Visual and acoustic exploratory behaviors toward novel stimuli in Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) under human care.

Exploratory behaviors describe the actions performed by an animal to obtain information on an object, environment, or individual by using its different senses. Exploration is described in some marine mammals, but not yet in manatees. Our study investigated behavioral and acoustic responses of two groups of Antillean manatees ( = 12 and = 4) housed in zoological parks toward various stimuli involving three sensory modalities: visual, tactile, and auditory.

Ranking parameters driving siring success during sperm competition in the North African houbara bustard.

Sperm competition is a powerful force driving the evolution of ejaculate and sperm traits. However, the outcome of sperm competition depends on many traits that extend beyond ejaculate quality. Here, we study male North African houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata undulata) competing for egg fertilization, after artificial insemination, with the aim to rank the importance of 14 parameters as drivers of siring success.

Enforced monoandry over generations induces a reduction of female investment into reproduction in a promiscuous bird.

While uncovering the costs and benefits of polyandry has attracted considerable attention, assessing the net effect of sexual selection on population fitness requires the experimental manipulation of female mating over generations, which is usually only achievable in laboratory populations of arthropods. However, knowing if sexual selection improves or impairs the expression of life-history traits is key for the management of captive populations of endangered species, which are mostly long-lived birds and mammals. It might therefore be questionable to extrapolate the results gathered on laboratory populations of insects to infer the net effect of sexual selection on populations of endangered species.

Prosociality and reciprocity in capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in a non-reproductive context.

Prosocial behaviours (providing benefits to a recipient with or without cost for the donor) have been found to be highly influenced by sex and by hierarchy. Rodents, in particular, are good model for studying prosocial responses, as they were found to exhibit intentional prosocial behaviours to reward a conspecific, and are very sensitive to reciprocity. In our study, we conducted a Prosocial Choice Test (PCT) in which four capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) living in a social group could choose between three tokens: choosing the prosocial token rewarded simultaneously the subject and a recipient, while choosing the selfish token only rewarded the subject; and choosing the null token provided no reward to anyone.

Paternal age negatively affects sperm production of the progeny.

Parental age has profound consequences for offspring's phenotype. However, whether patrilineal age affects offspring sperm production remains unknown, despite the importance of sperm production for male reproductive success in species facing post-copulatory sexual selection. Using a longitudinal dataset on ejaculate attributes of the houbara bustard, we showed that offspring sired by old fathers had different age-dependent trajectories of sperm production compared to offspring sired by young fathers.

No evidence for prezygotic postcopulatory avoidance of kin despite high inbreeding depression.

Offspring resulting from mating among close relatives can suffer from impaired fitness through the expression of recessive alleles with deleterious effects. Postcopulatory sperm selection (a prezygotic mechanism of cryptic female choice) has been suggested to be an effective way to avoid inbreeding. To investigate whether postcopulatory female choice allows the avoidance of fertilization by close kin, we performed artificial inseminations in a promiscuous bird, the houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata).

Reading wild minds: A computational assay of Theory of Mind sophistication across seven primate species.

Theory of Mind (ToM), i.e. the ability to understand others' mental states, endows humans with highly adaptive social skills such as teaching or deceiving.

The sperm of aging male bustards retards their offspring's development.

Understanding whether the sperm of older males has a diminished capacity to produce successful offspring is a key challenge in evolutionary biology. We investigate this issue using 10 years of reproductive data on captive long-lived houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata), where the use of artificial insemination techniques means parents can only influence offspring quality via their gametes. Here we show that paternal aging reduces both the likelihood that eggs hatch and the rate at which chicks grow, with older males producing the lightest offspring after the first month.

Does recognized genetic management in supportive breeding prevent genetic changes in life-history traits?

Supportive breeding is one of the last resort conservation strategies to avoid species extinction. Management of captive populations is challenging because several harmful genetic processes need to be avoided. Several recommendations have been proposed to limit these deleterious effects, but empirical assessments of these strategies remain scarce.

Plasma protein electrophoresis in birds: comparison of a semiautomated agarose gel system with an automated capillary system.

Plasma agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) is recognized as a very reliable diagnostic tool in avian medicine. Within the last 10 years, new electrophoresis techniques such as capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) have emerged in human laboratory medicine but have never been investigated in birds. To investigate the use of CZE in birds and to compare it with AGE, plasma samples from 30 roosters (Gallus gallus), 20 black kites (Milvus migrans), and 10 racing pigeons (Columba livia) were analyzed by both AGE and CZE.

Response to bitter substances in primates: roles of diet tendency and weaning age.

In primates, the perception of bitter taste may be an essential mechanism for avoiding the ingestion of bitter, and often toxic, substances. Bitterness sensitivity varies across the different primate species and, for bitter thioure substances (e.g.

Quantitative genetics of sexual display, ejaculate quality and size in a lekking species.

The investment into extravagant sexual display and competitive sperm are two essential components of pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection. Even though the selective forces acting on sexual display and sperm characteristics have been extensively studied in recent years, the genetic architecture underlying the expression of these traits has been rarely explored. Here, we estimated the genetic variances and covariances of traits linked with ejaculate size and quality, and sexual display in the houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata, Jacquin 1784).

Training large macaws for artificial insemination procedures.

For some endangered parrot species, captive breeding may be the only insurance for their survival. However, many individuals in captivity do not reproduce. Artificial insemination (AI) may help overcome reproductive failures or geographic distance.

Immune-mediated change in the expression of a sexual trait predicts offspring survival in the wild.

Background: The "good genes" theory of sexual selection postulates that females choose mates that will improve their offspring's fitness through the inheritance of paternal genes. In spite of the attention that this hypothesis has given rise to, the empirical evidence remains sparse, mostly because of the difficulties of controlling for the many environmental factors that may covary with both the paternal phenotype and offspring fitness. Here, we tested the hypothesis that offspring sired by males of a preferred phenotype should have better survival in an endangered bird, the houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata).

Unusual feeding behavior in wild great apes, a window to understand origins of self-medication in humans: role of sociality and physiology on learning process.

Certain toxic plants are beneficial for health if small amounts are ingested infrequently and in a specific context of illness. Among our closest living relatives, chimpanzees are found to consume plants with pharmacological properties. Providing insight on the origins of human self-medication, this study investigates the role social systems and physiology (namely gut specialization) play on learning mechanisms involved in the consumption of unusual and potentially bioactive foods by two great ape species.

Pigeons discriminate between human feeders.

Considered as plague in many cities, pigeons in urban areas live close to human activities and exploit this proximity to find food which is often directly delivered by people. In this study, we explored the capacity of feral pigeons to take advantage of this human-based food resource and discriminate between friendly and hostile people. Our study was conducted in an urban park.

Neophobia and learning mechanisms: how captive orangutans discover medicinal plants.

Great apes sometimes feed on items of low nutritional value with bioactive secondary compounds. These molecules may be toxic and neophobia is presumed to be an essential factor in avoiding the ingestion of noxious items. The aim of this study is to investigate, in captive orangutans, individual and social learning involved in the discovery and ingestion of new items.

Male health status, signalled by courtship display, reveals ejaculate quality and hatching success in a lekking species.

1. The information content of secondary sexual traits and the benefits gathered by choosy females are at the heart of sexual selection theory. Indicator models of sexual selection assume that secondary sexual traits reflect the phenotypic/genetic quality of their bearers and that females gather benefits from choosing these high-quality males.

Predictors of success of semen cryopreservation in chickens.

Semen cryopreservation is very important for the ex situ management of genetic diversity in birds but it is rarely used. This is partly because of the highly variable success rates, and this emphasizes the need for predictors of semen freezability. This study evaluated the ability of semen quality tests to predict the success rates of semen cryopreservation in chickens and the relationships between each test.

The evolution of sperm morphometry in pheasants.

Post-copulatory sexual selection is thought to be a potent evolutionary force driving the diversification of sperm shape and function across species. In birds, insemination and fertilization are separated in time and sperm storage increases the duration of sperm-female interaction and hence the opportunity for sperm competition and cryptic female choice. We performed a comparative study of 24 pheasant species (Phasianidae, Galliformes) to establish the relative importance of sperm competition and the duration of sperm storage for the evolution of sperm morphometry (i.

Cryopreservation of semen from endangered pheasants: the first step towards a cryobank for endangered avian species.

In order to improve the genetic management of bird species within the European Endangered Programs (EEP), a research project on artificial insemination and cryopreservation of Galliformes semen has been developed. The aim of the program is to create a sperm cryobank for threatened bird species. During this study, semen was collected from 17 pheasant species and specific characteristics of ejaculates were analyzed (volume, sperm concentration, motility, pH).

Antibody response to Newcastle disease vaccination in a flock of young houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata).

Twelve young houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata) were vaccinated with a lentogenic strain of Newcastle disease virus. Another seven birds were kept in close contact with the treated flock but were not vaccinated. Antibody levels were measured in all birds with hemagglutination inhibition test over the course of 1 yr.

Cross-protection test of an avian poxvirus isolated from houbara bustards.

An avian poxvirus was isolated previously from the houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata). We carried out a cross-protection test on 66 captive-bred canaries. Thirty-five canaries were vaccinated with a commercial canary poxvirus (CP) vaccine.

Seasonal variation of LH, sex steroids, body mass, molt, display, and laying in two subspecies of Houbara bustard, Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii and Chlamydotis undulata undulata, housed in outdoor cages under natural conditions.

Subspecies of the Houbara bustard are resident in North Africa (Chlamydotis undulata undulata) or are partial latitudinal migrants in Asia (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii). Houbara breed in arid or semiarid zones, and the reproductive biology of wild Houbara is largely unknown. Body mass, molt, courtship display, laying, and plasma concentrations of LH, testosterone, and progesterone were measured in captive-bred birds of both subspecies, housed in outdoor cages under natural conditions, over a period of 1 year and 6 months, at Taif, Saudi Arabia (21 degrees 15' N).

Debilitating cutaneous poxvirus lesions on two captive houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata).

Poxvirus was isolated from cutaneous nodules on two young Houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata) bred in captivity in Saudi Arabia. Birds were emaciated and presented nodules on tibiotarso-tarsometatarsal joints, toes, and the carpal joint. Diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology, virus isolation on inoculated chorioallantoic membranes of embryonated chicken's eggs, and electron microscopy.