The Link Between Personality, Subjective Well-being, and Welfare in Zoo-Housed Sulawesi Crested Macaques (Macaca nigra)
Assessing welfare is at the forefront of modern zoo practice, and there is increasing recognition of how certain personality types are at greater risk of poor welfare outcomes than others when exposed to stressors. We investigated the associations between behaviour, welfare, subjective well-being, and personality in two groups of Sulawesi crested macaques (Macaca nigra) (n = 13) […]
Is individual temperament related to behaviors in a social context for a Neotropical parakeet species?
The relations of temperament dimensions obtained in tests traditionally used to assess interindividual differences with long-term behaviors and social rank of animals are poorly understood. Here, our aims were: (a) to investigate the relationships between temperament dimensions obtained through behavioral tests and the social rank of white-eyed parakeets (Psittacara leucophthalmus), and (b) to evaluate the […]
Does the social network structure of wild animal populations differ from that of animals in captivity?
The social behaviour of wild animals living in groups leads to social networks with structures that produce group-level effects and position individuals within them with differential consequences for an individual’s fitness. Social dynamics in captivity can differ greatly from those in wild conspecifics given the different constraints on social organization in wild populations, e.g. group […]
Social Experience of Captive Livingstone’s Fruit Bats (Pteropus livingstonii)
Social network analysis has been highlighted as a powerful tool to enhance the evidence-based management of captive-housed species through its ability to quantify the social experience of individuals. We apply this technique to explore the social structure and social roles of 50 Livingstone’s fruit bats (Pteropus livingstonii) housed at Jersey Zoo, Channel Islands, through the […]
Dominance, aggression, and glucocorticoid levels in social carnivores
In social animals, reproductive success is often related to social dominance. In cooperatively breeding birds and mammals, reproductive rates are usually lower for social subordinates than for dominants, and it is common for reproduction in subordinates to be completely suppressed. Early research with captive animals showed that losing fights can increase glucocorticoid (GC) secretion, a […]
Function of Notification in Papio hamadryas
Notification is a form of ritualized greeting behavior performed by adult male hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas). Originally observed in the wild when harem leaders signaled the direction of travel to their followers on daily foraging marches, its true function is unknown. Notification involves the approach of an adult male baboon to another male, the presentation […]
The Effects of Social Experience on Aggressive Behavior in the Green Anole Lizard (Anolis carolinensis)
To understand how context-specific aggression emerges from past experience, we examined how consecutive aggressive encounters influence aggressive behavior and stress responses of male green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis). Animals were shown a video clip featuring an aggressively displaying conspecific male, which provoked aggressive responding, while control animals viewed a neutral video. After 5 d of […]
Agonistic Behavior in Freshwater Crayfish The Influence of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors on Aggressive Encounters and Dominance
Fighting success and dominance in crayfish depends on a variety of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Most intrinsic factors studied to date are related to the physical size of the crayfish. Larger crayfish or those with larger chelae often have advantages in agonistic interactions. Age, sex, and reproductive status can influence the physical size of the […]
Social spacing of crayfish in natural habitats: what role does dominance play?
We examined the impact of dominance on crayfish social spacing and resource control. Spatial distributions of individual crayfish, Orconectes propinquus, were recorded from five sample sites in Douglas Lake, MI, USA. Crayfish populations from each site were collected and then immediately transferred to artificial ponds in order to reproduce potential dominance hierarchies. After 15 h […]
Male mating patterns in wild multimale mountain gorilla groups
Although mountain gorillas,Gorilla gorilla beringei, are classified as having a one-male mating system, approximately 40% of the social units are multimale groups. I observed two multimale groups of mountain gorillas at the Karisoke Research Center, Rwanda, Africa, for 17 months to determine male mating patterns and male–male mating harassment in relation to both male dominance […]