Murid stress odours: a review and a ‘low tech’ method of collection
Stress cues can affect the welfare of animals in close proximity and are possibly useful non-invasive indicators of the emitters’ welfare. To facilitate their study in murids, we tested whether rats’ stress odours could be collected and stored using an enfleurage-type technique. ‘Donor’ rats were individually exposed to a compound stressor (carried circa 75 m […]
Evidence for Contagious Behaviors in Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): An Observational Studyof Yawning and Stretching
Yawning is contagious in humans and some non-human primates. If there are social functions to contagious behaviors, such as yawning, they might occur in other highly social vertebrates. To investigate this possibility, we conducted an observational study of yawning and an associated behavior, stretching, in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), a social, flock-living parrot. Flock-housed budgerigars were […]
Display behavior in tortoises
When compared to lizards or snakes, signals related to warning and threat are not very important in land tortoises. Within social and sexual contexts, tactile and chemical signals seem more important than visual, and certainly than auditory ones. Color patterns are rarely, if ever, sexually discriminatory. Seasonal color differences are rare. In general, positional signals […]
Chemical signals of age, sex and identity in black rhinoceros
Olfactory communication may be particularly important to black rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis, because they are solitary living and have comparatively poor eyesight but their populations are structured by inter- and intrasexual relationships. Understanding olfactory functions and processes might achieve better conservation management but their study in rhinoceros remains anecdotal or descriptive. Experimental approaches are required but […]
Social Knowledge and Signals in Primates
Primates are notable for having a rich and detailed understanding of their social environment and there has been great interest in the evolution and function of social knowledge in primates. Indeed, primates have been shown to have impressive understandings of not only other group members but also the complex relationships among them. To be useful, […]
Reliably signalling a startling husbandry event improves welfare of zoo-housed capuchins (Sapajus apella)
Animals kept in captivity are reliant on humans for their care and welfare. Enclosure design, and choice of group mates as well as routine husbandry events such as feeding, cleaning, and health care are in the hands of human keepers. It is therefore important to understand how external human-related husbandry events affect daily behaviour routines […]
Macaques attend to scratching in others
Self-directed behaviours in primates as a response to increasing psychological or physiological stress are a well-studied phenomenon. There is some evidence that these behaviours can be contagious when observed by conspecifics, but the adaptive function of this process is unclear. The ability to perceive stress in others and respond to it could be an important […]