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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Zoology & animal sciences > Animal behaviour
This book argues for a contemporary primatology that recognizes humans as integral components in the ecologies of primates. This contemporary primatology uses a broadened theoretical lens and methodological toolkit to study primate behavior and ecology in increasingly anthropogenic contexts and seeks points of intersection and spaces for collaborative exchange across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The book begins by exploring the American tradition of anthropology, providing historical and disciplinary context for the emergence of field primatology and how it became a part of this tradition. It then examines how primatology transformed into a field dominated by evolutionary approaches and highlights how the increasingly anthropogenic environments in which primates live present opportunities to understand primate adaptability at work. In doing so, it explores how an extended evolutionary approach can help explain behavioral variation in these contemporary environments. Focus is then given to the ethnoprimatological approach, a contemporary approach that provides a pluralistic framework, drawing from the natural and social sciences and humanities, needed to study human-primate coexistence in the Anthropocene. Finally, the book considers how such a crossing of disciplines can inform primate conservation in the future. An important interdisciplinary reassessment, this book will be of significant interest to primatologists, biological anthropologists, and scholars of anthropology more generally, as well as evolutionary and conservation biologists.
The definitive edition of Darwinās classic ā a brilliantly entertaining and accessible exploration of human and animal behaviour, reissued to mark the 200th anniversary of Darwinās birth. Why do we bite people we feel affection towards? Why do dogs wag their tails? Or cats purr? Why do we get embarrassed, and why does embarrassment make us blush? These and many other questions about the emotional life of man and animals are answered in this remarkable book. Expression is the only book in which Darwin sketches out his revolutionary ideas about human behaviour in detail: he discusses childhood learning, insanity, painting and sculpture, animal behaviour and the differences in facial expression of the worldās peoples.
Studies on animal behavior are vital for several reasons most importantly in connection with conservation, livestock and wildlife management, animal welfare, sustainable use of animal and human resources, and ultimately for better understanding of human behavior. In its formative stages, behavioral studies were mostly observational till the classic work of Lorenz, tin Bergen and Frisch catapulted them into Nobel laureates. This had a cascading effect on research on animal behavior resulting in intense studies in several areas of behavior mainly information acquisition neuroethology and transfer communication,ecological aspects habital related, foraging strategies, migration, predator-prey interactions, population ecology etc., socio-biology parent-filial interaction, co-operation & conflict, grouping & dispersion, social organization etc. reproductive strategies, evolutionary aspects kin selection, altruism, life history strategies etc., physiology behavioral endocrinology, rhythms, neurobiology and applied behavior conservation, animal welfare, livestock production, wild life management, man-animal conflict etc.
The contributors to this volume present research concerning the
cognitive structures and development of nonhuman primates from a
cognitive psychological perspective. The authors and researchers
come to this project from the study of humans and apply their
knowledge to research on nonhumans. For professional, researchers,
and students in cognitive, developmental, and experimental
psychology.
Despite originating more than two-and-a-half thousand years ago, Aesopās Fables are still passed on from parent to child, and are embedded in our collective consciousness. The morals we have learned from these tales continue to inform our judgements, but have the stories also informed how we regard their animal protagonists? Are wolves deceptive villains? Are crows insightful geniuses? And could a tortoise really beat a hare in a race? What truths about the animal world lie behind these tales? In Aesopās Animals, zoologist Jo Wimpenny turns a critical eye to the fables to examine the science behind Aesopās portrayal of the animal kingdom. She brings the tales into the twenty-first century, introducing the latest findings from the world of behavioural ecology ā the study of why animals do the things they do, in areas such as tool use, plans and projections, self-recognition, cooperation and deception. How close to verifiable scientific truths do these ancient tales lay? Sifting facts from fiction, Aesopās Animals explores and challenges our notions about animals, the ways in which they behave, and the roles we both play in our shared world.
In Butterfly Biology Systems Roger Dennis explores key topics and contentious issues in butterfly biology, specifically those in life history and behaviour. Uniquely, using a systems approach, the book focuses on the degree of integration and feedback between components and elements affecting each issue, as well as the links between different issues. The book comprises four sections. The first two sections introduce the reader to principles and approaches for investigating complex relationships, and provide a platform of knowledge on butterfly biology. The final two sections deal in turn with life history and behaviour, covering key issues affecting different stages of development from eggs to adults. The book is extensively illustrated with original diagrams and models, all of which have detailed legends, produced to enhance a broader understanding, and to provide templates for future research. It includes a detailed bibliography and glossary providing an essential gateway to the extensive literature on butterfly biology. Butterfly Biology Systems is essential reading for graduate students and researchers in insect ecology, evolution, behaviour and conservation. It will also be of great value to anyone interested in butterflies. Introduces a systems approach to butterfly biology Includes succinct reviews of the key interrelationships in butterfly life history and behaviour Illustrates more than 100 models to advance research into butterfly biology systems
Bumblebees are familiar and charismatic insects, occurring
throughout much of the world. They are increasingly being used as a
model organism for studying a wide range of ecological and
behavioural concepts, such as social organization, optimal foraging
theories, host-parasite interactions, and pollination. Recently
they have become a focus for conservationists due to mounting
evidence of range contractions and catastrophic extinctions with
some species disappearing from entire continents (e.g. in North
America). Only by improving our understanding of their ecology can
we devise sensible plans to conserve them. The role of bumblebees
as invasive species (e.g. Bombus terrestris in Japan) has also
become topical with the growing trade in commercial bumblebee nests
for tomato pollination leading to establishment of non-native
bumblebees in a number of countries.
This revised third edition provides an up to date, comprehensive overview of the field of comparative psychology, integrating both evolutionary and developmental studies of brain and behavior. This book provides a unique combination of areas normally covered independently to satisfy the requirements of comparative psychology courses. Papini ensures thorough coverage of topics like the fundamentals of neural function, the cognitive and associative capacities of animals, the development of the central nervous system and behavior, and the fossil record of animals including human ancestors. This text includes many examples drawn from the study of human behavior, highlighting general and basic principles that apply broadly to the animal kingdom. New topics introduced in this edition include genetics, epigenetics, neurobiological, and cognitive advances made in recent years into this evolutionary-developmental framework. An essential textbook for upper level undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative psychology, animal behavior, and evolutionary psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience and behavioral biology.
Written by experts in different areas, this book presents an up-to-date account of the behavioral biology of dogs. Split in three parts, the book addresses the specific aspects of behavioral biology. The first part deals with the evolution and development of the dog, whereas the next part deals with basic aspects of dog behavior. The final part emphasizes on the behavioral problems, their prevention and cure.
The principles of game theory apply to a wide range of topics in biology. This book presents the central concepts in evolutionary game theory and provides an authoritative and up-to-date account. The focus is on concepts that are important for biologists in their attempts to explain observations. This strong connection between concepts and applications is a recurrent theme throughout the book which incorporates recent and traditional ideas from animal psychology, neuroscience, and machine learning that provide a mechanistic basis for behaviours shown by players of a game. The approaches taken to modelling games often rest on idealized and unrealistic assumptions whose limitations and consequences are not always appreciated. The authors provide a novel reassessment of the field, highlighting how to overcome limitations and identifying future directions. Game Theory in Biology is an advanced textbook suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers (both empiricists and theoreticians) in the fields of behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology. It will also be of relevance to a broader interdisciplinary audience including psychologists and neuroscientists.
Seeing a cat rubbing against a person, Charles Darwin described her as \u0022in an affectionate frame of mind\u0022; for Samuel Barnett, a behavioralist, the mental realm is beyond the grasp of scientists andbehavior must be described technically, as a physical action only. What difference does this difference make? In Eileen Crist's analysis of the language used to portray animal behavior, the difference \u0022is that in the reader's mind the very image of the cat's 'body' is transfigured...from an experiencing subject...into a vacant object.\u0022 Images of Animals examines the literature of behavioral science, revealing how works with the common aim of documenting animal lives, habits, and instincts describe \u0022realities that are worlds apart.\u0022 Whether the writer affirms the Cartesian verdict of an unbridgeable chasm between animals and humans or the Darwinian panorama of evolutionary continuity, the question of animal mind is ever present and problematic in behavioral thought. Comparing the naturalist writings of Charles Darwin, Jean Henri Fabre, and George and Elizabeth Peckham to works of classical ethology by Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen and of contemporary sociobiology, Crist demonstrates how words matter. She does not attempt to defend any of these constructions as a faithful representation of animal existence, but to show how each internally coherent view molds the reader's understanding of animals. Rejecting the notion that \u0022a neutral language exists, or can be constructed, which yields incontestably objective accounts of animal behavior,\u0022 Crist argues that \u0022language is not instrumental in the depiction of animals and, in particular, it is never impartial with respect to the question of animal mind.\u0022
'Carri Westgarth's unique combination of scholarship and practical experience with dogs will make this the go-to book for every enquiring dog owner' ā Dr John Bradshaw, bestselling author of In Defence of Dogs What if your dog could teach you a few new tricks for living a happier, healthier life? Drawing on her many years of research on human-animal interaction, Dr Carri Westgarth will help you to gain a new understanding of your dog's needs and how to be the best owner you can be. Learn to harness the power of your special bond with your pet and train your dog to be a canine alarm clock, cuddle on command and get you out and about more than ever before. Improve your pet's wellbeing with a wealth of science-led techniques and easy-to-learn tips ā because a contented, well-behaved dog leads to a relaxed, healthy owner. You really can train your dog to train YOU to live a better life.
There are more than 6000 species belonging to twenty-seven orders in the Class Mammalia. Comparative studies of this diverse and magnificent array of extant species provide valuable opportunities to formulate and test hypotheses concerning the evolution of reproduction. This is the first book to explore, in depth and breadth, the complex interrelationships that exist between patterns of mating behaviour and the evolution of mammalian reproductive anatomy and physiology. It focuses upon the role that copulatory and post-copulatory sexual selection have played during the evolution of the monotremes, marsupials and placental mammals, and examines the effects of sperm competition and cryptic female choice upon coevolution of the genitalia in the two sexes. In addition, due weight is also given to discussions of the modes of life of mammals, and to the roles played by natural selection and phylogeny in determining their reproductive traits.
Become a moggy mastermind with nine fun and easy-to-score personality tests. From cat speak to curious quirks, discover your feline's true nature to better nurture your bond. It begins with a simple question: what are your cat's classic behaviours? Whether they're testily knocking over your mug of piping hot tea or affectionately cuddling into your arms for a morning squeeze, each of these enigmatic actions and strange habits, pet peeves and preferences, tells us something about who they are and what they're really thinking. This hilarious book is kitty psychology 101. Begin your lifelong quest of demystifying your pet's mysterious mind by answering 81 multiple choice questions. Each code-breaking quiz represents a different area of a cat's life (all nine of them!) and links to the Feline Five (Neuroticism, Extroversion, Dominance, Impulsiveness, Agreeableness). Moocher or Tearaway? Pragmatist or Intellectual? Screwball or Sheriff? Match your answers to one or more of the 36 colourful puss profiles, adorably illustrated by #caturday artist Alissa Levy (@levysfriends), to discover a little more about their tells and traits and what these can teach you about them. Tests include: TOP CAT: Reflect on your cat's social circle and how they interact with others. DAY-TO-DAY KITTY: Every daily habit offers a meaningful clue, from their preferred routine to how they handle disruptions. MOGGY MASTERMIND: Penetrate the powers of your kitty's mind, from problem solving techniques to how they handle you! PUSS-IN-BOOTS: Grooming is much more than looking at your insta-cat finest. Unpick their wellbeing, general moods and energy levels. PAWS, SNOOZE, REPEAT: See what your cat's snoozing positions, patterns and behaviours reveal. PURR TIME: Find out what each favourite toy or game signifies. CATTITUDE: Unique, laugh-out-loud and bizarre quirks all offer tell-tale signs of different feline traits. CHAT WITH A CAT: Whether two- or simply one-way, oral and physical communication are what bonds cats and owners. MOGGY ON THE MOVE: Investigate how your cat acts when its out and about. Dedicated to cat lovers everywhere.
What is language and what is the nature of the intelligence that can acquire it? This volume, originally published in 1976, describes 10 years of research devoted to these questions. The author describes his programmatic research of decomposing language into atomic constituents, designing and applying training programs for teaching these to chimpanzees, and for teaching chimps major human ontological categories, as well as for interrogative, declarative, and imperative sentence forms. The volume details the progress from teaching apes simple predicates such as same-different, to more complex predicates such as if-then, and the success of the program led to the following questions directly related to intelligence: What made the training program effective? What is the cognitive equipment of the species which enables it to learn language? What does this tell us about human intelligence? The answers were suggested in terms of conceptual structure, representational capacity, memory and the ability to handle second-order relations. The results of this experimentation, which resulted in synonymy in some animals, shed light not only on the nature of language, but the nature of intelligence as well. One of the earliest ape language and intelligence studies, today this classic can be read and enjoyed again in its historical context.
This fifth edition arms readers with the latest information on nutrient metabolism and the formulation of diets from an array of available feedstuffs. The authors discuss animals' role in ecological balance, environmental stability and sustainable agriculture and food production. A new chapter on the regulation of nutrient partitioning offers a lively and timely discussion of emerging technologies in modifying and increasing efficiency of nutrient metabolism and animal food composition. A new chapter on toxic minerals in the food chain addresses the role of agricultural production animal nutrition in protecting the environment from toxic levels of minerals and nitrogen in the food chain.
Ever wondered why your cat won't sit on your lap? Why she would suddenly watch the football on television, how she sees the world and what she thinks of you and your family? Prepare to enter the mind of your cat and revolutionise the way you see the world and your enigmatic pet. Bestselling cat author Celia Haddon and veterinary expert Dr Daniel Mills take you into the mind of your feline and, drawing on the latest scientific research, describe how your cat experiences the world. This is a unique book drawing on a wealth of veterinary science and studies, which relays those findings in a way that will amuse and delight owners. By placing you in the mind of your cat you will know what it's like physically, empirically, psychologically and emotionally to be your cat. Being Your Cat will fascinate and surprise those who wish to know the secret world of cats and reveals how their experiences don't always stray far from our own.
Play takes up much of the time budget of young children, and many animals, but its importance in development remains contested. This comprehensive collection brings together multidisciplinary and developmental perspectives on the forms and functions of play in animals, children in different societies, and through the lifespan. The Cambridge Handbook of Play covers the evolution of play in animals, especially mammals; the development of play from infancy through childhood and into adulthood; historical and anthropological perspectives on play; theories and methodologies; the role of play in children's learning; play in special groups such as children with impairments, or suffering political violence; and the practical applications of playwork and play therapy. Written by an international team of scholars from diverse disciplines such as psychology, education, neuroscience, sociology, evolutionary biology and anthropology, this essential reference presents the current state of the field in play research.
THE SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A compelling investigation of navigation in the animal kingdom.' Mail on Sunday 'David Barrie, who himself has sailed the oceans using a sextant, is passionate about navigation and describes in delightful detail the myriad ways in which animals get around ... eye-opening book.' Frans de Waal, New York Times 'Only a sailor could relate the navigational powers of both humans and animals with such appreciation, excitement, and precision. Thank you, David Barrie, for taking us along on these riveting voyages by sail and wing, hoof and flipper. We arrive surprised, delighted, and awed.' Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus 'Immensely entertaining... [Barrie] is an admirably reliable and assiduous guide to what we do and don't yet know.' Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times 'Barrie has a good eye for colourful detail.' Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday 'This is a must-read for anyone fascinated with the wonders of nature.' Publishers Weekly In Incredible Journeys, award-winning author David Barrie takes us on a tour of the cutting-edge science of animal navigation, where breakthroughs are allowing scientists to unravel, for the first time, how animals as various as butterflies, birds, crustaceans, fish, reptiles and even people find their way. Weaving interviews with leading experts on animal behaviour with the groundbreaking discoveries of Nobel-Prize winning neuroscientists, Barrie shines a light on the astounding skills of animals of every stripe. Dung beetles that steer by the light of the Milky Way. Ants and bees that navigate using patterns of light invisible to humans. Sea turtles, spiny lobsters and moths that find their way using the Earth's magnetic field. Salmon that return to their birthplace by following their noses. Baleen whales that swim thousands of miles while holding a rock-steady course and birds that can locate their nests on a tiny island after crisscrossing an entire ocean. There's a stunning diversity of animal navigators out there, often using senses and skills we humans don't have access to ourselves. For the first time, Incredible Journeys reveals the wonders of these animals in a whole new light.
The evolution of dogs and the forces that drove its amazing transformation from a fierce wild carnivore, the wolf, to the astonishing range of comparatively docile domesticated dogs that we know today. Sykes paints a vivid picture of the dog as an ancient and essential ally. While undoubtedly it was the mastery of fire, language and agriculture that propelled Homo sapiens from a scarce, medium-sized primate to the position we enjoy today, Sykes crucially credits a fourth element for this success: the transformation of the wolf into the multi-purpose helpmate that is the dog. Drawing upon archaeology, history and genetics, Sykes shows how humans evolved to become the dominant species on Earth, but only with the help of our canine companions.
This book reviews current knowledge on the importance of sleep for brain function, from molecular mechanisms to behavioral output, with special emphasis on the question of how sleep and sleep loss ultimately affect cognition and mood. It provides an extensive overview of the latest insights in the role of sleep in regulating gene expression, synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis and how that in turn is linked to learning and memory processes. In addition, readers will learn about the potential clinical implications of insufficient sleep and discover how chronically restricted or disrupted sleep may contribute to age-related cognitive decline and the development of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. The book consists of 19 chapters, written by experts in basic sleep research and sleep medicine, which together cover a wide range of topics on the importance of sleep and consequences of sleep disruption. This book will be of interest to students, researchers and clinicians with a general interest in brain function or a specific interest in sleep.
Not since F. R. Harden Jones published his masterwork on fish migration in 1968 has a book so thoroughly demystified the subject. With stunning clarity, David Hallock Secor's Migration Ecology of Fishes finally penetrates the clandestine nature of marine fish migration. Secor explains how the four decades of research since Jones' classic have employed digital-age technologies-including electronic miniaturization, computing, microchemistry, ocean observing systems, and telecommunications-that render overt the previously hidden migration behaviors of fish. Emerging from the millions of observed, telemetered, simulated, and chemically traced movement paths is an appreciation of the individual fish. Members of the same populations may stay put, explore, delay, accelerate, evacuate, and change course as they conditionally respond to their marine existence. But rather than a morass of individual behaviors, Secor shows us that populations are collectively organized through partial migration, which causes groups of individuals to embark on very different migration pathways despite being members of the same population. Case studies throughout the book emphasize how migration ecology confounds current fisheries management. Yet, as Secor explains, conservation frameworks that explicitly consider the influence of migration on yield, stability, and resilience outcomes have the potential to transform fisheries management. A synthetic treatment of all marine fish taxa (teleosts and elasmobranchs), this book employs explanatory frameworks from avian and systems ecology while arguing that migrations are emergent phenomena, structured through schooling, phenotypic plasticity, and other collective agencies. The book provides overviews of the following concepts: the comparative movement ecology of fishes and birds; the alignment of mating systems with larval dispersal; schooling and migration as adaptations to marine food webs; Natal homing; connectivity in populations and metapopulations; and, the contribution of migration ecology to population resilience.
This volume explains the key ideas, questions and methods involved in studying the hidden world of vibrational communication in animals. The authors dispel the notion that this form of communication is difficult to study and show how vibrational signaling is a key to social interactions in species that live in contact with a substrate, whether it be a grassy lawn, a rippling stream or a tropical forest canopy. This ancient and widespread form of social exchange is also remarkably understudied. A frontier in animal behavior, it offers unparalleled opportunities for discovery and for addressing general questions in communication and social evolution. In addition to reviews of advances made in the study of several animal taxa, this volume also explores topicsĀ such as vibrational communication networks, the interaction of acoustic and vibrational communication, the history of the field, the evolution of signal production and reception and establishing a common vocabulary. |
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