The ecological background: social behaviour of non-primates with ecologies
resembling humans (eusocial insects, social carnivores, cetaceans)
Basic reading
-
Wilson,
SB, chapter 20 (the social insects), chapter 25 (carnivores), pp. 473-478
(dolphins).
-
Macdonald, D. (1984). The encyclopaedia of mammals. .....TRC
-
Watson, L. (1981). Whales of the world, Chaps 1, 2, 3 [very basic].......599.5WAT
-
Bryden & Corkeron (1988), Intelligence, in R. Harrison & M. M.
Bryden (Eds.), Whales, dolphins and porpoises........599.5WHA/X
going to TRC
-
Von Frisch, K. (1966). The dancing bees (2nd edn), chapters 1-7,
.......595.799FRI/TRC/SEd
-
Lea (1994). The evolutionary biology of economic behaviour. In H. Brandstätter
& W. Güth (Eds.), Essays in economic psychology. .......330.019BRA/SEGL
Additional material
1. Cetacean social behaviour and social structure
There is considerable overlap between the following sources, but each contributes
something distinct.
-
Evans (1987) The natural history of whales and dolphins chap 7 (Social
organization and behaviour) .......599.5EVA
-
Corkeron (1988), Social behaviour, in Harrison & Bryden (see BASIC)
-
Chapters from Schusterman, R. J. et al (Eds) (1986), Dolphin cognition
and behavior .......599.53DOL/Roboro
-
Johnson & Norris, Delphinid social organization and social behavior
-
Wursig, Delphinid foraging strategies
-
Bradbury, Social complexities and co-operative behavior in delphinids
-
If you want to make a comparison between cetaceans and the other large
group of marine mammals, see Renouf (1991) (Eds.), Behaviour of pinnipeds.
.......599.745BEH
2. Cognitive processes in cetaceans
-
Herman, L. (1980). Cetacean behavior, Chap 4 & pp. 231-243;
409-421 (skip details) .......599.5CET
-
Richards (1986), Dolphin vocal mimicry and vocal object labelling, in Schusterman
et al (see above).
-
Harley, H. E., Roitblat, H. L., & Nachtigall, P. E. (1996). Object
representation in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): Integration
of visual and echoic information. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Animal Behaviour Processes, 22, 164-174.
-
Pryor, K. (1992). Lads before the wind, 2nd edn, chaps 1-3, 10-12.
.......599.53PRY
-
review of Pryor (1992) by Squier, 1993, J. Exper. Anal. Behav., 59,
423-431.......P150 J21
-
St Aubin et al (1985), How do bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus,
react to oil films under different light conditions?. Canad. J. Fish.
Aquat. Sci., 42, 430-436 .......P590J52
-
Delfour, F., & Aulagnier, S. (1997). Bubbleblow in beluga whales (Delphinapterus
leucas): a play activity? Behavioural Processes, 40, 183-186.
.......SEGL
-
Herman (1986) Cognition and language capacities of bottlenosed dolphins,
in Schusterman et al (see above)
-
Marten, K., Shariff, K., Psarakos, S., & White, D. J. (1996).
Bubbly Dolphins. http://www.sciam.com/0896issue/0896dolphins.html
Excerpted with added video clips from Ring Bubbles of Dolphins, Scientific
American, August 1996.
3. Eusocial insects
-
Von Frisch, K. (1966). The dancing bees (2nd edn), chapters 11,
15.......595.799FRI/TRC/SEd
-
Heinrich, B. (1979). Bumblebee economics, chapters 1&2.......short
loan
-
Giurfa, M., Eichmann, B., & Menzel, R. (1996). Symmetry perception
in an insect. Nature, 382, 458-461.
-
Trivers & Hare (1976). Haplodiploidy and the evolution of the social
insects. Science, 191, 249-263; Alexander & Sherman (1977),
Local mate competition and parental investment in social insects. Science,
196, 494-500. .
4. Social carnivores
-
Mills (1978). The comparative socio-ecology of the hyaenidae. Carnivore,
1(1) 1-7........SEGL
-
Smale et al (1993). Ontogeny of dominance in free-living spotted hyaenas:
juvenile rank relations with adult females and immigrant males. Animal
Behaviour, 46, 467-477.
-
Mills, M. G. L. (1990). Kalahari hyaenas, especially Chapter 7,
The individual in hyaena society. .......599.74427MIL
-
Bertram, B. (1978). Pride of lions, chapters 3, 4........599.74428BER
-
Caro & Hauser (1992). Is there teaching in nonhuman animals? Quarterly
Review of Biology, 67, 151-174.
-
Macdonald (1980). Social factors affecting reproduction amongst red foxes.
In E. Zimen (Ed.), The red fox [concentrate on Discussion]........599.74442/RED
-
Giraldeau & Gillis (1988). Do lions hunt in group sizes that maximize
hunters' daily food returns? Animal Behaviour, 36, 611-613. [skip
through the maths unless you're interested]
-
Baker, P. J., Robertson, C. P. J., Funk, S. M., & Harris, S. (1998).
Potential fitness benefits of group living in the red fox, Vulpes vulpes.
Animal Behaviour, 56, 1411-1424. .......CJ/SEGL
Questions for discussion
-
What groups of animals most closely resemble humans in (a) ecology and
(b) social structure?
-
Can we learn anything about human behaviour by studying eusocial insects?
-
Are there clear correlations between social structure, ecology, and cognitive
powers within (a) the social carnivores (b) the cetaceans?
-
Considering any of these groups of animals, how would you argue that it
offers the best available animal model of human society?
Stephen Lea
University of Exeter
School of Psychology
Washington Singer Laboratories
Exeter EX4 4QG
United Kingdom
Tel +44 1392 264626
Fax +44 1392 264623
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Document revised 9th March 1999