Zoology Commons^™

Taking Exception To Human Exceptionalism, Carrie P. Freeman

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman refute common claims used to justify human species distinctions, and they critique the animal cruelty that has resulted from this privileged status. I raise related questions for further study of the roots of human exceptionalism and about whether aspiring to be more like our fellow animals might be part of the solution.

Sharing Emotions Builds Bridges Between Individuals And Between Species, Elisabetta Palagi

Animal Sentience

Many animal species express, perceive and share emotions. These abilities have been favoured by natural selection because they allow subjects to respond to various situations in an appropriate way, thus facilitating survival and increasing fitness. The same-face/same-emotion phenomenon is at the basis of sharing feelings and emotions. Recent studies show that this capacity is not unique to humans and that it plays an important role in creating cohesive societies in many different species.

Phenotypic Similarity And Moral Consideration, S. Brian Hood, Sophia Giddens

Animal Sentience

Identifying specific traits to justify according differential moral status to humans and non-human animals may be more challenging than Chapman & Huffman suggest. The reasons for this also go against their recommendation that we ought to attend to how humans and non-humans are similar. The problem lies in identifying the moral relevance of biological characteristics. There are, however, other reasons for treating non-human animals as worthy of moral consideration, such as the Precautionary Principle.

Is Human Uniqueness Fake News?, Sean Hermanson

Animal Sentience

The world and its troubles don't need unfounded denials of human uniqueness.

“I Am Not An Animal”, Lori Marino

Animal Sentience

The answer to Chapman & Huffman’s question — “Why do we want to think humans are different?” — lies in the work of Ernest Becker and the social psychology literature known as Terror Management Theory, according to which our deep anxiety about animality and death can drive our need to feel superior to the other animals.

Across The Great Divide, Debra Merskin

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman’s target article calls for a reevaluation of claims of human uniqueness and superiority. It also adds to the literature on how species differences, as Darwin noted, are more of degree than kind. The threats to environmental health and species survival are a consequence of excluding nonhuman animals from moral concern and consideration. The theory of intersectionality should include speciesism in the array of discriminatory practices.

Animal Cognition: Quantity Has A Quality Of Its Own, Ivaylo Borislavov Iotchev, Kauê Machado Costa

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman’s moral analysis fails to prove that the exploitation of animals or the environment is causally connected to beliefs about human capacities. Their exposition of the philosophical interpretations of animal cognition ignores historical context and confounds different levels of analysis. Their analysis of the scientific literature, from which they conclude that humans should not be considered as different from other animals, does not take into account many recent psychological and neuroscientific developments and rests upon a flawed understanding of the relationship between gradual and categorical differences, misrepresenting the two as mutually exclusive concepts.

Corticocentric Bias In Cognitive Neuroscience, Orit Nafcha, Shai Gabay

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman (2018) note that our tendency to categorize leads to a sense of human superiority that helps justify violence against nonhuman animals. Yet animals are turning out to have capacities previously thought to be uniquely human. We add a further factor that may contribute to the false sense of human superiority: the "corticocentric" bias of neuroscience. An evolutionary approach may help identify species similarities and differences, providing a better understanding of the uniqueness of each species.

Taking Darwinism Seriously, Carsta Simon

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman propose that dropping the categorical distinction between human and nonhuman animals may reduce the atrocious acts of humans towards nonhuman animals, but will it? Taking Darwinism seriously means accepting physical and behavioral continuity across species, including the capacity to feel pain.

Refining Thoughts About Human/Nonhuman Differences, Colin A. Chapman, Michael A. Huffman

Animal Sentience

Our commentators come from many fields and disciplines and express highly divergent views, illustrating broad interest in the question. From the breadth of comments, we have identified two recurring themes, which we focus on here. The first is a preponderance of cautionary remarks about evaluating the differences between humans and nonhuman animals. The second concerns whether considering animals as worthy of moral consideration is one of many useful tools for conservationists trying to prevent extinction, habitat destruction, and climate change.

Diversity On Human Difference: Unanimity On Human Responsibility, Colin A. Chapman, Michael A. Huffman

Animal Sentience

Further commentaries on our original target article add important new points and expand our understanding of the differences between animals, particularly between non-human and human primates. But whether they affirm or deny that humans are unique, all commentators agree that our special abilities mean we should be taking responsibility for the care of nature and the plants and animals it supports. We ask: is humankind doing this?

On Neglected Taxa: Protostomes And The Evolution Of Myelination, Michaella P. Andrade, Charles Morphy D. Santos

Animal Sentience

Understanding the evolution of nervous and sensory systems in animals is key to understanding the distribution of animal sentience. However, the use of model organisms – mostly vertebrates, and especially mammals – often biases comparative analyses. Sneddon et al. (2018a,b) point out that using nonhuman animals as models helps us better understand the multifaceted aspects of animal pain and sentience. Several concerns need to be considered in dealing with model organisms. Here we discuss how models that are unrepresentative phylogenetically influence hypotheses about the evolution of the myelination in animals. Greater effort is needed to escape “vertebrate-centrism” in evolutionary research.

Effect Of Group Size On The Activity Budget Of Two Captive Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Kaeley Sullins

All Master's Theses

Captive facilities housing chimpanzees are required to provide adequate care and provisions such as dietary, social, and environmental enrichment to promote the psychological well-being of the apes in their care. Chimpanzees are social creatures and changes in groups as well as relocation to a facility with new social partners, can impact each individual chimpanzee’s welfare. By tracking each chimpanzee’s activity budgets, managers can assess welfare and make improvements or adjustments if necessary. I looked at the activity budgets of two captive chimpanzees after the death of a group member and the two chimpanzees’ subsequent relocation to a novel, more socially …

Employing Natural History Collections In The Aid Of Conservation: Streamlining An Approach To Model Species Distributions En Masse For The Preservation Of Biodiversity, Alice Fornari

Master's Projects and Capstones

Using species distribution models (SDMs) in Natural History Collections (NHCs) can influence how humans implement conservation changes in flora and fauna communities and ecosystems. Through the use of legacy data (old NHCs and their associated locality/collection information), data correction (background data or pseudo absences added to presence-only data), and the SDM software, Maxent (and its associated geographic information systems or GIS projected models), it has been shown that it is feasible to create a low budget protocol/setup to project the past, present and future of species population changes. This has been done in the past few decades as more collections …

Motivations And Satisfaction Of North Dakota Deer Hunters During A Temporal Decline In Deer Populations, Kristen E. Black, William F. Jensen, Robert Newman, Jason Boulanger

Biology Faculty Publications

Achieving state wildlife agency biological goals for deer (Odocoileus spp.) management may often conflict with hunter desires. Concomitantly, better information is needed to optimize agency deer herd management goals with hunters’ social goals. In 2016, we surveyed 3,000 North Dakota, USA, resident deer hunters using a self-administered mail survey to gain a better understanding of motivations, satisfaction, and hunter demographics that may be used to inform hunter recruitment and retention (HRR) efforts during a period of reduced statewide deer populations. With deer-gun license availability strictly limited, we explored the possibility that some gun hunters may have been engaging …

Painted Ferocity: The Social Behaviors Of African Wild Dogs, Threats To Survival, And Resulting Conservation Initiatives, Alexis Valdes

Senior Honors Theses

African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) are an endangered species of canid from Sub-Saharan Africa. They are very social communal hunters, and are capable of chasing down prey for long stretches of time. Wild dogs benefit a savannah ecosystem by regulating the populations of their prey so that it does not become unhealthy and overgrown. Like many organisms, wild dogs are also in competition with other predators for resources, namely lions and hyenas, who are capable of stealing their kills and occasionally injuring and killing them. Due to the depletion of their wild prey, wild dogs may also prey …

Andean Condor Nesting And Behavior: A Study Of A Free-Living Pair And Chick As Well As Population Behavior Near Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador, Ian Handler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The behavior of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), especially nest behavior, is little known outside of captivity. More information on chick-parent interactions and parenting dynamics of successful condor pairs is needed in order to help create an effective conservation plan for a species in peril of extinction. Study of nest home used by a free-living pair of condors and home to a five-month old juvenile began on November 11, 2018 and continued through November 29, 2018. The nest is located in Antisanilla Biological Reserve and nearby Antisana Ecological Reserve. The chick was also tagged with numbers and a tracking device …

Differences In Temporal And Territorial Feeding Patterns Of Various Tropical Trochilidae Species As Observed At Two Different Ecosystems In Soberanía National Park, Delaney Vorwick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study aims to illustrate differences in feeding patterns and displays of territorialism at two artificial feeding sites, located in two ecosystems; one site in a secondary forest of Soberanía National Park, the other in a residential area in the nearby town of Gamboa. Four 1-hour observation periods were recorded each day for four days at both sites. During each period of observation, the allocation of time to the three activities of perching, flying, and feeding was recorded, along with the number of visits the feeders. Notes were taken on patterns of territoriality as connected to species and sex. Significance …

Fish Diversity And Distribution In The Seagrass-Coral Reef Continuum At Two Sites Off The Western Coast Of Isla Bastimentos, Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Kathy Liu

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coral reefs are the most diverse marine ecosystem and the largest biogenic structure on Earth. They serve as shelter for many reef fishes and are a food source for resident and visiting fish species. In the tropics, coral reefs are often in close proximity to seagrass beds and the two contiguous marine habitats are not only highly interconnected but also highly understudied. The seagrass-coral reef continuum offers a wide array of services to human society as well as to various life stages of reef fishes resulting in diel, temporal, or yearly migrations of fish between the two habitats. Tropical reef …

Large Mammals Of The High Andes A Survey Of Community Composition And Habitat Usage In The Highlands Of Angochagua, Sage Fox

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The large mammal community of the high Andes may be the least understood in South America. It contains multiple threatened and charismatic species including the Andean Bear, Mountain Tapir, Red Brocket Deer, Northern Pudu, and Puma. Many of these species are lacking in distribution and population data. The highlands of the Parroquia de Angochagua were once overgrazed by livestock, but have been mostly restored over the last 20 years through conservation efforts by the local community. These highlands are thought to have populations of all the previously mentioned species, though they had not been surveyed before this study. Transect surveys …

Demography And Behavior Of Critically Endangered Alouatta Coibensis Trabeata Troops In Forest Fragments In And Around Mata Oscura, Veraguas On The Azuero Peninsula Of Panamá, Billy Allen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The endemic Azuero howler monkey, Alouatta coibensis trabeata, was studied in three sites in and around the Mata Oscura community in Veraguas, Panamá in the western region of the Azuero Peninsula. A. coibensis trabeata is a critically endangered subspecies of A. coibensis that is threatened by continued habitat destruction and human encroachment throughout its entire distribution on the Azuero Peninsula. Sites included the Mata Oscura community (site 1), the Arenas community periphery (site 2), and the Cerro Hoya National Park (site 3). Demography, behavior, and habitat were assessed over 9 days of study in November. Troops were encountered in sites …

An Investigation Of Vocal Learning Propensity In Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia Guttata), Tatsuya Hayashi

Theses and Dissertations

The investigator attempted to predict the vocal learning propensity from either family pedigree or early vocal babbling (subsong). Pedigree trees suggest the possibility that vocal learning ability may depend on family. We failed to predict vocal learning propensity from subsong, but suggested that subsong may influence vocal learning outcome.

Bubble Stream Production By Belugas (Delphinapterus Leucas), Megan Slack

Theses

Bubble stream production in belugas has been poorly characterized and its function is not well understood. I examined behavioral states when producing bubble streams (“bubbling”), and when bubbling calls, to determine whether bubbling was significantly associated with a particular call category or behavioral state. Using 19 hours of video and audio recordings collected over a two-day period, I quantified bubble streams of a 4-month old calf and an unrelated adult female housed together. Based on the overall activity budgets and pool of vocalizations for both animals, I calculated the expected counts of bubble streams with and without vocalizations, assuming that …

Morphological Variation In The Genus Chlorocebus: Ecogeographic And Anthropogenically Mediated Variation In Body Mass, Postcranial Morphology, And Growth, Trudy R. Turner, Christopher A. Schmitt, Jennifer Danzy Cramer, Joseph Lorenz, J. Paul Grobler, Clifford J. Jolly, Nelson B. Freimer

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Objectives

Direct comparative work in morphology and growth on widely dispersed wild primate taxa is rarely accomplished, yet critical to understanding ecogeographic variation, plastic local variation in response to human impacts, and variation in patterns of growth and sexual dimorphism. We investigated population variation in morphology and growth in response to geographic variables (i.e., latitude, altitude), climatic variables (i.e., temperature and rainfall), and human impacts in the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus spp.).

Methods

We trapped over 1,600 wild vervets from across Sub‐Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, and compared measurements of body mass, body length, and relative thigh, leg, and foot …

Behavioural Risks In Male Dogs With Minimal Lifetime Exposure To Gonadal Hormones May Complicate Population-Control Benefits Of Desexing, Paul Mcgreevy, Bethany Wilson, Melissa Starling, James A. Serpell

Endocrinology Collection

Castration of dogs is a widespread practise with clear justification in population control and knock-on benefits for animal welfare. Deleterious behavioural consequences of castration are believed to be negligible. Gonadectomy is widely recommended as part of a multi-factorial approach to prevent problems including aggression in dogs. However, the consequences of early castration on health are still being debated. The current study focused on the reported behaviour of 6,235 male dogs castrated before 520 weeks of life for reasons other than behavioural management, and calculated their percentage lifetime exposure to gonadal hormones (PLGH) as a proportion of their age at the …

Effects Of Environmental Enrichment On Behavior In A Domestic Goat Herd, Stephanie Peramas

Senior Honors Projects

Animal welfare is one of the most important parts of animal management. Apart from other measures of good animal welfare, like being in good health, animal behavior can be indicative of the animal’s internal state and is often one of the first signs of improper welfare. Stereotypies, or stereotypic behavior, are commonly viewed as a symptom of improper animal welfare. Unenriched, or barren, environments associated with farmed livestock have long been associated with inducing stereotypic behavior. The addition of precise enrichment to the animals’ environment is a common remedy for stereotypic behavior. With respect to stereotypic goat behavior, few empirical …

Winter Bat Activity In A Landscape Without Traditional Hibernacula, Amy M. Hammesfahr, Rene E. Ohms

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Prior to 2014, bat research at Devils Tower National Monument (DETO) focused on bats present during the summer months. Biologists at DETO assumed local bats were strictly summer residents due to the presumed lack of typical habitat features associated with bat hibernation, such as caves and mines. This lack of traditional hibernacula features at DETO discouraged staff and research cooperators from studying winter bat populations. Despite the earlier assumption that bats were unlikely to hibernate on the monument, DETO documented significant winter bat activity through passive winter acoustic monitoring. This study is the first study at DETO that documents …

Personality In California Sea Lions (Zalophus Californianus) And Harbor Seals (Phoca Vitulina): Methodological Convergence And Species-Specific Emotional Repertoires, Amber De Vere

Dissertations

Despite the wide acceptance of animal personality as a valid area of study, research on marine mammal personality remains remarkably scarce. What literature does exist predominantly focuses on bottlenose dolphins (Frick, 2016; Highfill & Kuczaj, 2007; Kuczaj, Highfill & Byerly, 2012; Lilley, de Vere, Yeatre & Kuczaj, 2018; Moreno, Highfill & Kuczaj, 2017). There is also strong evidence for individual differences in grey seals (Robinson et al., 2015; Twiss & Franklin, 2010; Twiss, Culloch & Pomeroy, 2011; Twiss, Cairns, Culloch, Richards & Pomeroy, 2012), and preliminary research has provided evidence of broad personality factors in pinniped species using behavioral coding …

Towards Quantifying Relevant Land Cover Change: A Case Study In The Central Flyway Of The Monarch Butterfly, Hanna Lenee Ford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past 20 years notable decreases in monarch butterfly populations have led researchers to begin evaluating the landscape for changes and seeking out opportunities for enacting conservation programs to better support their survival. The monarch butterfly has recently come under consideration for listing under the Endangered Species Act which has created a need for a more informed view of the landscape through which the migrate and breed, the central United States. In this research three spatially-explicit models are explored using the most applicable datasets currently available to address pressing policy and land manager decisions regarding monarch butterfly and pollinator …

Blooming Mountains Of Biodiversity: An Investigation Of Angiosperms On Cerro Mayordomo, Tungurahua, Ecuador, Ella Matsuda

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, and many of the species in the region are found nowhere else in the world. The cloud forest is particularly diverse because the mountainous terrain isolates populations and changes in elevation create a wide variety of habitats. Cerro Mayordomo is a relatively unexplored mountain in the cloud forest of Tungurahua, Ecuador. It is known to have very high levels of endemism and several new species have been discovered there, but the biodiversity of angiosperms on the mountain has never been quantified. In this study, 5x5 m quadrants were established …