Unfamiliar Group Research Articles

Recognition of family-specific calls in stripe-backed wrens

Males of the cooperatively breeding stripe-backed wrenCampylorhynchus nuchalis, learn repertoires of stereotyped calls (termed WAY calls) from older male relatives. As a result, these vocalizations are normally specific to patrilineal family groups but are sometimes shared by male relatives in different groups. To determine whether or not this species can recognize the calls of different family groups, I performed playback experiments with individual call types recorded from males of known social and genealogical relationships. Subjects discriminated between the calls of unrelated neighbouring groups and unfamiliar groups, and they discriminated both of these from calls of their own groups. However, subjects failed to distinguish calls of males in other groups from calls of their own groups when these males were members of the same patriline. These results indicate that stripe-backed wrens can discriminate between repertoires of these calls that match or differ from their own. Consequently, they can recognize members of their patriline, not just members of their immediate group. These vocalizations probably provide a useful mechanism for recognizing group membership in this species and might also provide a mechanism for recognizing unfamiliar relatives in other groups.

Agonistic interactions and physiological reactions of top- and bottom-ranking pigs confronted with a familiar and an unfamiliar group: Preliminary results

Four trials were carried out, where in each trial during a selection test two groups of growing pigs (12 weeks old) with nine animals each were randomly formed. After a week, the top (TR) and bottom (BR) ranking pig from each group was isolated and kept under single housing conditions. At the age of 15 to 16 weeks, the test animals were confronted once with the familiar and once with the unfamiliar group. During the 10-h social confrontation test, agonistic behaviour (agonistic interactions, individual dominance values) and physiological stress reactions (epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol, heart rate) were investigated simultaneously. The social confrontation of a pig with a familiar or an unfamiliar group caused very frequent agonistic interactions during the first 30 min. This behaviour was accompanied by a rapid increase of the heart rate and the plasma catecholamine concentrations and a delayed increase of cortisol. TR pigs elicited more agonistic interactions during the first 30 min and displayed higher plasma catecholamine concentrations. Additionally, TR animals showed significantly higher dominance values during the 10-h testing situation compared to the BR pigs. The confrontation of an animal with the unfamiliar group resulted in a more pronounced adrenocortical reaction compared to the confrontation with the familiar group. In particular, the TR animals showed a distinct increase of plasma cortisol during the first hour and a later bradycardia when they were confronted with the unfamiliar group. The preliminary results presented in this paper indicate that pigs show different, but inconsistent behavioural and physiological reactions when they are confronted with a social group. The agonistic behaviour and the physiological stress reactions during a social confrontation test are still influenced by the former rank of the animal, even when the animal was isolated under single housing conditions in the meantime for 2 to 3 weeks.

Housing and Welfare in Laboratory Rats: Welfare Implications of Isolation and Social Contact Among Caged Males

AbstractMale laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus; Wistar, Alderley Park) were housed as singletons or groups of three in units of two joined, but divided cages. Units were divided by different types of barrier that allowed different degrees of social contact across the barrier. Singletons were established either with another singleton as a neighbour on the other side of the barrier, or with a group of three as neighbours. Relative to group-housed animals, singly-housed rats showed reduced activity and a greater incidence of self-directed behaviours and behaviours apparently related to escape or seeking social information. Pathophysiological evidence was consistent with Baenninger's (1967) suggestion that tail manipulation in singletons is a surrogate social response, but was also consistent with an overall increase in self-directed activity, reflecting elasticity in time budgeting. Variation in the degree of increase in self-directed activity among singletons and the negative correlation between self-directed activity and organ pathology may have reflected differences in the ability of individuals to avoid an activity limbo. While reduced corticosterone concentration and organ pathology compared with grouped rats implied that separation may remove social stress, responses to contact with neighbours, and correlations between behaviours and organ pathology suggested that rats may actively seek social interaction. Broad differences in stress responses between single and grouped housing conditions may therefore be an inadequate yardstick to the animals’ welfare. However, exposure to neighbours reduced the aggressiveness of singly-housed males when they were eventually introduced into an unfamiliar group, suggesting that a degree of exposure to neighbours (separation, but not isolation) may have some welfare benefits for laboratory-housed rats, depending on procedures.

Social play with an unfamiliar group in weanling rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Early signs of aggressive behavior toward an intruder were examined in Sprague-Dawley rats. The interactions between groups of four 24-day-old pups (2 males, 2 females) and an unfamiliar male pup from another litter were observed. Some patterns of social play were asymmetric. Compared to the playmate from the group, the unfamiliar pup was most likely to be underneath the other rats, either during play fighting or by crawling under a playmate. The single pup was most frequently involved in the following behaviors: on top (One animal climbs on top of another animal placing its forepaws on the second animal.), grooming, or crawling under a playmate. The effects of relative birth weight, ambient temperature during the lactation period, relative body weight, and relative body temperature during the observation period were studied. Results show that pups born and raised in a warm environment interacted socially more than pups raised in a colder environment. Pups lighter than the mean body weight of playmates tended to use submissive behaviors more than relatively heavier pups. Relatively heavy pups tended to use play behaviors that might be considered more aggressive during the interaction. The results suggest that under appropriate conditions, early evidence for dominance, i.e., asymmetry can be revealed.

Effects of social and environmental familiarity on group preferences and spacing behaviour in laying hens

Litter-kept hens were tested using a ‘free-choice’ situation, to investigate the effects of social and environmental familiarity on their spacing behaviour. In Experiment 1, social familiarity affected spacing, with subject birds which were familiar with each other spreading evenly over the available area as evidenced by a significantly lower ‘Spread of Participation Index’ (mean SPI 0.301–0.406), whereas less familiar birds clumped (mean SPI 0.453–0.646; P < 0.01) and fought more frequently. There were no clear effects of environmental familiarity. In a second experiment we used a T-maze to investigate effects of social familiarity on group preferences and behaviour in the chosen groups. There was no significant preference for familiar, semi-familiar or unfamiliar groups of companion hens. However, the incidence of aggressive pecks was significantly higher in small semi-familiar (mean 1.1 ± 0.6 pecks per hen per 5 min) and unfamiliar (mean 1.8 ± 0.5 pecks per hen per 5 min) than in large semi-familiar (mean 0.1 ± 0.1 pecks per hen per 5 min) and unfamiliar groups (0.1 ± 0.1 pecks per hen per 5 min; P < 0.001). Threats were more common in small familiar groups (0.2 ± 0.1 threats per hen per 5 min) than in small semi-familiar groups (0.1 ± 0.1 threats per hen per 5 min; P < 0.05) and were absent in the remaining group options. Relative social dominance of the subject hens had no effect on choices or on behaviour and there was no significant correlation with their behaviour in the companion hen groups. The results suggested that hens were unable to distinguish the relative familiarity level of companion hens from the T-maze or, alternatively, that making such a distinction was unnecessarily costly to the subject hens.

Social integration of a bonobo mother and her dependent daughter into an unfamiliar group

In the present study, we obtained quantitative behavioral data on the integration process of an adult female with her dependent daughter into a resident zoo population of six bonobos (Pan paniscus). During the whole observation time of almost two months, the integration happened very peacefully without significant increases of aggressive or agonistic tendencies. The integration was mediated and actively supported mainly by two processes: contacts of resident infants and juveniles towards the immigrating animals and contacts of the immigrating adult female to a “specific senior female” of the resident group. Adult males and adolescent females seemed not to play a role in the social integration of new group members. The new adult female soon became a preferred partner for sexual interactions such as genito-genital rubbing. The social integration of the 18-month-old young was controlled by her mother and finished only after the adult female had reached a stable and safe position in the new group. According to our observations, the exchange of an adult female bonobo including her young between zoos has no negative effects on the animals involved.

Familiarity and shoal cohesion in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas): implications for antipredator behaviour

We exposed groups of four fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) that were familiar to each other and had been taken from naturally occurring shoals, and groups of four fish unfamiliar to each other, taken from four separate shoals, to either chemical stimuli from pike or a model fish predator (northern pike, Esox lucius). In response to both chemical stimuli from pike and the pike model, minnows from familiar groups showed greater shoal cohesion than those from unfamiliar groups. Tighter shoal cohesion should result in a higher probability of surviving an encounter with a predator. Fish in familiar shoals also exhibited more dashing, a known antipredator response, than those in unfamiliar groups. In addition, groups of familiar fish showed less freezing behaviour than unfamiliar groups. In response to the model fish predator, familiar shoals exhibited a greater number of predator inspections, and the number of inspectors per inspection visit was greater, than those in unfamiliar groups. These results suggest that preferential shoaling with familiar conspecifics leads to an increase in cooperative antipredator behaviour and may thereby lower a minnow's risk of predation.

Some Factors Affecting Resting Behaviour of Sheep in Slaughterhouse Lairages After Transport from Farms

AbstractThe resting behaviour of 64 groups of sheep was observed in the lairages of two slaughterhouses after transport for about four hours in a commercial livestock transporter. The sheep were scanned at five minute intervals for the initial three hours in the lairage pen. The median percentage of time spent lying per group was 17 per cent (range 1 to 63). The percentage of time spent lying was not significantly related to the duration of transport, time of arrival or slaughterhouse. There was a significant positive relationship between space allowance (range 0.22 to 0.98 m2 per sheep) and percentage of time spent lying per group (P &lt; 0.001). Increased space allowance also tended to be associated with a decrease in the occurrence of all interactions between the sheep (P = 0.05). Groups penned with two unfamiliar groups tended to spend less time lying than those penned on their own or with one other group (P = 0.07). There was no significant difference in the total percentage of time spent lying by groups penned on slats and those penned on straw. The results indicated that the ability of sheep to rest in the lairage may be compromised by providing low space allowances.

Effects of familiarity on the outcome of translocations, II. A test using New Zealand Robins

Research on birds has shown that familiarity between mates and neighbours leads to lower aggression and higher reproductive success. This study addresses the hypothesis that founder groups used for translocations will do better if made up of individuals that are familiar with one another. The study involved a translocation of a territorial forest bird, the North Island robin Petroica australis longipes to an offshore island. I created both ‘familiar groups’ (made up of birds that had been adjacent to one another at the source location) and ‘unfamiliar groups’ (made up of birds that had been widely separated). I released the groups in separate forest patches on the island, and assessed the effects of familiarity on aggression, dispersal, survival and pair bonding. While the study was limited by the sample sizes possible, there was no indication that ‘familiar groups’ performed differently than ‘unfamiliar groups’, or that familiarity at the source location affected behavioural interactions following translocation. Post-translocation familiarity was clearly important, for aggression declined according to how long birds had been neighbours at the new location. There was little aggression in general over the first two to five weeks, the period when an effect of prior familiarity on aggression may have been most important. In addition, breakup of ‘familiar’ groups by dispersal meant that there was limited opportunity for interaction among familiar birds. These results suggest that familiarity within founder groups is unlikely to have strong effects following translocation.

Do female house mice, Mus domesticus, regulate their exposure to reproductive priming pheromones?

Abstract. Prolonged contact with urine odours from grouped non-breeding female house mice can delay puberty and inhibit oestrous cycling in female conspecifics, while urine cues from males and pregnant females have the opposite effects. The hypothesis that females regulate their exposure to conspecific odours according to the reproductive priming effects of the cues was tested by measuring the initial (within 15 min) and longer-term (after 24 h) behavioural responses of females towards paired nest and feeding sites carrying different odours. Individual pre-pubertal and adult subjects from grouped housing conditions, and adults that had been isolated, were provided with a choice of clean versus female-odoured resource sites (either own group, unfamiliar group, pregnant or non-pregnant isolate female odours), or with a choice of sites carrying odours having opposite priming effects (male or pregnant female versus grouped female odours). Results were not compatible with the hypothesis that females responded according to the potential priming effects of the odours. Instead, females appeared to respond according to the familiarity or novelty of an odour, while avoidance of odours from isolated pregnant or non-pregnant females suggested that adult females may use marks to avoid potentially defended nest sites. Adult and pre-pubertal females showed very different responses to familiar and novel stimuli, consistent with the more restricted ranges of juvenile mice within the parental territory.

Teachers’ ratings of toddlers’ emerging social competence

This study utilizes a teacher rating scale of toddlers’ social competence to measure the emerging social behaviors of 2½ year‐old children in an unfamiliar peer group. Twenty‐nine children participated in a summer play camp at 30 months of age. Video‐taped observations of their play behaviors at the camp were coded for frequencies and duration of social‐cognitive levels of play, levels of interactive play and peer related behaviors. Teachers completed a 28 item social competence rating scale at the end of the second and fourth weeks of the camp. Factor analysis of the two sets of rating scales revealed three competence factors at the second week and two competence factors at the fourth week. Correlations of the factors from both rating scales revealed that though structurally different, social competence is stable across a four week time period. In addition, observational measures were correlated with the rating scale factors.

A Comparison of Breath-Actuated and Conventional Metered-Dose Inhaler Inhalation Techniques in Elderly Subjects

Poor coordination of canister actuation and inspiration often prevents adequate metered-dose inhaler (MDI) usage by patients, perhaps especially so among the elderly. Breath-actuated inhalers (BAI) have been developed to prevent this problem. We compared the adequacy of inhaler technique and patient preferences between MDI and BAI in a group of elderly subjects (mean age, 70.8 +/- 5.4 years). Half of the subjects were regular MDI users; half had never before used one. Two trained observers assessed the adequacy of MDI and BAI usage subjectively while performance was monitored objectively using a light source and infrared system to detect canister actuation and a spirometer to measure the inspiratory volume. If canister actuation was not followed by at least a 50 percent vital capacity, inhaler use was deemed unsuccessful. A brief teaching session preceded inhaler usage. By subjective assessment, BAI was used successfully more often than MDI (79 vs 60 percent, p < 0.05). By objective assessment, BAI was used successfully more often than MDI (64 vs 36 percent, p < 0.0005), although the percentage of inhalations scored adequate was lower than when assessment was subjective. Neither device was used correctly as often by those unfamiliar with MDIs as by those who were regular users. A significantly higher percentage of patients preferred BAI to MDI (71 vs 19 percent, p < 0.005), similar preferences being reported by MDI familiar and MDI unfamiliar groups. We conclude that (1) elderly subjects frequently handle inhalers poorly, (2) mishandling is better detected by objective than subjective monitoring, and (3) BAI is used correctly and preferred by patients more often than conventional MDIs.

Behavioral responses to own and other species' scent marks inLemur fulvus andLemur macaco

Behavioral responses (duration and frequencies of sniffing, scent marking activity) were studied in one captive group each ofL. fulvus andL. macaco when confronted with their own and other species' scent marks. Both species showed less interest in neutral objects or objects carrying their own group's odor than odors from an unfamiliar group of the same species or from another lemur species. The persistence of scent marks was also investigated.L. fulvus scent appeared to possess greater longevity thanL. macaco scent. Olfactory long-term memory was analyzed inL. fulvus. The results showed that familiar rejected group members could be discriminated from an unfamiliar conspecific through odor cues 10 months after their eviction from the group.

Processing Social Information in Messages

This experiment examines the impact of messages on subsequent beliefs about social groups. As a result of probable differences between the processing of familiar versus unfamiliar social information, nonfiction messages are expected to influence beliefs about social group member characteristics more than do fiction messages only when the social group described is relatively familiar. The experiment is a 2 × 2 within-subjects design, with 16 stimuli arranged in a 4 × Greco-Latin square. Twenty-four subjects received one of four sets of prose excerpts, each excerpt labeled as fiction or nonfiction and manipulated to refer to a familiar or unfamiliar social group. Interactions between familiarity and fiction / nonfiction status on beliefs about social group member characteristics and on confidence in belief estimates are found. It is concluded that the impact of fiction messages about unfamiliar peoples on readers' beliefs may well be equal to or greater than that of nonfiction messages.

Age‐dependent Discrimination of Unfamiliar Pups in Galea musteloides (Mammalia, Caviidae)

AbstractIn this study we tested whether polygynously paired G. musteloides females discriminate between pups of the own and of unfamiliar groups. The transfer experiments showed that without exception unfamiliar pups older than 8 d were attacked immediately after introduction. If the resident females had no offspring or their offspring were older than 20 d the introduced strange pup was treated aggressively irrespective of its age. Transferred pups younger than 8 d were not treated aggressively, as long as the resident young were present and of an age below 20 d. The adaptivity of the observed behaviour is discussed.

Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life

In the aftermath of the English Civil War, as people were groping for new forms of political order, Robert Boyle built an air-pump to do experiments. Does the story of Roundheads and Restoration have something to do with the origins of experimental science? Schaffer and Shapin believed it does. Focusing on the debates between Boyle and his archcritic Thomas Hobbes over the air-pump, the authors proposed that 'solutions to the problem of knowledge are solutions to the problem of social order. Both Boyle and Hobbes were looking for ways of establishing knowledge that did not decay into ad hominem attacks and political division. Boyle proposed the experiment as cure. He argued that facts should be manufactured by machines like the air-pump so that gentlemen could witness the experiments and produce knowledge that everyone agreed on. Hobbes, by contrast, looked for natural law and viewed experiments as the artificial, unreliable products of an exclusive guild. The new approaches taken in Leviathan and the Air-Pump have been enormously influential on historical studies of science. Shapin and Schaffer found a moment of scientific revolution and showed how key scientific givens - facts, interpretations, experiment, truth - were fundamental to a new political order. Shapin and Schaffer were also innovative in their ethnographic approach. Attempting to understand the work habits, rituals, and social structures of a remote, unfamiliar group, they argued that politics were tied up in what scientists did, rather than what they said.

Vocal Interactions Between Unfamiliar Groups of Captive Cotton-Top Tamarins

Vocal interactions between captive groups of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus) were studied by simulating encounters between unfamiliar groups. The doors were opened between pairs of colony rooms resulting in an increased amplitude of the normal intragroup vocalizations of an unfamiliar group. After several seconds, some groups began Long Calling bouts, complex exchanges of calls accompanied by behavioral patterns seen only in encounters between unfamiliar groups. The behavior patterns included increased scent marking and piloerection and decreased huddling compared with a control condition. Both the behavioral patterns and the vocalizations were similar to those observed in intergroup encounters in the wild. The vocalizations of each group were recorded on separate channels and subsequently identified through a real time spectrum analyzer. Four different calls appeared at significantly higher rates during the Long Calling bout: Females tended to give normal Long Calls and males tended to give F chirps. F chirps progressed into F Chirp trills which were also given primarily by males. F Chirp-Whistle vocalization, a combination of the F Chirp and the Normal Long Call, were given equally by both sexes. A surprising result was that only mated pairs without offspring participated in the Long Calling bouts. Family groups showed little vocal or behavioral response to hearing acoustically unfamiliar groups. Information theory analysis was used to analyze the transitions between call types and between groups. The production of several call types was shown to be dependent on both the preceding call type and the group of origin of that call. In general the progression from one call type to another occurred within the same group, while the other, unfamiliar group tended to repeat the call that it heard from the first group. The results are discussed in the context of the known social structure of the tamarins in the wild and in the context of the vocal exchanges of avian species with similar social systems. Continued fine-grain analysis of vocal exchanges should lead to an enhanced understanding of the structure and social complexity of vocal communication in nonhuman primates.

The effects of rewarder familiarity and differential reward preference on intrinsic motivation

The effects of differentially preferred extrinsic rewards and familiarity of rewarder on subsequent intrinsic motivation for a reading task were investigated in 96 second-, third-, and fourth-grade children. The results revealed that children rewarded by a controlling familiar person spent less time with a book and read fewer words than those rewarded by an unfamiliar person, except when no reward was offered. For the controlling familiar groups, the high-preference reward condition resulted in significantly less time spent with the book than did the no-reward condition. For the unfamiliar groups, in contrast, the high-preference condition resulted in significantly more time spent with the book than did the no-reward condition. These findings are discussed within the context of cognitive evaluation theory.

A Behavioral Analysis of Emerging Social Status in Boys' Groups

COIE, JOHN D., and KUPERSMIDT, JANIS B. A Behavioral Analysis of Emerging Social Status in Boys' Groups. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1983, 54, 1400-1416. 4 fourth-grade boys, each different social status types-rejected, popular, neglected, and average--met in play groups once a week for 6 weeks. 5 groups were of boys from the same classroom, and 5 of the boys were from 4 different schools. Within 3 sessions, social status in the groups was highly correlated with school-based status for boys from both familiar and unfamiliar groups. Observations of behavior coded from videotapes revealed significant distinctive patterns of social interaction for the social status types. Rejected boys were extremely active and aversive, but no more physically aversive than average boys, although group members perceived rejected boys as starting fights. Popular boys engaged in more norm setting and were more prosocial in the unfamiliar groups. Although neglected boys were the least interactive and aversive, they were more visible and active in the unfamiliar group and seemed most affected by the new social context. The findings underscore the importance of distinguishing between behaviors associated with the emergence of social status in contrast to those associated with the maintenance of social status.

Sex differences in adrenocortical response to controlled agonistic encounters in rhesus monkeys

A paradigm for laboratory investigation of primate agonistic behaviors and hormonal correlates without the complication of physical trauma was investigated. The introduction of an individual rhesus monkey ( Macaca mulatta) into a protected inner cubicle of an unfamiliar group's pen resulted in a patterned aggressive response, which was of greater intensity to male than female newcomers. All newcomers responded to introductions with elevations in plasma cortisol which were highly correlated with the level of aggression that had been directed toward them, but which were less easily predicted from observational measures of their own behavior during encounters. Basal plasma cortisol levels of females were higher, and their response elevations varied over a wider range than for males, suggesting that females may show a higher response ceiling to the stress received.