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Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), Madelene Shehan
Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), Madelene Shehan
Master's Theses
The ubiquity of play among juvenile mammals suggests it provides adaptive benefits, potentially through influences on the development of temperament in young animals. Juvenile Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) must balance competing demands for boldness and caution imposed by the fundamental trade-off between their short active season and their vulnerability to predation. In this study, I evaluated whether play helps to facilitate the development of an appropriate balance between boldness and caution in juvenile U. beldingi.I observed the play behavior of juvenile U. beldingiand conducted flight-initiation distance tests to measure boldness-caution at the beginning and toward …
Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Ground Squirrels, Madelene Shehan
Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Ground Squirrels, Madelene Shehan
Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD
We evaluated the relationship between play behavior and the development of boldness in juvenile Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi). We observed the play behavior of juvenile U. beldingi, and conducted boldness tests at the beginning and toward the end of the developmental period during which play primarily occurs. Behavioral tests consisted of a researcher acting as an intruder, walking toward a juvenile, and noting the distance between the squirrel and intruder at which the juvenile first became aware of the intruder, and the distance at which the squirrel fled. The age of mothers was a significant predictor …