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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-05-12 03:31:22
Abstract
Over the past three decades, technological advances for monitoring wild animals have expanded the ability of ecologists to study animal behavior and space use. Currently, researchers are deploying animal-borne video and environmental data collection systems (AVEDs), which enable researchers to see what the animal sees in the field. AVEDs record fine-scale movements as well as features of the surrounding environment and thus provide essential context for understanding animal decisions and interactions with other individuals. These fine-scale data are often crucial for ...
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Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 271, No. Suppl 5. (7 August 2004), pp. S281-S282, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2004.0182
posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-05-12 03:31:01
Abstract
Marine birds and mammals spend most of their lives in the open ocean far from human observation, which makes obtaining information about their foraging behaviour difficult. Here, we show, by use of a miniaturized digital camera system, the first direct evidence (to our knowledge) of underwater group behaviour in free–ranging penguins. Penguins swim closely accompanied by other bird(s) during 24% of their possible foraging dives. This finding confirms that such miniaturized camera technology has broad applicability for advancing our knowledge about ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-05-12 03:30:35
Abstract
While social interactions play a crucial role on the development of young individuals, those of highly mobile juvenile birds in inaccessible environments are difficult to observe. In this study, we deployed miniaturised video recorders on juvenile brown boobies Sula leucogaster, which had been hand-fed beginning a few days after hatching, to examine how social interactions between tagged juveniles and other birds affected their flight and foraging behaviour. Juveniles flew longer with congeners, especially with adult birds, than solitarily. In addition, approximately ...
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Abstract
Urban regions are among the most human-altered environments on Earth and they are poised for rapid expansion following population growth and migration. Identifying the biological traits that determine which species are likely to succeed in urbanized habitats is important for predicting global trends in biodiversity. We provide the first evidence for the intuitive yet untested hypothesis that relative brain size is a key factor predisposing animals to successful establishment in cities. We apply phylogenetic mixed modelling in a Bayesian framework to ...
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Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983), Vol. 116, No. 2. (June 2002), pp. 166-172
Abstract
The application of quantitative and comparative measures from information theory on animal communication can provide novel insights into the ecological, environmental, social, and contextual properties that shape the structure, organization, and function of signal repertoires. Using 2 phylogenetically different mammalian species that share similar ecological and social constraints as examples, the authors quantitatively examined the internal structure and development of a subsystem of these species' vocal repertoires in comparison with that of human language and illustrated that these species exhibit convergent ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-02-17 04:35:24
Abstract
In the past SETI has focused on the reception and deciphering of radio signals from potential remote civilizations. It is conceivable that real-time contact and interaction with a social intelligence may occur in the future. A serious look at the development of relationship, and deciphering of communication signals within and between a non-terrestrial, non-primate sentient species is relevant. Since 1985 a resident community of free-ranging Atlantic spotted dolphins has been observed regularly in the Bahamas. Life history, relationships, regular interspecific interactions ...
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Abstract
Because of scaling trends in physiology and morphology, very small animals are expected to suffer especially strong selection to reduce the cost of the central nervous system, which may make them more likely to sacrifice behavioural capacities to economize on nervous tissue. This ‘size-limitation’ hypothesis predicts reduced behavioural capabilities in smaller animals. I tested this hypothesis by comparing web construction behaviour of young nymphs and adults of a very small orb-weaving spider, Anapisona simoni (young nymphs 0.005 mg, adults 0.8 mg), with ...
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Abstract
New Caledonian (NC) crows are the most sophisticated tool manufacturers other than humans. The diversification and geographical distribution of their three Pandanus tool designs that differ in complexity, as well as the lack of ecological correlates, suggest that cumulative technological change has taken place. To investigate the possibility that high-fidelity social transmission mediated this putative ratchet-like process, we studied the ontogeny of Pandanus tool manufacture ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-02-01 19:33:08
Abstract
In studies of animal behaviour, researchers have long been concerned that their presence may change the conduct of their study subjects. To minimize observer effects, researchers often habituate their study animals. The premise of this method is that, with sufficient neutral exposure, animals will stop reacting to humans. While numerous studies demonstrate that negative responses to humans decrease over time, the fact that an animal does not flee from or behave aggressively towards observers cannot be taken as evidence that ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-02-01 19:31:45
Abstract
Studies on advanced forms of tool use in birds have mainly been concentrated on corvids. In this study, captive kea, a neophilic New Zealand parrot species, produced different orders of spatial object relationships in a tube-lifting/object-inserting paradigm. Hence, we found that kea, which are neither natural tool users nor nest builders, could readily solve a second-order tool use task. They also learned to produce highly complicated means–means–end sequences in a short period of time. ...
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Abstract
Abstract Scaling of avian brain:body mass throughout the diversification of the class was investigated by analysis of a large collection of adult brain and body masses. Linear regression model analysis of whole-class brain:body scaling resulted in scaling exponents ranging from 0.574 to 0.609, values which exclude several prior empirical and theoretical estimates. Taxonomic level-specific analysis of brain:body scaling was performed by major-axis regression of trait variances partitioned among levels of taxonomic distinction. Brain:body scaling exponents varied markedly among avian orders, but ...
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Mammalia
posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 11:48:58
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:49:33
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:49:28
Abstract
Perceptions of U.S. agricultural producers about wildlife were examined by distributing questionnaires in 1993 and 1994 to 2,000 farmers and ranchers: 1,000 selected from a random list maintained by Survey Sampling, Inc., and 1,000 contacted through county offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency. One thousand three hundred forty-seven usable questionnaires were returned. Most respondents (51%) purposely managed for wildlife on their farm or ranch. Activities included providing cover for wildlife near fields (reported by 39 of the ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:48:14
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:46:41
Abstract
African elephants face an uncertain future. Politics, war, sustained media campaigns, corrupt, weak or absent institutions supporting conservation, land-use planning or general governance, and greed are all bringing elephants into direct conflict with humans. Although elephant populations have declined considerably relative to their historical size and range, human populations have expanded to occupy and intensively use remaining elephant areas. Strategies to minimize perceptions of conflict and the implementation of land-use planning with biodiversity protection as its goal could help to sustain ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:45:47
Abstract
The decline in the range and numbers of elephants as a result of expanding human activity in Africa is recognized as one of the continent's more serious conservation problems. Understanding the relationship between human settlement patterns and elephant abundance is fundamental to predicting the viability of elephant populations. The prevailing model of human-elephant interaction predicts a negative linear relationship between rising human density and declining elephant density at a coarse (national or subcontinental) scale. Using observed elephant densities and human population ...
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posted to animal_cognition cetaceans
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:45:41
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Abstract
Soon after longlining on Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) started in the Southern Ocean in the second half of the 1980s, interactions of cetaceans with these fisheries became apparent. The two species primarily involved were orcas (killer whales) (Orcinus orca) and male sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Both species took substantial number of fish from the line primarily during day light hours. Catch rates of longliners declined to less than 50% when orcas occurred close to longline vessels while the loss to sperm ...
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Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:41:17
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:38:31
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Abstract
Abstract Mixed-species associations are temporary associations between individuals of different species that are often observed in birds, primates and cetaceans. They have been interpreted as a strategy to reduce predation risk, enhance foraging success and/or provide a social advantage. In the archipelago of the Azores, four species of dolphins are commonly involved in mixed-species associations: the common dolphin, Delphinus delphis, the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, and the spotted dolphin, Stenella frontalis. In order to understand the ...
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Abstract
Human development often favors species adapted to human conditions with subsequent negative effects on sensitive species. This is occurring throughout the urbanizing world as increases by generalist omnivores, like some crows and ravens (corvids) threaten other birds with increased rates of nest predation. The process of corvid responses and their actual effects on other species is only vaguely understood, so we quantified the population response of radio-tagged American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), common ravens (Corvus corax), and Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) to ...
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(1989)
posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 01:03:18
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 00:53:28
Abstract
Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and their relatives might be expected to show mirror-induced contingency checking, a prerequisite to self-recognition, because of their high brain development, their complex social life and their demonstrated abilities in bodily imitation. A study of killer whales’(Orcinus orca) behaviour in front of a mirror is presented, including a mark test. Shorter investigations of mirror behaviour are also described in false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus). Contingency checking was present in killer whales and ...
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Abstract
Comparative studies suggest that at least some bird species have evolved mental skills similar to those found in humans and apes. This is indicated by feats such as tool use, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use one's own experience in predicting the behavior of conspecifics. It is, however, not yet clear whether these skills are accompanied by an understanding of the self. In apes, self-directed behavior in response to a mirror has been taken as evidence of self-recognition. We investigated ...
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(10 January 1999)
posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 00:51:37
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 00:51:21
Abstract
Although social play is broadly distributed among mammals, it is infrequently encountered in other vertebrate taxa. It is, however, displayed in a fully realized and complex form in several groups of birds. Unambiguous accounts of social play have been recorded from thirteen species of parrots, seven species of corvids, and several hornbills and Eurasian babblers. We conducted an analysis of the avian play literature, testing for differences between avian taxa, as well as for correlations between play complexity, brain size, and ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 00:51:14
Abstract
The play behaviour of the critically endangered kakapo (Strigops habroptilus; Aves: Psittaciformes: Psittacidae) is here compared to that of its closest relatives, the kea (Nestor notabilis) and the kaka (Nestor meridionalis). Contrasting kakapos, which are relatively solitary, with the more social Nestor parrots provides an attractive test of the relative contributions of phylogeny and sociality to the evolution of play. Overlapping cluster analysis of play sequences using a hypergeometric similarity metric indicated that kakapo play is generally less complex, lacking the ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-17 00:39:21
Abstract
Urbanization dramatically changes the composition and diversity of biotic communities. The characteristics distinguishing species that persist in urban environments, however, are poorly understood. Here we test the hypothesis that broadly adapted organisms are better able to tolerate urbanization, using a phylogenetically controlled, global comparison of birds. We compared elevational and latitudinal distributions of 217 urban birds found in 73 of the world's largest cities with distributions of 247 rural congeners to test the hypothesis that urban birds possess broader environmental tolerance. ...
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 102, No. 15. (12 April 2005), pp. 5460-5465, doi:10.1073/pnas.0408145102
Abstract
The widely held hypothesis that enlarged brains have evolved as an adaptation to cope with novel or altered environmental conditions lacks firm empirical support. Here, we test this hypothesis for a major animal group (birds) by examining whether large-brained species show higher survival than small-brained species when introduced to nonnative locations. Using a global database documenting the outcome of >600 introduction events, we confirm that avian species with larger brains, relative to their body mass, tend to be more successful at ...
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Abstract
Discussions of the evolution of intelligence have focused on monkeys and apes because of their close evolutionary relationship to humans. Other large-brained social animals, such as corvids, also understand their physical and social worlds. Here we review recent studies of tool manufacture, mental time travel, and social cognition in corvids, and suggest that complex cognition depends on a “tool kit” consisting of causal reasoning, flexibility, imagination, and prospection. Because corvids and apes share these cognitive tools, we argue that complex cognitive ...
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by Lori Marino, Richard C. Connor, R. Ewan Fordyce, et al.Louis M. Herman, Patrick R. Hof, Louis Lefebvre, David Lusseau, Brenda McCowan, Esther A. Nimchinsky, Adam A. Pack, Luke Rendell, Joy S. Reidenberg, Diana Reiss, Mark D. Uhen, Estel Van der Gucht, Hal Whitehead
Abstract
A group of eminent cetacean researchers respond to headlines charging that dolphins might be "flippin' idiots". They examine behavioural, anatomical and evolutionary data to conclude that the large brain of cetaceans evolved to support complex cognitive abilities. ...
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 107, No. 50. (14 December 2010), pp. 21582-21586, doi:10.1073/pnas.1005246107
Abstract
Evolutionary encephalization, or increasing brain size relative to body size, is assumed to be a general phenomenon in mammals. However, despite extensive evidence for variation in both absolute and relative brain size in extant species, there have been no explicit tests of patterns of brain size change over evolutionary time. Instead, allometric relationships between brain size and body size have been used as a proxy ...
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Abstract
The expensive brain hypothesis predicts an interspecific link between relative brain size and life-history pace. Indeed, animals with relatively large brains have reduced rates of growth and reproduction. However, they also have increased total lifespan. Here we show that the reduction in production with increasing brain size is not fully compensated by the increase in lifespan. Consequently, the maximum rate of population increase (rmax) is negatively correlated with brain mass. This result is not due to a confounding effect of body ...
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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 274, No. 1611. (22 March 2007), pp. 763-769, doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3765
Abstract
Big brains are hypothesized to enhance survival of animals by facilitating flexible cognitive responses that buffer individuals against environmental stresses. Although this theory receives partial support from the finding that brain size limits the capacity of animals to behaviourally respond to environmental challenges, the hypothesis that large brains are associated with reduced mortality has never been empirically tested. Using extensive information on avian adult mortality from natural populations, we show here that species with larger brains, relative to their body size, ...
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posted to animal_cognition
by InquilineKea
on 2011-01-16 23:31:59
Abstract
This paper presents results of almost 30 years of study of the cognitive and communicative activities of Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus), conventionally regarded as mindless mimics. These studies have demonstrated that Grey parrots can solve various cognitive tasks and acquire and use English speech in ways that often resemble those of very young children. Examples include the concepts of same/different, colour, size and shape. The parrot Alex can also recognize and distinguish numbers up to six, and spontaneously demonstrated his ability ...
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