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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
African Penguins Follow The Gaze Direction Of Conspecifics, Christian Nawroth, Egle Trincas, Livio Favaro
African Penguins Follow The Gaze Direction Of Conspecifics, Christian Nawroth, Egle Trincas, Livio Favaro
Social Cognition Collection
Gaze following is widespread among animals. However, the corresponding ultimate functions may vary substantially. Thus, it is important to study previously understudied (or less studied) species to develop a better understanding of the ecological contexts that foster certain cognitive traits. Penguins (Family Spheniscidae), despite their wide interspecies ecological variation, have previously not been considered for cross-species comparisons. Penguin behaviour and communication have been investigated over the last decades, but less is known on how groups are structured, social hierarchies are established, and coordination for hunting and predator avoidance may occur. In this article, we investigated how African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) …
Human Head Orientation And Eye Visibility As Indicators Of Attention For Goats (Capra Hircus), Christian Nawroth, Alan G. Mcelligott
Human Head Orientation And Eye Visibility As Indicators Of Attention For Goats (Capra Hircus), Christian Nawroth, Alan G. Mcelligott
Social Cognition Collection
Animals domesticated for working closely with humans (e.g. dogs) have been shown to be remarkable in adjusting their behaviour to human attentional stance. However, there is little evidence for this form of information perception in species domesticated for production rather than companionship. We tested domestic ungulates (goats) for their ability to differentiate attentional states of humans. In the first experiment, we investigated the effect of body and head orientation of one human experimenter on approach behaviour by goats. Test subjects (N = 24) significantly changed their behaviour when the experimenter turned its back to the subjects, but did not take …