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Articles 91 - 120 of 247

Full-Text Articles in Other Animal Sciences

Learning And Memory In The Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus Portusjacksoni, Tristan L. Guttridge, Culum Brown Mar 2014

Learning And Memory In The Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus Portusjacksoni, Tristan L. Guttridge, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Basic understanding of the fundamental principles and mechanisms involved in learning is lacking for elasmobranch fishes. Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the learning and memory capacity of juvenile Port Jackson sharks, Heterodontus portusjacksoni. Sharks (N = 30) were conditioned over a 19-day period to associate an underwater LED light or stream of air-bubbles [conditioned stimulus (CS)] with a food reward [unconditioned stimulus (US)], using three procedures (delay, trace and control). During experiments, the CS signalled at a random time between 180 and 300 s for 30 s (six times per day). For the delay the US …


Personality Affects Learning And Trade-Offs Between Private And Social Information In Guppies, Poecilia Reticulate, Larissa Trompf, Culum Brown Feb 2014

Personality Affects Learning And Trade-Offs Between Private And Social Information In Guppies, Poecilia Reticulate, Larissa Trompf, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

The acquisition of information such as the location and quality of food, mates or shelter is a key survival requirement for animals. Individuals can acquire information through personal experience (private information) or through observing and interacting with others (social information). Environmental spatial and temporal heterogeneity can mean that sometimes social information conflicts with private knowledge. We tested how personality affected the importance placed on public versus private information in wild female guppies when these two information sources came into conflict. We found that boldness and sociality affected decisions to use conflicting social and private information. Bolder females used social information …


Empathy In Other Apes, Kristin Andrews, Lori Gruen Jan 2014

Empathy In Other Apes, Kristin Andrews, Lori Gruen

Sentience Collection

A number of scholars have offered behavioral and physiological arguments in favor of the existence of empathy in other species (see Bekoff & Pierce 2009, Flack & de Waal 2000, Plutchik 1987). While the evidence is compelling, claims about empathy in nonhuman apes face two different challenges. The first challenge comes from a set of empirical findings that suggest great apes are not able to think about other’s beliefs. The argument here is based on a view that empathy is associated with folk psychological understanding of others’ mental states, or mindreading, and the existence of mindreading among the other apes …


What Do Zebrafish Want? Impact Of Social Grouping, Dominance And Gender On Preference For Enrichment, Paul Schroeder, Soffia Jones, Iain S. Young, Lynne U. Sneddon Jan 2014

What Do Zebrafish Want? Impact Of Social Grouping, Dominance And Gender On Preference For Enrichment, Paul Schroeder, Soffia Jones, Iain S. Young, Lynne U. Sneddon

Sentience Collection

Although environmental enrichment is known to improve laboratory rodent wellbeing and enhance scientific data collection, relatively little is known with regards to the type of enrichment that might be useful for zebrafish (Danio rerio). Therefore, this study explored if zebrafish displayed preferences for a range of enrichments, including substrates, artificial plants, combinations thereof and airstones. Tanks divided into two compartments containing different enrichment cues were used to determine the preferences of zebrafish housed in pairs and groups of eight. When comparing time spent in enriched versus barren compartments, dominant individuals in a pair displayed a preference for substrate and behaviourally …


Individual Personality Traits Influence Group Exploration In A Feral Guppy Population, Culum Brown, Eleanor Irving Jan 2014

Individual Personality Traits Influence Group Exploration In A Feral Guppy Population, Culum Brown, Eleanor Irving

Sentience Collection

We examined whether variation in group exploratory behavior was linked with variation in personality traits (boldness, activity, and sociability) in a population of feral guppies (Poecilia reticulata). A huge amount of variation was observed in dispersal tendency between shoals. Surprisingly, no significant correlations were found between group exploratory behavior and average group personality scores, which suggests that the movement of the shoal was not generated by group conformity. However, our analysis revealed correlations between group exploration and the activity score of the least active member of a group and the sociality index of the most social member of a group. …


Apes Communicate About Absent And Displaced Objects: Methodology Matters, Heidi Lyn, Jamie L. Russell, David A. Leavens, Kim A. Bard, Sarah T. Boysen, Jennifer A. Schaeffer, William D. Hopkins Jan 2014

Apes Communicate About Absent And Displaced Objects: Methodology Matters, Heidi Lyn, Jamie L. Russell, David A. Leavens, Kim A. Bard, Sarah T. Boysen, Jennifer A. Schaeffer, William D. Hopkins

Sentience Collection

Displaced reference is the ability to refer to an item that has been moved (displaced) in space and/ or time, and has been called one of the true hallmarks of referential communication. Several studies suggest that nonhuman primates have this capability, but a recent experiment concluded that in a specific situation (absent entities) human infants display displaced reference but chimpanzees do not. Here we show that chimpanzees and bonobos of diverse rearing histories are capable of displaced reference to absent and displaced objects. It is likely that some of the conflicting findings from animal cognition studies are due to relatively …


Humane Education: Perspectives Of Practitioners On Program Evaluation Efforts And Analysis Of Changes In Knowledge, Attitudes, And Empathy In Two Violence Prevention And Intervention Programs, Melanie Wagner Jan 2014

Humane Education: Perspectives Of Practitioners On Program Evaluation Efforts And Analysis Of Changes In Knowledge, Attitudes, And Empathy In Two Violence Prevention And Intervention Programs, Melanie Wagner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This descriptive and comparative study examined the current landscape of humane education program evaluation and data analysis through a survey of humane educators across the country. Results of the humane education survey show that data collection and evaluation are occurring in humane education programs but these efforts do not capture and measure empathy, the primary goal of most humane education programs. Humane educators reported they felt the profession is progressive and relevant to a broad host of purposes, from building positive relationships with animals to playing a role in the larger social justice scheme. They also suggested that the field …


Laterality Influences Schooling Position In Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia Spp, Anne-Laurence Bibost, Culum Brown Nov 2013

Laterality Influences Schooling Position In Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia Spp, Anne-Laurence Bibost, Culum Brown

Aquaculture Collection

Cerebral lateralization is a widespread trait among animals, is often manifested as side biases in behaviour (laterality) and has been suggested to provide fitness benefits. Here we examined the influence of laterality on the organisation of fish schools using rainbowfish (Melanotaenia spp) as model species. The pattern and strength of laterality for each individual was determined by examining eye preferences whilst examining their reflection in a mirror. Schools of four fish of known laterality were then created and the preferred position for each fish within the school was repeatedly observed in a flume. Fish which showed right eye preferences in …


Discrimination Of Familiar Human Faces In Dogs (Canis Familiaris), Ludwig Huber, Anaïs Racca, Billy Scaf, Zsófia Virányi, Friederike Range Nov 2013

Discrimination Of Familiar Human Faces In Dogs (Canis Familiaris), Ludwig Huber, Anaïs Racca, Billy Scaf, Zsófia Virányi, Friederike Range

Recognition Collection

Faces are an important visual category for many taxa, and the human face is no exception to this. Because faces differ in subtle ways and possess many idiosyncratic features, they provide a rich source of perceptual cues. A fair amount of those cues are learned through social interactions and are used for future identification of individual humans. These effects of individual experience can be studied particularly well in hetero-specific face perception. Domestic dogs represent a perfect model in this respect, due to their proved ability to extract important information from the human face in socio-communicative interactions. There is also …


Predator Recognition In Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia Duboulayi, Embryos, Lois J. Oulton, Vivian Haviland, Culum Brown Oct 2013

Predator Recognition In Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia Duboulayi, Embryos, Lois J. Oulton, Vivian Haviland, Culum Brown

Aquaculture Collection

Exposure to olfactory cues during embryonic development can have long term impacts on birds and amphibians behaviour. Despite the vast literature on predator recognition and responses in fishes, few researchers have determined how fish embryos respond to predator cues. Here we exposed four-day-old rainbowfish (Melanotaenia duboulayi) embryos to cues emanating from a novel predator, a native predator and injured conspecifics. Their response was assessed by monitoring heart rate and hatch time. Results showed that embryos have an innate capacity to differentiate between cues as illustrated by faster heart rates relative to controls. The greatest increase in heart rate occurred in …


A Note On Pigs’ Knowledge Of Hidden Objects, Christian Nawroth, Mirjam Ebersbach, Eberhard Von Borell Aug 2013

A Note On Pigs’ Knowledge Of Hidden Objects, Christian Nawroth, Mirjam Ebersbach, Eberhard Von Borell

Memory Collection

Object permanence is the notion that objects continue to exist even when they are out of observer’s sight. This ability is adaptive for free ranging animals who have to cope with a dangerous and highly changeable environment and allows them to be aware of predators sneaking in their proximity or to keep track of conspecifics or food sources, even when out of sight. Farm animals might also benefit from object permanence because the ability to follow the trajectory of hidden food or objects may lead to a higher predictability of subjects’ environment, which in turn might affect the level of …


Examining The Link Between Personality And Laterality In A Feral Guppy Poecilia Reticulata Population, Eleanor Irving, Culum Brown Aug 2013

Examining The Link Between Personality And Laterality In A Feral Guppy Poecilia Reticulata Population, Eleanor Irving, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

This study examined whether variation in the strength and direction of lateralization in a detour task was linked with variation in three common personality measurements: boldness, activity and sociability, in a population of wild guppies Poecilia reticulata. Additionally, the aim was to determine whether any consistent correlations between these behavioural traits, known as behavioural syndromes, were present in the study population. The results revealed that all three personality traits were highly repeatable over time in both sexes. Evidence of a complex syndrome in the form of a correlation between boldness, sociability and activity was found; however, this relationship was only …


Rescued Goats At A Sanctuary Display Positive Mood After Former Neglect, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott Jun 2013

Rescued Goats At A Sanctuary Display Positive Mood After Former Neglect, Elodie F. Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Sentience Collection

Moods influence cognitive processes in that people in positive moods expect more positive events to occur and less negative ones (“optimistic bias”), whereas the opposite happens for people in negative moods (“pessimistic bias”). The evidence for an effect of mood on cognitive bias is also increasing in animals, suggesting that measures of optimism and pessimism could provide useful indicators of animal welfare. For obvious ethical reasons, serious poor treatments cannot be easily replicated in large mammals in order to study their long-term effects on moods. In this study, we tested the long-term effects (>2 years) of prior poor welfare …


Environmental Change Alters Personality In The Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Ashley J. Frost, Jack S. Thomson, Charlotte Smith, Hannah C. Burton, Ben Davis, Phillip C. Watts, Lynne U. Sneddon Jun 2013

Environmental Change Alters Personality In The Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Ashley J. Frost, Jack S. Thomson, Charlotte Smith, Hannah C. Burton, Ben Davis, Phillip C. Watts, Lynne U. Sneddon

Sentience Collection

Boldness is a personality trait that defines how individuals respond to risky situations and has clear fitness consequences. Since the adaptive value of boldness is context dependent, the benefit of a distinct personality is less clear when the environment is unpredictable. An ability to modulate behaviour can be beneficial, although as behavioural plasticity itself may be costly this depends on the levels of environmental stability. Both boldness and its plasticity are linked with physiological stress coping mechanisms, whereby animals with reduced glucocorticoid responses to stress are bolder and less flexible in behaviour. We investigated the behavioural changes made by bold …


Site Fidelity And Homing Behaviour In Intertidal Fishes, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown Jun 2013

Site Fidelity And Homing Behaviour In Intertidal Fishes, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

The theory of ecological cognition poses that the brains and behaviour of animals are shaped by the environmental challenges they face in their everyday lives. Site fidelity and homing ability was tested for five species of intertidal rock pool fish by tagging and displacing them to new rock pools at various distances from their ‘home’ rock pools. Three of the species were rock pool specialists whilst the remaining two spend a small proportion of their life in rock pools during early ontogeny. The three specialists showed strong site fidelity with >50 % of individuals found in the same pool 42 …


Are Juvenile Domestic Pigs (Sus Scrofa Domestica) Sensitive To The Attentive States Of Humans? The Impact Of Impulsivity On Choice Behaviour, Christian Nawroth, Mirjam Ebersbach, Eberhard Von Borell Jun 2013

Are Juvenile Domestic Pigs (Sus Scrofa Domestica) Sensitive To The Attentive States Of Humans? The Impact Of Impulsivity On Choice Behaviour, Christian Nawroth, Mirjam Ebersbach, Eberhard Von Borell

Attention Collection

Previous studies have shown that apes, dogs and horses seem to be able to attribute attentive states to humans. Subjects chose successfully between two persons: one who was able to see the animal and one who was not. Using a similar paradigm, we tested a species that does not rely strongly on visual cues, the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica). Subjects could choose between two unfamiliar persons, with only one showing attention, in three different conditions (body, head away, body turned - head front). Subjects (n = 16) only showed a tendency towards …


Evolutionary Responses To Invasion: Cane Toad Sympatric Fish Show Enhanced Avoidance Learning, Georgina Caller, Culum Brown Jan 2013

Evolutionary Responses To Invasion: Cane Toad Sympatric Fish Show Enhanced Avoidance Learning, Georgina Caller, Culum Brown

Aquaculture Collection

The introduced cane toad (Bufo marinus) poses a major threat to biodiversity due to its lifelong toxicity. Several terrestrial native Australian vertebrates are adapting to the cane toad’s presence and lab trials have demonstrated that repeated exposure to B. marinus can result in learnt avoidance behaviour. Here we investigated whether aversion learning is occurring in aquatic ecosystems by comparing cane toad naı¨ve and sympatric populations of crimson spotted rainbow fish (Melanotaenia duboulayi). The first experiment indicated that fish from the sympatric population had pre-existing aversion to attacking cane toad tadpoles but also showed reduced attacks on native tadpoles. The second …


The Applicability Of The Self-Fulfillment Account Of Welfare To Nonhuman Animals, Babies, And Mentally Disabled Humans, Tatjana Visak, Jonathan Balcombe Jan 2013

The Applicability Of The Self-Fulfillment Account Of Welfare To Nonhuman Animals, Babies, And Mentally Disabled Humans, Tatjana Visak, Jonathan Balcombe

Sentience Collection

In this paper we will argue that generality is a virtue of Haybron’s account of welfare. Indeed, reflecting on the applicability of his theory to nonhuman animals will give us a better understanding of its applicability to humans. We will first focus on self-fulfillment and suggest an interpretation of Haybron’s account according to which the self-fulfillment of an individual consists in the fulfillment of the aspects of the self that are applicable to that particular individual. This makes Haybron’s account of welfare applicable to all sentient beings. Then we will focus on sub-personal nature-fulfillment and argue that the same interpretation …


Great Ape Mindreading: What’S At Stake?, Kristin Andrews Jan 2013

Great Ape Mindreading: What’S At Stake?, Kristin Andrews

Ethology Collection

Humans and other great apes are similar in so many ways. We share an extended immaturity and intense infant-caregiver relationships, group living situations, cultural transmission of technology, and many emotions and cognitive capacities. Yet the communities of nonhuman apes are also very different from human communities. Humans build lasting tools, and store them to use later. We build permanent sleeping and living structures. We cook our food. We have courts of law and prisons and ethics books. There are vast technological differences between humans and nonhuman great apes. What is it that accounts for such a difference? On one account, …


Social Learning In Juvenile Lemon Sharks, Negaprion Brevirostris, Tristan L. Guttridge, Sander Van Dijk, Eize Stamhuis, Jens Krause, Samuel Gruber, Culum Brown Jan 2013

Social Learning In Juvenile Lemon Sharks, Negaprion Brevirostris, Tristan L. Guttridge, Sander Van Dijk, Eize Stamhuis, Jens Krause, Samuel Gruber, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Social learning is taxonomically widespread and can provide distinct behavioural advantages, such as in finding food or avoiding predators more efficiently. Although extensively studied in bony fishes, no such empirical evidence exists for cartilaginous fishes. Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the social learning capabilities of juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris. We designed a novel food task, where sharks were required to enter a start zone and subsequently make physical contact with a target in order to receive a food reward. Naive sharks were then able to interact with and observe (a) pre-trained sharks, that is, ‘demonstrators’, …


Does True Syntax Or Simple Auditory Object Support The Role Of Skylark Song Dialect?, Elodie F. Briefer, Fanny Rybak, Thierry Aubin Jan 2013

Does True Syntax Or Simple Auditory Object Support The Role Of Skylark Song Dialect?, Elodie F. Briefer, Fanny Rybak, Thierry Aubin

Sentience Collection

Parallels between birdsong and human language are numerous and include particular temporal arrangements of acoustic units and the existence of dialects. In animal communication, modifications of the temporal ordering of existing acoustic units have rarely been clearly linked with changes in information content, particularly in a natural environment. Here, we show that the organization of birdsong units (‘syllables’) in sequences supports interindividual relationships within skylark communities. We manipulated the temporal arrangement of song dialect variants (‘shared phrases’) in the skylark, Alauda arvensis, a songbird with a very large repertoire of syllables and complex song. When tested with playback experiments performed …


Ape Autonomy? Social Norms And Moral Agency In Other Species, Kristin Andrews Jan 2013

Ape Autonomy? Social Norms And Moral Agency In Other Species, Kristin Andrews

Autonomy Collection

No abstract provided.


Do Painful Sensations And Fear Exist In Fish?, Lynne U. Sneddon Jan 2013

Do Painful Sensations And Fear Exist In Fish?, Lynne U. Sneddon

Distress Collection

The detection of pain and fear in fi sh has been subject to much debate and, since fi sh are a popular experimental model and commercially important in both angling and aquaculture, many procedures that fi sh are subjected to cause injury, fear and stress. These injuries would give rise to the sensation of pain in humans but whether fi sh have the capacity for pain is relatively under explored. Recent evidence has shown that fi sh have the same neural apparatus to detect pain that mammals and humans do, that their brain is active during a potentially painful experience, …


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 …


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 …


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.


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 …