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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Squid Dances: An Ethogram Of Postures And Actions Of Sepioteuthis Sepioidea Squid With A Muscular Hydrostatic System, Jennifer A. Mather, Ulrike Griebel, Ruth A. Byrne May 2016

Squid Dances: An Ethogram Of Postures And Actions Of Sepioteuthis Sepioidea Squid With A Muscular Hydrostatic System, Jennifer A. Mather, Ulrike Griebel, Ruth A. Byrne

Jennifer Mather, PhD

A taxonomy of the movement possibilities for any species, within the constraints of its neural and skeletal systems, should be one of the foundations of the study of its behaviour. Caribbean reef squid, Sepioteuthis sepioidea, appear to have many degrees of freedom in their movement as they live in a three-dimensional habitat and have no fixed skeleton but rather a muscular hydrostatic one. Within this apparent lack of constraints, there are regularities and patterns of common occurrences that allow this article to describe an ethogram of the movements, postures and positions of squid. Squid have a combination of bent, …


Individual Prey Choices Of Octopuses: Are They Generalist Or Specialist?, Jennifer A. Mather, Tatiana S. Leite, Allan T. Batista May 2016

Individual Prey Choices Of Octopuses: Are They Generalist Or Specialist?, Jennifer A. Mather, Tatiana S. Leite, Allan T. Batista

Jennifer Mather, PhD

Prey choice is often evaluated at the species or population level. Here, we analyzed the diet of octopuses of different populations with the aim to assess the importance of individual feeding habits as a factor affecting prey choice. Two methods were used, an assessment of the extent to which an individual octopus made choices of species representative of those population (PSi and IS) and 25% cutoff values for number of choices and percentage intake of individual on their prey. In one population of Octopus cf vulgaris in Bermuda individuals were generalist by IS=0.77, but most chose many prey of the …


Exploration And Habituation In Intact Free Moving Octopus Vulgaris, Jennifer Mather May 2016

Exploration And Habituation In Intact Free Moving Octopus Vulgaris, Jennifer Mather

Jennifer Mather, PhD

Despite the huge numbers of studies published on the learning of cephalopod mollusks, studies on non-associative learning are scarce. We tested non-associative learning (habituation) and exploration in Octopus vulgaris in two different studies using a prey-shaped object (Study A) and inanimate objects and food objects (Study B). Study A consisted of the repeated presentation of a prey-like stimulus, which 23 subjects could only explore visually. In study B, 14 octopuses were presented two Lego blocks (one black and white with a smooth surface, one a blue "snowflake" with a rough surface) and two food items, one preferred (clams) and one …