Pub Date : 2023-09-29DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10238
R.M.L. Silveira, J.M. Almeida, M.A.S. Alves
Abstract Self-recognition is the ability of an animal to identify itself when observing its reflected image. Although many species have been tested, self-recognition has only been confirmed conclusively in a few taxa. We presented five Rosy-faced lovebirds, Agapornis roseicollis , with their own image using a mirror and applied the mark test, attaching a black sticker to each bird’s throat. We evaluated the potential tactile effect of the mark by attaching a transparent sticker to the bird’s throat. The results were analysed using Generalised Linear Mixed Models, which showed that four of five birds touched the black mark more than the transparent mark. There was no evidence that the birds could see the mark without the assistance of the mirror. The results of the study provide encouraging evidence that Agapornis roseicollis is able to recognise itself in a mirror and is the first parrot species to pass the mark test.
{"title":"Rosy-faced lovebirds’, Agapornis roseicollis (Aves: Psittaciformes), response to their own image reveals self-recognition behaviour","authors":"R.M.L. Silveira, J.M. Almeida, M.A.S. Alves","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10238","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10238","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Self-recognition is the ability of an animal to identify itself when observing its reflected image. Although many species have been tested, self-recognition has only been confirmed conclusively in a few taxa. We presented five Rosy-faced lovebirds, Agapornis roseicollis , with their own image using a mirror and applied the mark test, attaching a black sticker to each bird’s throat. We evaluated the potential tactile effect of the mark by attaching a transparent sticker to the bird’s throat. The results were analysed using Generalised Linear Mixed Models, which showed that four of five birds touched the black mark more than the transparent mark. There was no evidence that the birds could see the mark without the assistance of the mirror. The results of the study provide encouraging evidence that Agapornis roseicollis is able to recognise itself in a mirror and is the first parrot species to pass the mark test.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135199177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-29DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10237
Joseph Barnett, Steven Poe
Abstract Despite the nearly ubiquitous nature of sleep in the animal kingdom, behavioural research on sleep has focused on a few model organisms and widespread behaviours studied in artificial laboratory settings. In this study, we examine the ontogeny of sleeping perch selection in four closely related species of arboreal lizard in situ. The study species each occupy similar habitats and share ‘solitary’ ecology wherein potential lizard competitors are absent, thus providing four partially independent replicates with which to test hypotheses. We find that structural niche, analysed as perch height, varies by age and sex. Males sleep higher than females and adults sleep higher than juveniles in three of four species. Adults exhibit greater variability in sleep site selection. These patterns may reflect diurnal behaviour or indicate selective differences in sleeping perch variability across sex and ontogeny.
{"title":"Ontogeny of sleeping behaviour in four solitary species of Anolis lizard","authors":"Joseph Barnett, Steven Poe","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10237","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10237","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Despite the nearly ubiquitous nature of sleep in the animal kingdom, behavioural research on sleep has focused on a few model organisms and widespread behaviours studied in artificial laboratory settings. In this study, we examine the ontogeny of sleeping perch selection in four closely related species of arboreal lizard in situ. The study species each occupy similar habitats and share ‘solitary’ ecology wherein potential lizard competitors are absent, thus providing four partially independent replicates with which to test hypotheses. We find that structural niche, analysed as perch height, varies by age and sex. Males sleep higher than females and adults sleep higher than juveniles in three of four species. Adults exhibit greater variability in sleep site selection. These patterns may reflect diurnal behaviour or indicate selective differences in sleeping perch variability across sex and ontogeny.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135247309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-29DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10240
Clémentine Séguigne, Thomas Vignaud, Carl Meyer, Jan Bierwirth, Éric Clua
Abstract Recent studies suggest sharks cognitive abilities are comparable to other vertebrates such as mammals and birds, but we still know relatively little about the long-term memory capacity of sharks. We took advantage of the COVID-19 anthropause to determine whether bull sharks conditioned at a provisioning ecotourism site in Fiji would remember the site after an 18-month hiatus in shark feeding activities. We hypothesized that if bull sharks remembered the food rewards associated with divers at the site, they would return to the reactivated site more rapidly than the original recruitment process that occurred when the site was first established in, 2015. We assumed that original recruitment to the newly established site represent a period of learning and conditioning, whereas a significantly faster recolonization of the site would imply memory recall of the original conditioning. We monitored bull shark abundance at the site for three years (1018 dives) from its original establishment in 2015 until all feeding and diving activities were ceased for 18 months in December, 2020. When shark feeding resumed, we documented bull sharks returning to the site over a three-week period (45 dives beginning June 22, 2022) and compared observed abundances with modelled predictions assuming no interruption to provisioning. Results revealed a rapid return to ‘business as usual’, suggesting that bull sharks still remembered the food reward conditioning despite an 18-month hiatus in provisioning. This supports the existence of long-lasting cognitive capacities in this species and highlights their relevance for managing activities that could disrupt their natural ecology.
{"title":"Evidence of long-lasting memory of a free-ranging top marine predator, the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas","authors":"Clémentine Séguigne, Thomas Vignaud, Carl Meyer, Jan Bierwirth, Éric Clua","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10240","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Recent studies suggest sharks cognitive abilities are comparable to other vertebrates such as mammals and birds, but we still know relatively little about the long-term memory capacity of sharks. We took advantage of the COVID-19 anthropause to determine whether bull sharks conditioned at a provisioning ecotourism site in Fiji would remember the site after an 18-month hiatus in shark feeding activities. We hypothesized that if bull sharks remembered the food rewards associated with divers at the site, they would return to the reactivated site more rapidly than the original recruitment process that occurred when the site was first established in, 2015. We assumed that original recruitment to the newly established site represent a period of learning and conditioning, whereas a significantly faster recolonization of the site would imply memory recall of the original conditioning. We monitored bull shark abundance at the site for three years (1018 dives) from its original establishment in 2015 until all feeding and diving activities were ceased for 18 months in December, 2020. When shark feeding resumed, we documented bull sharks returning to the site over a three-week period (45 dives beginning June 22, 2022) and compared observed abundances with modelled predictions assuming no interruption to provisioning. Results revealed a rapid return to ‘business as usual’, suggesting that bull sharks still remembered the food reward conditioning despite an 18-month hiatus in provisioning. This supports the existence of long-lasting cognitive capacities in this species and highlights their relevance for managing activities that could disrupt their natural ecology.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135200318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-29DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10239
Liliya M. Sedova, Ilya A. Volodin, Mariya N. Erofeeva, Galina S. Alekseeva, Sergey V. Naidenko, Elena V. Volodina
Abstract This study investigates the frequency, temporal and power parameters in 11 (5 males, 6 females) captive feral domestic cats Felis silvestris catus , vocalising in their individual outdoor enclosures during the mating season. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) classified the meows to correct callers with 79.2% accuracy, which exceeded the chance level of 22.9 ± 2.8%, calculated with permutation test. Male meows were lower-frequency, with the maximum fundamental frequency of 0.37 ± 0.05 kHz vs 0.61 ± 0.16 kHz in females. Sex differences in the maximum, beginning and end fundamental frequencies varied from 32 to 39%, depending on acoustic parameter. The DFA classified the meows to correct sex with accuracy of 88.0%, which exceeded the chance level of 58.2 ± 3.1%. We discuss that the meows encode information about individual identity and sex and that acoustic differences in frequency parameters of the meows exceed sexual dimorphism of body size in domestic cat.
摘要本研究调查了11只(5公6母)圈养野猫(Felis silvestris catus)在交配季节在单独室外围场发声的频率、时间和功率参数。判别函数分析(Discriminant function analysis, DFA)将猫叫分类为正确呼叫者的准确率为79.2%,高于排列检验计算的概率水平(22.9±2.8%)。雄性猫叫声频率较低,最高基频为0.37±0.05 kHz,雌性为0.61±0.16 kHz。根据声学参数的不同,最大、起始和结束基频的性别差异从32%到39%不等。DFA对喵喵的性别分类准确率为88.0%,超过了58.2±3.1%的概率水平。我们讨论了喵叫编码个体身份和性别的信息,并且喵叫频率参数的声学差异超过了家猫体型的性别二态性。
{"title":"Meows of captive feral domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) in the mating season: acoustic correlates of caller identity and sex","authors":"Liliya M. Sedova, Ilya A. Volodin, Mariya N. Erofeeva, Galina S. Alekseeva, Sergey V. Naidenko, Elena V. Volodina","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10239","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10239","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study investigates the frequency, temporal and power parameters in 11 (5 males, 6 females) captive feral domestic cats Felis silvestris catus , vocalising in their individual outdoor enclosures during the mating season. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) classified the meows to correct callers with 79.2% accuracy, which exceeded the chance level of 22.9 ± 2.8%, calculated with permutation test. Male meows were lower-frequency, with the maximum fundamental frequency of 0.37 ± 0.05 kHz vs 0.61 ± 0.16 kHz in females. Sex differences in the maximum, beginning and end fundamental frequencies varied from 32 to 39%, depending on acoustic parameter. The DFA classified the meows to correct sex with accuracy of 88.0%, which exceeded the chance level of 58.2 ± 3.1%. We discuss that the meows encode information about individual identity and sex and that acoustic differences in frequency parameters of the meows exceed sexual dimorphism of body size in domestic cat.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135200142","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-21DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10235
André O. Silva-Júnior, Hugo R. Barbosa-da-Silva, R. Salomão, G. J. Moura, A. Lira
Small species often fall prey to a wide range of predators in their natural habitats, and therefore require behavioural strategies to mitigate predation rates. In this study, we investigated the defensive behaviour of Ananteris mauryi, a small-bodied scorpion, against different natural predator species. Behavioural trials were conducted with A. mauryi individuals facing two different predators, spider and scorpion. Our results show that A. mauryi altered their defensive acts depending on the predator type, swinging their telson, cleaning their pedipalps, and run more frequently when facing spiders than scorpions. Additionally, we observed variation in the duration of behaviours according to predator type, with stinging attempts being performed more frequently against scorpions and run and metasoma swinging against spiders. Our findings suggest that scorpions have the ability to modulate their defensive behaviour according to the type of predator they face.
{"title":"Defensive behaviour plasticity in Ananteris mauryi Lourenço, 1982 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) facing different predator species","authors":"André O. Silva-Júnior, Hugo R. Barbosa-da-Silva, R. Salomão, G. J. Moura, A. Lira","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10235","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10235","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Small species often fall prey to a wide range of predators in their natural habitats, and therefore require behavioural strategies to mitigate predation rates. In this study, we investigated the defensive behaviour of Ananteris mauryi, a small-bodied scorpion, against different natural predator species. Behavioural trials were conducted with A. mauryi individuals facing two different predators, spider and scorpion. Our results show that A. mauryi altered their defensive acts depending on the predator type, swinging their telson, cleaning their pedipalps, and run more frequently when facing spiders than scorpions. Additionally, we observed variation in the duration of behaviours according to predator type, with stinging attempts being performed more frequently against scorpions and run and metasoma swinging against spiders. Our findings suggest that scorpions have the ability to modulate their defensive behaviour according to the type of predator they face.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41362846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-04DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10226
I. F. Porcher
In, 1954, Warder C. Allee and Joshua C. Dickinson decided to establish that “dominance-subordination” hierarchies are present in the Chondrichthyan phylogenetic line. To do so, they confined sixteen fished smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis) in tanks and observed their behaviour. They found neither competition over food, in spite of starving the animals for up to six days at times, nor any clear example of aggression, though it is through aggressive actions that such hierarchies are, by definition, established. They therefore used collision avoidance to support their hypothesis that the sharks had established a rigid size-dependent dominance-subordinate hierarchy, and claimed to have established that such hierarchies are present in Chondrichthyans. However, ethological studies since then have not identified the hierarchies in elasmobranchs that this study claims to be present, but they have found that smaller sharks tend to avoid colliding with larger individuals, which is the simplest explanation for their observations.
{"title":"Commentary on: dominance and subordination in the smooth dogfish, Mustelus canis (Allee & Dickenson, 1954)","authors":"I. F. Porcher","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10226","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In, 1954, Warder C. Allee and Joshua C. Dickinson decided to establish that “dominance-subordination” hierarchies are present in the Chondrichthyan phylogenetic line. To do so, they confined sixteen fished smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis) in tanks and observed their behaviour. They found neither competition over food, in spite of starving the animals for up to six days at times, nor any clear example of aggression, though it is through aggressive actions that such hierarchies are, by definition, established. They therefore used collision avoidance to support their hypothesis that the sharks had established a rigid size-dependent dominance-subordinate hierarchy, and claimed to have established that such hierarchies are present in Chondrichthyans. However, ethological studies since then have not identified the hierarchies in elasmobranchs that this study claims to be present, but they have found that smaller sharks tend to avoid colliding with larger individuals, which is the simplest explanation for their observations.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45660170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-04DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10231
B. Mioduszewska, M. O’Hara, F. Rheindt, A. Auersperg
Tanimbar corellas, an important model in comparative cognition research, are endemic to the Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia, but were also introduced to several other locations with a tropical climate. Introduced psittacines offer valuable opportunities to test hypotheses at large temporal and spatial scales, such as geographic distribution of behaviours. Here, we report two opportunistic observations of Tanimbar corellas combining small wooden fragments with two types of tropical fruit (Ketapang and Pong-pong) in Singapore. The observations were recorded and uploaded to YouTube by a local bird-watcher. We analyse the behavioural similarities and differences between object combinations with the Pong-pong fruit in Singapore and extractive tool use on the Wawai fruit in Indonesia. Repeated insertions of the wooden fragment into the fruit and visible ingestion suggest that the combinatory behaviours were most likely related to foraging. This report provides first insights into the presence of advanced technical abilities in geographically separated Tanimbar corellas.
{"title":"Dynamic object–fruit combinations by introduced Tanimbar corellas (Cacatua goffiniana) in Singapore","authors":"B. Mioduszewska, M. O’Hara, F. Rheindt, A. Auersperg","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10231","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Tanimbar corellas, an important model in comparative cognition research, are endemic to the Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia, but were also introduced to several other locations with a tropical climate. Introduced psittacines offer valuable opportunities to test hypotheses at large temporal and spatial scales, such as geographic distribution of behaviours. Here, we report two opportunistic observations of Tanimbar corellas combining small wooden fragments with two types of tropical fruit (Ketapang and Pong-pong) in Singapore. The observations were recorded and uploaded to YouTube by a local bird-watcher. We analyse the behavioural similarities and differences between object combinations with the Pong-pong fruit in Singapore and extractive tool use on the Wawai fruit in Indonesia. Repeated insertions of the wooden fragment into the fruit and visible ingestion suggest that the combinatory behaviours were most likely related to foraging. This report provides first insights into the presence of advanced technical abilities in geographically separated Tanimbar corellas.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47437100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-03DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10230
Camilla Cenni, B. Thierry, I. N. Wandia, J. Leca
While tool use has been widely reported in non-human animals for food acquisition, the use of tools for drinking has been largely overlooked, with primates being a notable exception. We documented tool-assisted water scooping and drinking in several Balinese long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), living in Ubud, Indonesia, over a period of four years. We observed repeated tool-assisted water scooping using leaves, nuts, pits, and stones. Our results indicate that this behaviour is associated with manual drinking and can be performed in a playful context. This population habitually engages in a cultural form of stone-assisted object play known as stone handling, and it has an overall propensity to manipulate objects in water. We discuss the relationship between instrumental and non-instrumental object-assisted actions, as well as the possibility for this behaviour to be a tradition in this population. This report offers new insights into the limited literature on tool-assisted drinking in monkeys.
{"title":"Tool-assisted water scooping in Balinese long-tailed macaques","authors":"Camilla Cenni, B. Thierry, I. N. Wandia, J. Leca","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10230","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000While tool use has been widely reported in non-human animals for food acquisition, the use of tools for drinking has been largely overlooked, with primates being a notable exception. We documented tool-assisted water scooping and drinking in several Balinese long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), living in Ubud, Indonesia, over a period of four years. We observed repeated tool-assisted water scooping using leaves, nuts, pits, and stones. Our results indicate that this behaviour is associated with manual drinking and can be performed in a playful context. This population habitually engages in a cultural form of stone-assisted object play known as stone handling, and it has an overall propensity to manipulate objects in water. We discuss the relationship between instrumental and non-instrumental object-assisted actions, as well as the possibility for this behaviour to be a tradition in this population. This report offers new insights into the limited literature on tool-assisted drinking in monkeys.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48569128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-03DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10234
Tasha Oosthuizen, H. Lutermann
Rodents from the southern hemisphere are underrepresented in studies of animal personality. In the current study, we assessed personality in 22 wild-caught Namaqua rock mice (Micaelamys namaquensis), a species that is widespread throughout southern Africa. We assessed exploration, aggression and boldness scores and evaluated the effects of intrinsic (i.e., sex) and extrinsic (i.e., captive environment) factors on personality. Rock mice showed personality and behavioural plasticity. While sex alone was not an important factor in the personality of this species, the initial trial differed significantly from subsequent ones, indicative of capture stress and/or subsequent habituation. We found a behavioural syndrome between aggressiveness and exploration, as well as between aggressiveness and boldness scores. Thus, our study extends our knowledge of personality and behavioural syndrome in wild rodents and suggests a role of sex on habituation. The fitness implications of these findings for the study species merit further study in the future.
{"title":"Personality and behavioural syndromes in wild-caught Namaqua rock mice (Micaelamys namaquensis)","authors":"Tasha Oosthuizen, H. Lutermann","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10234","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10234","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Rodents from the southern hemisphere are underrepresented in studies of animal personality. In the current study, we assessed personality in 22 wild-caught Namaqua rock mice (Micaelamys namaquensis), a species that is widespread throughout southern Africa. We assessed exploration, aggression and boldness scores and evaluated the effects of intrinsic (i.e., sex) and extrinsic (i.e., captive environment) factors on personality. Rock mice showed personality and behavioural plasticity. While sex alone was not an important factor in the personality of this species, the initial trial differed significantly from subsequent ones, indicative of capture stress and/or subsequent habituation. We found a behavioural syndrome between aggressiveness and exploration, as well as between aggressiveness and boldness scores. Thus, our study extends our knowledge of personality and behavioural syndrome in wild rodents and suggests a role of sex on habituation. The fitness implications of these findings for the study species merit further study in the future.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47286734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-25DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10232
Jillian M. Kusch, Colleen Crill Matzke, J. Lane
Stressors activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis which produces glucocorticoid (GC) hormones. Social buffering, the lowering of glucocorticoid secretion with increased social ties, commonly mitigates the stress response following exposure to a stressor. Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are ground-dwelling sciurids that vary their social behaviour over time, and provide an exciting opportunity to investigate social buffering and GC production. We observed social behaviours and measured GC hormones in prairie dogs during the spring (reproduction) and summer. We expected social buffering would reduce GC production in the summer, following the stressors experienced during the spring. However, we found social integration and GC deposition were inversely correlated during the spring, which suggests social buffering occurs during the highly stressful period of reproduction, instead of after. Our study shows that the relationship between social behaviour and GC production is context-dependent, and social buffering may be an adaptive strategy in this colonially-living species.
{"title":"Social buffering reduces hair cortisol content in black-tailed prairie dogs during reproduction","authors":"Jillian M. Kusch, Colleen Crill Matzke, J. Lane","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10232","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10232","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Stressors activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis which produces glucocorticoid (GC) hormones. Social buffering, the lowering of glucocorticoid secretion with increased social ties, commonly mitigates the stress response following exposure to a stressor. Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are ground-dwelling sciurids that vary their social behaviour over time, and provide an exciting opportunity to investigate social buffering and GC production. We observed social behaviours and measured GC hormones in prairie dogs during the spring (reproduction) and summer. We expected social buffering would reduce GC production in the summer, following the stressors experienced during the spring. However, we found social integration and GC deposition were inversely correlated during the spring, which suggests social buffering occurs during the highly stressful period of reproduction, instead of after. Our study shows that the relationship between social behaviour and GC production is context-dependent, and social buffering may be an adaptive strategy in this colonially-living species.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46895296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}