Geniuses everywhere

I’ve recently seen two programs on TV, “Ape Genius” and “Dog Genius” that examine animal intelligence and compare it with human capabilities. 

Check out this National Geographic video about a dog and his peculiar habits.

An article in Animal Cognition details and experiment conducted at the University of Vienna to investigate the performance of different species

 The ability to reason by exclusion (which is defined as the selection of the correct alternative by logically excluding other potential alternatives; Call in Anim Cogn 9:393–403 2006) is well established in humans. Several studies have found it to be present in some nonhuman species as well, whereas it seems to be somewhat limited or even absent in others. As inconsistent methodology might have contributed to the revealed inter-species differences, we examined reasoning by exclusion in pigeons (n = 6), dogs (n = 6), students (n = 6), and children (n = 8) under almost equal experimental conditions. After being trained in a computer-controlled two-choice procedure to discriminate between four positive (S+) and four negative (S?) photographs, the subjects were tested with displays consisting of one S? and one of four novel stimuli (S?). One pigeon, half of the dogs and almost all humans preferred S? over S?, thereby choosing either by novelty, or by avoiding S? without acquiring any knowledge about S?, or by inferring positive class membership of S? by excluding S?. To decide among these strategies the subjects that showed a preference for S? were then tested with displays consisting of one of the S? and one of four novel stimuli (S??). Although the pigeon preferentially chose the S?? and by novelty, dogs and humans maintained their preference for S?, thereby showing evidence of reasoning by exclusion. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that none of the pigeons, but half of the dogs and almost all humans inferred positive class membership of S? by logically excluding S?.

Man vs Ape - social complexities

An interview with Rebecca Saxe, a cognitive scientist at MIT, sheds light on   humans’ unique ability to teach and interest passing along cultural knowledge and how it compares with other social animals.

Q: Is it true that there might be a brain region dedicated to this coordinating of two minds?

Saxe: Well, what we do know is that there are definitely regions in the human brain that seem to play special roles in social cognition—in seeing and thinking about other people. And different parts of your brain get involved in coordinating and reasoning about different kinds of social tasks. It appears that this kind of cooperation recruits a very specific part of your brain, right behind the middle of your forehead.

In the last five years, there’s been a huge explosion of research with new tools, new imaging tools, that make it possible to study the living, thinking human brain. And that’s allowed us to study the brain basis of all kinds of things that are uniquely human.

Bonobo whisperer

A video on NOVA’s website tells the story of Kanzi, a bonobo who learned and understands English without ever being directly taught language skills. The  27 year-old bonobo communicates with researchers at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa using lexigrams, or symbols representing words.

If there were a superstar within the bonobo community, Kanzi, which means “treasure” in Swahili, would certainly be it. Born in 1980, Kanzi came to Georgia State University’s Language Research Center at the age of six months. He is regarded as the first ape to demonstrate real comprehension of spoken speech.

Kanzi has been presented with a variety of carefully controlled tests which demonstrate his comprehension of speech. In these tests, spoken words are presented through headphones and Kanzi is requested to indicate the real object, the photo or the lexigram that the word represents. He is essentially 100 percent accurate on all words that are a part of vocabulary at any given age. Today, his vocabulary includes more than 500 words! His comprehension of spoken language is at least equivalent to that of a two-and-a-half-year-old child.

Kanzi’s achievements are not limited to language, but include tool use and tool manufacturing. Kanzi has shown skills as a stone tool maker and he is very proud of his ability to flake Oldowan style cutting knives. He learned to do this from Dr. Nick Toth, an anthropologist with The Stone Age Institute in Bloomington, IN. Kanzi’s stone knives are very sharp and he’s able to cut hide and thick ropes with them. He has also demonstrated his unspecified and musical skills, having played with Sir Paul McCartney and Peter Gabriel.

Neuroscience

image courtesy of AJ Gazman

Using animal examples is a great way to explain biology and other scientific principles to children.  Elephants seem to be especially captivating to children, perhaps due to their gigantic size or unique anatomy. 

A little series published by the University of Washington “Neuroscience for Kids” uses findings from a recent study that suggest elephants are able to distinguish between different ethnic groups in Kenya as a way to introduce neuroscience and includes some other interesting facts.

The total surface area of the African elephant cerebral cortex is 6,300 square cm. The surface area of the human cerebral cortex is 2,500 square cm

Cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres in the brain that controls conscious experience and is responsible for perception, emotion, thought, and planning.

Novel ways elephants communicate

photo courtesy of  Greg George

It is believed that elephants use low frequency signals transmitted through the ground as a means of communication.  A current theory is that elephants are able to sense the vibrations through pressure-sensitive nerve endings, Pacinian corpuscles, in their feet and —Meissner’s corpuscles that detect infrasonic vibrations - in the tip of their trunks.

 Scientists Katy Payne, Joyce Poole and their colleagues discovered that elephants emit a variety of infrasounds—calls too low in pitch to be heard by most humans. In 1989, Payne and her colleagues conducted a landmark experiment at a waterhole in Etosha demonstrating that these powerful infrasonic rumbles contain specific messages that can be heard and understood by other elephants more than 2 miles away.

This article contains information on the progression of seismic communication research in elephants and evidence supporting the idea that elephants use low frequency signals to communicate a variety of information from predator warnings to reproductive cues.

Elephants on the pill

Actually more of a vaccine, contraception for elephants is a proposed alternative to killing elephants in order to maintain and control population growth.

Research efforts are ongoing to determine the best approach for delivering contraceptives and what type should be used.  There are many considerations, like not repeatedly disrupting elephant groups, creating situations that are very stressful for the elephants, the safety of people administering the contraceptive and costs associated with treatment.

An abstract from an article published in the Journal of the South African Veterinary Association summarizes a current project:

The goal of programmes to provide contraception for elephants should be to formulate an approach that does not require the relocation or immobilisation of the same individual year after year, which would be long-lasting and cause minimal disruption to social and reproductive behaviour. The programmes should be simple to administer, safe and cost-effective, and must meet the objectives defined by managers in the field. An immunocontraceptive programme was initiated in a small free-roaming population of elephants at the Greater Makalali Private Game Reserve in Limpopo Province in 2000 to determine whether the porcine zona pellucida (pZP) vaccine can successfully control population sizes. Further objectives were to determine implementation costs and efficiency through a multi-faceted approach. We have demonstrated that immunocontraception meets the objectives set by managers in the field. Minimal social disruption was observed over the course of treatment, with the mode of delivery (ground or aerial vaccinations) determining the degree of stress within herds and speed of resumption of normal movement patterns. Aerial vaccinations resulted in the least disturbance, with target herds being approachable within a day. In 2005, implementation costs were R880-R1000/elephant/year, inclusive of darts, vaccine, helicopter and veterinary assistance. Irrespective of the source or method of vaccine delivery, a non-pregnant elephant is rendered infertile from 1st vaccine administration. The sooner immunocontraception is implemented, the sooner population growth rates can be controlled. pZP contraception is a realistic alternative management tool, particularly if used as part of a long-term management strategy. Mass-darting from the air eliminates the need for detailed individual histories of each elephant or for employing a person to monitor elephants. Thus, implementation of immunocontraception in larger populations is feasible and practical.

 This excerpt from an article in the Journal of Development of Biologicals sheds some light on how the contraceptive works

Of the many targets for such vaccines, several sperm-associated antigens have been proposed for antibody-mediated intervention before fertilization but the very abundance of antigen to be neutralized has been a barrier. Zona pellucida antigens associated with the surface of the oocyte have also been targeted and used successfully for control of ‘wild’ elephant populations but worries concerning immunopathologically-mediated tissue damage have been mooted

 This link provides more information on some of the research into the vaccine’s effectiveness.

Radio program highlights animal intelligence

You may be surprised to learn how smart those birds at your backyard bird-feeder are.

On the next Calling All Pets, find out of being called a “Bird Brain” isn’t such a bad thing. Join Larry Meiller and zoologist Patricia McConnell as they explore the topic of intelligence in ravens and also welcome a guest to talk about the seductive mating rituals of animals in the high seas!

This post on scienceblogs.com explores the research of Bernd Heinrich from a recent article in Scientific American.  Heinrich designed experiments to test ravens’ ability to solve problems, investigating whether behaviors were motivated by logic or instinct.  Results suggested that they do, in fact, use logic.

Amazing sea creatures

Click here to watch a visually stunning video about bioluminescent fish and cephalopods (squids, octopus) hosted by oceanographer David Gallo.

Certain underwater animals can respond to changes or threats in their environment by changing their appearance, a behavior that is useful for camouflaging, warding off predators or attracting a mate.

One of the most fascinating examples are deep-sea animals who live an environment with minimal light yet have adapted behaviors that capitalize on their ability to mimic different wavelengths of light.

An article, “Bioluminescent and Red-Fluorescent Lures in a Deep-Sea Siphonophore,” in the journal Science discusses the biology of bioluminescence and research that can provide a better understanding of how light (or lack there of) affects marine ecology.

Some great background information about bioluminescence can be found on this Web site

Bioluminescence has evolved many times in the sea as evidenced by the several distinct chemical mechanisms by which light is emitted, and the large number of only distantly related taxonomic groups that have many bioluminescent memberss.

Experts on polar bears

I found some interesting commentary and numbers that really get to the heart of the looming threat of global warming and its impact on polar bears.  Full article can be found on BBC News Web site.

• Scientists say Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate of up to 9% per decade
• Arctic summers could be ice-free by mid-century
• Dr Andrew Derocher, of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, has used the data to assess the impact on the Arctic’s top predator - he believes the polar bear could disappear in the wild by the end of the century unless the pace of global warming slows.
• British polar expert Dr Peter Wadhams of the University of Cambridge says the bear faces a gloomy future unless it is able to change its habits: “It could be that a polar bear could adapt to a new habitat and adopt habits like the brown bear in Alaska which hunts salmon in streams and other small animals on land,” he said.
• Lynn Rosentrater, climate scientist in the WWF International Arctic Programme, thinks that is unlikely to happen.
• Polar bears are currently found in Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland and Norway.
• Populations in southern limits such as Hudson Bay are at most risk of dying out.

DNA sequencing for eels

It should come as no surprise to anyone that research using animals has generated a wealth of knowledge used to better understand human biology and behavior and improve medical treatments. It may be shocking to learn that biologists are hoping electric eels will provide insight into the human nervous system.

This article on the journal Nature’s Web site explains why researchers are asking for the DNA of eels to be thoroughly sequenced by sequencers who have already completed similar studies on mice and chimps.

One of the things that sequencing the E. electricus genome could lead to, is advances in treatments for spinal injuries, the researchers say. The fish have developed an amazing ability to regenerate, possibly as a result of often having their tails bitten off by electro-sensing predatory catfish, says Albert.

“You can cut off the back third of the body and they will regenerate everything, including the spinal cord,” says Albert.

It will be interesting to see what is learned from this type of research using animals as models.