From: IN%"aa266@cleveland.Freenet.Edu" 2-APR-1995 13:31:46.63 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: request > >>Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 21:05:54 -0500 >>From: aa266@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (D.B. Cameron) >>Subject: Re: De-clawing etc. >>To: applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca >> >>>dr Cameron wrote: >>> >> ....I recently did a paper on the success of therapy for the single >>largest behavior problem presented to animal behaviorists: canine dominance- >>associated aggression. In this study, the success rate for therapy was over >>80%. The success rate for client satisfaction was over 90%. I suspect that >>dermatologists, and maybe some others, do not do as well. > >Could you please send me the reference of this paper. I would be glad to know. > >Regards > >dr Matthijs Schilder I submitted it for publication in a peer reviewed journal in February of this year. I do not know its present status as I have been out of town for the past month. In any case these things take many months to publication if they are accepted. I will keep you posted if you like. Incidently, the success rates I reported were not just mine; they included figures from another recent report in the behavior literature (Line, Voith 1986. Dominance aggression of dogs towards people: behavior profile and response to treatment. Applied Animal Behavior Science, 16: 77-83). -- DBC (aka D.B. Cameron, DVM) From: IN%"aa266@cleveland.Freenet.Edu" 2-APR-1995 14:03:57.56 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: Postdoc position > >Dear all, >There is an opening for a postdoc trained in behavior here at the University of >Florida College of Medicine, and the position is NIH-funded for at least 2 >years. The job involves coming up with new ways to measure behavioral effects >of spinal cord injury on rats, and would be a great way to learn animal surgery. >The work environment is not bad, and of course you get to live in Florida, and >the job involves much freedom, because few people in this department know much >about the field. Since I do basically the same thing here in another lab, I can >describe the job further to interested persons. e-mail me at: >Walker@cortex.health.ufl.edu Please let others know about the position. > >Dept of Neuroscience >University of Florida >Gainesville, FL 32610 > > > Just out of curiosity, does this position require a DVM, or can any old MD or science major "learn to do animal surgery"? -- DBC (aka D.B. Cameron, DVM) From: IN%"aa266@cleveland.Freenet.Edu" 2-APR-1995 14:50:00.84 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: Sanity claws > >I hestitate to become involved in this discussion about cat declawing but >because I have experience of ethical perspectives on this issue from both >sides of the Atlantic, I may have something (additional) to contribute. I >also feel obliged to correct Alan Beck's misrepresentation of Sue >McDonnell who, according to my reading of her original (unrecycled) >message, disagreed wholeheartedly with everything he said -- correct me >if I'm wrong, Sue! Anyway, getting back to declawing.... > >Point 1: It strikes me that Beck and Cameron have tied their arguments to >a false dichotomy: declaw or euthanasia, as if there were no other viable >alternatives. What about: declaw or rehome, or declaw or buy a cheaper >sofa, or declaw or stop trying to impress people with the amazing quality >of your furnishings? I have no problem with these suggestions; indeed a few clients will accept such input. But, practicing vets must deal with the real world where a cat is a dead cat (sent to the shelter or euthanized directly) if it persists in repeated damage to home furnishings either with claws or (even worse) with normal excretions. This is a real, honest, nearly daily problem in companion animal practices in this country. And, trying not to be excessively redundant, I find the suggestion that declawing a cat, even with the ever-present, predictable, rare surgical side effect of extended (but still temporary) pain (see below), is somehow worse than killing it to be disgusting, repugnant, and indicative of extremely shallow, short-sighted, politically correct thinking. Veterinarians are not trained to be sociologists. We are hired experts in saving life and comfort. If that is a problem, may I respectfully suggest that this is a problem to be dealt with at the pet owner level where such decisions are made. > >Point 2: Since euthanasia (correctly performed) is humane, it is not >strictly speaking a welfare issue. Surgical declawing, as with any other >surgical procedure, is a welfare issue if it causes any appreciable >post-operative pain, suffering or discomfort. Cameron has cited >Landsberg's (1992) paper to reinforce his position, so I will do the >same. According to Landsberg's cat owners, 34% of declawed cats >experienced "some discomfort or problems when first discharged" and their >symptoms included being "tender or sore" in some 26% of cases. Although >most recovered completely within two weeks of surgery, 3 animals had not >recovered within 2 months, and 1 had difficulty bearing its own weight >for at least 4 months after surgery. Landsberg's survey was based on a >sample of 276 Ontario cat owners, but he points out that at least 100,000 >cats are declawed annually in Ontario. Assuming this survey is >representative, then even a conservative estimate would suggest that many >hundreds of Ontario cats are experiencing sustained post-operative pain and >discomfort as a result of declawing. I will leave it to the reader to >extrapolate from this figure to the whole of North America. > >Point 3: Declawing IS ethically different from neutering. Declawing is >primarily a cosmetic procedure performed in order to satisfy the owner's >aesthetic craving for unblemished furniture, etc. Only the owner (and the >veterinarian) gain from the procedure. Neutering cats, on the contrary, >benefits society as a whole, as well as owners and vets, by helping to >control cat populations (I am deliberately leaving the cat's interests >out of the equation since we have no way of knowing whether, given the >choice, it would rather be dead, mutilated, rehomed or sterilized). Most >people in Britain believe that the net benefits gained from neutering >outweigh the costs in terms of temporary animal suffering, and that the >procedure is therefore ethically justifiable (incidently, this is not the >case in Norway). I am not completely sure, from this, how Norwegians feel in the subject, but it seems to suggest a greater degree of intellectual honesty on their part. If so, I applaud their honesty. That is, if we are " deliberately leaving the cat's interests out of the equation", surgical pain is still pain and not many ethicists argue that the end justifies the means. However, most Britons would argue that declawing is >unjustifiable on these grounds, and would lump it together with other >purely cosmetic procedures such as tail-docking, ear-cropping, etc., >which are also the subjects of bans. > >So how (point 4) do we account for such marked Anglo-American differences >in attitudes to animal treatment? Declawing is only one of many areas in >which there are pronounced differences, and it is a topic which ISAE >might be interested in encouraging some research on. However, there is >also a fairly simple economic explanation. For many if not the majority of >private veterinary practices in the United States (and presumably >Canada), declawing is regarded as a 'bread and butter' procedure; one of >the economic mainstays, alongside spaying and castration. There would be >strong professional resistance to any attempts to restrict the practice. Doing my very best at not evidencing my extreme personal insult at these statements, please offer whatever documentation you may have to support such a professionally degrading statement about the economics of declawing cats. I hope they will be more accurate than the suggestion that spaying and castration are economic mainstays to veterinary practice in the U.S. The facts are that in the present economic and social ambience in the practice situation, spaying and castration have become LOSS LEADERS in most practices. Only a relative few elite practices make any money on these two surgical procedures, and in these circumstances the volume of such surgery is very low. Most spay/neuter clinics are subsidized by some shelter, humane society, branch of government, or the veterinarian him/herself (for personal agenda reasons). >In Briton this was never the case, so a ban was relatively easy to secure. > >James Serpell > >serpell@pobox.upenn.edu > > -- DBC (aka D.B. Cameron, DVM) From: IN%"aa266@cleveland.Freenet.Edu" 2-APR-1995 15:41:03.15 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: Declawing Cats So much for the obviously outdated British tradition of restraint and gentlemanliness. That aside, I find these comments so personal, so purposefully insulting as to be completely unacceptable in this scientific forum. An apology is certainly in order!!! D.B. Cameron, DVM P.S. I have been away from my keyboard for the last month. If the apology has already been made, thank you. > > >Katherine Houpt revises her typing for 20 minutes and removes the >word "furious" before defending the practice of declawing cats. > >She is a foremost veterinary behaviourist. > >At the T.G.Hungerford Lectures in Australia in July 1993 she >advanced the science of dog behaviourism to new pinnacles with the >complete answer to dogs barking in the street. >"Barking can be reprimanded by saying "Quiet" or "Shhh!" and, if >necessary, holding the dog's mouth shut". p.62 > >She also overturned the entire corpus of received >neurendocrinological knowledge of the hormonal basis of >aggressive behaviour by revealing that oestrogen is the hormone of >aggression. p53 > >Dr. Houpt clearly represents an important school of behaviourism. > >I wonder how I have practised for thirty years without depriving the >cat of its claws. My mistake has been to try and consider what the >animals is "for" in natural terms. It has seemed to me that the cat >is a lone predator. It is exquisitely designed to stalk and hunt. It >likes a territory and a den area. It is highly motivated to explore >and shows "sensory specific satiety" to a marked degree as it tries >novel foods. Not being social its emotional range is narrower, more >"elemental", and perhaps this is why it is so esily crushed into a >vegetative state by massive doses of progesterones. I have thought >for some time that the "mental" health of any species depends upon >the opportunity to rehearse or exercise the emotional programs of the >brain. By means ,for example, of play or sham confrontations with >con-specifics. > >The extent of my delusion troubles me now! I also have thought >that birds, being,again exquisitely, designed for flight should be >allowed opportunity for a great deal of flying. But of course I >realize that confining them to tiny cages and cramped rooms >protects them from injury. How remiss of us not to remove their >little wings so that they can run around the floor safely! > >For thirty years I truly have not realized that the purpose of my >Veterinary Oath was to protect the upholstery of household >furniture! > >A sense of panic grips me as I write. How is that every cat I know >is allowed out? Why are'nt they all in my orthopaedic clinic? Are >British drivers more considerate? Are British cats less full of >drugs than American cats? (I think that might be true. My school of >behaviour uses them only when absolutely necessary.) > >I would not want to provoke Kathleen Houpt. She is after all full >of oestrogen and might therefore be "furious". > >I will spend 20 minutes checking my typing and removing words such >as "stupid" or perhaps "cruel". > >I will, however, leave in the word "sad". > >Robin Walker > > > > -- DBC (aka D.B. Cameron, DVM) From: IN%"aa266@cleveland.Freenet.Edu" 2-APR-1995 16:59:18.46 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: dog behavior - fecal consumption > >Re Alan Beck's question on dog consumption of cat feces-- > >I don't have any references, but I have had cases of cat elimination >behavior problems in which the underlying cause of the cat not using >the litterbox was the dog hanging around the cat while it defecated >in order to eat the feces. This can lead to the cat seeking secluded >areas in which to defecate, e.g. behind the couch. One such cat >would not use a hooded litterbox, and had found a relatively open >area in the house that the dog could not get to in which to defecate. > The problem was resolved by building a large cage of open wire mesh >around the litterbox. The dog could not reach the cat while it was >in the litterbox and the cat was not enclosed. > >Sharon Crowell-Davis > > From another perspective, it has been suggested (no, I am not aware from whence) that the reason that dogs like "tootsie rolls" (cat feces) is that the tootsie rolls are very high in protein. That being the possible case I have suggested to disgusted owners that they increase the protein in their dog's diet so that the dog may be less in need of a tootsie fix. The nature of such reports/requests is such that follow-up is irregular, at best. So I cannot report with any authority that such an approach has merits, but my impression is that failures have not been reported either. I am very interested in any comments from nutritionists. -- DBC (aka D.B. Cameron, DVM) From: IN%"serpell@pobox.upenn.edu" 3-APR-1995 14:17:45.87 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: sanity claws For the record, the comment about declawing being a "bread and butter" procedure came straight from the horse's....mouth - ie. a conversation with two practicing veterinarians in the Philadelphia area. I recognise that what applies to these two veterinarians may not be true throughout the USA, although they would doubtless dismiss any arguments to the contrary. James Serpell PS: I have been called many things in my time but never 'politically correct'. Now that really **is** insulting! From: IN%"PatMelese@aol.com" 3-APR-1995 23:33:56.55 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca", IN%"ETHOLOGY@searn.sunet.se" CC: IN%"crowell-davis.s@calc.vet.uga.edu", IN%"blhart@ucdavis.edu", IN%"lahart@ucdavis.edu", IN%"kah3@postoffice.mail.cornell.edu", IN%"WayneH42@aol.com", IN%"ARMVMD@aol.com", IN%"IlanaR@aol.com", IN%"SHull@aol.com", IN%"E@utk.vet.hosp.edu", IN%"SHULL.ELI Subj: RE: INFO ON URINE TO all: I'm putting together an article on methods to detect and eliminate cat and dog excretions (mostly urine) from owner's homes. I am looking for any information (documentation, if possible, would be much appreciated) that I can add about: 1. Composition of Urine (cats and/or dogs) and perhaps if urine used to mark (spray, leg lifting) has a different composition then regular urine. 2. Additional methods to detect both who is the culprit in a multi-pet household, and where the urine is being deposited in the house (I know about Hart and Leedy's paper on Fluorescein). 3. Additional methods useful to neutralize the urine in fabric, and papers addressing this (I only know of one by Dr. Bonnie Beaver). 4. Anything else that may be of use to cover in this article. Thanks for any help that you may offer. Pat Melese DVM, MA Veterinary Behavior Consultants 10799 Tierrasanta Blvd. San Diego, CA 92124 (619) 292-6117 Fax: (619) 268-5092 e-mail: patmelese@aol.com or if you cannot get through,: pmelese@nunic.nu.edu From: IN%"CHRISTISON@admin.usask.ca" 4-APR-1995 10:11:09.73 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Cold dog housing Can anyone tell me of references concerning the shelter requirements for dogs reared outdoors in sub-zero climates? Construction recommendations for runs, sheds and sleeping boxes would be ideal, especially if there is credible information on their effectiveness. Suggestions about solar or electrical supplemental heating would be grand too. If there are plans in publications which are not available through a university library I would greatly appreciate a photocopy. Thank you very much. Iain Christison, Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 5B5 Fax: 306 966 4151 Email: Christison@admin.usask.ca From: IN%"libby@imsci.demon.co.uk" 5-APR-1995 14:14:33.37 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: new member Hello all, I have recently joined the Applied-ethology network, and have enjoyed messages so far (particularly the heated debate on cat-declawing!). I am UK and Ireland Regional Secretary for ISAE, and work at a small, independent organisation called Cambac Research which is based in South Oxfordshire (England). All our research work is on pig welfare, both on-farm and post-farm, up to the point of slaughter. We have a herd of 200 outdoor sows which is used as a research resource as well as providing a variable source of income from the sale of piglets. My particular interest is the use of behaviour as a welfare indicator in a wide variety of situations. At the moment we are toying with salivary cortisol and heart rate. Any comments welcome. Libby Hunter (Dr Elizabeth Hunter) From: IN%"Jenny.Yngvesson@hhyg.slu.se" 6-APR-1995 01:05:24.43 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: postgraduate student Dear All, Is there anyone out there who has a project suitable for a postgraduate student? I graduate from Linköping university, Sweden, in June this year and I would really like to continue within ethology. If possible I would like to study wildlife. My third and fourth year at the university I took courses in mainly ecology, comparative physiology, morphology and systematics, and ethology. If you are interested, please send me an E-mail for references etc. Jenny (Jenny.Yngvesson@hhyg.slu.se) From: IN%"jhowe@seagrant.acenet.auburn.edu" "Jeff Howe" 6-APR-1995 To: IN%"Jenny.Yngvesson@hhyg.slu.se" "Jenny Yngvesson" CC: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" Subj: RE: postgraduate student Over four year ago, I took over as editor of the International Fish=20 Ethology Association newsletter which is an annual publication. At this=20 point, I am trying to increase the number of participants. Typically,=20 the newsletter consists of a research synopsis of each researcher,=20 bibliography, book reviews, conference announcements, etc. It is an=20 informal publication, but many of us in the field of fish ethology find=20 it a great way to keep abreast of what others are doing in the field. If= =20 anyone would like to be included in the mailing list for this year (call=20 for research abstracts will take place this fall), please contact me and=20 provide me with your e-mail and mailing address. =09=09=09Jeffrey Howe =09=09=09Auburn University Marine Extension =09=09=09 and Research Center =09=09=094170 Commanders Drive =09=09=09Mobile, Alabama 36615-1413 =09=09=09(334)438-5690 =09=09=09(334)438-5670 FAX On Thu, 6 Apr 1995, Jenny Yngvesson wrote: > Dear All, > Is there anyone out there who has a project suitable for a postgraduate= =20 > student? I graduate from Link=F6ping university, Sweden, in June this yea= r and=20 > I would really like to continue within ethology. If possible I would like= to=20 > study wildlife.=20 > My third and fourth year at the university I took courses in mainly ecolo= gy,=20 > comparative physiology, morphology and systematics, and ethology. > If you are interested, please send me an E-mail for references etc. >=20 > Jenny > (Jenny.Yngvesson@hhyg.slu.se) >=20 >=20 >=20 From: IN%"alp18@cus.cam.ac.uk" "Anthony Podberscek" 6-APR-1995 09:24:14.17 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: ISAZ 1996 FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT In the summer of 1996, ISAZ (the International Society for Anthrozoology) will be holding its first stand-alone conference in Cambridge, UK. This will run for two days (dates to be decided) and will include talks on: 1. Companion animals 2. Farm Animals 3. Laboratory Animals 4. Wild and Zoo Animals In each of these four groups, talks will be welcome on: * attitudes to animals * behaviour problems and therapy * representations of animals (e.g. in art and literature) * the effects of humans on animals and vice versa * ethical and philosophical considerations of human-animal interactions * historical and cultural aspects In addition, a satellite workshop on attitudes to animals and welfare (consisting of invited speakers) will be conducted by Dr Elizabeth Paul (Edinburgh University) at the same venue immediately prior to the ISAZ conference. A call for abstracts will be sent out later this year. If you are interested in this workshop and conference and would like to be put onto a mailing list for future details then please send your name and address to me at: alp18@cus.cam.ac.uk Thanks, and have a nice day. Anthony Podberscek Dept of Clinical Veterinary Medicine Madingley Road Cambridge CB3 OES UK ph: (01223) 33 0846 fax: (01223) 33 0886 PS The dates for the ISAZ meeting will not clash with ISAE Guelph conference. From: IN%"lhenley@sunmuw1.muw.edu" "Lani Lyman-Henley" 6-APR-1995 To: IN%"pdkaio@pobox.ruu.nl" "Heleen van de Weerd" CC: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" Subj: RE: Blind mice (sorry if this is old, behind in my reading...) An important point to make in deciding if blind mice are disadvantaged (or even suffering) is how important sight it to normal mice. Not very. Many of those classic psych experiments with rats & mice picking doors with certain colors or patterns on them turned out to be based on the smell of the paint, not the *look* of the stimulus. *********************************************************************** Lani Lyman-Henley, PhD email: lhenley@sunmuw1.muw.edu Division of Science & Math phone: (601) 329-7381 (office) Mississippi University for Women P.O.Box W 100 Columbus, MS 39701 FAX: (601) 329-7238 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "More than iron, more than lead, more than gold I need electricity. I need it more than I need lamb or pork or lettuce or cucumber. I need it for my dreams." -poetry by Ractor ********************************************************************** From: IN%"Per.Jensen@hhyg.slu.se" 7-APR-1995 00:08:00.57 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Causes, functions and goals Dear all out there in cyberspace, Why is it that, in spite of starting all textbooks by clarifying the issue, in spite of most of us spending a large proportion of time teaching it to our students, nevertheless CAUSES AND FUNCTIONS ARE FREQUENTLY MIXED UP? An intriguing debate has been going on in the journal ETHOLOGY showing that this may be a problem to many of us. I think (coffe-break philosophy) that there is an innate (Yes!) tendency in humans to be more comfortable with functional explanations. If I claim: Sows in heat will search and present to a boar because this behaviour is released by a rise in estrogen (causal explanation). - most people will not feel that the behaviour has been explained at all, no matter how beautiful your experiments are. They will ask: "But why?". BUT if I claim: Sows search and present to a boar because in nature, boars were solitary and only joined the sow-groups at heat periods; the boar has to guard all sows and therefore it is the responsibility of the sow to maintain boar contact (funtional explanation). - same people will say "Aaaahh...clever guys those ethologists", even if your experimental evidence may be rather weak. They will NOT ask: "But how?". The danger of giving in to this tendency is that of teleology: It is very easy to arrive at the conclusion that the sow is governed by the purpose of trying to get laid. Of course, for all she cares, the behaviour IS released by a rise in estrogen. Similarly the sow building a nest does that because prolactin has increased, not in order to protect her coming piglets. When reading papers and books I frequently bump in to unconscious teleology, which I think hampers understanding. Kennedy claims in his book "The new anthropomorfism" that behavioural ecology has introduced sloppy language and sloppy thinking along this line. Of course, no serious behavioual ecologist really thinks that animals do anything in order to promote the reproduction of their genes, but they frequently say so. I try to teach my students never to use the words "IN ORDER TO" with regard to behaviour. You can talk about what releases the behaviour and what function it serves, but as soon a you say that an animal does something IN ORDER TO something, you are in great danger of mixing explanatory levels. But how about goals? Many people claim that animals have goals for their activities, that the discrepancy between a goal and their present state is what drives behaviour. Is that not teleology? Is that not to say that behaviour can be caused by its function? Is that not in fact to revert the flow of time - to claim that the consequence can be the cause? Some people would claim that. I think I have one or two good answers to that problem, but I'll leave it floating in the virtual reality for a while to see if anyone out there among all those wires, 1:s and 0:s come up with anything brighter, which I may later claim that I thought of first, I think. (One obvious answer would of course be that animals have no goals at all for their activities - how about that?). Per ******************************************************************* Per Jensen Professor of Ethology __/\______________9 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,\ o I Department of Animal Hygiene, \- I Section of Ethology \_______________I SKARA, SWEDEN /\ /\ E-mail: Per.Jensen@hhyg.slu.se / \ / \ ******************************************************************* From: IN%"0007056448@mcimail.com" "John Roberts" 8-APR-1995 21:54:02.25 To: IN%"Applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" "Applied Ethology" CC: Subj: Tail Switching Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Hi, I am a new member of this group. As a bit of introduction, I am a veterinarian and am a member of the stray voltage(SV) analysis team with the State of Wisconsin(USA). I am involved weekly with investigating dairy herds for nonelectrical factors associated with a farmer's concerns. This is a team effort in which I work with an master electrician to look at on-farm sources of SV, and an electrical engineer who looks at off-farm sources. In my role I pay particular attention to the influence of the cow environment (cow comfort issues), and cow behaviors. I routinely video tape, for later study, the eating drinking, milking, entrance, and exit behaviors of the cows in the herd. Leaving the video camera on a tripod in an appropriate place to capture behavioral events without my distracting presence has been very useful. To date I have participated in over 30 herd investigations since 1/94. My question is about tail switching behavior. Farmers commonly associate increased tail switching as evidence of SV, yet my understanding of the SV research on going at U of Wisconsin, is that there appears to be little or no cause and effect relationship between electrical events and tail switching activity. I have seen two types of tail switching activity in the farms that we have investigated: 1) A generalized increase in tail switching activity, and 2) a simultaneous almost whole herd reflex type event that most commonly is associated with the vocalizing of a cow or calf. I am talking only about tail switching that occurs in the absense of flys(out of season). These events are commonly seen in herds with, and without significant stray voltage problems, but are conspicuously absent or decreased in many barns. I have guessed at some of the causes of tail switching being play activity, a sensory evaluation of an area that is poorly visable, I assume that the tails plays some role in emotional expression, and have guessed that these activity serve some herd protective function. Can anyone help me understand the activities that I observe? I ask this question particularly in the context of how I might help farmers better understand the significance of tail switching. Thank you in advance for any effort spent in response. John Roberts, D.V.M. Wisconsin Dept. of Ag Trade and Consumer Protection Stray Voltage Analysis Team 5915 Lake Lane Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 414-734-1539(Phone/fax) 0007056448@mcimail.com From: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" 9-APR-1995 08:36:22.67 To: IN%"Applied-Ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Causes and Functions of Buttocks Per Jenson wrote:- "Why is it that, in spite of starting all textbooks by clarifying the issue, in spite of most of us spending a large proportion of time teaching it to our students, nevertheless CAUSES AND FUNCTIONS ARE FREQUENTLY MIXED UP? An intriguing debate has been going on in the journal ETHOLOGY showing that this may be a problem to many of us. I think (coffee-break philosophy) that there is an innate (Yes!) tendency in humans to be more comfortable with functional explanations....(SNIP)" Yes I think you are right. Recently there has been a great fuss about the movie posters which depict Michael Douglas gripping the buttocks of Demi Moore (or her buttock double) the premise being that they were a hazard to traffic. Something in excess of 7,000,000 sterling was raised to prevent the Getty Museum getting its hands on the trio of marble buttocked Graces by A Canova. What is it about the female buttocks that is so alluring? Is this allure adaptive? I am talking, of course to those who share my sense of the "beauty" of Burnet's nymphs clustered about the dying Icarus, or the glorious curves of the relining Maja by Velasques. A fat clue resides in the utility of buttock and thigh fat for the purposes of milk manufacture in suckling the human infant. The anxious paternal friend in me hovers about the nursing ladies of our aquaintance ever solitous of the health of mother and child. The impertinent scientist in me asks if they experience transient but profound depression in the first 30 seconds of suckling and bye the bye, how are their nether measurements responding to the burden? I read everywhere accounts of the "Venus" figurines of the Upper Paleolithic. These representations of plump,large breasted,wide hipped, ample buttocked ladies appeared as the climate of Europe descended to its awful maximal glacial nadir around 23,000 B.C. to 18,000 B.C. (See the map in T Champion et al 1984 Prehistoric Europe). Per says " no serious behavioural ecologist really thinks that animals do anything in order to promote the reproduction of their genes, but they frequently say so." I would say that anthroplogists regularly say that plump Venus figurines are ritual objects celebrating fecundity without reflecting on the circumstances of a harsh environment. Would extra mouths to feed be a cause of celebration? However, the survival of present and loved mouths would be a different matter. I have this picture of triumphant (formerly plump) Cro-magnon ladies emerging from a glacial European winter with not only their own infants alive at the breast but maybe one or two of their "sister's" infants. Now THERE would be something to celebrate! When you look around at the morphology of women in cultures with a serious marginality of food supply you start to see plumpness prized, in the deserts, on the pacific islands, in the arctic zones...there has to be a correlation. Comes abundance and the receding anxiety about food and Man's tastes can be teased and perverted by the pull of sensory specific satiety and the subtle persuasion of artists, photographers and courturiers whose preference is for slimmer, dare I say it? More anrogynous morphology! What I propose is that "yearning, that sense of gut churning desire" that can be elicited by the rich, globular, sloping, sensual.."backfield in motion" is not lust at all! It is an adaptive prompt to mate with the likelihood of infants surviving the winter. In brief, given the premiss that the only long term or chronic anxiety early man had was the availability of food, we can add bottom pinching to comfort eating , bulaemia and anorexia as a manifestation of our inherited anxiety coping mechanisms. Robin Walker From: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" 9-APR-1995 08:44:34.13 To: IN%"Per.Jensen@hhyg.slu.se", IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: Causes, functions and goals >Dear all out there in cyberspace, > >Why is it that, in spite of starting all textbooks by clarifying the issue, >in spite of most of us spending a large proportion of time teaching it to >our students, nevertheless CAUSES AND FUNCTIONS ARE FREQUENTLY MIXED UP? An >intriguing debate has been going on in the journal ETHOLOGY showing that >this may be a problem to many of us. > >I think (coffe-break philosophy) that there is an innate (Yes!) tendency in >humans to be more comfortable with functional explanations. Dear Per, My reponse to your most interesting post will appear on the subject of Buttocks and Adaptive sucklilng ability. I am serious. I fear some will misunderstand as usual! I just want you to know that this hypothesis of mine reduces large audiences of highly qualified ladies to helpless laughter and complete agreement! i am talkin tough minded hbehaviourists and dog training ladies here. The kind who would have survived CroMagnon winters! Robin From: IN%"GREENBER%TWSUVM.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU" 9-APR-1995 10:21:48.41 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: There is evidence of feature detectors in the eyes of several species that could account for their preferences for faces, line orientations, angles, and perhaps even rounded figures such as buttocks. Gary Greenberg Department of Psychology Wichita State University Wichita, Kansas 67260 tel. 316-689-3823 fax. 316-689-3086 e-mail GREENBER @ TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU From: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" 9-APR-1995 10:39:30.41 To: IN%"GREENBER%TWSUVM.BITNET@cmsa.berkeley.edu", IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: Square tits >There is evidence of feature detectors in the eyes of several species that >could account for their preferences for faces, line orientations, angles, >and perhaps even rounded figures such as buttocks. >Gary Greenberg >Department of Psychology >Wichita State University >Wichita, Kansas 67260 >tel. 316-689-3823 >fax. 316-689-3086 >e-mail GREENBER @ TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU Private Response I guess square tits would be a bummer! Seriously this must be right. It is argued that the "waist" is the signal of attraction. The contrast in curves and angles is assuredly important in the recognition but it cannot the whole story. From: IN%"mheeb@sanger.bio.uci.edu" "Michaela Heeb" 9-APR-1995 12:15:53.37 To: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" CC: IN%"@cunyvm.cuny.edu:GREENBER@TWSUVM.BITNET" "GREENBER", IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" Subj: RE: Square tits Yes, unfortunately some of us do misunderstand. . .not the topic, ideas, or science; but rather the inability to express these issues in a way that would be inoffensive to your readers. I am not a "highly qualified" lady; but rather a women obtaining a PhD in Neuroendocrinology. Please try and curtail your language when addressing a scientific forum. Thank you / \ _-' _/| \-''- _ / __-' { | \ mheeb@darwin.bio.uci.edu / \ Department of Psychobiology / "o. |o } University California, Irvine | \ ; Irvine, CA 92717 ', \_ __\ ''-_ \.// "You will give yourself peace if you / '-____' do every act of your life as if it / were the last." _' -- Marcus Aurelius _-' From: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" 9-APR-1995 14:09:23.43 To: IN%"GREENBER%TWSUVM.BITNET@cmsa.berkeley.edu", IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: APOLOGY >There is evidence of feature detectors in the eyes of several species that >could account for their preferences for faces, line orientations, angles, >and perhaps even rounded figures such as buttocks. >Gary Greenberg >Department of Psychology >Wichita State University >Wichita, Kansas 67260 >tel. 316-689-3823 >fax. 316-689-3086 >e-mail GREENBER @ TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU I do indeed apologise Michaela. My reply was to the above observation and I thought it was private. > From: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" 9-APR-1995 14:25:08.28 To: IN%"Applied-Ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Re;APOLOGY >There is evidence of feature detectors in the eyes of several species that >could account for their preferences for faces, line orientations, angles, >and perhaps even rounded figures such as buttocks. >Gary Greenberg >Department of Psychology >Wichita State University >Wichita, Kansas 67260 >tel. 316-689-3823 >fax. 316-689-3086 >e-mail GREENBER @ TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU I do indeed apologise Michaela. My reply was to the above observation and I thought it was private. > From: IN%"Emily.Patterson-Kane@vuw.ac.nz" 9-APR-1995 21:19:11.65 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: red-eye hi folks, I have a brief question... Is it true that rats are not sensitive to red light, would red light be equivalent to dimn light or to complete darkness? also I am about to start a small study on what kinds of toys elicit the most (quantitative only) use from lab rats, does any-one have opinions on what sorts of toys they might like? ta Emily.Patterson-Kane@vuw.ac.nz p.s. sampling will be 5min immediately after presenting toy, and again an hour later: they should have habituated to the toys presence by then,...? From: IN%"pdkaio@pobox.ruu.nl" 10-APR-1995 01:11:49.30 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: Tail Switching Can you explain what 'stray voltage' is? I have never heard of it. Heleen van de Weerd * Department of Laboratory Animal Science * * Utrecht University * * PO. Box 80.166, 3508 TD Utrecht ( ) ( ) * * The Netherlands 0 0 * * phone: ++ 31 30 532033 = o = * * fax: ++ 31 30 537997 * * Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animal Experiments * From: IN%"pdkaio@pobox.ruu.nl" 10-APR-1995 01:27:42.60 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: red-eye >hi folks, >I have a brief question... >Is it true that rats are not sensitive to red light, >would red light be equivalent to dimn light or to complete >darkness? >also I am about to start a small study on what kinds of toys >elicit the most (quantitative only) use from lab rats, does any-one >have opinions on what sorts of toys they might like? >ta >Emily.Patterson-Kane@vuw.ac.nz >p.s. sampling will be 5min immediately after presenting toy, and >again an hour later: they should have habituated to the toys presence >by then,...? > Hi Emily, Rats experience red light as darkness. Although it is not complete darkness for them, the contrast with normal lighting is big enough. Red light does not influence their behaviour. Objects which rats might like are shelters, e.g. tubes. In nature rats live in burrows, they provide them safety, warmth and darkness. Especially laboratory rats, which are often albino's, like it when they can hide for too much light. Regards, Heleen van de Weerd * Department of Laboratory Animal Science * * Utrecht University * * PO. Box 80.166, 3508 TD Utrecht ( ) ( ) * * The Netherlands 0 0 * * phone: ++ 31 30 532033 = o = * * fax: ++ 31 30 537997 * * Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animal Experiments * From: IN%"Chris.Sherwin@bristol.ac.uk" "CM. Sherwin" 10-APR-1995 03:50:39.98 To: IN%"pdkaio@pobox.ruu.nl" CC: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" Subj: RE: Tail Switching Dear Heleen, Although I don't know the physics of why "stray voltage" occurs, it's my understanding this refers to the slight electric shock some animals might experience from machinery they are in contact with. It is most frequently experienced in milking machines, probably because of the higher conductivity associated with liquids and lack of insulation when the animal is connected to the milking machine via the hairless udders. I have seen reports that stray voltage may cause cows to kick and swish their tails, so presumably it is uncomfortable for them. Does anyone know if stray voltage is caused by inappropriate design (e.g. poor earthing) or is it a build up of static electricity which cannot be avoided? > > Can you explain what 'stray voltage' is? I have never heard of it. > > Heleen van de Weerd > * Department of Laboratory Animal Science * > * Utrecht University * > * PO. Box 80.166, 3508 TD Utrecht ( ) ( ) * > * The Netherlands 0 0 * > * phone: ++ 31 30 532033 = o = * > * fax: ++ 31 30 537997 * > * Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animal Experiments * > > From: IN%"mrenner@wcupa.edu" "Renner, Michael" 10-APR-1995 08:24:47.77 To: IN%"Applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" "'Applied Ethology List'" CC: Subj: FW: red-eye Emily Patterson-Kane wrote: ----------- >hi folks, >I have a brief question... >Is it true that rats are not sensitive to red light, >would red light be equivalent to dimn light or to complete >darkness? >also I am about to start a small study on what kinds of toys >elicit the most (quantitative only) use from lab rats, does any-one >have opinions on what sorts of toys they might like? >ta >Emily.Patterson-Kane@vuw.ac.nz >p.s. sampling will be 5min immediately after presenting toy, and >again an hour later: they should have habituated to the toys presence >by then,...? -------------------------------------------- Emily - In studies I've done about rat investigatory behavior, I use a combination of a) red light, which the literature and my tests say is functionally invisible to rats, and b) dim indirect white light (so that the light meter matches local full-moon). It seems unlikely that in nature rats would often be in total subjective darkness, but the red light helps most video cameras see better. You might check a couple of papers I've published on object investigation in rats for some evidence relative to habituation (See especially J. Comparative Psych, 1991, v105, 326-339). I use multiple shorter sessions, so the data aren't directly transferable, but they may be helpful. That paper (and its companion, JCP, 1994, 108, 335-343) also have some information about how the characteristics of objects affect investigation. Finally, in lab studies of environmental enrichment in rats, after the daily "toy change" the activity level is substantially increased for 1-2 hours. This is more than introduction of a single object, but suggests that habituation wouldn't be complete in an hour. I hope this is helpful. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Michael J. Renner Department of Psychology West Chester University West Chester, PA 19383 Voice: 610-436-2925 Fax: 610-436-3150 Internet: MRenner@Wcupa.Edu From: IN%"bjarne.braastad@nlh10.nlh.no" 11-APR-1995 06:35:14.86 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: Causes, functions and goals Per Jensen wrote this (several sentences omitted): >Why is it that, in spite of starting all textbooks by clarifying the issue, >in spite of most of us spending a large proportion of time teaching it to >our students, nevertheless CAUSES AND FUNCTIONS ARE FREQUENTLY >MIXED UP? An intriguing debate has been going on in the journal ETHOLOGY >showing that this may be a problem to many of us. One possible answer: Too many ethologists are not teachers. By working in a research institution without students one is not forced to express clearly ethological theory which the research projects are not focussing on. This may of course be a too simple answer. >But how about goals? Many people claim that animals have goals for their >activities, that the discrepancy between a goal and their present state is >what drives behaviour. Is that not teleology? Is that not to say that >behaviour can be caused by its function? Is that not in fact to revert the >flow of time - to claim that the consequence can be the cause? Not necessarily. If a certain goal is represented by some kind of 'Sollwert', and the 'present state' by some kind of 'Istwert', then Pelle's view also dismisses homeostatic motivation models. This discussion also relates to cognitive ethology, when it is questioned whether animals have goals. I have no fixed view about this. In line with the welfare debate, we need a precise definition of 'goal'. A goal and a consequence of behaviour is not the same thing. Pelle asks: Can behaviour be caused by its function? I would say: The evolution has provided the 'function' with neurophysiological and endocrinological mechanisms (encoded in genes) which increases the probability that a behaviour is selected which leads to 'consequences' that suit this function. Whether the animal deliberately is seeking a goal is not important for this. But if an animal has a goal, it may be more able to find alternative behavioural choices if the most appropriate one is inhibited. 'Cause' and 'function' are at different biological levels. Prof. Paul Leyhausen once told me that one should not discuss several levels at the same time, which would only cause confusion. Nevertheless, Pelles e-mail is valuable. It is important to be sure whether the discussion are about causes or functions. Best regards, Bjarne O. Braastad Dept. of Animal Science, Agricultural University of Norway, P.O. Box 5025, N-1432 Aas, Norway e-mail: bjarne.braastad@ihf.nlh.no fax: +47 64 94 79 60 phone: +47 64 94 79 80 From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" 11-APR-1995 08:20:55.90 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: IN%"per.jensen@hhyg.slu.se" Subj: Per's purposeful function failed to gain his goal Although I have tried my best to agree with him, and although it goes against my very nature, I feel I must disagree with Per Jensen, whatever it is that he is saying. First, he tends to mix up functional explanations with explanations based on purpose or goals. Functional explanations are concerned with the evolutionary pressures that caused behaviour to evolve through natural selection and with the way that such behaviours promoted the reproductive fitness of the animals. Although functional explanations are often stated in terms of purpose (i.e. the sow builds a nest in order to maximize her reproductive success), such explanations are not teleological. Natural selection is the causal agent. Explanations of behaviour that invoke purpose or goals (i.e. the sow carried the straw because she wanted to build a nest) are not functional but causal explanations. When we invoke such explanations we are hypothesising that there exists, somewhere in the sow's mind, in some form or other, a purpose or an expectation that is the causal agent for that behaviour. If I explain that I am sending this message "because I want to have a debate with Per" then there exists in my mind an expectation of how Per will react when he reads this message. Such explanations are not teleogical because it is not the future that controls the behaviour but our expectation of the future that controls the behaviour. Why do people prefer explanations of animal behaviour that invoke purpose rather than which refer to hormone levels etc? I think because we tend to use purpose- or goal-based explanations when we try to understand and predict human behaviour, and we are more or less successful when we do this. Goal-tracking is one line of evidence for goal-directed behaviour. For example, if my purpose in writing this message is to provoke a debate with Per, and Per responds by saying "I agree with everything Jeff says" (dream on) then I will alter what I say, so as to be continually in disagreement with Per. The most successful people at predicting an animal's behaviour are lion-tamers, at least the ones that are still alive. I heard a lion tamer once explain how he worked, and it was clear that he predicted the animals responses by imagining what their purpose was i.e. what they wanted to do and what they were trying to do. Only after ethologists have become as succesful as lion-tamers at predicting behaviour will we be able to turn our noses up at such explanations. Jeff Rushen From: IN%"bwechsler@esh.unibe.ch" 11-APR-1995 11:40:13.00 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: What is meant by function, goal and purpose? It is certainly important do distinguish between functional explanations (why?) and causal explanations (how?). First, we should not mix the two levels of explanations because the causal level focusses on the behavioural organization of an individual animal whereas the functional level addresses changes in the relative frequencies of genes or alleles within a population. Second, when designing species-specific housing systems, we have to find solutions that are adapted to the behavioural organization of individual animals. This is only possible if we have causal explanations of the behaviour. Functional explanations may help to become attentive to behavioural problems of animals in an artificial environment. But they are not sufficient to solve these problems. For example, knowing that calves depend on the mother's milk for survival, we can expect that artificially weaned calves will search for milk. However, we can not foresee that on the causal level sucking behaviour is stimulated by the ingestion of milk. This is the result of a causal analysis of behaviour and we may solve the problem of cross-sucking in calves by providing them with dry teats after feeding. The term "function" refers to the consequences of behaviour with respect to fitness (functional explanations). On the other level, the term "goal" refers to specific cues of the animals "Umwelt" that are perceived by the animal and control the performance of behaviour (causal explanation). In a natural environment, the goal of a behaviour is correlated with the function of this behaviour. For example, a calf that sucks on a teat for a certain amount of time will ingest sufficient milk. Interestingly, however, the consumption of milk does not stop sucking behaviour in an artificial environment where milk is persented in a bucket. To my opinion, the term "purpose" does not help to clarify the distinction between causal and functional explanations. Per Jensen worte that "it is very easy to arrive to the conclusion that the sow is governed by the purpose of trying to get laid" (functional explanation) whereas Jeff Rushen uses purpose as a synonym for a goal: "my purpose in writing this message is to provoke a debate with Per" (causal explanation). A "goal" does not have to be on a high cognitive level. A calf does not have to know that it is important to suck for some minutes to ingest enough milk. The behavioural program is also efficient if the calf just perceives the duration of its sucking behaviour and does not stop until is has sucked for some minutes. I think that it is misleading to describe the behaviour of animals by imagining what their purpose is, what they want to do or what they try to do. Beat Wechsler From: IN%"jon.cooper@zoology.oxford.ac.uk" "Jon Cooper" 11-APR-1995 11:54:24.54 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Lion Taming? (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 17:50:18 +0100 (BST) From: Jon Cooper To: applied.ethology@sask.usask.ca Subject: Lion Taming? I am interested in becoming a lion tamer, and would like some advice on how to get started. Can anyone tell me if there are schools which specilaise in lion taming or is it better to be self-taught? I have some experience of handling ferrets. Will this help? On a more serious note, I'm afraid I have been lurking (with intent) on this discussion, hoping to get some cues as to what its all about and more precisely what teleology meant. Here's my penny's worth. One way of looking at the apparent purposefulness of animal behaviour is in terms of behaviour being either goal-directed, goal orientated or goal achieving. With goal achieving, the animal is motivated to perform a series of activities which lead to some endpoint. It does not actuallyneed an representation of that andpoint, but gets there anyway just because of the nature of its environment and behavioural organistaion. With goal directed the animal has the endpoint or goal in mind from the monment the behavioural sequence is initiated, so is continually monitoring its current sitiation ands its expectations. Goal orientated is somewhere in between, in that the animal has some goal in mind or expectation of its environment, but this is not what initiates the sequence of behaviours. To put some meat onto these theoretical bones. Goal-directed: Hen starts looking for a nest some time before it lays. Goal-orientated: Hen starts looking some time before it lays. When it encounters nest, it realises this is what it was looking for and uses it. Goal achieving: Some time before it lays, hen starts looking. Some time later it starts to sit. It is more likely to sit in nest like areas of its environment, but it knows not why. Some time later the egg is laid, which causes the hen to cease sitting. In terms of function there's little to choose between these three explanations of behaviour. They all end up with a hen laying in a "nest-like" part of its environment, following periods of looking and sitting. Some pepople have argued that goal-directed behaviour is unlikely to have been selected for, since animals woould be so focussed on the goal that they may fail to do sensible adaptive things like avoid predators or exploit new found resources. Froma causal point of view there's a great deal of difference. Goal directed behaviours, will rely on the animal having some expectations about its environment, will be controoled by negative feedback from the environment and may be deactivited if the goal of the behaviour is provided. Goal achieving behaviours do not rely on any expectationss, but merely the animals ongoing experiences of its environment. *****an animal coneed for the behaviour. If its goaal achieving or orientated then this will not be the case. ***** I hope this makes some sense. Its all explained more clearly in the Halliday and Slater Books (1983) on Animal Behaviour, in the first of the series on causes and control. Apologies for any gibberish in the text (between ***** and ******), but this system is about to shutdown. Jonathan ***** Hope this was of a sufficiently high academic standard for the message board mparing its actual environment with its expectations, goal directed and goal-orientating do. There's also welafre implications, if the behaviour is goal directed, In terms of causes there's lots of differences between the three, ******* From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" 12-APR-1995 07:58:57.65 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: purpose or function? Beat Wechsler writes: >It is certainly important do distinguish between functional explanations >(why?) and causal explanations (how?). (SNIP- the sound of electro-scissors cutting) >The term "function" refers to the consequences of behaviour with respect to >fitness (functional explanations). I think it is confusing to call all "why" questions, functional questions. "Why did the sow fetch the straw? In order to build a nest." This is not a functional question or explanation, since it makes no reference to reproductive fitness. Instead it is a causal question in that it postulates a purpose in the sow's mind which causes the behaviour. (SNIP) >For example, a calf that sucks on a teat for a >certain amount of time will ingest sufficient milk. Interestingly, however, >the consumption of milk does not stop sucking behaviour in an artificial >environment where milk is persented in a bucket. This is one example of where a hypothesis about the purpose of the behaviour is incorrect. But it does not show that in principle we should avoid talking about the purposes when explaining animal behaviour. Specific hypotheses might be wrong, but this does not mean that in principle all explanations that invoke a purpose are wrong. (SNIP) >To my opinion, the term "purpose" does not help to clarify the distinction >between causal and functional explanations. Per Jensen worte that "it is >very easy to arrive to the conclusion that the sow is governed by the >purpose of trying to get laid" (functional explanation) whereas Jeff Rushen >uses purpose as a synonym for a goal: "my purpose in writing this message >is to provoke a debate with Per" (causal explanation). I was not suggesting that the term "purpose" would help clarify the distinction. I agree wholeheartedly with the need to keep separate functional and causal questions. My complaint was that Per himself was committing the crime about which he was complaining. Some of his functional explanations are in fact causal explanations, such as the above one about the sow wanting to get laid (or should it be "layed"?). This makes no reference to reproductive fitness and so is not a functional explanation. It hypothesises a desire in the sow's mind as a cause for the behaviour. >I think that it is misleading to describe the behaviour >of animals by imagining what their purpose is, what they want to do or what >they try to do. I disagree. In the book that Per referred to, J. S. Kennedy claims that such cognitive explanations do not help us discover the physiological basis of the behaviour, but I wonder if this isn't because our physiological concepts are just too primitive. Surely, the question is whether explanations that hypothesise a purpose are more accurate at predicting behaviour than are other explanations. (This could be tested empirically. Take two cages, each containing a lion. In one place a lion tamer, armed only with his misleading, non-scientific explanations based on purpose. In the other, put Per Jensen, with his acknowledged skills at making scientific (non-purposeful) explanations of behaviour. Measure latency to mortality- which probably won't be of the lion). Jeff Rushen RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA From: IN%"MAPPLEBY@srv0.bio.ed.ac.uk" "Mike Appleby" 12-APR-1995 08:54:29.82 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Aaaargh Jeff Rushen wrote >This could be tested empirically. Take two cages, each containing a lion. In one place a lion tamer, armed only with his misleading, non-scientific explanations based on purpose. In the other, put Per Jensen, with his acknowledged skills at making scientific (non-purposeful) explanations of behaviour. Measure latency to mortality- which probably won't be of the lion. Just a comment on sample size: we obviously need at least ten cages, each containing lions, five also containing lion tamers and the other five containing Per and his friends. Seriously, one of the banes of my life as an editor is papers which seem to think that a sample size of one (usually one group) is adequate. John Maynard Smith once told me about what he called the Indian Rope Trick Statistic: if you see something utterly amazing happen, you don't have to see it six times to believe it. As an innocent postgrad, I took that for Great Truth from the lips of the Great Man. But I subsequently reported it to a statistician, who pointed out that the validity of this idea depends on your conclusion. If you want to comment on the likely fate of all boys who climb up ropes, you would need to see quite a few demonstrations of the Indian Rope Trick first. Of course the persuasive power of the irrepeatable sample size of one is pervasive in the public mind. Witness the claims that the new Director has turned round the performance of a company, or that the new Government has turned round the performance of a country. Mike From: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" 12-APR-1995 09:01:21.23 To: IN%"Applied-Ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Mental illness among animals Probably the earliest record I have to hand is Roman:- In the Naturalis Historia of Pliny (Liber VIII, iii,) "Certum est unum tardioris ingenii in accipiendis quae tradebuntur saepius castigatum verberibus eadem illa meditantem noctu repertum... It is known that one (elephant) being a bit slow witted in understanding instructions given to it and having been repeated punished with beatings, was found in the night practising the same" Classisists have invariably interpreted this as an instance of the elephant's legendary intelligence. It has been part of a long tradition of justifying punishment in animal training. A modern view might be that such an elephant was mentally ill. The behaviour so described might have been that called "stereotypic" nowadays. It is an anxiety disorder which can be brought about by repeated aversive experiences particularly those from which there is no escape. Robin Walker From: IN%"Chris.Sherwin@bristol.ac.uk" "CM. Sherwin" 12-APR-1995 10:59:48.55 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: It's a goal! Dear all, Whilst I agree with aspects of the arguments presented by Jonathon Cooper and Beat Wechsler, I fear we fall into a trap brought about by our own limited language, and our individual interpretations. I refer specifically to the term "goal". To my mind, a goal is something which is pre-meditated, or an ambition, or destination i.e. it is something which an animal knowingly works for. Therefore, as soon as I see the word "goal", my mind is already directed to thinking of purposeful behaviour. Therefore, Jonathon's "goal-achieving" definition appears to be self defeating: the animal is behaving in a non-purposeful manner but to achieve a goal, the animal must have behaved purposefully. The "flavouring" of our thought processes by particular words or phrases is also a problem when we discuss environmental enrichment (sorry to bring it up again!!). The term enrichment implies benefit. If we place an object in a cage and describe this as "an enrichment" people automatically assume that it MUST give a benefit - even though we might not be able to measure this. I suggest "environmental-complexity" and "ORTTA ..Objects Relevant To The Animal" might be more appropriate. Chris Sherwin Chris.Sherwin@BRISTOL.ac.uk P.S. Mystic Chris predicts Man Utd 3....Crystal Palace 1 From: IN%"jhowe@seagrant.acenet.auburn.edu" "Jeff Howe" 12-APR-1995 11:32:27.90 To: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" CC: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" Subj: RE: purpose or function? Dear Fellow Ethologists, Does anyone know of any type of surgical grade adhesives that work in moist or wet environments? I know for example that over in Europe that some hospitals use the equivalent of some kind of crazy glue instead of sutures. This products has not been approved in the U.S.A. Any leads into this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time. On Wed, 12 Apr 1995, JEFF RUSHEN wrote: > Beat Wechsler writes: > > >It is certainly important do distinguish between functional explanations > >(why?) and causal explanations (how?). > (SNIP- the sound of electro-scissors cutting) > >The term "function" refers to the consequences of behaviour with respect to > >fitness (functional explanations). > > I think it is confusing to call all "why" questions, functional questions. "Why > did the sow fetch the straw? In order to build a nest." This is not a > functional question or explanation, since it makes no reference to reproductive > fitness. Instead it is a causal question in that it postulates a purpose in the > sow's mind which causes the behaviour. > > (SNIP) > > > > >For example, a calf that sucks on a teat for a > >certain amount of time will ingest sufficient milk. Interestingly, however, > >the consumption of milk does not stop sucking behaviour in an artificial > >environment where milk is persented in a bucket. > > This is one example of where a hypothesis about the purpose of the behaviour is > incorrect. But it does not show that in principle we should avoid talking about > the purposes when explaining animal behaviour. Specific hypotheses might be > wrong, but this does not mean that in principle all explanations that invoke a > purpose are wrong. > > (SNIP) > > >To my opinion, the term "purpose" does not help to clarify the distinction > >between causal and functional explanations. Per Jensen worte that "it is > >very easy to arrive to the conclusion that the sow is governed by the > >purpose of trying to get laid" (functional explanation) whereas Jeff Rushen > >uses purpose as a synonym for a goal: "my purpose in writing this message > >is to provoke a debate with Per" (causal explanation). > > I was not suggesting that the term "purpose" would help clarify the > distinction. I agree wholeheartedly with the need to keep separate functional > and causal questions. My complaint was that Per himself was committing the > crime about which he was complaining. Some of his functional explanations are > in fact causal explanations, such as the above one about the sow wanting to get > laid (or should it be "layed"?). This makes no reference to reproductive > fitness and so is not a functional explanation. It hypothesises a desire in the > sow's mind as a cause for the behaviour. > > > >I think that it is misleading to describe the behaviour > >of animals by imagining what their purpose is, what they want to do or what > >they try to do. > > I disagree. In the book that Per referred to, J. S. Kennedy claims that such > cognitive explanations do not help us discover the physiological basis of the > behaviour, but I wonder if this isn't because our physiological concepts are > just too primitive. Surely, the question is whether explanations that > hypothesise a purpose are more accurate at predicting behaviour than are other > explanations. (This could be tested empirically. Take two cages, each > containing a lion. In one place a lion tamer, armed only with his misleading, > non-scientific explanations based on purpose. In the other, put Per Jensen, > with his acknowledged skills at making scientific (non-purposeful) explanations > of behaviour. Measure latency to mortality- which probably won't be of the > lion). > > > > Jeff Rushen > RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA > From: IN%"robin@coape.win-uk.net" "ROBIN E WALKER" 12-APR-1995 12:39:49.09 To: IN%"Applied-Ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Tissue Glues REPLY-TO: jhowe@seagrant.acenet.auburn.edu Dear Fellow Ethologists, Does anyone know of any type of surgical grade adhesives that work in moist or wet environments? I know for example that over in Europe that some hospitals use the equivalent of some kind of crazy glue instead of sutures. This products has not been approved in the U.S.A. Any leads into this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time. Reply failed to above address Repeated to group THE GUARDIAN Wednesday April 12 1995 Health 11 says:- "We all have good reason to be thankful for Krazy glue But a new formulation cold soon be applied to the most pressing problem of all-population control. Injected through the vagina, it causes scar tissue to form, blocking the fallopian tubes. Yes surgeons have to work fast because it diries quickly. Usse so far has been restricted to rabbits." Guardian FAX 0171-832 2332 A product available to veterinarians in the U.K. is n-butyl-cyanoacrylate which is marketed as VET-SEAL by B.Braun Melsungen AC, D-3508 Melsungen, Germany. I cannot conceive of its use as a contraceptive in fallopio as it is indicated for skin and the adhesive must slough away in the healing process. I have it in our operating suite but it has not yet replaced suturing to my satisfaction. But is new and there must be a number of variants out there. Robin Walker From: IN%"IDUNCAN@APS.UoGuelph.CA" 12-APR-1995 13:12:34.69 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Function Dear All, I certainly agree with Per Jensen that causal and functional explanations of behaviour are often muddled. Just as Per does, I recommend to my students that one way of distinguishing the two explanations is by inserting the phrase "in order to". If it makes sense to say that an animal behaves in a particular way in order to.... then that is a functional explanation. I also agree with the other comments that have been made about the imprecise use of English terms. Thus "function", even when used by ethologists, has several shades of meaning. Robert Hinde has emphasized these differences. Thus a behavioural act is functional (ss) (strong sense) if it enhances evolutionary fitness. However, every behavioural act has many consequences, some deleterious, some neutral and some beneficial, and "function" is also used to describe the beneficial consequences. Moreover, ultimate function may be achieved through a long chain of events following the behaviour in question. Some of the immediate beneficial consequences, or "functions" in the second, weaker sense, may precede by several links in the chain, the ultimate function, reproductive success in that individual and its kin. Last year Curio had a nice paper on causal and functional questions and how they are linked. Curio, E., 1994. Causal and functional questions: How are they linked? Anim. Behav., 47: 999-1021. Having said all that, and having admitted that functional questions are intellectually extremely stimulating, I nevertheless come to the conclusion that for APPLIED ETHOLOGISTS, CAUSAL QUESTIONS are the important ones to answer. Yours, Ian Duncan From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" 12-APR-1995 13:52:01.26 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: AAAARGH!!! (was "Aaaargh") Mike Appleby's comment on "Per versus The Lions" is: >Just a comment on sample size: we obviously need at least ten cages, Mike is correct. Regrettably the experiment with the lions would not be possible: Per Jensen cannot be replicated. >Seriously, one of the banes of my life as an editor is papers which >seem to think that a sample size of one (usually one group) is adequate. Right on the spot! This is one thing that particularly irritates me, as my work load as a reviewer continues to climb, so forgive any bad language. One of the truely depressing aspects of being a reviewer is the number of papers based on the assumption that 6 pigs (or chickens, or horses, or ducks, or cows, or hinnies) living together in a group gives an n=6! The most blatant cases house all the animals of one treatment in one group, and all the animals of the other treatment in another group. Grouped housed animals are clearly not independent replicates in their behaviour and so the n=1. Such papers can be easily dealt with by a cross in the "unacceptable" box. But other cases are less clear, or more easily overlooked. Three groups of 10 cows in treatment A and three groups of 10 cows in treatment B gives n=3 (the number of groups) not n=30 (the number of cows). Where 36 piglets from three sows are used in treatment A, while 36 piglets from another three sows are used in treatment B, (even if the piglets are housed individually) the "n" is not 36 (the total number of piglets) but 3 (the number of litters). This is because the genetic relatedness of litter mates means that litter mates cannot be considered as independent replicates. Why do researchers do such things? 1. ignorance 2. lack of resources- but then if it can't be done properly why do it at all? 3. a misguided notion that experiments must mimic conditions down on the farm. If you are studying the effect of some treatment on aggression in pigs and you only have twenty pigs, then it would be best to house them in pairs, so that you will have at least 10 groups (n=5 for each treatment- the minimum). Too bad if no farmers actually keep pigs in groups of two! If you really must use on-farm conditions (e.g. keeping pigs in groups of 10) then to do the experiment you will need at least 100 pigs. More interesting are comparisons between housing systems. An experiment compares 500,000 laying hens housed in battery cages on one farm with 500,000 laying hens housed in pens on another farm. What is the "n"? If you try to generalize the results to other chickens going on to those same two farms, then n=500,000 (or more correctly the number of pens and cages). But if you wish to generalize the results to other farms of the same type (i.e. other farms that use cages or pens) then n=1 (the number of farms in each treatment) and it would stay n=1 even if a million chickens were used. Jeff Rushen (and before you jump to the conclusion that I was the one who rejected your paper, I can assure you that I wasn't, although I probably would have!). From: IN%"AG150AB@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" 12-APR-1995 19:30:44.66 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: AAAARGH!!! (or better still, "yawn!!!") These ideas about the approapriate n are not new. Hulbert (1984) (Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs, 54, 187-211) drones on about this, as have others (e.g. Kroodsma 1990, Anim. Behav., 40, 1138-1150). Dan Weary From: IN%"APN6JMF@SOUTH-01.NOVELL.LEEDS.ac.uk" "Mike Forbes" 13-APR-1995 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Food Intake and Grazing Network Impressed by the informal communication afforded by the Applied Ethology Network, a similar network dealing with topics related to Voluntary Food Intake, Diet Selection and Grazing with particular reference to farm animals (FIGNET) has been established. To subscribe send an email to fignet-request@leeds.ac.uk containing the word SUBSCRIBE in the message. To send a message to all participants send your email to fignet@leeds.ac.uk ------------------------------------------------ Professor Mike Forbes, Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds LS2 9JT Email: j.m.forbes@leeds.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0113) 2333053 Fax: +44 (0113) 2333072 From: IN%"mrenner@wcupa.edu" "Renner, Michael" 13-APR-1995 04:35:36.58 To: IN%"Applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" "'Applied Ethology List'" CC: Subj: FW: AAAARGH!!! (was "Aaaargh") As someone from a VERY hard-core experimental psychology tradition ("We're theorists, so if it's not right it's a waste of time; let the applied folks do what they must") I have to object to Jeff Rushen's broad characterizations. If you believe that the only statistical test worth doing is an ANOVA, then he's right, and five per treatment may or may not be enough. Only some background information about variability in your measures and a foreknowledge of the size of difference between/among groups you want to detect (and how sensitively) willl allow you to determine group size via power analysis. Any rule of thumb (such as minimu n=5 per group) is based on a gazillion assumptions, most of which won't be met in a real-world situation like a farm or zoo anyway. The point Jeff makes that when you have 6 critters in a single enclosure you can't treat them as 6 independent subjects is dead right. On the other hand -- and this is my main point -- there are a wealth of small-group and even n=1 research designs and statistical techniques that can let you get useful information from many situations that are less than "pure" or ideal. Michael Renner MRenner@Wcupa.Edu ---------- From: applied-ethology-error To: APPLIED-ETHOLOGY Subject: AAAARGH!!! (was "Aaaargh") Date: Wednesday, April 12, 1995 3:44PM Mike Appleby's comment on "Per versus The Lions" is: >Just a comment on sample size: we obviously need at least ten cages, Mike is correct. Regrettably the experiment with the lions would not be possible: Per Jensen cannot be replicated. >Seriously, one of the banes of my life as an editor is papers which >seem to think that a sample size of one (usually one group) is adequate. Right on the spot! This is one thing that particularly irritates me, as my work load as a reviewer continues to climb, so forgive any bad language. One of the truely depressing aspects of being a reviewer is the number of papers based on the assumption that 6 pigs (or chickens, or horses, or ducks, or cows, or hinnies) living together in a group gives an n=6! The most blatant cases house all the animals of one treatment in one group, and all the animals of the other treatment in another group. Grouped housed animals are clearly not independent replicates in their behaviour and so the n=1. Such papers can be easily dealt with by a cross in the "unacceptable" box. But other cases are less clear, or more easily overlooked. Three groups of 10 cows in treatment A and three groups of 10 cows in treatment B gives n=3 (the number of groups) not n=30 (the number of cows). Where 36 piglets from three sows are used in treatment A, while 36 piglets from another three sows are used in treatment B, (even if the piglets are housed individually) the "n" is not 36 (the total number of piglets) but 3 (the number of litters). This is because the genetic relatedness of litter mates means that litter mates cannot be considered as independent replicates. Why do researchers do such things? 1. ignorance 2. lack of resources- but then if it can't be done properly why do it at all? 3. a misguided notion that experiments must mimic conditions down on the farm. If you are studying the effect of some treatment on aggression in pigs and you only have twenty pigs, then it would be best to house them in pairs, so that you will have at least 10 groups (n=5 for each treatment- the minimum). Too bad if no farmers actually keep pigs in groups of two! If you really must use on-farm conditions (e.g. keeping pigs in groups of 10) then to do the experiment you will need at least 100 pigs. More interesting are comparisons between housing systems. An experiment compares 500,000 laying hens housed in battery cages on one farm with 500,000 laying hens housed in pens on another farm. What is the "n"? If you try to generalize the results to other chickens going on to those same two farms, then n=500,000 (or more correctly the number of pens and cages). But if you wish to generalize the results to other farms of the same type (i.e. other farms that use cages or pens) then n=1 (the number of farms in each treatment) and it would stay n=1 even if a million chickens were used. Jeff Rushen (and before you jump to the conclusion that I was the one who rejected your paper, I can assure you that I wasn't, although I probably would have!). From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" 13-APR-1995 06:43:57.49 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: I wish I could yawn! >These ideas about the approapriate n are not new. Hulbert (1984) >(Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. >Ecological Monographs, 54, 187-211) drones on about this, >as have others (e.g. Kroodsma 1990, Anim. Behav., 40, 1138-1150). >Dan Weary Dear Editors of Sceintific Journals, The next time someone submits a paper that treats group housed animals as independent replicates please send it to Dan Weary for a review rather than to me. Then we will see if he is still yawning. To paraphrase T. S. Elliot, between the publication and the reading exists the shadow. Jeff From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" 13-APR-1995 07:09:02.25 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Aaaargh = 1 >I have to object to Jeff Rushen's broad >characterizations. If you believe that the only statistical test worth >doing is an ANOVA, then he's right, and five per treatment may or may not >be enough. >On the other hand -- and this is my main point -- there are a wealth of >small-group and even n=1 research designs and statistical techniques that >can let you get useful information from many situations that are less than >"pure" or ideal. >Michael Renner Agreed, but you miss the main point of my diatribe. I was not really discussing the adequacy of the numbers used in the experiment (although, as occurs in many aggression studies, housing animals in large groups unneccesarily reduces the number). Rather, I was complaining about people using the wrong "n" when they do the stats (which happens alarmingly often). The n=1 research designs may well provide useful info. But to use them, we need first to realize that we have an n=1 and not an n=6! This was my complaint. Jeff Rushen From: IN%"peter.penning@bbsrc.ac.uk" "PENNING" 13-APR-1995 07:31:30.65 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Experimental replication. It also irritates me as a reviewer, particularly of grazing experiments, that authors assume, for example, that if they have two paddocks, each containing 6 sheep, then n=6. I quote from Mead and Curnow's book. "..... The crucial point is that we have no way of telling whether the within-plot variation is the same as the between plot variation and therefore we cannot use within-plot replication to compare treatments applied to different plots. The same arguement applies to measurements of individual animals when a treatment is applied to whole litters, or to measurements of individual insects in a cage when a treatment is applied to the whole cage, or to individual seeds when a treatment is applied to a batch of seeds. In each case there may be particular arguements that within-unit replication, must on biological grounds, be equivalent to the between-unit replication as the basis for treatment comparisons. The experimenter who does must recognise the risk that the results of such a procedure will be open to doubt and will require an act of faith on the part of the experimenter which may not be shared by others evaluating the experimenter's results." Peter.Penning@bbsrc.ac.uk From: IN%"itpan@mlucom2.urz.uni-halle.de" "Prof. von Borell" 13-APR-1995 07:34:43.82 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Ph.D position POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT!!! Looking for a Ph.D. or M.S. candidate in the area of farm animal ethology / behavioral physiology. Students with a degree in biology, animal science or veterinary science are welcome. Got funding for a project dealing with feeding regimens, behavioral problems, hunger, satiety and housing influences in sows. Candidate should have experience with animal observation and laboratory work (i.e. hormone analysis). For further details contact: Prof. Eberhard von Borell Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry with Veterinary Clinic, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg Adam-Kuckhoff-Str. 35 D-06108 Halle Germany Tel.: 49 (0)345- 818-305 Fax: 49 (0)345- 818-309 From: IN%"ujhhtpo@ucl.ac.uk" "ujhhtpo" 13-APR-1995 08:21:14.73 To: IN%"applied-ethology-error@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Animal Welfare contents page Animal Welfare ISSN 0962-7286 Volume 4 Number 2 May 1995 CONTENTS INVITED ESSAY Welfare considerations with regard to transgenic animals T B Poole ARTICLES Keeping circus elephants temporarily in paddocks P the effects on their behaviour J Schmid Science, values and animal welfare: exploring the Tinextricable connectionU D Fraser SHORT COMMUNICATIONS Gerbils prefer partially darkened cages F A R Van den Broek, H Klompmaker, R Bakker and A C Beynen The use of electricity to kill minke whales: humane considerations H McLachlan A comparison of wooden slats and straw bedding on the behaviour of sheep G D H Gordon and M S Cockram TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION Environmentally enriched housing for cats when housed singly G G Loveridge, L J Horrocks and A J Hawthorne REPORTS AND COMMENTS New Zealand animal transport Dairy cattle lameness The control of stray dogs The 3 Rs Welfare of turkeys Modern poultry production The routine mutilation of farm livestock Concern about wildlife Ethics and animals BOOK REVIEWS Management and Diseases of Deer: a Handbook for the Veterinary Surgeon, 2nd edition Handbook of Laboratory Animal Management and Welfare In the Name of Science P Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation The Otter Farm Livestock, 3rd edition Livestock Housing The Vegetarian Choice Laboratory Animal Management: Dogs BOOKS RECEIVED LETTERS Published by Universities Federation for Animal Welfare 8 Hamilton Close, South Mimms, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 3QD, UK Tel: +44 (0)1707 658202 Fax: +44 (0)1707 649279 From: IN%"hartkamp@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de" "hartkamp" 13-APR-1995 08:25:20.78 To: IN%"Applied-Ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: horse-back-riding THERAPY Hi, actually I don't know whether it's OK to post this message here, but... A colleague of mine is to deliver a medical opinion where one topic is horse-back-riding as a therapy for a child with a neurological disease resulting in automatic body movements (tic-syndrome). She asked me, if I could help her to find any information (preferably scientific, or reports of personal experience) on the application of horse-back-riding in cases like this. If anyone has some information, or at least knows other people or institutions, that do have such information, I would be very grateful for an eMail-response to my address below. Thank You, N.Hartkamp, M.D. Adress: Dr.N.Hartkamp Klinik fuer Psychotherapie der Universitaet P.O.Box 12 05 10 40605 Duesseldorf Phone: +49-211-922-4722 FAX: +49-211-922-4707 e-Mail:hartkamp@uni-duesseldorf.de (office) MBX: N-HARTKAMP@NADESHDA.GUN.DE (private) From: IN%"Chris.Sherwin@bristol.ac.uk" "CM. Sherwin" 13-APR-1995 09:55:22.27 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: aaaargh! +++ Dear all, I have another gripe that relates to the numbers of animals used in studies and the relation to statistical treatment. Perhaps more precisely, my concern is with referee's interpretations of statistical analysis. How many times have people had papers refused publication with "Too few animals used" stamped as a comment on the referee's report? I have 2 concerns with this. Firstly, isn't the principle behind statistical analysis that the tests are devised to cope with variable numbers, and that the probability of a significant finding is dependent on N. Therefore, if the P value is less than 0.05, it is significant whether 2, 20 or 200 animals were used. I accept that significant findings based on N=600 are likely to be more generalisable than those based on N=6, but if this is the concern of referees they should state so. They should not imply that the statistics are "wrong". Secondly, it seems to me that when animals are more available to use, are less expensive or more numerous, referees are more likely to refuse papers which use a small sample size. When rare or expensive animals are studied, it often seems adequate to report results from only one animal (chimpanzees learning to use sign language might be a possible example). If I taught my battery chicken (number 2,567) to bob and nod her head in various ways to ask for a drink or food etc, would this be published without my first replicating the study? Chris Sherwin Chris.Sherwin@bristol.ac.uk From: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" 13-APR-1995 10:27:18.73 To: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: "In Order To"- cause not function! Ian Duncan says: >Just as Per does, I recommend to my students that one way of distinguishing >the two explanations is by inserting the phrase "in order to". >If it makes sense to say that an animal behaves in a particular >way in order to.... then that is a functional explanation. Not true! As Ian points out, functional explanations refer to the consequences of the behaviour, which were not present before the behaviour began. A causal explanation of a behaviour should refer only to factors that were present before or at the time that the behaviour was initiated. However, explanations with the term "in order to" are not functional explanations in this sense, but causal explanations. To illustrate: At about 2.00pm each day, I jump out of my chair and head towards the door of my office. I call this behaviour "coffee seeking behaviour". Someone in my office at the time asks "why are you doing that?". I explain "in order to get some coffee". The consequences of the behaviour have not yet occurred, and the explanation I give refers to my desire to have coffee, combined with my expectation that drinking coffee will be the consequence of my actions. These are the causes of the behaviour, and so my "in order to" explanation is a causal explanation, not a functional one. Note that my explanation (I am leaving my room in order to get some coffee) would be a correct explanation of my behaviour even if the expected consequences did not materialize e.g. I might get distracted and forget to get the coffee (unlikely!). Thus both Per and Ian are simply wrong in using the "in order to" phrase to categorize an explanation as functional (caveat: in the sense that "functional" refers to the actual, not expected, consequences, and that functional means non-causal). Jeff Rushen From: IN%"peter.penning@bbsrc.ac.uk" "PENNING" 13-APR-1995 10:36:33.01 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" "applied ethology applied ethology" CC: Subj: Reference request Mike Appleby has requested that I give the full reference to Mead and Curnow over the network it is: Mead R and Curnow R.N. (1983) Statistical Methods in Agriculture and Experimental Biology. Publ. Champman and Hall New York pp. 288 Peter Penning From: IN%"lhenley@sunmuw1.muw.edu" "Lani Lyman-Henley" 13-APR-1995 11:44:37.15 To: IN%"RUSHENJ@NCCCOT.AGR.CA" "JEFF RUSHEN" CC: IN%"APPLIED-ETHOLOGY@sask.usask.ca" Subj: RE: AAAARGH!!! (was "Aaaargh") Ummmmm...I was under the impression that there are a wide variety of statistical tests which can be used depending upon the parameters of the study at hand. For those cases when you have an unavoidably small n, there are several quite nice nonparametric tests available. Perhaps, to paraphrase a popular quote, it isn't the size of the n but the way you analyze it..... Lani Lyman-Henley lhenley@sunmuw1.muw.edu Division of Science & Math Mississippi University for Women (and smart men, too!) Columbus, MS 39701 ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake." -Napoleon From: IN%"dcanderson@ucdavis.edu" "David Anderson" 13-APR-1995 12:20:29.76 To: IN%"hartkamp@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de" "N. Hartkamp" CC: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" Subj: RE: horse-back-riding THERAPY Dr Hartkamp, Contact the Kuratorium fuer Therapeutisches Reiten, which has a significant history of scientific analysis of therapeutic horseback riding, or hippotherapy. I don't have any issues of its journal, Therapeutisches Reiten with me here at work, so I'm missing the address. I think it's in Warendorf. They may have a copy of the Eighth International Therapeutic Riding Congress: the complete papers, ed. by Paul A. Eaton. Levin, New Zealand : National Training Resource Centre, 1994. It costs $NZ112.50 including air s&h: orders by bank cheques in NZ$ to: National Training Resource Centre, Private Bag 4004, Levin NZ; tel 64 (6) 368 7159; fax 64 (6) 368 7131. It includes presentations by a significant number of Germans, and some which may pertain, for example, Christine Heipert-Hengst (Mozartstr. 18, 6233 Kelkiem, Germany) on Evaluation of outcome in hippotherapy; Sensorimotor treatment in a therapeutic riding program, Claudia Morin and Ricardo Carrasco (Dept of Occupational Therapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, Medical College of Georgia BAS-203, Augusta, Georgia 30912 USA); Psychomotoric movement: observation in hippotherapy, Barbara Kluewer (Graf-Adolf-Str. 70, 51065 Koeln 80); and No pretension to being a cure, but softening of symptoms and improvement of the quality of life, Michaela Scheidhacker (Am Zaarshaeuschen 22, 5060 Bergisch Glad-bach-Refrath). The Kuratorium journal, Therapeutisches Reiten, includes scientific contributions, e.g. "Reiten als Rehabilitationssport aus neurologischer Sicht, Eckhard Peterson (Neurologische Abt. der Rommelklinik, 75323 Bad Wildbad) in Therapeutisches Reiten 21(3) 1994 Juli:7-15. David C Anderson, Information Specialist UC Center for Animal Alternatives and Editor, The InterActions Bibliography (which cites such items!) From: IN%"DRasmussen@usarso-lan1.army.mil" 13-APR-1995 12:46:17.08 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: newsletter The CLARA CLARION Newsletter of the Animal Behavior Research Institute Dennis R. Rasmussen, Ph.D., Editor, PSC#2 UNIT 2663, APO AA 34002 The CLARA CLARION is a newsletter distributed by the Animal Behavior Research Institute. The newsletter is written to keep friends of our research sites and alumni of our courses informed. The CLARA CLARION is copyrighted. However, It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes and we encourage its reproduction. If you know of a former student or friend of our field research who does not receive it, please mail him/her a copy and send me the address. If you have not worked with us and wish to regularly receive printed copies (about 4 a year) we request an annual mailing contribution of $5.00. The Animal Behavior Research Institute was formed in 1982. It is an institute devoted to the study of evolutionary and functional aspects of animal behavior from a comparative perspective. We are a Member of the Consortium of Aquariums, Universities and Zoos C.A.U.Z. Network. We are also listed in the International Directory of Primatology published by the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Editor has Moved ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have moved to Panama and now have a full-time, permanent position at the Panama Canal Branch of Florida State University. The position provides a teaching/research position from which I can continue the tamarin research project for several years. My address and phone numbers are as follows: Dennis R. Rasmussen, Ph.D., Florida State University, Panama Canal Branch, PSC Box 2663, APO AA 34002 Phones: 507-85-5222 507-85-6905 507-85-6922, FAX: 507-27-4661. email d=rasmussen%fsu%usarso@usarso-lan1.army.mil or drasmuss@mailer.fsu Please note that this is an APO address. Therefore mailing costs the same as mail within the US. DO NOT write Panama anywhere on the address. The mail is delivered by the US military to my post office box at Albrook Air Force Base. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Video Tape Available on Panamanian Tamarins ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many of you have written that your experiences in Panama were of considerable importance to you. Now you can have a video tape on the tamarins, Isla Tigre and Agua Clara. The 1 hour video documents the project. The video includes excellent views of the scenery - from the top of view point hill in Agua Clara to close ups of tamarins. The video is titled: "Isla Tigre: An Island for Tamarins.". You can purchase a copy from me for $15. A copy of the video has been placed in the Library of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center and you can check out a copy. Contact: Mr. Larry Jacobsen, Librarian, Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, 1220 Capitol Court, Madison, Wisconsin 53715-1299, USA. If you order or borrow a copy, please show it to your friends, family and colleagues to help promote the research and conserve the Panamanian tamarin. As you may well imagine, since moving here and living here full-time I have had the opportunity to collect many more hours of video tapes. We therefore have plans for producing more video tapes on tamarins here in Panama. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panamanian Primate Center Offers Research Facilities for Graduate and Post Doctoral Research ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- We now have a 20 x 60 covered patio over a concrete platform for camping and research and a 20 x 20 kitchen over a concrete platform on Isla Tigre. Several kilometers of paths cover the island. We will consider proposals to conduct studies on the geoffroy's tamarins and the night monkeys on Isla Tigre. In addition, we will also consider proposals for conducting research on the howlers, capuchins and geoffroy's tamarins in Agua Clara. We will offer field logistic assistance, transport, and background information to graduate students and post-doctoral students who wish to conduct research at our primate center. Expenses will be less than those associated with the start up of a new field site. Boats and motors also may be rented or leased through the primate center. Those who are interested in working at the primate center are advised to first check out a copy of the above video tape from the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center to familiarize themselves with the logistics of the field site. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copies of the NATO Conference Book on The Ethological Roots of Culture Now Available at Special Rate ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- An introductory discussion of the central-peripheral structure of the Tanaxpillo Troop of Stumptail macaques is being published in The Ethological Roots of Human Culture, Edited by R. A. Gardner, A. B. Chiarelli, B. T. Gardner, & F. X. Plooij Kluwer Academic Publishers. The book is scheduled to go into production in October, 1994. Our chapter is based on a presentation to the 1992 conference in Italy on the Ethological Roots of Culture made by Sandy Fernandez. Kevin Crooks also attended the conference, showed a video tape and answered questions on the logistics and methods used in the study. The chapter is titled "The central-peripheral structure of the Tanaxpillo colony of stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) and the authors are myself, Eileen Riordan, Mandy Farrington, Lisa Kelly, Julie Nachman, Sandy Fernandez & Alison Churchill. You may order a copy at a special rate of $40. The book will retail at over $100. Send a check and your mailing address to: Dr. R. A. Gardner, Director NATO ASI, Department of Psychology / 296, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557 USA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Program Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine Aids Project ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Panamanian Tamarin project has been aided by Melinda Franceschini of the International Program of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. Melinda worked on our project during July and August. Her project focused on assessment of diseases and parasites carried by tamarins in Panama. The goal of her project is to develop screening tests and treatments for common diseases and parasites of tamarins. These will be used to keep groups of tamarins healthy on Isla Tigre, in Agua Clara and elsewhere in Panama healthy. Melinda collected blood and fecal samples from tamarins at the Metropolitan Nature Park and from the Summit Zoo. The help and cooperation of the staff at these two locations was greatly appreciated. Melinda's project was supported by The School of Veterinary Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, the Animal Behavior Research Institute, Florida State University-Panama Canal Branch, the Gorgas Memorial Laboratories, the Summit Zoo, and Metropolitan Nature Park. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Development of Isla Tigre for Conservation, Education, Ecotourism and Research Focused on Panamanian Tamarins ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 1994 we concentrated on development of Isla Tigre for conservation, education, ecotourism and research focused on Panamanian tamarins. During all of 1994 a Panamanian field assistant and I worked on Isla Tigre from Thursday to Sunday every week. Since August 1994 Isla Tigre field research and development has been conducted 7 days a week on Isla Tigre. This year we have put considerable effort into upgrading the trails on the island and also developed many new trails. A perimeter trail goes along the shore of the entire island. This trail is connected at several points to a trail system connecting the ridges and valleys frequented by the tamarins. We have placed branches of Jobo trees across the trails from the dock to control erosion. A benefit of using the Jobo branches is that the branches grow, root into the ground and eventually will become trees. Since the Jobo tree is a favorite fruit of tamarins this will provide more food for them in the future. We have built a sturdy bohio over one of the concrete pads on the island. This is used as our dormitory and cooking area. Another bohio covers an 8 by 16 foot cage and an area where we prepare and store food for the tamarins. We built the cage to house tamarins we are introducing onto the island. This introductory stage serves several purposes. First, it allows the introduced tamarins to be formed into a group. We have, for example, recently formed a group from two tamarins given to us by the Summit Zoo and a tamarin given to us by Metropolitan Nature Park. We kept the two from Summit Zoo in the large cage and the tamarin from Metropolitan Nature Park in a small cage within the large cage. The tamarins were therefore able to get to know each other but not hurt each other. As a consequence, after 3 days we were able to release the tamarin from the small cage into the large cage with no aggression. We trapped an adult male tamarin on September 30, 1994 and placed him in half the cage by himself. We named this male Rumaldo. We combined Rumaldo with the rest of the group after 2 weeks with no aggression. On October 29,1994 we trapped another adult male that we named Juan. After being in half the cage by himself for a week, we added him to the group with no aggression. Keeping the group in the cage allows the monkeys to become known to the monkeys already on Isla Tigre. We therefore anticipate that when we release the tamarins onto the island they will be able to interact with the extant tamarins with minimal friction. Keeping the group in the cage accustoms them to the presence of the observers. They become tame more rapidly in the cage since they cannot escape from the observers. Hence they rapidly become accustomed to us entering the cage to provide them with food and water and to clean the cage. We believe that after they are released they will be much easier to observe than groups that have not been cared for in captivity. On December 13, 1994 we started collecting systematic data on the tamarins in the cage. We are collecting normative data on their social interactions and feeding behavior. This will allow us to quantitatively describe how their behavior changes when they are released onto the island. We need more females in the group. We plan to trap 3 more adult females in Agua Clara. When the group is complete and habituated, the tamarins will be marked and released. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State University Administrators Visit Isla Tigre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- On November 10, 1994 Dr. Able, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Coyne, the Director of College Programs, and Dr. Quiros the Resident Director of Florida State University, Panama Canal Branch visited Isla Tigre. They were favorably impressed with the field site and felt that it could be an important research and educational resource. Eagle Scout Project Aids Development of Isla Tigre. A boy scout, Lars Thompson, learned of our research project through his mother who is a student at Florida State University. He felt work on the project might provide a base for his Eagle Scout Award. On October 2, 1994 I met with his scout troop and took them to Isla Tigre. Lars decided he would like to build a bohio to serve as a base for Scout activities. After that he will lead the scouts in an effort to further develop trails and plant fruit trees. Since October Lars has brought groups of 2-6 scouts of Isla Tigre on several Saturdays to work on the Bohio. He and his fellow scouts have cleared off an concrete pad next to our dock. We hope that Isla Tigre will become a location where scouts can learn and develop skills and an appreciation for conservation that will help in our project and serve in their education. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Promar Visits Isla Tigre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Promar, a group who focuses on conservation of Panamanian oceans visited Isla Tigre on 15 January, 1995. They group presented Dr. Rasmussen with 10 fruit trees and planted the trees on Isla Tigre. The fruit trees will eventually provide natural sources for food for the tamarins. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Dock on Isla Tigre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A more substantial dock has been constructed. Visitors and researchers may now enter and leave the boats more readily when coming to Isla Tigre. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- US Rangers add Help ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Rangers from Ft. Sherman visited Isla Tigre to inspect the site. They felt they could profit from conducting exercises on the island and by doing so they would develop our trail system. They also agreed to provide us with high quality aerial photos of the island. These will be useful for ecological studies. The U.S. Military forms part of the student body at Florida State University and the military community are an educated group that may help in the development of conservation education. We anticipate they and their families will eventually be some of the patrons of Isla Tigre when it is fully developed for ecotourism. We therefore welcome their present involvement in the project. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conservation Education on Isla Tigre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of our goals is to use Isla Tigre as the location for conservation education for university students. In 1994 we have made a strong start towards this goal. Several classes from Florida State University have made day visits to Isla Tigre. Several students from SIBUP, Sociedad de Investigacion Biolgica de la Universad de Panama, have visited Isla Tigre. These have helped in following the radio collared tamarin and identifying the flora and fauna on the island. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Social ecology and conservation of Panamanian tamarins ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are continuing our long term project focused on the social ecology and conservation of Panamanian tamarins, Saguinus geoffroyi. We return to the project with increased knowledge of the possibilities of combining ecotourism with research and education from our study of the stumptail macaques on Tanaxpillo Island in Catemaco, Mexico (see below). We also return with a new set of colleagues and friends from Mexico. We hope to help foster the development of collaboration between Panama, Mexico and other Latin American nations in the conservation and study of their nonhuman primate populations. Our project on tamarins was initiated in 1981. During 1992, we focused on the group of tamarins released onto Isla Tigre in 1987. I visited Panama from January 14 to January 28 1992 to initiate the project and give public invited lectures to the University of Panama, the Summit Zoological Garden, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on the ecology and conservation of tamarins and on primate behavior. Professor Felix Nunez was my host during the stay. He is working to have Isla Tigre become the first biological field station of the University of Panama. The students in the biology club, the Society for Biological Investigations of the University of Panama SIBUP are actively participating in the project. We visited Isla Tigre 3 times during my stay. On January 19 we saw 2 tamarins on the island. We heard several calls and it was my impression that there were more. We were, however, lucky to see the tamarins: the island is about 333,000 square meters and tamarins are small and very difficult to locate when they are not habituated. In comparison with Tanaxpillo Island, where we studied the stumptail macaques, Isla Tigre is rather large. Tanaxpillo is only 6750 square meters. Isla Tigre is therefore nearly 50 times greater in area. I returned to Panama during the summer of 1992 and worked on Isla Tigre from June until September. During June and July I was assisted 3 Canadians. Sophie St. Hilaire worked on the project for 5 weeks. Sophie is a veterinary student at Prince Edward Island University and received a scholarship from her university to assist me. Sophie is also an alumnus of the second course in 1989 in Catemaco, Mexico. We were joined and assisted briefly by David Jolly, an alumnus of courses in Panama and Mexico. David was accompanied by Marie France Dorion, another Canadian who attended the American Society of Primatologists meeting in Veracruz in 1991. I was assisted throughout the entire summer by Sabarino Valdez. Those of you who worked in Panama in 1986 and 1987 will remember Sabarino and the help he and his brother Apolonio provided by making trails and constructing bohios. In July and August I was also occasionally assisted by students in SIBUP, the biology club of the University of Panama and Antonio de Telesca of ANCON. Antonio also assisted us in the project in 1986 and 1987. We camped on Isla Tigre and at the Gatun Yacht Club. The personnel at the yacht club made us feel welcome and introduced us to their friends and families. The Gatun Yacht Club has continued to support our project. We found two tamarins on Isla Tigre. I will backtrack here and provide a brief history of the tamarins released on the island for those of you who did not work with me on the original project: On June 7, 1987 we released 1 adult male, 1 nearly adult juvenile male, and 1 adult female tamarin on Isla Tigre. Tamarins are found in the forests around Lake Gatun. Isla Tigre was formed by the creation of the Panama Canal. Placing the tamarins on Isla Tigre was therefore a reintroduction of tamarins into a formerly inhabited area. The tamarins adapted rapidly to Isla Tigre. The group's range expanded to encompass the entire island. This area is considerably larger than the 7 -15 hectares we found groups to occupy at our field site, Clara, on the edge of Lake Gatun. Perhaps the absence of neighboring groups permits the group on Isla Tigre to use such a large area. We provisioned the group for two years with bananas, mangos and other fruits to help them adapt to Isla Tigre. The fruits were placed on a 1x4 meter wood platform elevated 1 1/2 meters from the ground. The food was provisioned 2 to 4 times each month. A surfeit of food was provided and the fruits were selected so that some would ripen each day. After the summer of 1987 Julio Torres led the provisioning effort. Julio put in a herculean volunteer effort to help the tamarins. On January 10, 1988 the adult female and one of the males were trapped by Julio Torres so measurements could be taken by a professor teaching a class in Agua Clara. The male rapidly weakened after capture. He was taken to Dr. Nathan Gale, an internationally recognized veterinarian and given 2 days of intensive care, but they were unable to restore his health. He died. The adult female was returned to Isla Tigre. We are unsure about the population dynamics of our founding group. Julio stopped provisioning the island July 1989 because the political difficulties then occurring made it no longer safe to work in the area. At that time 3 tamarins were observed. We assume a tamarin was born into the group since 1 had died. Immigration is only a remote possibility since Isla Tigre is about 2.5 km away from the nearest forest where tamarins live on the shore of Lake Gatun. From June 18 until September 6 project personnel were nearly continuously present on the island. Traps were erected and provisioned with fruit from June 20 to July 10. A young adult female loaned to the project by SIBUP was used to lure the tamarins to the trap from June 28 to July 10. An adult female was trapped on July 4th. She chewed through the fine aluminum window screen mesh on the floor of the trap and escaped. This female was caught again on July 10 in a trap fitted with 1/4 inch mesh wire. The female's teeth were young and sharp as evidenced by her ability to chew through window screening like a mechanized pair of tin snips. Her upper canines were 6 mm in length. The canines of the adult female who was originally released on the island were old, ground down and only 5 mm in length. In addition her upper left canine was broken. We therefore believe the female we caught is the daughter of the adult female released in 1987. Our tentative history of the tamarins on the island is as follows: The original adult female bore a female infant which survived. The older male released on the island died after trapping in January of 1988. The original adult female also died, most likely before January 1988. We believe the two tamarins on the island are therefore the daughter of the original female and the male who was not fully adult when released in 1987. Our little group therefore suffered mortality, reproduced and continued to exist. This is a tentative history since there are gaps in our records. We can therefore only produce a historical demography on the population that is built on incomplete information. We fitted the trapped female on the island with a Telonics ball chain collar, measured and then released her. We did not wish to hold the female captive for long in order to catch the other group member. We therefore released her on July 12. We never observed more than 2 tamarins together on the island. After July 12, 1 of these was always the radio collared female. Since the group used the entire island we felt these were the only tamarins present. After terminating data collection on September 7, we released a new juvenile male onto Isla Tigre. When doing so the two tamarins were in full view. We thought that we heard tamarin vocalizations from another direction. It is therefore remotely possible that there were more than two tamarins on the island during our study. We conducted and completed a study on the habituation of the tamarins to our presence. A report on the study is in review. An abstract of our results follows: The influence of changes in degree of habituation on the movement of the two tamarins Saguinus geoffroyi was investigated. We measured habituation with the cumulative number of samples of location collected per day. Movement was measured with the number of quadrats used per 2 min sample. We found a negative curvilinear relationship between habituation and movement. This relationship remained after statistical control for linear changes in range use associated with changes in weather and vegetation. Our results are consistent with those we have reported on the influences of observers on the Tanaxpillo troop of stumptail macaques (Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 1991). Unlike our study on the stumptails, we also found observation team membership was significantly associated with movement. Our results show degree of habituation of subjects should be measured and controlled in field studies of nonhuman primates. At a deeper level, our results show the observer is partially responsible for that which is observed. Hence the results heighten our awareness of the importance of attending to the methods used to collect data. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Developing a Panamanian Primate Center ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Felix Nunez of the University of Panama and I would like to see Isla Tigre become part of a Panamanian Primate Center composed of the several islands that are near to Isla Tigre. This island-based primate center would provide naturalistic habitat for several primate species. He has discussed this vision with me, his students, the faculty and administrators of the University of Panama. The primate center would focus on the behavior of individuals in groups. We have established offices for the Panamanian Tamarin project at Florida State University -Panama Canal Branch and at the University of Panama. We have started planning for an international conference on Isla Tigre. The conference would bring together primatologists from around the world to pool their knowledge for the formation of a Panamanian Primate Center. This is certainly a vision of exceptional dimensions and of international importance. We hope the Panamanian Primate Center will become a reality and hence become another primate center linking together primatologists in North, Central and South America as well as those throughout the world. We will strongly support the development of the primate center and strongly encourage the integration of Isla Tigre into that primate center. In 1994 have moved towards formalization of a consortium of academic and research support for the project. We have discussed the consortium and made tentative agreements to include the University of Panama, Florida State University, the Animal Behavior Research Institute, Parque Municipal y Jardin Botanico de Summit and IN.RE.NA.RE. Meetings and presentations have been held with each group. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Presentations and Publications on Isla Tigre and the Panamanian Primate Center in 1994 -------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- Rasmussen, D. R. (1994). Psychobiologists develop primate research center in Panama. _Psychology_ _International_, 5, 12. Rasmussen, D. R. (1994). Joint efforts of scientists and parks in the development of primatological research, educational and ecotourism resources. Invited presentation, March 22, Parque Natural Metropolitano, Panama, Republic of Panama. Rasmussen, D. R. (1994). The importance of the study of habituation of nonhuman primate groups to human observers. Invited lecture presented to Sociedad de Investigacion Biolgica at the University of Panama, May 23, 1994. Rasmussen, D. R. (1994). Development of a Panamanian Primate Center: A renewable natural resource. Invited Presentation, Ventana al Mundo, Asociacion Panamena de Ejecutivos de Empresa ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- American Psychological Association Selects Florida State University, Panama Canal Branch for Journal Donation Program ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The International Affairs Division of the American Psychological Association selected Florida State University, Panama Canal Branch for their Journal Donation Program. We will be the first institution in the Republic of Panama to receive the _Journal_ _of_ _Comparative_ _Psychology_. This is an important international journal for the publication of research on animal behavior. In addition we now receive the _The_ _APA_ _Monitor_. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Monkeys found on Isla Tigre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have found two families of night monkeys living on Isla Tigre. They occur there naturally. It is possible that they are decendants of night monkeys trapped on Isla Tigre when it was formed by the Panama Canal. The night monkeys offer a future opportunity for research. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- News on the Social Ecology of Stumptail Macaques project ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are currently in the fifth and final phase of this project 1. Project Planning 2. Data Collection 3. Data Analysis 4. Initial Reports on Results to Scientific Meetings 5. FULL-LENGTH SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS We moved our research efforts from Panama to Mexico when we felt it was no longer safe to conduct our project there in 1987. After intensive collaborative planning with our hosts and colleagues at the University of Veracruz we developed our project focused on the social ecology of the Stumptail macaques on Tanaxpillo Island. We collected the data for this project during the summers of 1988 and 1989 and during December 1988 and January 1989. The data collection phase was followed first by intensive work with students, primarily those on NSF grants, in the initial analysis of data for presentations. This phase was followed by a period of presentations at local, national and international meetings. So far we have given nearly 40 presentations. Our presentation phase in now winding down. We are moving into the final publication phase. Several full-length papers are in review. A chapter on the central peripheral structure has been accepted for publication in a book reporting the presentations at a NATO Advanced Study Institute. An article on the central-peripheral structure has also be published in PRIMATES (35(4), pp. 393-408, October 1994) an international journal of primatology published in Japan. In addition I am circulating a proposal for the publication of the entire project in a book format. I anticipate that we will continue to give presentations to scientific meetings over the next several years. However, the current focus of the project is now on the publication of full length reports of our research efforts. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Video Tape Available on Logistics and Methods of the Stumptail Social Ecology Project ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The two 15 minute video presentations given to the meeting of the American Society of Primatologists in Veracruz in 1991 are available. We entered these videos in the 1992 Animal Behavior Film Festival at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario at the request of the society. These presentations were semifinalists in this international film festival. Not bad considering they were made as documentaries of our methods and logistics and not for presentations to a general audience. I think the videos do a good job of presentation of the logistics and sampling methods used in the study we conducted on the social ecology of the stumptail macaque colony on Tanaxpillo Island. The tapes are narrated by Dawnn Menendez and Diana Ordonez. The abstracts of videos were published in the American Journal of Primatology and are listed in the reference section. Copies of the videos have been placed in the Library of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center and you can check out a copy. Contact: Mr. Larry Jacobsen, Librarian, Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, 1223 Capitol Court, Madison, Wisconsin 53715-1299 Larry Guss will make you a personal copy from the master tape for $18. He can be contacted at: Mr. Larry Guss, Guss Adventure Travel Productions, 5319 Strathmore Avenue, Kensington, Maryland 20895. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Progress Report on Stumptail Project Available: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A 180+ page progress report is available on the stumptail project conducted in Mexico in 1988 and 1989. Briefly, the report consists of a write-up of accomplishments and goals, letters from scientists and faculty who have attended presentations of the research at international and national level scientific meetings, responses on questionnaires answered by faculty advisors and students. If you would like to have a copy of the report please mail me $15.00 to cover photocopy and mailing expenses. This report might make a very weighty addition to job applications or for positions in graduate or medical schools for alumni who have me write letters of recommendation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Experimental Study of Differences in Social and Sexual Behavior of a Reproductive and Nonreproductive Group of Rhesus Macaques ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- As many of you know, I received a 3 year NIMH National Research Senior Service award in 1986. The award permitted me to conduct a study on differences between two closely matched heterosexual groups of rhesus. The two potentially reproductive males in the experimental group were vasectomized. The study is focused on differences between the two groups. In addition to presentations to scientific meetings, I have had two articles published in the LABORATORY PRIMATE NEWSLETTER presenting differences between the subjects due to the amount of time pairs of individuals spent together prior to group formation and kinship. A major article reporting the research is in press in the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stay in Touch with Email: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many of you have now graduated from college and are no longer on email. If you have a phone, computer, and a modem then you can still stay in touch with me and with several of your former class members via email. This is an important addition to our communication capabilities. You can subscribe to an email vendor just like you subscribe to phone companies. With email you can also join news groups. Chances are your local college or university will let you open a public account and this will be the least expensive way to become connected. You may also subscribe to ECO NET, America on Line or a similar email subscription service. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change of Addresses ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you change your address be sure and let me know. If you wish, I will print your address change in the next issue of the CLARA CLARION. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slide Exchange ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would like to encourage an exchange of slides from Catemaco and Panama. I've some excellent slides from each of these sites. I think a good way of working this would be to exchange each other's 10 best slides. Contact me and I'll send you my 10 best in exchange for your 10 best. If any of the slides are published full credit will be given to the person who took the picture please print your name on slides. Because I'm so busy in the field I do not have that many slides of data collection and observation of the monkeys. I would therefore particularly value these pictures. I would also like to have a few slides of Pierre from 1988 during the last days of her life. Hopefully with a few of her female friends grooming her and near to her. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questionnaire: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you took one of my courses in Panama or Mexico and you've not yet filled out a questionnaire, I'd appreciate it if you could send me a letter briefly commenting on each of the following points. Answering this questionnaire will help me to improve the quality of future courses. It will also provide continuing documentation on how you feel the courses have contributed to your education and careers. 1. Looking back at the course what were its best and worst features? 2. Do you feel the course to have been an important part of your undergraduate education? Why? 3. What features would you most like to see in a course you might take in the future? 4. How do you feel I handled the course? 5. How do you feel the other faculty and TAs handled the course? 6. What is your impression on the contribution of SFS to the conduct of the course. Thanks for the input, it helps! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A complete list of Articles, Abstracts and Presentations from 1988 to the present that report results from the studies of stumptail and rhesus macaques and Panamanian tamarins is available upon request. I will be pleased to provide you with reprints of any of the articles and abstracts listed. Please send $1.00 per article or abstract to cover duplication and mailing. From: IN%"William_R_STRICKLIN@umail.umd.edu" 13-APR-1995 12:56:59.64 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: Science of What's Happening Now Dear All APPLIED ETHOLOGISTS, I have several concerns regarding Duncan's statement that, "... functional questions are intellectually extremely stimulating, I nevertheless come to the conclusion that for APPLIED ETHOLOGISTS, CAUSAL QUESTIONS are the important ones to answer." My concerns are: 1) The primary contribution that ethology made to the science of behavior was recognizing that _behavior is an adaptive trait_. Thus, to argue that Applied Ethology deals _solely_ with proximate causation is almost to argue that Applied Ethology is not Ethology! (I acknowledge that I have somewhat overstated Duncan's view as stated above, but I believe that he has essentially argued such a view in recent times.) 2) The discipline of Behaviorism (Watson, Skinner, etc.) was basically a view that only proximate factors were important in explanations of behavior - in my opinion, a view that is still all too prevalent, especially among American life scientists. I believe that to argue that we must concentrate on only causal questions is retrogressive and could thwart the small advances that ethology has made in the United States - in raising awareness that the evolutionary history of the animal is an important component in understanding its behavior. 3) Similar to point 2 above, the persons who also view behavior in a reductionsist manner but simply as an extension of the animal's physiology dearly love to hear the argument that only proximate factors are important. I again contend that these individuals have prevailed in far too many instances in determining the direction of behavior research, especially in the United States. 4) If one is primarly focused on research questions of welfare of intensively confined animals, then I believe that one is more likely to argue that Applied Ethology is only concerned with causal questions. To present such an agrument is thus essentially an attempt to narrowly define Applied Ethology as the investigation of welfare questions. However, I believe that Applied Ethology should include questions that may be outside the welfare topic. One example would be research questions related to production of extensively raised livestock that are behavioral based. With extensively raised livestock, I believe some answers to behavioral research questions that are from an ultimate viewpoint may have as much, if not more, application as answers that come from a proximate view of behavior. 5) As noted by several persons, teaching behavior from only a proximate view would _not_ be very rewarding. When such questions as "Why do birds (or chickens) sing? or Why do cows mount (other cows)?" are possed, the answers based on ultimate causation become more than intellectual exercises - for such answers are the essence of the "science of behavior" in the contemporary world. In the 1970's an American comedian, Flip Wilson, did a very humorous routine where he imitated a minister preaching to his congregation in the "Church of What's Happening Now." I believe that in the Science of Applied Ethology we should _not_ all become members of the "Discipline of What's Happening Now" which I believe is implied, if not advocated, by Duncan. Applied Ethology as a whole should attempt to be an inclusive view of behavior (not exclusive of some research approaches) with membership from the congregations of both proximate and ultimate causation. Amen. Ray Stricklin From: IN%"memery@emory.edu" "melissa emery" 13-APR-1995 14:45:43.78 To: IN%"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: Subj: RE: mental illness among animals [:)sorry, Robin, for the misdirected message!] I have heard a story about a mentally disabled juvenile rhesus macaque (at Wisconsin Primate Center?) named Azalea -- she had a genetic trisomy similar to Down's Syndrome in humans. As a result, she would often exhibit incorrect social behaviors, such as threatening a large, male monkey who could obviously do her great harm. However, the other monkeys appeared to recognize and tolerate her disability, at least to the extent that they would not harm her. In addition, her older sister appeared to watch out for her in that she would intervene in various potentially dangerous situations. Melissa Emery. From: SKYBLU::STOOKEY 13-APR-1995 15:48:42.07 To: IN::"applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" CC: STOOKEY Subj: I may unsubscribe you! Dear All, I am sorry to distract you from the interesting discussions, but I want to call your attention to the possibility that I may unsubscribe you if your e-mail address begins generating error messages on the Applied-ethology listserver. There are a number of reasons your address would generate error messages (ie full mailbox, your local system changed, your computer account expired). Normally, I try to wade through all of the error messages and correct the addresses that were improperly subscribed or I try to figure out the problem before I remove an address. However, this time of year when students are leaving campus and their computer accounts are expiring I get a large number of error messages each day from the mailserver. "In order to" reduce the system errors and make my time manageable, I now remove any address that begins to generate errors. If you receive a notification that you have been removed, but you still wish to be subscribed, please send me a message and I will see that you are resubscribed and the problem is corrected. I have no intention of removing anyone from the network for any reason other than their address is "nonfunctional". "Ultimately", I want A-E to include everyone that has an interest in the subject (even if you don't reproduce). "Proximately" speaking, if you are "causing" a "functional" problem on the listserver - you are out of here! Also, if you are trying to unsubscribe from the network, please DO NOT address your message to the entire network. Your message should be sent to: applied-ethology-request@sask.usask.ca or to me at: stookey@sask.usask.ca Joe Stookey From: IN%"0007056448@mcimail.com" "John Roberts" 14-APR-1995 22:58:35.45 To: IN%"Applied-ethology@sask.usask.ca" "Applied Ethology" CC: Subj: stray voltage Sorry, I supose a little explanation would be helpful. Stray voltage(current is more appropriate) is a voltage(usually less than 10 volts) that exists between to points that an animal(usually a dairy cow) comes into simultaneous contact with. Perception of cows vary considerably with the individual, and the environment, but it is generally something that is considered to primarily result in behavioral changes, at lower levels, and milk production and udder health problems at higher levels. The milk machine is actually not a pathway for a cow to encounter stray current. Resistance of the milk, and hoses is too high to be a likely electrical pathway. Most commonly cows encounter SV from the water cup, and other metal structures around the barn, or as a step potential across entrance or exit thresholds. The on-the farm difficulties that I regularly try and sort out are what behaviors and performance problems are related from SV, and what are from other stresses and interactions on the farm. Not being able to "see" the electrical currents that a cow may encounter, a farmer may consider that all abnormal behaviors, and health and production changes are caused by SV. This presents a difficulty in that if the electrical sources of SV are corrected, and the health, production, and behavioral concerns do not repond positively the farmer is frustrated, and suspicious of the electrical effort. Being able to properly identify and focus on the nonelectrical reasons for the concerns that are not resolved electrically, is most helpful in providing beneficail advice to the concerned farmer. Tail switching has traditionally been seen as evidence of SV, but in reality there is not a strong connection between increased tail activity, and electrical events. The two types of tail activity that I see on farms are a general increase in tail activity, and a whole herd simulataneous event usually in response to vocalization of a cow or calf in the barn. Any assistance in better understanding this type of activity would be appreciated. John Roberts, D.V.M. Wisconsin Dept. of Ag Trade and Consumer Protection Stray Voltage Analysis Team 5915 Lake Lane Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 414-734-1539(Phone/fax) 0007056448@mcimail.com