A comparative analysis of play behaviour in primates and carnivores

This thesis considers the evolution of play behaviour, focusing on comparative analyses of extant primates and carnivores from various perspectives, including intra-specific analyses, life-history, socio-ecology, and brain anatomy, taking data from the existing literature, and using phylogenetic comparative techniques. Phylogenetic reconstructions suggest that each play category represents its own evolutionary trajectory, and support previous findings that social play, being the most ancient form of play in primates, may represent a distinct category of behaviour. Analyses of intra-specific play patterns proved difficult due to a lack of available data in the literature, but point to the importance of controlling for variables that differ between populations of the same species, such as group composition, and research effort. Comparative analyses of life-history variables and play demonstrate that precocial species play more than altricial species. Precocial species have a relatively shorter developmental period of postnatal brain development, and may therefore require the neurological and physiological benefits afforded by play behaviour in order to hone brain development prior to adulthood. Comparative analyses of socio-ecology and play suggest that larger groups require increased play time budgets, possibly because of a need to fulfil the social skills required to maintain group cohesion. Social networks of the population (clique size and network size) predict social play frequency in primates. Contrary to previous findings, I found no evidence that diet is a good indicator of time spent in play, although basal metabolic rate does correlate with play, suggesting that other socio-ecological factors contribute to the performance of play. Comparative analyses of brain components and play indicate that brain correlates are selective and do not apply to all regions. There are strong correlations between socio-cognitive, motor, emotional, and also visual areas of the brain and social play in primates, namely the neocortex, cerebellum, visual cortex and LGN, vestibular complex, striatum, medulla, amygdala, and hypothalamus. Although play is a difficult ethological topic, it appears to be vital to development and life in social groups

A Case Study of Spontaneous Category Formation and Behavioral Expression in a Language-Trained Steller Sea Lion Eumetopias jubatus

The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of Steller sea lions to two consecutive commands. We conducted this study on one same subject, Hama, as a continuation of Sasaki et al. (2022), which examined whether the Steller sea lion can discriminate human vocal commands. In Sasaki et al. (2022), commands were presented individually to examine the accuracy rate for each command. In the present study, we observed how Hama responded to the rapid presentation of two consecutive commands. The commands were presented in 20 different orders and combinations as 20 command combination patterns using five different commands. The results showed that Hama responded to 12 command combination patterns by performing behaviors corresponding to two consecutive commands. Hama performed the two behaviors in sequence in 8 of the 12 command combination patterns. The responses to the other four command combination patterns were combined single behaviors that combined the behaviors indicated by the two consecutive commands and that were already connected to different single commands. Although the combined single behaviors were not simple combinations of behaviors induced by the two consecutive commands, the combined single behaviors included the common body parts (e.g., fore flippers) or common action types (e.g., rotation) of behaviors induced by each command in the two consecutive commands. These results not only indicate that Hama could understand multiple linguistic information, but also suggest the possibility that Hama spontaneously formed categories based on the learned commands.&nbsp

Cooperative breeding in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus): testing the hypothesized causes of allosuckling and allonursing.

Cooperative breeding is a social system in which members of the social group provide parental care to the offspring of other parents. The suckling by offspring from females other than their mother is referred to as allosuckling. The provision of milk to the offspring of other mothers is referred to as allonursing. Allonursing is often believed to have evolved by kin-selection, however, other causes have been hypothesized. My thesis examines the misdirected parental care, kin-selection, reciprocity, milk evacuation, improved nutrition, compensation hypotheses, and these hypotheses can co-occur and influence each other. Using reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) as a model species, behavioural observations were collected in the field in 2012 and 2013. Allosuckling and allonursing were common in reindeer, and most mothers allonursed and most calves allosuckled. Reindeer calves stole milk, and mothers discriminated their offspring from the offspring of others. Mothers exchanged allonursing at the group level and at the dyadic level, which supported the reciprocity hypothesis. Mothers did not allonurse while their offspring was still attempting to allosuckle, which did not support the milk evacuation hypothesis. Percentage of mass gain and mass at the end of the study increased as the number of allosuckling bouts increased, and allosuckling was not influenced by low birth mass or measures of insufficient maternal milk supply, which supported the improved nutrition hypothesis but not the compensation hypothesis. Mothers in the closely related group allonursed more often than mothers in the distantly related group, which supported the kin-selection hypothesis at the extremes of genetic relatedness. Given that we initially did not find an effect of genetic relatedness, we suggest that kin-selection alone is not sufficient to explain alloparental care. My thesis provides evidence that allonursing contributions detected can depend upon the research design, and we suggest that the indirect fitness benefits of alloparental care may have been overestimated. The evolution of allonursing in reindeer may have originated from inclusive fitness, but the results of my thesis demonstrate that the direct fitness benefits of milk-theft, reciprocal allonursing and improved nutrition and mass gain maintain allonursing in reindeer

The State of the Animals III: 2005

In this third, all new, volume in the State of the Animals series, scholars and experts in animal protection examine the challenges facing companion animals, marine mammals, and nonhuman primates and review legal protection for animals here and abroad.https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/humspre/1002/thumbnail.jp

The State of the Animals III: 2005

In this third, all new, volume in the State of the Animals series, scholars and experts in animal protection examine the challenges facing companion animals, marine mammals, and nonhuman primates and review legal protection for animals here and abroad.https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/humspre/1002/thumbnail.jp

Aquatic pesticide best management practices and relational database for the protection of NOAA trust species

Pesticides are widely used to control undesirable pests and may be applied directly to water or lands directly adjacent to water. There can be unintended consequences, however, to native, threatened, and endangered species. There is little information on the impacts of aquatic pesticides and best management practices (BMPs) to NOAA Trust Species. The goal of this project is to provide a set of resources and examples of aquatic pesticide toxicity to NOAA Trust Species and BMPs to NOAA Fisheries Service agents and private and public resource managers. The products produced by this project are 1) an aquatic pesticide and NOAA Trust Species database, 2) a technical report synthesizing case studies and an aquatic pesticide BMP framework for aquatic pest control, and 3) an aquatic pesticide BMP framework applied to salmon habitat restoration programs for peer reviewed publication. The products produced by this project are to assist NOAA Fisheries agents in consulting on the issuance of the EPA’s 2011 National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) Pesticide General Permit and to continue to provide assistance to NOAA Fisheries in determining entity eligibility and helping managers apply for inclusion under the 2011 NPDES Pesticide General Permit. The project products can also be used by private and public resource managers when developing and implementing aquatic pest control action plans with regards to the use of aquatic pesticides. The database highlights substantial gaps in ecotoxicity data of aquatic pesticides impacts to NOAA Trust Species. Taking a BMP approach to pesticide uses can help compensate for these gaps. Pest control managers, habitat restoration managers, and NOAA Fisheries Service agents will benefit from easily accessible, synthesized information on aquatic pesticides, their potential toxicity to NOAA Trust Species, and pesticide BMPs specific to aquatic pest control. Tools that could be utilized by all of these stakeholders could increase communication between these parties. This may lead to increased discussion and evaluation of the current knowledge of pesticide impacts and aquatic pesticide BMPs