Wolf howls encode both sender- and context-specific information

Loud, long-distance calls serve varied functions across animal species including marking territory, attracting mates and signalling one's identity. Here, we examined the types of sender- and context-specific information encoded in the howls of captive timber wolves, Canis lupus. We analysed 913 howls from nine individuals across three packs and investigated whether howl structure varied consistently as a function of phenotypic factors (age class, sex, pack and identity of the caller) in addition to the context in which the call was produced: specifically, whether the call was produced in a ‘spontaneous’ context just after sunrise or was ‘elicited’ by the absence of a group member. Calls were correctly classified by individual identity and production context, but not by any other factors. Principal components analyses indicated that individual differences were primarily associated with frequency-based measures, whereas acoustic variation between production contexts was associated with a variety of frequency-, intensity- and energy-based measures. Recognition of individual differences in vocalizations is likely to be important for navigating social relationships in wolves and further work is required to determine which life history factors may shape these individual differences. Differences resulting from production context are suggestive that these howl variants may serve different functions. The extent to which these individual and contextual differences are understood by receivers remains an open question

Proceedings: November 15, 1962, Ambassador East Hotel, Chicago, Illinois

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_comm/1441/thumbnail.jp

Waterbird and mammal censuses at Siuslaw Estuary, Lane County, Oregon

At the Siuslaw Estuary or some adjacent areas, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Biologists John Annear, John Cornely, and Roy Lowe conducted 67 censuses; Maureen Woolington made 90 censuses, and Range Bayer completed 429 censuses. Unfortunately, these censuses do not give a complete picture of the seasonality, abundance, and distribution for all waterbirds or mammals at Siuslaw Estuary because USFWS biologists mainly censused waterfowl, Bayer pooled all gulls and "peeps," only Bayer censused mammals, no one censused the entire Siuslaw Channel for all birds, and no one made many censuses in summer. Further, only Woolington sometimes censused nonwaterfowl in intertidal salt marshes. Nevertheless, there are sufficient censuses to greatly elucidate the status and distribution of many species. Highlights are given in the rest of this paragraph. Humans, especially those with hunting dogs, sometimes disrupted bird activity. Harbor seals regularly rested in the water or hauled out at two embayments in the lower Siuslaw Estuary during high tide. Brown Pelicans were uncommon. The Siuslaw region is a very important area along the Oregon Coast for wintering Tundra Swans, but their abundance sometimes changes from year to year. Great Basin Canada Geese (which were released here in 1983) now nest at the Siuslaw and appear to be permanent residents with some migrants sometimes swelling the population. Dabbling ducks and diving ducks were most abundant in January-March. Osprey and Bald Eagles were occasionally present in low numbers, but no Peregrine Falcons or Snowy Plovers were reported. American Coot numbers averaged less than 10/census. Yellowlegs and Whimbrels were only recorded during spring and fall migrations. Sanderlings were the most common "peep" in winter with as many as 260 recorded. Western Gull nesting was not apparent in the Estuary. Crows were abundant in intertidal areas in November-March, and Common Ravens were not numerous but were seen surprisingly often. Several birds normally considered as "terrestrial" were occasionally found on intertidal rocks, mudflats, or sandflats. It is also clear from these censuses that there can often be significant within-day (i.e., tidal), within-month, seasonal, and yearly variation in bird numbers. If possible, there should be several censuses each month under similar tidal conditions, so that the range in monthly variation can be determined. Unless monthly variation is measured each year, apparent differences in animal numbers between years may not represent real yearly variation in animal populations but may simply be artifacts of inadequate censusing. Unfortunately, it may not be feasible to do more than one census each month. But if the results are cautiously interpreted, one census/month is valuable and is certainly better than none. Because of the different censusing methods of Woolington, Bayer, and USFWS Biologists; it isn't possible to robustly compare their different study areas at the Siuslaw. However, a few comments about specific areas are in order. Many waterbird taxa (especially waterfowl) were more abundant east of the Highway 101 bridge at Florence than west of the bridge. The South Jetty Deflation Plain was the most important area at the Siuslaw for Tundra Swans. Site 8 (which is proposed to become a boat marina) was used by a greater variety of birds and usually more birds than the two adjacent, potential mitigation sites. Finally, Wendson Pasture received the heaviest use by Canada Geese and dabbling ducks of any area that was censused at the Siuslaw

Genetic distance from wolves affects family dogs’ reactions towards howls

Domestication dramatically changes behaviour, including communication, as seen in the case of dogs (Canis familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus). We tested the hypothesis that domestication may affect an ancient, shared communication form of canids, the howling which seems to have higher individual variation in dogs: the perception and usage of howls may be affected by the genetic relatedness of the breeds to their last common ancestor with wolves (‘root distance’) and by other individual features like age, sex, and reproductive status. We exposed 68 purebred dogs to wolf howl playbacks and recorded their responses. We identified an interaction between root distance and age on the dogs’ vocal and behavioural responses: older dogs from more ancient breeds responded longer with howls and showed more stress behaviours. Our results suggest that domestication impacts vocal behaviour significantly: disintegrating howling, a central, species-specific communication form of canids and gradually eradicating it from dogs’ repertoire

Oral Condition and Incident Coronary Heart Disease: A Clustering Analysis

Poor oral health has been linked to coronary heart disease (CHD). Clustering clinical oral conditions routinely recorded in adults may identify their CHD risk profile. Participants from the Paris Prospective Study 3 received, between 2008 and 2012, a baseline routine full-mouth clinical examination and an extensive physical examination and were thereafter followed up every 2 y until September 2020. Three axes defined oral health conditions: 1) healthy, missing, filled, and decayed teeth; 2) masticatory capacity denoted by functional masticatory units; and 3) gingival inflammation and dental plaque. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed with multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models and adjusted for age, sex, smoking, body mass index, education, deprivation (EPICES score; Evaluation of Deprivation and Inequalities in Health Examination Centres), hypertension, type 2 diabetes, LDL and HDL serum cholesterol (low- and high-density lipoprotein), triglycerides, lipid-lowering medications, NT-proBNP and IL-6 serum level. A sample of 5,294 participants (age, 50 to 75 y; 37.10% women) were included in the study. Cluster analysis identified 3,688 (69.66%) participants with optimal oral health and preserved masticatory capacity (cluster 1), 1,356 (25.61%) with moderate oral health and moderately impaired masticatory capacity (cluster 2), and 250 (4.72%) with poor oral health and severely impaired masticatory capacity (cluster 3). After a median follow-up of 8.32 y (interquartile range, 8.00 to 10.05), 128 nonfatal incident CHD events occurred. As compared with cluster 1, the risk of CHD progressively increased from cluster 2 (hazard ratio, 1.45; 95% CI, 0.98 to 2.15) to cluster 3 (hazard ratio, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.34 to 4.57; P < 0.05 for trend). To conclude, middle-aged individuals with poor oral health and severely impaired masticatory capacity have more than twice the risk of incident CHD than those with optimal oral health and preserved masticatory capacity (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00741728)

TECHNIQUES FOR REARING AND RELEASING NONMIGRATORY CRANES: LESSONS FROM THE MISSISSIPPI SANDHILL CRANE PROGRAM

Captive-reared Mississippi sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pulla) reared at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (patuxent) have been released at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (MSCNWR) since 1981. Of 131 birds released through December 1990, 103 were reared by foster parents. The remaining 28 were experimentally hand-reared in 1989 and 1990. After refining release procedures, parent-reared birds have integrated into the wild flock, many have survived, and some have bred. Releases of hand-reared cranes elsewhere in the 1970\u27s were largely unsuccessful. at least in part due to the lack of a lengthy acclimation period. A new hand-rearing protocol holds promise in producing release-worthy birds. The technique employs some features first used in the 1960\u27s (e.g., a costume for the human caretaker and model crane heads used to train chicks to feed). In the mid-1980\u27s, the following features were added: (1) the costumed caretaker was given a visor and feathers, (2) a taxidermic crane head or a hand puppet was held or suspended from the ceiling for use in stimulating chicks to feed, (3) a taxidermic mount of a brooding crane supplied warmth, (4) a full-sized live crane was maintained in an adjacent pen and in visual contact with neonatal young to provide an imprinting model, and (5) a small group of adult (or subadult) cranes was penned adjacent to the outdoor chick pens to provide socialization models. Recent releases of Mississippi sandhill cranes hand-reared according to this protocol and released in Mississippi have had high first-year survival rates. The now-operational technique holds promise for producing large numbers of release-worthy birds

TECHNIQUES FOR REARING AND RELEASING NONMIGRATORY CRANES: LESSONS FROM THE MISSISSIPPI SANDHILL CRANE PROGRAM

Captive-reared Mississippi sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pulla) reared at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (patuxent) have been released at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (MSCNWR) since 1981. Of 131 birds released through December 1990, 103 were reared by foster parents. The remaining 28 were experimentally hand-reared in 1989 and 1990. After refining release procedures, parent-reared birds have integrated into the wild flock, many have survived, and some have bred. Releases of hand-reared cranes elsewhere in the 1970\u27s were largely unsuccessful. at least in part due to the lack of a lengthy acclimation period. A new hand-rearing protocol holds promise in producing release-worthy birds. The technique employs some features first used in the 1960\u27s (e.g., a costume for the human caretaker and model crane heads used to train chicks to feed). In the mid-1980\u27s, the following features were added: (1) the costumed caretaker was given a visor and feathers, (2) a taxidermic crane head or a hand puppet was held or suspended from the ceiling for use in stimulating chicks to feed, (3) a taxidermic mount of a brooding crane supplied warmth, (4) a full-sized live crane was maintained in an adjacent pen and in visual contact with neonatal young to provide an imprinting model, and (5) a small group of adult (or subadult) cranes was penned adjacent to the outdoor chick pens to provide socialization models. Recent releases of Mississippi sandhill cranes hand-reared according to this protocol and released in Mississippi have had high first-year survival rates. The now-operational technique holds promise for producing large numbers of release-worthy birds

The Maintenance of Traditions in Marmosets: Individual Habit, Not Social Conformity? A Field Experiment

Social conformity is a cornerstone of human culture because it accelerates and maintains the spread of behaviour within a group. Few empirical studies have investigated the role of social conformity in the maintenance of traditions despite an increasing body of literature on the formation of behavioural patterns in non-human animals. The current report presents a field experiment with free-ranging marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) which investigated whether social conformity is necessary for the maintenance of behavioural patterns within groups or whether individual effects such as habit formation would suffice.Using a two-action apparatus, we established alternative behavioural patterns in six family groups composed of 36 individuals. These groups experienced only one technique during a training phase and were thereafter tested with two techniques available. The monkeys reliably maintained the trained method over a period of three weeks, despite discovering the alternative technique. Three additional groups were given the same number of sessions, but those 21 individuals could freely choose the method to obtain a reward. In these control groups, an overall bias towards one of the two methods was observed, but animals with a different preference did not adjust towards the group norm. Thirteen of the fifteen animals that discovered both techniques remained with the action with which they were initially successful, independent of the group preference and the type of action (Binomial test: exp. proportion: 0.5, p<0.01).The results indicate that the maintenance of behavioural patterns within groups 1) could be explained by the first rewarded manipulation and subsequent habit formation and 2) do not require social conformity as a mechanism. After an initial spread of a behaviour throughout a group, this mechanism may lead to a superficial appearance of conformity without the involvement of such a socially and cognitively complex mechanism. This is the first time that such an experiment has been conducted with free-ranging primates