bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Testing Assumptions of Data Selection in Focal Animal Sampling
Authors: Shapiro D.Y. , Altham P.M.E. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractIn focal animal samples of the social interactions of individuals in groups, the possible variability of behaviour in time poses a problem of proper data selection. Four models are developed to reveal what conditions the behaviour under study must satisfy in order for data from the focal samples of both members of an interacting dyad to be used in estimating one member's partner distribution. The conditions are: the probability with which the subject animal acts on each partner, given that he acts at all, remains constant in time and the subject's overall activity rate remains constant or varies only within certain prescribed limits. If these conditions are not met, an animal's partner distribution should be estimated only from data recorded during his focal samples. The paper provides a means of testing whether a particular set of data conforms to these conditions.
The Social Organization of a Small Captive Group of Eland, Oryx and Roan Antelope With an Analysis of Personality Profiles
Authors: Kiley-Worthington M. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe social organisation of a captive herd of 13 eland, 1 adult male roan antelope, and one adult male cape oryx was studied at a limited food resource in a confined area. The importance of a "dominance hierarchy" in controlling relationships between individuals was assessed by comparing rank orders for the performance and receipt of threats and, separately, withdrawals. Correlations between the individual rankings for "threats" and "withdrawn from" was good (p<0.01). This suggests that a "dominance hierarchy" had been established in this group, and it could be assessed by scoring aggression (threats) or avoidance (withdrawals). However, the high number of threats (13.8 per hour) indicates that the dominance hierarchy was not particularly rigid. Other than at the food, there were few interactions related to conflict. The importance of measuring other forms of interaction such as grooming, interest in other animals and displaying to other animals in order to understand group organisation is emphasised. A description of the social organisation of the group in terms of roles is considered. The complexity of relationships between individuals as shown by all these behaviours suggests that neither "dominance" hierarchy, nor roles are adequated for understanding the organisation of the group. A further measure, which is the extent to which individuals are involved in interaction with others (i.e. socially involved) is proposed, and it is found that sub-adults are consistently low on this score, whereas adults vary. Another measure of individual behaviour proposed is the extent to which the animal is a performer or receiver of the various behaviours. These measures are open to criticism, (as are concepts such as "dominance hierarchy" and "roles") on the basis of being unsophisticated blanket terms and therefore mis-leading since they tell little about individual relationships. As a result of the difference between individuals in the various interactions scored, it is clear that the only way to understand the group structure in detail is to draw up personality profiles. This was done using the six types of interactions that were measured. The profiles of the individuals represented in this way confirm their uniqueness even within one age or sex class. Similarities in related animals in several parameters is evident however.
The Behavioural Consequences of Size Variation Among Males of the Territorial Wasp Hemipepsis Ust Ulata (Hymenoptera : Pompilidae)
Authors: Alcock John 
Published: April 2008

Abstract(I) Some males of the pompilid wasp Hemipepsis ustulata defend territories in the crowns of palo verdes and other trees and bushes located high on the crest of mountain ridges. During the month of May in central Arizona territorial wasps remained at their stations for as many as 5 hr after sunrise; several individuals held the same site for more than two weeks. (2) Many palo verdes were never claimed despite the fact that large numbers of wasps visited trees held by other males and would occupy territories from which resident males had been experimentally removed. (3) Territory owners tended to be larger than non-territorial visitors, atlhough some small males in this highly variable species were able to hold certain territories for 2 or more days. (4) Palo verdes that were on or very close to peaktops along a mountain ridge were preferred territories. Prolonged clashes for possession of a tree were observed only at these sites. When resident males were removed from a number of trees along an ascending ridge, the higher trees were taken by newcomer males more quickly than the lower ones. (5) Relatively large males were found in preferred territories. In general, the closer a territory was to a peaktop, the larger the resident male. Smaller wasps either visited many territories as intruders or they established residence in trees below the preferred peaktop sites.
Wolf Howling and Its Role in Territory Maintenance
Authors: Harrington Fred H. , Mech L. David 
Published: April 2008

AbstractAn experimental study of the role of howling in wolf territory maintenance was conducted in the Superior National Forest, Minnesota. Vocal replies and behaviour of radio-collared wolves in response to human howls were analyzed for eight packs and 10 lone wolves during a 2-year period. Reply rate varied significantly throughout the year. A mid-winter increase was correlated with the breeding season, especially for groups containing breeding animals (alpha male or alpha female). A second, longer increase in reply rate started in midsummer, peaked about August, and declined to a low in early winter. The decline in autumn howling response occurred sooner in a pack whose pups developed faster. Through the year, the howling reply rate was significantly higher among all packs and lone wolves attending prey kills. The more food remaining at a kill, the higher the reply rate was. For wolves separated from their pack, the howling reply rate was dependent on their age and social role. Among adults, only alpha males ever replied alone, and their reply rate, and number of howls per session, exceeded those of other animals. Alpha males sometimes approached during howling sessions, whereas other adults usually retreated. Younger animals replied more often as pups than as yearlings, and then only during their first 7 months, after which they replied little more than most adults. Finally, larger packs replied more often than smaller packs. Specific behaviours noted during howling sessions, including movements away from the howler, indicated that howling was related to interpack agonism. In addition, three of the major factors influencing reply rate also significantly affect the level of agonism toward pack strangers : pack size, social role, and breeding season. The other two factors, kills and pups, are both important pack resources necessitating exclusive occupancy of a site. The high reply rates at sites containing kills or pups constitute strong circumstantial evidence that howling is important in territory maintenance. During howling sessions, wolves usually remained near their original site after replying, or retreated if they remained silent. This difference apparently was related to the problem of avoiding both accidental and deliberate encounters, and to cost/benefit considerations at the wolves' location. Howling was considered most effective in mediating avoidance in two situations : when two packs approached a common area of overlap, and when a pack returned to an area little used for weeks, in which scent posts would have lost effectiveness in deterring strangers. Both scent-marking and howling apparently are important in spacing. However, they differ in their roles and are complementary, with scent-marking being long-term and site-specific, and howling being immediate and long-range. Finally, lone wolves which do not possess territories, rarely replied, sharing the "low-profile" behaviour expected of surplus animals in a territorial population.
A Sampled Randomization Test for Examining Single Cells of Behavioural Transition Matrices
Authors: Rechten Catherine , Fernald Russell D. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractA Sampled Randomization test for analysing individual cells of behavioural transition matrices is described. The test is compared with two standard procedures by running all three on simulated data. The Randomization test proves roughly as efficient as the X2 test applied to a collapsed matrix; both are more powerful than a test proposed by SLATER & OLLASON (1972). The decisive advantage of the Randomization test lies in its ability to assess the interrelatedness of cell results within a matrix: expected values can be adjusted to show how any mechanism assumed to explain one cell result would affect the rest of the matrix.
Posthatching Effects of Repeated Prehatching Stimulation With an Alien Sound
Authors: Vince Margaret A. , Toosey Frances M. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe experiment investigates the domestic chick's response to a sound heard repeatedly before hatching. The stimulus chosen for this was an alien sound found to suppress post-hatching activity: a guinea pig vocalisation. Experimental embryos were exposed on the 20th day of incubation to this sound at half-minute intervals for about one hour, and the embryos' beak-clapping was used as the index of their response. Beakclaps were suppressed by the sound stimulus. During 100 presentations there was evidence of recovery of the response - the activity-suppressing effect waned - but this recovery was unstable and beak-clapping was still suppressed below the initial level when prehatching stimulation came to an end. Control embryos were incubated in the same way, but not exposed to the sound stimulus. After hatching each chick was tested separately under conditions intended to simulate being brooded. Each was exposed to a series of the same calls as those which experimental chicks had experienced before hatching. Three response indices were used: (a) the number of beakclaps in each 30-second trial (b) the number of seconds during which the eyes were open in each trial and (c) the number of vocalisations. Eye-opening was unaffected by the pre-hatching stimulation: in both groups it was maximal at the beginning of post-hatching stimulation and declined rapidly. Beak-clapping fell slightly during stimulation in the control group but the fall became of borderline significance only after stimulation came to an end; in the experimental group it appeared to be unaffected by the sound stimulus. The level of vocalisation differed as a result of pre-hatching experience: in the experimental group it rose slowly from the prestimulation baseline level, reached a peak and then fell, while in the control group it remained at the prestimulus level in all chicks but one. Interpretation takes into account the different effects recorded, considering (a) the three different response indices (b) the suppressing effect of the sound stimulus (demonstrated before hatching) and (c) the known fact that different elements in a response wane (and presumably also recover) at different rates. It is suggested that the "eyes open" results can be understood in terms of an "orientation" reaction which wanes rapidly then recovers under the conditions of post-hatching life. In controls the beak-clapping response after hatching showed something of the activity-suppressing effect of the stimulus whereas this activity-suppressing effect appeared to have waned completely in experimental chicks. In controls vocalisations were not elicited by the stimulus while experimental chicks responded to stimulation by an increase in vocalisations. This increase, however, occurred only after a delay which suggested an initial, brief, recovery of the suppressing effect of the alien sound stimulus.
Invasion of the Forest By an African Savannah Monkey: Behavioural Adaptations
Authors: Kavanagh Michael 
Published: April 2008

AbstractTantalus monkeys, a race of the savannah species Cercopithecus aethiops, have invaded the cultivated forest of Bakossi in south-west Cameroon during the last seventy years and become important agricultural pests. The cultivated forest is a new habitat to which they are well adapted by virtue of their eclectic diet, their habit of foraging away from tall trees, their semi-terrestriality, their flexible group size and their cryptic nature. The indigenous related species of the rainforest are less able to exploit the changed habitat, probably because they are insufficiently terrestrial or cryptic and they typically forage among the trees that provide their refuge. As a result of their conflict with the farmers whose crops they raid, the forest tantalus monkeys contrast with conspecifics in the savannah by their less predictable ranging patterns, their quieter call repertoire, a striking and consistent male pattern of vigilance behaviour and their habit of hiding from dogs rather than giving the loud alarm calls that are invariably given where canids are not associated with man.
Predatory Behaviour in Domestic Cat Mothers
Authors: Caro T.M. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThis study documents quantitatively the change in predatory behaviour of domestic cat mothers as their kittens develop. Predatory behaviour in mother cats was found to decline as that of their offspring increased. Before kittens were 8 weeks old, mothers were more likely to interact with prey if their kittens had not been on the prey for a time; they led in interactions with prey. Kittens were found to show increased rates of predatory behaviour patterns in the presence of their mother. This paper then goes on to examine some of the mechanisms by which mothers are able to bring about such an improvement in their kittens' predatory behaviour. It was found that kittens interacted more frequently and for longer with prey following the mother's bouts. Kittens were more likely to quickly follow another cat on the prey than wait more than 10 seconds. However when siblings only were considered, they were less likely to follow a sibling in less than 10 seconds of it having been on the prey. After the eighth week, kittens attended to prey by themselves more often than would be expected by chance, whereas in the early weeks of exposure to prey, they were more likely to attend to prey while their siblings or their mother was watching prey.
Predatory Behaviour and Social Play in Kittens
Authors: Caro T.M. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThis study relates changes in social play of kittens to the development of predatory behaviour. Firstly, it documents the development of predatory motor patterns in young cats between the age of 4 and 12 weeks. Correlations between measures of predatory behaviour were found to break down in the 8 to 12 week period of development. Secondly, it examines the development of social play over the same time course. Correlations between some measures of play were also found to break down between 8 and 12 weeks of age. Finally, measures of social play were correlated with measures of predatory behaviour before and after 8 weeks of age. Some measures of play were found to show increased correlations with predatory behaviour as kittens grew older, others were found to show less association with age. It is concluded that these changes in association between measures of play and predation probably reflect a reorganization of play behaviour. Different play patterns appeared to progressively come under separate types of control as kittens developed. Some patterns were becoming controlled by the same factors as those controlling predatory behaviour, others by those factors that control agonistic behaviour. In addition, the relationship between the timing of the onset of social play and predatory behaviour is examined.
Sexual Segregation, Cliques, and Social Power in Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri) Groups
Authors: Leger Daniel W. , Mason William A. , Fragaszy D. Munkenbeck 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThis report presents two studies of captive squirrel monkeys living in mixed-sex social groups: In the first study, we quantified social interaction patterns and spacing in two groups during their regular daily feeding period. Dispersal of food was rapid, owing to the animals' tendencies to drop items on the cage floor, and competitive interactions were infrequent. Adult males and females were spatially segregated, and between-sex interactions were relatively infrequent. Dyadic proximity data indicated that each group contained several cliques of from two to three individuals, usually of the same sex. Members of a clique not only spent more time near each other, but favored the same areas in the cage, even when they were not in proximity. Measures of proximity and agonism were positively correlated. In the second study, the same groups were presented with either one or two bottles of fruit drink, a highly desired, non-dispersible resource, or with one or two bottles of plain water. During water-bottle sessions, between-sex interactions were no more frequent or agonistic than they were in the normative study; in the highly competitive fruit-drink sessions, however, males frequently directed agonistic behavior against females and against each other, and they successfully dominated access to the fruit-drink bottles. In contrast, female agonism was directed mainly toward other females. Our observations suggest that membership in a clique may provide a competitive advantage. In one group, a clique consisting of a mother and her daughter successfully excluded other females from the fruit-drink bottles; in another group, the only females to compete vigorously against males were members of the same clique; after one of the two males in this group was removed, females for the first time made occasional joint attacks on the remaining adult male, and he appeared to become less assertive and successful in competitive tests. We suggest that the social and spatial peripherality of males is not simply the result of coercive exclusion by females, but also reflects a "choice" by males to avoid interacting with females under most circumstances. When male motivation is strong, however, they readily approach females, aggress against them, and assert themselves successfully in competitive interactions, even against a substantial female majority.
Urine-Marking and Caching Behavior in the Wolf
Authors: Harrington Fred H. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe relationship between urine-marking and caching was studied in two captive groups of wolves (Canis lupus). It was found that urine-marking never occurred when a cache was stocked, rarely occurred during later investigations if some food was still present, but usually occurred soon after the cache was emptied. The animal marking an empty cache was often not the one which had exploited it. Once an empty cache was marked it received little further attention, as opposed to caches that were empty but not urine-marked. These results suggest that urine-marking may enhance foraging efficiency in wolves by signalling that a site contains no more edible food despite the presence of lingering food odors.
Response of Male Song and Swamp Sparrows To Neighbour, Stranger, and Self Songs
Authors: Searcy William A. , McArthur Patrick D. , Peters Susan S. , Marler Peter 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
We examined the responsiveness of territorial male swamp sparrows (Melospiza georgiana) and song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) to neighbor, stranger, and self songs. In two speaker tests (with two song bouts played simultaneously from separate speakers), male swamp sparrows failed to discriminate between neighbor and stranger songs and between self and stranger songs. In single speaker presentations, male swamp sparrows responded more aggressively to stranger song than to neighbor song and gave intermediate responses to self song. Male song sparrows showed no significant discrimination between neighbor, stranger, and self songs. We hypothesized that male birds may learn what other conspecific songs should sound like by listening to their own songs. In its most stringent form this hypothesis might predict maximal responsiveness to playback of a male's own song. This prediction was not verified for these two sparrow species. There was less of a difference in responsiveness toward neighbor and stranger songs in song sparrows than in swamp sparrows; this result is compatible with the hypothesis that larger repertoires make neighbor recognition more difficult.
Olfactory Preferences of Inbred Mice (Mus Musculus) for Their Own Strain and for Siblings: Effects of Strain, Sex and Cross-Fostering
Authors: D'Udine Bruno , Partridge Linda 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
1. Mice of two inbred strains (C57 BL 6/J and SEC I ReJ) were tested for their preferences for the smells of bedding used by mice of the opposite sex of the same two strains. 2. C57 males and females showed no significant preference between the smell of C57 and SEC and this result was unaffected if the mice were reared by SEC foster-parents. 3. SEC males and females preferred the smell of SEC to the smell of C57 and this result was unaffected if the mice were reared by C57 foster-parents. 4. Males of both strains preferred the smell of non-siblings of their own strain to the smell of siblings. Rearing by foster-parents of the other strain reversed this preference; the males then preferred the smell of siblings. 5. C57 females preferred the smell of siblings to the smell of non-siblings of the same strain and this result was unaffected by rearing by SEC foster-parents. 6. Female SEC showed no significant sibling preferences and this result was unaffected by rearing by C57 foster-parents. 7. The results are consistent with the idea that mice prefer a slight degree of unfamiliarity in the smell of the opposite sex but they also suggest that what was judged as unfamilar differed between the two strains.
Dynamics of Seabird Multispecies Feeding Flocks: Age-Related Feeding Behaviour
Authors: Porter Julie M. , Sealy Spencer G. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractMultispecies feeding flocks of seabirds were studied in Barkley Sound, British Columbia. The flocks occurred during the post-breeding dispersal of migrant adult and juvenile seabirds. A consideration of comparative foraging success indicated that juvenile seabirds were less skilled at locating and capturing prey. Juveniles did not initiate flocks, were less adept at finding food, and had lower feeding success rates. The juveniles appeared to compensate for these inadequacies by using a different foraging strategy than adults. They increased the amount of time spent feeding and appeared to be more attracted to the presence of other feeding birds. Juveniles were less able to recognize good potential feeding areas and accessible food items. Juveniles had a greater tendency to loaf on the centrally located terrestrial loafing sites, thus increasing their chances of sighting feeding flocks. Our results demonstrated how improved post-fledging survival was achieved for juvenile seabirds feeding in the flocks. Our findings support the interpretations put forth by others to explain delayed maturity, reduced clutches in younger birds and prolonged parental care, all characteristic of seabirds.