. Social learning may be an adaptive specialisation to the social environment. Older animals may avoid the potential costs of acquiring complex and potentially disadvantageous feeding behaviours from younger group members. We argue that horses show social learning in the context of their social ecology, and that research procedures must take such contexts into account. Misconceptions about the horse’s sociality may have hampered earlier studies.
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