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Full-Text Articles in Comparative Psychology

Grey Parrot Number Acquisition: The Inference Of Cardinal Value From Ordinal Position On The Numeral List, Irene M. Pepperberg, Susan Carey Nov 2012

Grey Parrot Number Acquisition: The Inference Of Cardinal Value From Ordinal Position On The Numeral List, Irene M. Pepperberg, Susan Carey

Sentience Collection

No abstract provided.


Size And Shape Information Serve As Labels In The Alarm Calls Of Gunnison’S Prairie Dogs Cynomys Gunnisoni, C. N. Slobodchikoff, William R. Briggs, Patricia A. Dennis, Anne-Marie C. Hodge Oct 2012

Size And Shape Information Serve As Labels In The Alarm Calls Of Gunnison’S Prairie Dogs Cynomys Gunnisoni, C. N. Slobodchikoff, William R. Briggs, Patricia A. Dennis, Anne-Marie C. Hodge

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Some animals have the capacity to produce different alarm calls for terrestrial and aerial predators. However, it is not clear what cognitive processes are involved in generating these calls. One possibility is the position of the predator: Anything on the ground receives a terrestrial predator call, and anything in the air receives an aerial predator call. Another possibility is that animals are able to recognize the physical features of predators and incorporate those into their calls. As a way of elucidating which of these mechanisms plays a primary role in generating the structure of different calls, we performed two field …


Mother Goats Do Not Forget Their Kids’ Calls, Elodie F. Briefer, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Alan G. Mcelligott Sep 2012

Mother Goats Do Not Forget Their Kids’ Calls, Elodie F. Briefer, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Alan G. Mcelligott

Sentience Collection

Parent–offspring recognition is crucial for offspring survival. At long distances, this recognition is mainly based on vocalizations. Because of maturation-related changes to the structure of vocalizations, parents have to learn successive call versions produced by their offspring throughout ontogeny in order to maintain recognition. However, because of the difficulties involved in following the same individuals over years, it is not clear how long this vocal memory persists. Here, we investigated long-term vocal recognition in goats. We tested responses of mothers to their kids’ calls 7–13 months after weaning. We then compared mothers’ responses to calls of their previous kids with …


Vocal Expression Of Emotions In Mammals: Mechanisms Of Production And Evidence, Elodie Briefer Sep 2012

Vocal Expression Of Emotions In Mammals: Mechanisms Of Production And Evidence, Elodie Briefer

Communication Skills Collection

Emotions play a crucial role in an animal’s life because they facilitate responses to external or internal events of significance for the organism. In social species, one of the main functions of emotional expression is to regulate social interactions. There has recently been a surge of interest in animal emotions in several disciplines, ranging from neuroscience to evolutionary zoology. Because measurements of subjective emotional experiences are not possible in animals, researchers use neurophysiological, behavioural and cognitive indicators. However, good indicators, particularly of positive emotions, are still lacking. Vocalizations are linked to the inner state of the caller. The emotional state …


Why (And How) Personalities In Invertebrates?, Jennifer A. Mather Aug 2012

Why (And How) Personalities In Invertebrates?, Jennifer A. Mather

Sentience Collection

No abstract provided.


Individual Prey Choices Of Octopuses: Are They Generalist Or Specialist?, Jennifer A. Mather, Tatiana S. Leite, Allan T. Batista Aug 2012

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

Sentience Collection

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 …


It Pays To Cheat: Tactical Deception In A Cephalopod Social Signalling System, Culum Brown, Martin P. Garwood, Jane E. Williamson Jul 2012

It Pays To Cheat: Tactical Deception In A Cephalopod Social Signalling System, Culum Brown, Martin P. Garwood, Jane E. Williamson

Communication Skills Collection

Signals in intraspecific communication should be inherently honest; otherwise the system is prone to collapse. Theory predicts, however, that honest signalling systems are susceptible to invasion by cheats, the extent of which is largely mediated by fear of reprisal. Cuttlefish facultatively change their shape and colour, an ability that evolved to avoid predators and capture prey. Here, we show that this ability is tactically employed by male mourning cuttlefish (Sepia plangon) to mislead conspecifics during courtship in a specific social context amenable to cheating 39 per cent of the time, while it was never employed in other social contexts. Males …


Processing Angry And Happy Faces: The Effect Of Perceptual Load And Familiarity, Peter D. Petronio Jul 2012

Processing Angry And Happy Faces: The Effect Of Perceptual Load And Familiarity, Peter D. Petronio

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science & Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Peter D. Petronio in July of 2012.


Wild Justice Redux: What We Know About Social Justice In Animals And Why It Matters, Jessica Pierce, Marc Bekoff Jun 2012

Wild Justice Redux: What We Know About Social Justice In Animals And Why It Matters, Jessica Pierce, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Social justice in animals is beginning to attract interest in a broad range of academic disciplines. Justice is an important area of study because it may help explain social dynamics among individuals living in tightly- knit groups, as well as social interactions among individuals who only occasionally meet. In this paper, we provide an overview of what is currently known about social justice in animals and offer an agenda for further research. We provide working definitions of key terms, outline some central research questions, and explore some of the challenges of studying social justice in animals, as well as the …


Blood Cortisol Concentrations Predict Boldness In Juvenile Mulloway (Argyosomus Japonicus), Vincent Raoult, Culum Brown, Amina Zuberi, Jane E. Williamson May 2012

Blood Cortisol Concentrations Predict Boldness In Juvenile Mulloway (Argyosomus Japonicus), Vincent Raoult, Culum Brown, Amina Zuberi, Jane E. Williamson

Sentience Collection

There is a growing interest in animal personality because individual variation is the substrate of the evolutionary process. Despite revelations that personality traits affect key fitness variables, little is known about the proximate mechanisms generating consistent behavioural differences between individuals. Boldness, the propensity to take risks, is one of the most widely studied aspects of personality in fishes. We assessed the position of juvenile Argyosomus japonicus on the ‘‘boldness–shyness’’ continuum by repeatedly recording the time taken to exit a refuge and explore a novel environment. Stress-related hormone concentrations after exposure to a mild stressor were analysed 1 month before behavioural …


Plasticity Of Boldness In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss: Do Hunger And Predation Influence Risk-Taking Behaviour?, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, Tom G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon May 2012

Plasticity Of Boldness In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss: Do Hunger And Predation Influence Risk-Taking Behaviour?, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, Tom G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon

Ethology Collection

Boldness, a measure of an individual's propensity for taking risks, is an important determinant of fitness but is not necessarily a fixed trait. Dependent upon an individual's state, and given certain contexts or challenges, individuals may be able to alter their inclination to be bold or shy in response. Furthermore, the degree to which individuals can modulate their behaviour has been linked with physiological responses to stress. Here we attempted to determine whether bold and shy rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, can exhibit behavioural plasticity in response to changes in state (nutritional availability) and context (predation threat). Individual trout were initially …


Social Effects On Vocal Ontogeny In An Ungulate, The Goat, Capra Hircus, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott Apr 2012

Social Effects On Vocal Ontogeny In An Ungulate, The Goat, Capra Hircus, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Sentience Collection

Vocal plasticity is the ability of an individual to modify its vocalizations according to its environment. Humans benefit from an extreme form of vocal plasticity, allowing us to produce a wide range of sounds. This capacity to modify sounds has been shown in three bird orders and in a few nonhuman mammal species, all characterized by complex vocal communication systems. In other mammals, there is no evidence for a social impact on vocal development. We investigated whether contact calls were affected by social environment and kinship during early ontogeny in goats, a highly vocal and social species. To test the …


Tool Use In Fishes, Culum Brown Mar 2012

Tool Use In Fishes, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Tool use was once considered the sole domain of humans. Over the last 40 years, however, it has become apparent that tool use may be widespread across the animal kingdom. Pioneering studies in primates have shaped the way we think about tool use in animals, but have also lead to a bias both in terms of our expectations about which animals should be capable of using tools and the working definition of tool use. Here I briefly examine tool use in terrestrial animals and consider the constraints of the current working definition of tool use in fishes. Fishes lack grasping …


Complex Patterns Of Male Alliance Formation In A Dolphin Social Network, Joanna Wiszniewski, Culum Brown, Luciana M. Möller Feb 2012

Complex Patterns Of Male Alliance Formation In A Dolphin Social Network, Joanna Wiszniewski, Culum Brown, Luciana M. Möller

Sentience Collection

The formation and maintenance of alliances is regarded as one of the most socially complex male mating strategies in mammals. The prevalence and complexity of these cooperative relationships, however, varies considerably among species as well as within and between populations living in different ecological and social environments. We assessed patterns of alliance formation for Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops aduncus, in Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia, to investigate the stability of these alliances, the structure of associations, as well as variation in schooling patterns among males. Our results showed that association patterns among males within this population showed considerable variability. …


Confronting Language, Representation, And Belief: A Limited Defense Of Mental Continuity, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic Jan 2012

Confronting Language, Representation, And Belief: A Limited Defense Of Mental Continuity, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic

Sentience Collection

According to the mental continuity claim (MCC), human mental faculties are physical and beneficial to human survival, so they must have evolved gradually from ancestral forms and we should expect to see their precursors across species. Materialism of mind coupled with Darwin’s evolutionary theory leads directly to such claims and even today arguments for animal mental properties are often presented with the MCC as a premise. However, the MCC has been often challenged among contemporary scholars. It is usually argued that only humans use language and that language as such has no precursors in the animal kingdom. Moreover, language is …


Sociology And Anthrozoology: Symbolic Interactionist Contributions, Leslie Irvine Jan 2012

Sociology And Anthrozoology: Symbolic Interactionist Contributions, Leslie Irvine

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

This essay examines the sociological contributions to anthrozoology, focusing on research from the United States that employs a symbolic interactionist perspective. In particular, the work of Arluke and Sanders highlights the importance of understanding the meanings that animals hold for people. Using a selective review of their research, this essay outlines how a focus on understanding meaning can inform anthrozoological research. Arluke’s research on animal abuse reveals how harm must be defined in context. Sanders’s research on canine–human relationships documents how people come to understand companion dogs as persons. Both bodies of work rely on careful observation and listening to …