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Recently, most non-human theory of mind research has focused on monkeys and great apes, who are of most interest in the study of the evolution of human social cognition. Research can be categorized in to three subsections of theory of mind: attribution of intentions, attribution of knowledge (and perception), and attribution of belief.
Many forms of developmental learning have a critical period, for instance, for imprinting among geese and language acquisition among humans. In such cases, genes determine the timing of the environmental impact. A related concept is labeled "biased learning" (Alcock 2001:101–103) and "prepared learning" (Wilson, 1998:86–87).
Social learning refers to learning that is facilitated by observation of, or interaction with, another animal or its products. [1] Social learning has been observed in a variety of animal taxa , [ 2 ] [ 3 ] such as insects , [ 4 ] fish , [ 5 ] birds , [ 6 ] reptiles , amphibians [ 7 ] and mammals (including primates [ 8 ] ).
The Shetland Pony is a very small, robust breed of pony. Shetlands range in size from about 710 to 1070 mm, with an official maximum height at the withers (1200 mm for American Shetlands). Shetland Ponies have heavy coats and short legs, and are considered quite intelligent. They are a very strong breed, used for riding, driving, and pack purposes.
Animal ability to process and respond to stimuli is correlated with brain size. Small-brain animals tend to show simple behaviors that are less dependent on learning than those of large-brained animals. Vertebrates, particularly mammals, have larger brains and complex behavior that changes with experience.
The Shetland Pony Stud-Book Society is the breed society for the traditional Shetland throughout the world. [7] It was started in 1890 to maintain purity and encourage high-quality animals. [citation needed] In 1957, the Shetland Islands Premium Stallion Scheme was formed to subsidise high-quality registered stallions to improve the breeding stock.
Evidence for animal culture is often based on studies of feeding behaviors, [8] vocalizations, [4] predator avoidance, [9] mate selection, [10] and migratory routes. [11] An important area of study for animal culture is vocal learning, the ability to make new sounds through imitation. [4] Most species cannot learn to imitate sounds.
With animal training it is often questioned if the training and shaping is the cause of a behaviour exhibited by an animal (nurture), or if the behaviour is actually innate to the species (nature). [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Instinctive drift centers around the nature of behaviour more so than learning being the sole cause of a behaviour.