Round-up of recent animal behaviour research
Our AI generates headlines (and the occasional commentary) from the latest animal behaviour preprints on bioRxiv
The blood brain barrier (BBB) in Drosophila is important for the survival and development of the brain, but its function is still poorly understood
C. Lama et al. (2021) reported on how the nuclear receptor DHR3/Hr46 is required in the blood brain barrier of mature males for courtship.
Large red-tailed lizards are more vulnerable to predation by birds than smaller lizards
R. Guidi et al. (2021) studied the trade-off between color and size in lizards' conspicuous tails.
A study of Camponotus fellah ants examines the impact of interaction histories on how ants allocate and switch between different tasks in the colony
In ‘Interactions, information and emergence’, A. Swain et al. (2021) reported that in animal societies, individuals may carry out different tasks to fulfil their own needs and the needs of their group. They explored task allocation in ant colonies to determine whether they could explain how ants switched tasks based on information flow among functional groups and the interaction history of the individuals.
Effects of isolation on the movement patterns of captive Japanese macaques and use artificial intelligence to learn more about the dynamics of group living
T. Morita and colleagues (2021) studied effects of short-term isolation on social animals' behavior. Study compared location trajectories of captive Japanese macaques behaving in isolation vs. in group. Results demonstrated that the two experimental conditions were identifiable based on five-minute trajectories with the help of an artificial neural network. The result suggests that the macaques showed substantial changes in their movement patterns when isolated from other group members.
The analysis involved 5 adult captive Japanese macaques. They noted that behavioral synchrony can occur in the form of social activities such as grooming. Future studies are necessary to explore the loss of synchrony and other behavioral changes upon isolation or group split in other modalities.
There is a minimal recovery threshold for lampreys to be capable of swimming, but there also seems to be a limit to how much they can behaviorally recover
J. Fies et al. (2021) report that anguilliform propulsion has been shown to be one of the most efficient forms of swimming propulsion observed among animals. This form of propulsion is characterized by a traveling wave that moves from the head to the tail with a relatively short wavelength. One of the primary goals of this study was to examine how swimming performance was related to degree of axon regeneration in lampreys. They examined and compared axon regeneration, kinematics, and performance in lampreys that underwent spinal cord transection at the level of the 5th gill or the mid-body.
A study of economic decisions shows that the sunk cost fallacy can be explained without invoking a sunk cost-dependent mechanism and could be used to explain human decision-making
A team at the Department of Neuroscience and Department of Psychiatry led by T. Ott (2021) studied apparent sunk cost effect in rational agents. A recent report arguing that humans, mice, and rats succumb to the sunk cost fallacy is based on a value-guided decision-making task, authors say. An apparent sunk cost sensitivity can arise through a confounding variable in the task, they say. The group all strive to make good decisions that provide the maximum benefit for the least cost. People often stick with their poor decisions if they have already invested time, effort, or money in these decisions. This sensitivity to sunk costs is suboptimal, challenging normative accounts of human decision making.
A web-based tool to help annotate recordings of animal sounds and to identify novel song types
A research team led by B. Arthur of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2021) reported that ‘SongExplorer’ provides the first interactive graphical interface to allow exploration, discovery, and segmentation of animal sounds using deep learning tools.
Honeybees use waggle dances to recruit nestmates to new foraging sites, but the collective influence of these dances is unclear
M. Hasenjager et al. (2021) used network-based diffusion analysis to first ask whether bees respond differently to dances depending on the indicated foraging distance.
Honey bees "scent" to find the queen in a complex environment, and we show that they can solve the problem even in the presence of physical obstacles
A team at the Computer Science Dept led by D. Nguyen (2021) show that pheromone signals are volatile and communication is local on the individual level. The team present the bees with physical obstacles that partially block pheromone signals and prevent a wide path to the queen. They present the obstacle as a long wooden bar that lies diagonally in the middle of the arena. Given the physical obstacles, the bees require more time to find the escape points to break free from the initial position and swarm around the queen.
An insect pollinator for the oil palm is more responsive to higher concentrations of a volatile organic compound than other concentrations
A group from the Department of Biological Science and Biotechnology led by M. Fahmi-Halil (2021) report that oil palm has a special insect pollinator (Elaeidobius kamerunicus) that only pollinates the oil palm inflorescence. Chemical studies on oil palm flowers have found that the odor produced by these flowers is due to the volatile compounds of estragole. This study found that E. kamerunicus was attracted to estragole compounds but varied with concentrations tested.
Wasps' ability to discriminate between spider and flower prey is impaired by wind.
D. Rodriguez-Morales et al. (2021) reported dune wasps evaluate flowers for crab spider predators based on colour and motion cues, and their flight characteristics reflect their decision-making process.
Bengalese finches have more complex song traits than their wild ancestors and may have adapted their behaviour to the conditions of artificial selection.
K. Suzuki et al. (2021) described effects of domestication on neophobia.
There are many measures for bird song complexity such as repertoire size, phonological or compositional syntax and complex vocal mechanism
A research group led by Chorol at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali (2021) report that the total set of vocalizations that a species possesses and uses in different behavioural contexts is regarded as the vocal repertoire of a species. A large vocal repertoire depicts higher complexity in communication. Songs can be composed of repetition of a single element or phrases. The group aimed to examine the breeding song complexity of Purple Sunbird at multiple levels. A total of 30 unique phrase types which were constructed by the iteration of 23 different note types were found in the song repertoire of Purple Sunbird.
The researchers advocate that Purple Sunbird is broadly distributed and is nonmigratory in the tropics and subtropics region. Distinct sexual dimorphism during the breeding season makes it an efficient system to study seasonal changes in the song repertoire.
Scant evidence that Eurasian jays can integrate information about the desire and perspective of another agent into their caching patterns
A research group led by P. Amodio at the Department of Psychology (2021) reported on whether Eurasian jays can integrate multiple cues that correlate with different types of mental states to solve social problems. Fourteen adult Eurasian jays from two separate colonies were tested in this study.
Young tortoises can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics after their first encounter with a living animal
In ‘Recognition of familiar objects in tortoise hatchlings ’, S. Damini and colleagues (2021) aimed to verify whether the fact that tortoise hatchlings react more to unfamiliar conspecifics is a consequence of the novelty of the stimuli or if it is a behavior only present in the contest of social interactions. To clarify whether the reaction to unfamiliar conspecifics observed in tortoise hatchlings is present only in the context of interaction with other animals, they performed an experiment using familiar and unfamiliar objects as experimental manipulation.
The behavioral responses displayed by young tortoises for unfamiliar conspecifics, but not for unfamiliar objects. The responses show the relevance of social behavior from the beginning of life, even for solitary species.
Chimpanzees use gestural communication to engage in cultural practices, which may not be unique to the human species
In ‘Chimpanzees communicate to coordinate a cultural practice’, Z. Goldsborough et al. (2021) identify flexible and goal-directed gestural communication as an additional mechanism by which chimpanzees initiate and coordinate their grooming handclasps. The researchers examined grooming handclasp initiations in a group of 52 semi-wild chimpanzees. The researchers conclude chimpanzees can be jointly committed to a cultural practice.
Non-breeding naked mole-rats do not specialise on specific work tasks
S. Siegmann et al. (2021) reported that task specialisation among members of social groups is considered a hallmark of social evolution and can lead to improvements in group efficiency. Research on naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) has suggested that some nonreproductive individuals specialise permanently on specific work-related tasks. These studies inferred specialisation from size-related variation in cooperative behaviour. They found no evidence of task specialisation between any of the three cooperative tasks.
A study of the Yucatan minipig, a domestic pig, has shed light on how the developing brain develops and changes after a head injury
A. Netzley et al. (2021) reported on multimodal characterization of Yucatan minipig behavior and physiology through maturation.
Ants discriminate between nestmate and non-nestmate brood using chemical cues displayed on the surface of the eggs and larvae
A. de Fouchier et al. (2021) reported on nestmate recognition of early brood in ants.
A simple stochastic model of the exploratory behavior of zebrafish shows that the bath temperature controls the animal's long-term kinematic dynamics
A group at the Sorbonne Universite led by G. Le Goc (2021) reported on variability and thermal modulation of locomotor statistics in zebrafish.
Female rats are more prone to the effects of chronic stress than their male counterparts
A research group from the Colorado State University led by C. Dearing (2021) studied glucoregulation and coping behavior after chronic stress.