Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

Experience Leads To Preference: Experienced Females Prefer Brush-Legged Males In A Population Of Syntopic Wolf Spiders, Eileen Hebets, Cor J. Vink

Eileen Hebets Publications

Sexual selection has long been recognized as a potential contributor to the divergence in reproductive characters that ultimately leads to speciation. Schizocosa ocreata and Schizocosa rovneri wolf spiders embody a classic example of species divergence resulting from such sexual selection, as they are reproductively isolated by courtship behavior alone. Here, we characterize a newly discovered population of wolf spiders in which brush-legged males (sensu S. ocreata) and non-ornamented males (sensu S. rovneri) are found syntopically. Mitochondrial sequence data (cytochrome oxidase subunit 1) indicate that the 2 male forms are not reciprocally monophyletic. We exposed subadult females from this …

Cross-Modal Effects On Learning: A Seismic Stimulus Improves Color Discrimination Learning In A Jumping Spider, Nicole D. Vandersal, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

The production of multimodal signals during animal displays is extremely common, and the function of such complex signaling has received much attention. Currently, the most frequently explored hypotheses regarding the evolution and function of complex signaling focus on the signal and/or signaler, or the signaling environment, while much less attention has been placed on the receivers. However, recent studies using vertebrates suggest that receiver psychology (e.g. learning and memory) may play a large role in the evolution of complex signaling. To date, the influence of multimodal cues on receiver learning and/or memory has not been studied in invertebrates. Here, we …

A Review Of Leg Ornamentation In Male Wolf Spiders, With The Description Of A New Species From Australia, Artoria Schizocoides (Araneae, Lycosidae), Volker W. Framenau, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Morphological modifications of the first pair of legs in addition to widespread color variations of these legs among males of closely related species have been reported in a variety of spiders. Here, the evidence for sexual dimorphism in male foreleg morphology within wolf spiders (family Lycosidae) is reviewed and shown to occur in a number of species belonging to at least seven genera in five subfamilies: Alopecosa, Hogna, Schizocosa (all Lycosinae) Pirata (Piratinae), Evippa, (Evippinae), Pardosa (Pardosinae) and Artoria (Artoriinae). These modifications, often in combination with distinct dark pigmentation, can be divided into three major groups: leg elongation, segment …

Annual Arctic Wolf Pack Size Related To Arctic Hare Numbers, L. David Mech

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

During the summers of 2000 through 2006, I counted arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos) pups and adults in a pack, arctic hares (Lepus arcticus) along a 9 km index route in the area, and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) in a 250 km² part of the area near Eureka (80° N, 86° W), Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. Adult wolf numbers did not correlate with muskox numbers, but they were positively related (r² = 0.89; p < 0.01) to an arctic hare index. This is the first report relating wolf numbers to non-ungulate prey.

Pendant les étés 2000 à 2006, j’ai compté les jeunes loups arctiques et les adultes (Canis lupus arctos …

Serial Reversal Learning And The Evolution Of Behavioral Flexibility In Three Species Of North American Corvids (Gymnorhinus Cyanocephalus, Nucifraga Columbiana, Aphelocoma Californica), Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil, Russell P. Balda

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

In serial reversal learning, subjects learn to respond differentially to 2 stimuli. When the task is fully acquired, reward contingencies are reversed, requiring the subject to relearn the altered associations. This alternation of acquisition and reversal can be repeated many times, and the ability of a species to adapt to this regimen has been considered as an indication of behavioral flexibility. Serial reversal learning of 2-choice discriminations was contrasted in 3 related species of North American corvids: pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), which are highly social; Clark’s nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), which are relatively solitary but specialized for …

Territorial Behaviour Of Kiang (Equus Kiang Moorcroft, 1841) In Ladakh (India), Natalia V. Paklina, Chris Van Orden

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The observations of kiang behavior were made in Navokar Valley northeast of Tso Kar Lake (Ladakh, India) between July 30 and November 22, 2001. In the breeding season (end of July until the end of August) adult kiang males kept not overlapping, protected territories (about 10 km²), and marked by single defecation and urination marks. There were adult females with and without offspring on the territories (up to 12 animals, including the male). The distance between male and females on the territories was usually hundred times bigger, then a distance between stallion and his harem in horses. Females …

The Birth Of A Wild Ass (Equus Hemionus Khur) In India’S Little Rann Of Kutch, Gertrud Neumann-Denzau

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The birth of a wild ass was completely described and photographed in the wild for the first time. It happened in the daytime, in the open desert, and in the vicinity of other wild asses. The mother isolated her foal afterwards for an entire day. After birthing she drove away her male yearling, which did not join her any longer from this moment on.

Subadult Female Experience Does Not Influence Species Recognition In The Wolf Spider Schizocosa Uetzi Stratton 1997, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

In many vertebrate systems, early experience has been linked to the learning of species specific traits that are subsequently assessed during mate choice, thus ensuring conspecific matings. In invertebrate systems, however, early experience was not thought to play a role in mate choice until a recent study using Schizocosa uetzi Stratton 1997 wolf spiders demonstrated that females mate more readily with males of a familiar versus unfamiliar phenotype. The function of early mate choice learning in this system is not yet known, but a role in learning species-specific traits seems unlikely. In northwestern Mississippi, S. uetzi is found sympatrically with …

Possible Use Of Foresight, Understanding, And Planning By Wolves Hunting Muskoxen, L. David Mech

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

On Ellesmere Island in 2006, arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos) were observed making a two-pronged approach to a herd of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) and, on another occasion, ambushing muskoxen. Both observations seemed to provide evidence that the wolves were using foresight, understanding, and planning. Although the possible use of insight and purposiveness has been documented in captive wolves, the present report is one of the few to document the possibility that freeranging wolves use these other three mental processes.

En 2006, sur l’île Ellesmere, des loups arctiques (Canis lupus arctos) ont été observés en …

Pigeons And People Select Efficient Routes When Solving A One-Way “Traveling Salesperson” Task, Brett M. Gibson, Edward A. Wasserman, Alan C. Kamil

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

The authors presented people (Experiment 1) and pigeons (Experiments 2 and 3) with a large number of 1-way traveling salesperson problems that consisted of 3, 4, and 5 identical stimuli (nodes) on a computer monitor. The sequence of nodes that each traveler selected was recorded, and the distance of the route was subsequently determined. The routes the pigeons and people selected were reliably more efficient than those used by a Monte Carlo model given the same problems. The pigeons’ routes were significantly less efficient than a nearest neighbor model of performance, however. In Experiment 3, pigeons were required to select …

Numbers, Distribution And Social Structure Of Kiang (Equus Kiang Moorcroft 1841) Population In The Southwestern Part Of Tibet, China, Natalia V. Paklina, Chris Van Orden

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

In September - October 1998 we made an extensive survey in southwest Tibet to study numbers, distribution and social structure of the kiang population in this remote part of its range. Kiangs were sighted between 29º 40’ and 32º 50’ N, and 81º- 86º E. They preferred broad flat valleys with lakes at an altitude from 4,000 up to 5,000 m. Small kiang groups and solitary animals were sighted in Transhimalaya. There were no kiangs in Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River valley, in the sand desert near Ali and in the Clay Mountains near Tsada. Seven old kiang corpses were found along …