Orangutans’ Comprehension of Zoo Keepers’ Communicative Signals
Zoological institutions often encourage cooperative interactions between keepers and animals so as to promote animals’ welfare. One useful technique has been conditioning training, whereby animals learn to respond to keepers’ requests, which facilitates a number of, otherwise sensitive, daily routines. As various media have been used to convey keepers’ instructions, the question remains of which […]
Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) use human gestures but not nonhuman tokens to find hidden food
The authors examined the ability of domestic dogs to use human body cues (gestures) and equivalent-sized nonhuman cues to find hidden food in an object choice paradigm. In Experiment 1 the authors addressed the importance of the human element of the cue, and the effects of size, topography, and familiarity on dogs’ success in using […]
Attachment Behavior of Adult Dogs (Canis familiaris) Living at Rescue Centers- Forming New Bonds
In this study, 60 shelter dogs (Canis familiaris) were observed in the modified version of the Strange Situation Test, which has proved to be a useful method for studying dogs’ attachment behavior toward humans (J. Topal, A. Miklosi, V. Csanyi, & A. D6ka, 1998). Before testing, 40 dogs were handled 3 times for 10 min. […]
Differential Use of Vocal and Gestural Communicationby Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Response to the Attentional Status of a Human (Homo sapiens)
This study examined the communicative behavior of 49 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), particularly their use of vocalizations, manual gestures, and other auditory- or tactile-based behaviors as a means of gaining an inattentive audience’s attention. A human (Homo sapiens) experimenter held a banana while oriented either toward or away from the chimpanzee. The chimpanzees’ behavior was […]
Referential Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Two experiments were conducted to assess the referential function of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) gestures to obtain food. The chimpanzees received 1 trial per condition. In Experiment 1 (N 101), in full view of the chimpanzee, a banana was placed on top of 1 of 2 inverted buckets or was hidden underneath 1 of the buckets. […]
Comprehension of human communicative signs in pet dogs (Canis familiaris)
On the basis of a study by D. J. Povinelli, D. T. Bierschwale, and C. G. Cech (1999), the performance of family dogs (Canis familiaris) was examined in a 2-way food choice task in which 4 types of directional cues were given by the experimenter: pointing and gazing, head-nodding (“at target”), head turning above the […]
Use of human visual attention cues by olive baboons (Papio anubis) in a competitive task
The ability of 4 olive baboons (Papio anubis) to use human gaze cues during a competitive food task was investigated. Three baboons used head orientation as a cue, and 1 individual also used eye direction alone. As the baboons did not receive prior training with gestural cues, their performance suggests that the competitive paradigm may […]