Lecture 17

Question 1

What is social behaviour?

1pt

Answer 1

refers to the interactions occurring between individuals of the same or different species that share some sort of structural relationship

Question 2

What is social structure?

1pt

Answer 2

Organization between individuals with long-term consequences for spatial distribution, access to resources and behavioural interactions. It promotes cooperation.

Question 3

What is bonding?

1pt

Answer 3

Process of attachment between individuals (e.g. mating, maternal bonding,…)

Question 4

What is socialization?

1pt

Answer 4

the process of adopting behavioral patterns that leads to a relatively stable social structure.

Question 5

What is primary socialization?

2pt

Answer 5

• Initial emotional attachment formed with their own or other species.
• Not shaped by consequences: No matter if the animal is rewarded, punished, or treated indifferently by the individual or object of socialization.
• Kittens 3 - 9 weeks of age
• Puppies 19 d - 12 weeks of age

Question 6

What is imprinting?

3pt

Answer 6

• Phase-sensitive learning process that occurs at birth (6-18 hours). Form of bonding. Rapid and irreversible.
• Newborns accept as parents the first object with which they have visual, auditory, or tactile experience (e.g. their parents, rubber boots, a toy train)
• Intensively studied in birds, but a similar bonding occurs in many mammals and some fishes and insects.

Konrad lorenz

Question 7

What is secondary socialization?

3pt

Answer 7

• With more mobility and developed senses, the animal engages in interactions with peers or other species.
• Lifelong learning process integrating positive and negative consequences from those interactions.
• Play behaviours are key early in the socialization process, influencing brain development and cognitive skills

Question 8

Precocial va Altricial

2pt

Answer 8

• Precocial: Offspring require little parental care (cattle, piglets, foal) - primary socialization starts before birth
• Altricial: Offspring require prolonged and extensive care (rodents, rabbits, babies)- primary socialization starts after birth

Question 9

What are affiliative behaviours? give examples.

5pt

Answer 9

Positive social interactions that benefit all animals involved, reinforcing social bonds.
➢ Mutual Allogrooming/allopreening
➢ Allofeeding/Food sharing
➢ Behavioural synchrony
➢ Spatial proximity

Question 10

what is a hierarchy and what are the differnt types?

4pt

Answer 10

A pattern of social organization and dominance that results in maximal group-bonding and minimal aggression.
* Linear: Quite common in small groups
* * a > b > c > d > e
* Triangular: Horses and cattle
* Despotism: Roosters
* * A > b = c = d = e

Question 11

What are factors influencing dominance?

7pt

Answer 11

• Age of animal: Older > younger
• Size of animal: larger > smaller (except if they are older)
• Presence or size of horns/combs/antlers, tusks, claws
• Genes: Breed, coat colour
• Gender: Males (usually) > females > juveniles
• “Home court advantage” on familiar territory
• Win/loss record: Related to previous experience. Individuals showing to be dominant in other groups are more likely to win dominance in a new group irrespective of their size or age.

Injection of androgens can increase/alter status

Question 12

What are the social roles in a group?

3pt

Answer 12

• Initiator: the individual that is the first to react to an stimuli. The one that moves first. Typically, a bold and exploratory individual.
• Controller: the individual that determines when and where group movements occur.
• Leader: the individual that is in front during an orderly group progression. The one that is followed by others. E.g. moving into the milking parlour

Question 13

What are advantages of social groups?

6pt

Answer 13

• Protection from environment (huddle for warmth)
• Protection against predators
• Enhanced ability to find mates
• Increased ability to find and protect resources
• Division of labor
• Richer learning environment for young

Social isolation is a bad alternative

Question 14

What are disadvantages of social groups?

5pt

Answer 14

• Increased competition (feeding, breeding)
• Increased spread of disease and parasites
• Group may be more conspicuous to predators
• Reduced fitness due to inbreeding
• Risk of exploitation by group members

Question 15

What is the human-animal interaction?

1pt

Answer 15

Ducks, pigeons, squirrels, crows, seagulls,… they all learned to live close to humans for their benefit, and probably this was the first step for domestication of dogs, cats, cattle, etc

Question 16

What are cooperative behaviours?

3pt

Answer 16

• Pool defensive resources: acute sense of one species makes up for deficiencies in another.
• Multispecies flocking: alarm calls, discovery of food resources, confusion to predators.
• Cooperative hunting: One species uses another species (or vehicles) to flush prey (e.g. badger + coyote).

Question 17

What is Interspecific social behaviour?

1pt

Answer 17

Some species that are capable of forming social groups with other species (e.g. cats and dogs with people) may adapt their intraspecific behavioural repertoire in order to improve communication

Question 18

What is social transmission?

1pt

Answer 18

All processes that involve a simple transfer of information and/or behavior between individuals of the same or different species

Information transfer

Question 19

What is social learning?

1pt

Answer 19

Observational learning of novel behaviors between subjects of the same species requiring more complex cognitive abilities

Information transfer

Question 20

What is social facilitation?

1pt

Social transmission

Answer 20

is when the behaviour by an individual is triggered or increased in rate or frequency by the presence of another individual carrying out that behaviour (increases motivation without learning involved)

Social transmission

Calf with muzzled calf in samepen will drink more

Question 21

What is stimulus enhancement?

1pt

Answer 21

where the observer becomes more likely to interact with the object with which the demonstrator interacts. The observer is therefore more likely to learn about the consequences of interacting with these types of stimuli through individual associative learning

Social transmission

Question 22

What is local enhancement?

1pt

Answer 22

where the behavior of a demonstrator results in an increase in the salience of a particular location. The observer’s motivation to investigate the location may be increased.

Social transmission

Question 23

What is goal emulation?

1pt

Answer 23

refers to the reproduction of the results of a model’s behaviour, rather than the reproduction of the precise behavior that produced those results. The observer engages in similar behaviours to achieve that goal, without necessarily replicating the specific actions of the model.

Social learning

Question 24

What is action level imitation?

1pt

Answer 24

The observer copies a motor pattern from the demonstrator to achieve a goal. It requires a certain cognitive sophistication.

Social learning

Question 25

What is program level imitation?

1pt

Answer 25

It involves a sequence of copied movements that are observed. Ex: young mountain gorillas learn how to prepare certain noxious plants for consumption

Social learning

Question 26

Imitation vs Learning

3pt

Answer 26

In many cases imitations occurred as a form of associative learning, mediated by human reinforcement
* Learning involves intention and purpose
* Learning requires cognitive skills and brain structures not found in other species
* Evolutionary speaking, the cost/benefit of having those structures may be low.

Question 27

What is an example of a moral behaviour in animals?

1pt

Answer 27

Reconciliation behaviour