Both Prey and Predator Features Determine Predation Risk and Survival of Schooling Prey

Predation is one of the main evolutionary drivers of social grouping. While it is well appreciated that predation risk is likely not shared equally among individuals within groups, its detailed quantification has remained difficult due to the speed of attacks and the highly-dynamic nature of collective prey response. Here, using high-resolution tracking of solitary predators (Northern pike) hunting schooling fish (golden shiners), we not only provide detailed insights into predator decision-making but show which key spatial and kinematic features of predator and prey influence individual's risk to be targeted and survive attacks. Pike tended to stealthily approach the largest groups, and were often already inside the school when launching their attack, making prey in this frontal "strike zone" the most vulnerable to be targeted. From the prey's perspective, those fish in central locations, but relatively far from, and less aligned with, neighbours, were most likely to be targeted. While the majority of attacks (70%) were successful, targeted individuals that did manage to avoid capture exhibited a higher maximum acceleration response just before the attack and were further away from the pike's head. Our results highlight the crucial interplay between predators' attack strategy and response of prey in determining predation risk in mobile animal groups.

Identification and Evaluation of African Lion (Panthera leo) Cub Welfare in Wildlife-Interaction Tourism

African lion (Panthera leo) cubs are extensively used in South Africa in wildlife-interaction tourist activities. Facilities provide close interaction opportunities, but the welfare impacts on the cubs are unclear. A workshop was held with 15 lion-experienced stakeholders, including government officials, nature conservationists, animal welfare organisations, lion breeders, lion handlers, an animal ethologist, wildlife veterinarian, wildlife rehabilitation specialist and an animal rights advocacy group representative. Individual representatives nominated a range of welfare concerns, and 15 were identified for discussion and prioritisation. The leading welfare concern was a lack of governance and regulation within the industry. Participants agreed on nine non-negotiable practices affecting welfare concerns, which included ethical concerns, such as cubs exiting into the ranching industry (farming of lions for hunting) and the bone trade (lions being slaughtered for their bones, which are exported for lion bone wine) once petting age has passed. Welfare concerns representative of current management practices within the lion cub interaction industry were compared for importance using an online adaptive conjoint analysis survey of 60 stakeholders in the industry. The survey identified the most important welfare concerns to be poor social grouping of cubs, an inability for cubs to choose their own environment and retreat from a forced interaction, a lack of trained and dedicated caretakers, and poor breeding practices. The conjoint analysis survey results produced a value model, which can be used as a tool to score cubs’ welfare in interaction facilities, and it identified unacceptable practices lacking welfare consideration.

UNDERSTANDING THE COLLECTIVISM DILEMMA: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE ETHNICITY PLAYS IN PROMOTING THE COLLECTIVIST BEHAVIOUR OF CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM FAMILIES AT MEALTIMES

The findings show how ethnicity plays a significantly role in Sierra Leonean families meal consumption behaviour. It defines the social grouping of families, and demonstrates how they align with the type of language spoken, their cultural beliefs, the region or community they come from and most notably the assumptions they espoused at the dinner table. These factors are symbolic in defining the character of families at mealtimes, but it significance vary from family to family based on their ethnic orientation and the degree of acculturation experienced by them. This paper evaluates the role ethnicity plays in promoting the collectivist behaviour of Christian and Muslim families when they interact socially at mealtimes. This is emblematic of the fact that the cultural behaviour of families is never sacrosanct and inflexible, but changes from time to time based on their level of exposure to either a new environment and/or a new social group. Consequently, this paper highlights the role of ethnicity on the behaviour of Christian and Muslim families (husband and wife) at mealtimes and draw attention to its significance as crucially element of collectivism, particularly in relation to its role in the social interaction between similar and dissimilar gender groups. The authors critically reviewed the role ethnicity has on families meal consumption behaviour and presented a comparative analytical summary of how gender is critical to the meal behaviours of different gender and religious groups. The study evaluated the role ethnicity plays in families meal social interaction behaviour and highlighted factors such as affection, gender differentiation, education and hierarchy, as prime factors of the collectivistic behaviour of families. However, it was evident from the findings that failure to demonstrate emotional ties at mealtimes can debilitate families cohesiveness and display of common strength.

Pilgrims and their cars

This chapter focuses on the most common way to do multiple pilgrimages: by vehicle. It also examines the social dimensions of such performance, initially by examining pilgrimage confraternities, usually centred around a leader revered as a spiritual authority, and how they create a culture of encouraging repeat pilgrimages. The chapter then looks at the most common social grouping doing multiple Shikoku pilgrimages by vehicle: husband and wife couples. These examples also draw attention to enjoyment as a prominent factor in pilgrimage. The chapter then looks at individuals who drive multiple times around the pilgrimage, particularly those who sleep in their cars to do speedier and more frequent pilgrimages. The chapter outlines the motivations and practices of such pilgrims and indicates that hybrid pilgrimage performance—trying out various ways of doing it—also plays a part in the culture of repetition.

How Does the Social Grouping of Animals in Nature Protect Against Sickness? A Perspective

Sickness behavior is broadly represented in vertebrates, usually in association with the fever response in response to acute infections. The reactions to sickness behavior in a group member or potential group member in humans is quite variable, depending upon circumstances. In animals, the reactions to sickness behavior in a group member or potential group member evoke a specific response that reflects the species-specific lifestyle. Groups of animals can employ varied strategies to reduce or address exposure to sickness. Most of these have scarcely been studied in nature from a disease perspective: (1) adjusting exposure to sick conspecifics or contaminated areas; (2) caring for a sick group member; (3) peripheralization and agonistic behaviors to strange non-group conspecifics; and (4) using special strategies at parturition when newborn are healthy but vulnerable. Unexplored in this regard is infanticide, where newborn that are born with very little immunity until they receive antibody-rich colostrum, could be a target of maternal infanticide if they manifest signs of sickness and could be infectious to littermates. The strategies used by different species are highly specific and dependent upon the particular circumstances. What is needed is a more general awareness and consideration of the possibilities that avoiding or adapting to sickness behavior may be driving some social behaviors of animals in nature.

Behavioural Diversity Study in Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Groups and Its Implications for Welfare Assessments

In the recent past, animal welfare studies have tried to determine the best animal welfare measures and indicators. Expression of behavioural diversity is considered a potential positive welfare indicator, and to the authors’ knowledge, it has not been validated nor studied in cetaceans. For the first time, a behavioural diversity study on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) groups was conducted at six European facilities. The study was carried out by the animal care staff, biologists and veterinarians and included 54 dolphins housed in several group compositions at the different participating facilities. The goal of our study was to analyse behavioural diversity in bottlenose dolphins at the group level to investigate how particular factors might impact the diversity of behaviours within the group and to discuss its implications for dolphin welfare assessments. Eight factors (i.e., “observer location”, “number of individuals”, “age class”, “sex”, “social grouping”, “presence/absence of leading male”, “presence/absence of visitors” and “enrichment provision”) impacted the behavioural diversity of the observed groups, while no significant impact of the factors “time of day” and “activity before/after observation” could be found. Our study showed the feasibility of this kind of approach for cetaceans under professional care and the relevance to considering this parameter in dolphin welfare studies, despite certain limitations that warrant further research.

Evolution of the Prefrontal Cortex in Non-human Primates

The primate prefrontal (PF) cortex evolved in phases. The first PF granular areas emerged as early primates and their closest ancestors adapted to an arboreal life. These areas improved the use of vision to search for foods and decide whether they were edible. Another phase of PF evolution occurred in anthropoids as they adapted to a diurnal life. They increased in body size and foraged over large distances, using foveal vision to search for resources. This exposed them to new competitors and encouraged social grouping, the advantage being that there are many eyes on the lookout for danger. The brain expanded in relation to the size of the body (encephalization) and the cortex expanded as a proportion of the brain (corticalization). At the same time, new PF areas emerged.

Investment in chemical signalling glands facilitates the evolution of sociality in lizards

The evolution of sociality and traits that correlate with, or predict, sociality, have been the focus of considerable recent study. In order to reduce the social conflict that ultimately comes with group living, and foster social tolerance, individuals need reliable information about group members and potential rivals. Chemical signals are one such source of information and are widely used in many animal taxa, including lizards. Here, we take a phylogenetic comparative approach to test the hypothesis that social grouping correlates with investment in chemical signalling. We used the presence of epidermal glands as a proxy of chemical investment and considered social grouping as the occurrence of social groups containing both adults and juveniles. Based on a dataset of 911 lizard species, our models strongly supported correlated evolution between social grouping and chemical signalling glands. The rate of transition towards social grouping from a background of ‘epidermal glands present’ was an order of a magnitude higher than from a background of ‘no epidermal glands’. Our results highlight the potential importance of chemical signalling during the evolution of sociality and the need for more focused studies on the role of chemical communication in facilitating information transfer about individual and group identity, and ameliorating social conflict.

The Behaviour Of Connected Consumer Following Communication By Social Media: Exploratory Study On Moroccan Ready-To-Wear Brands

Understanding consumer behavior allows companies to act better when faced with an individual whose choices are becoming more and more changeable due to numerous stimuli. Moreover, the corporate brand understood that it was necessary to actively participate in exchanges with consumers to have some control over their behavior and since social media is a dynamic form of social grouping where groups are already formed by affinities, tastes and trends, it is the best means of communication to promote brands. The objective of this article is to identify the complex relationship, the different articulation and the causal relationships that exist between communication by social media and consumer behavior in a Moroccan context through an exploratory qualitative study conducted with 14 managers in the Moroccan ready-to-wear sector. The textual analysis of speeches allowed us to identify a set of variables that characterize consumer behavior following communication by social media.