The role of weighted and topological network information to understand animal social networks: a null model approach
Network null models are important to drawing conclusions about individual- and population-(or graph) level metrics. While the null models of binary networks are well studied, recent literature on weighted networks suggests that: (1) many so-called ‘weighted metrics’ do not actually depend on weights, and (2) many metrics that supposedly measure higher-order social structure actually are […]
Science, Animal Ethics and the Law
Within the paradigm of the desirability of an age of plenty, science has delivered a rapid expansion in animal production by changing the living standards, morphology and physiology of animals. While various philosophers have espoused more compassionate and just treatment of animals for at least twenty centuries, it is only in recent times that animal […]
Bottlenose dolphins engaging in more social affiliative behaviour judge ambiguous cues more optimistically
Cognitive bias tests measure variation in emotional appraisal and are validated methods to assess animals’ affective states. However, the link between social behaviours and cognitive bias has not yet been investigated. Bottlenose dolphins are a gregarious species for whom welfare research is increasing in importance, and thus are a good model to test such an […]