Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-01T17:55:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-10-09. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2016-04-01T18:01:21Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000860262.pdf: 3299937 bytes, checksum: 8f3a4c3e57107383ddd3a914ffc05456 (MD5) / Objetivou-se descrever a morfologia da coxa e do braço da paca (Cuniculus paca, Linaeus 1766), por meio de metodologia anatômica e imagenológica para determinação do acesso cirúrgico dos ossos dessas regiões. Foram utilizados 15 Cuniculus paca adultas, machos e fêmeas, pesando entre cinco e 10kg do plantel de pacas do setor de Animais Silvestres da FCAV, Unesp, Jaboticabal-SP. Cinco animais foram fixados em solução de formaldeído a 10% e armazenados em solução salina de NaCl a 30% para dissecação anatômica da região do braço e da coxa, cinco foram injetados com látex corado para identificação do suprimento arterial dos membros e os outros cinco animais foram congelados para as análises radiografias, tomográficas e de ressonância magnética para fazer a comparação com as peças anatômicas. Os resultados foram fotodocumentados e determinou-se o melhor acesso cirúrgico para o fêmur e úmero da paca. A anatomia dos membros torácicos e pélvicos da paca é semelhante aos quadrupedes domésticos, especialmente o cão, e aos roedores utilizados em experimentação como rato e cobaia, o que reforça a possível utilização da paca como modelo experimental animal. Pôde-se concluir também que o estudo imagenológico por meio de radiografia, tomografia computadorizada e ressonância magnética é método confiável para descrição anatômica dos membros de animais silvestres que possuem morfologia pouco conhecida. Por fim, pôde-se determinar o melhor acesso cirúrgico para o úmero e fêmur da paca, sendo medialmente no úmero e craniolateralmente no fêmur / The objective was to describe the morphology of the thigh and arm of paca (Cuniculus paca, Linanaeus 1766), by anatomical and imaging methodology for determining the surgical diaphyseal approach of the bones of those regions. We used 15 adult Cuniculus paca, males and females, weighing between five and 10kg of the Wild Animal sector FCAV, Unesp, Jaboticabal-SP. Five animals were fixed in formaldehyde solution 10% and stored in saline solution NaCl 30% for anatomic dissection of the arm and the thigh regions, five pacas were injected with colored latex to identify the arterial supply of the limbs and the other five animals were frozen for rays-X, CT and MRI analysis to perform the comparison with the anatomical parts. The results were photodocumented and it was determined the best surgical approach to the femur and humerus of paca. The anatomy of the thoracic and pelvic limbs of paca is similar to domestic quadrupeds, especially the dog and rodents used in experimentation as mouse and guinea pig, which enhances the possible use of paca as experimental animal. It might also conclude that the imaging study by means of radiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging is reliable method for anatomical description of the wild animal limbs which have little known morphology. Finally, it was possible to determine the best surgical approach to the humerus and femur of paca, being medially to the humerus and craniolaterally to the femur

Orientador: Raimundo Souza Lopes / Banca: Regina Kiomi Takahira / Banca: Nádia Regina Pereira Almosny / Resumo: O jabuti piranga (Chelonoidis carbonaria) é uma espécie de quelônio bastante frequente em zoológicos e centros de triagem brasileiros e cujos exemplares podem ser encontrados em vários locais do Brasil. O objetivo deste trabalho consistiu em estudar as variações ambientais e sazonais que interferem na hematologia e nos exames bioquímicos de um grupo de C. carbonaria mantidos em um ambiente não controlado. Foram coletadas amostras de 30 animais, clinicamente saudáveis e na idade adulta; realizaram-se coletas mensais de sangue total e plasma durante o período de doze meses. O hemograma completo foi realizado em todas as amostras de sangue com heparina, enquanto no plasma heparinizado foram aferidos: proteína plasmática Total (PPT), ureia, ácido úrico (Ac. Úrico), alanina aminotransferase (ALT); aspartato aminotransferase (AST), glicose, colesterol total, triglicerídeos, creatina quinase (CK) fosfatase alcalina (FA),cálcio e fósforo. Os principais resultados médios gerais foram: Eritrócitos: 0,522 x 106 cel/µL; Hb: 6,13 g/dL; VG: 25,37%; Leucócitos totais: 8697,67 cel/µL; Trombócitos: 9007,54 cel/µL; PPT:4,35 g/dL; Ureia: 24,33 mg/dL; Ac. Úrico:1,66 mg/dL; ALT: 12,46 UI/L; AST: 209,52 UI/L; Glicose: 72,16 mg/dL; Colesterol: 221,37 mg/dL; Triglicerideos:367,76 mg/dL; CK: 903,94 UI/L; FA: 53,57 mg/dL; Cálcio: 13,15 mg/dL Fósforo:4,83 mg/dL. Os jabutis apresentaram uma diminuição do consumo de alimento e da atividade metabólica durante o outono evidenciado pelos resultados baixos d... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The Red Footed Tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaria) is quite common chelonian in zoos and wildlife centers with wide distribution over Brazil; this is one of the main reptilian species seen by wild animals veterinarians. This project focused on how environmental and gender variations interfere on hematology and biochemical tests of a C. carbonaria group kept in an uncontrolled environment. Thirty adult and clinically healthy animals were selected to monthly blood collection during twelve months. Complete blood count was performed in all blood samples; total plasma protein(TPP), urea, uric acid, aspartate alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aminotransferase (AST), glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, creatine kinase(CK), alkaline phosphatase(FA), calcium and phosphorus were analyzed in heparinized plasma samples. The principals médian results were: RBC: 0,522 x 106 cel/µL; HGB: 6,13 g/dL; PCV: 25,37%; WBC: 8697,67 cel/µL; Thrombocytes: 9007,54 cel/µL; TPP:4,35 g/dL; Urea: 24,33 mg/dL; Uric Acid .:1,66 mg/dL; ALT: 12,46 UI/L; AST: 209,52 UI/L; Glucose: 72,16 mg/dL; Total Cholesterol: 221,37 mg/dL; Triglycerides:367,76 mg/dL; CK: 903,94 UI/L; FA: 53,57 mg/dL; Calcium: 13,15 mg/dL;Phosporus:4,83 mg/dL. The tortoises showed a decrease in food intake and metabolic activity during the fall evidenced by the low values of RBC, HGB, PCV, TPP and glucose. Females during the spring and summer had higher values of RBC, HGB PCV and triglycerides and lower glucose. Showing that seasonal e sexual variations occurred on the analyzed parameters... (Complete abstract electronic access below) / Mestre

The risk of death by predation has been a major driver of group living in many prey animals. Animals must adapt to temporal and spatial variation in predation risk and would benefit from using relevant and reliable sources of information both from conspecifics and heterospecifics to better learn about danger. Research on the effects of group living on antipredator strategy has focused largely on group size. However, sociality is often more complex than simple amalgamations of individuals. Those living in groups are likely exposed to unequal levels of predation risk; some are exposed to more danger than others because of factors related to their age, sex, and spatial or social positioning. An individual’s antipredator strategy should reflect its perceived safety levels. I studied antipredator strategies in blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni) in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya. Blue monkeys are arboreal guenons that live in matrilineally-based social groups and form differentiated social relationships. These social relationships could affect how monkeys respond to variable predation risk. Blue monkeys live in dense, biodiverse rain forests and are preyed upon by both aerial and terrestrial predators. They have a well-developed acoustic communication repertoire and have been known to associate with other primates to reduce predation risk (Cords 1987). I conducted five playback experiments and two sets of observational studies, and used data gathered on social interactions among adult females to further our understanding of how group living affects antipredator strategies. I also used 14 years of social interaction data to explore the heritability of social tendencies. In the first chapter, I present a comprehensive literature review of the connections between group living and antipredator behavior. I describe the effects of group size on antipredator behavior and how research on sociality has shifted towards focusing on individuals’ specific relationships and social connectivity. I then describe several ways in which social connectivity has been shown to influence antipredator behavior. I conclude with future directions and then introduce the dissertation. In the second chapter, I focus on heterospecific eavesdropping. I identified the extent to which blue monkey adult females respond to playbacks of alarm and social calls of two syntopic non-predatory bird species—black-faced rufous warblers (Bathmocercus rufus) and joyful greenbuls (Chlorocichla laetissima). Blue monkeys responded differentially depending on both call type and species. I then evaluated differential responses to conspecific and heterospecific callers, hypothesizing that conspecific signals would trigger stronger anti-predator responses because conspecifics are more relevant signals of risk. I conducted a playback experiment in which adult females were presented simultaneously with one alarm or social call from both conspecifics and warblers (4 combinations of alarm and social calls), or ambient rain forest sound (control). Subjects did not differentiate their responses to simultaneous calls according to the type of playback stimulus. These findings suggest that blue monkeys do not differentiate their responses to alarm calls according to caller relevance. Heterogeneous results among different response variables also highlight the importance of examining multiple modes of antipredator behavior. Next, I examine how an individual’s social connectivity influences its antipredator strategy, hypothesizing that more socially connected individuals would benefit from the proximity of more and closely bonded groupmates in enhancing predator avoidance. In Chapter 3, I evaluate the effects of social connectivity on acute antipredator responses, antipredator vigilance, and responses to signals related to various levels of predator-related threat. I first assessed how social connectivity affects the rate at which adult females exhibit acute antipredator responses (such as diving down in trees, climbing up trees, or alarm calling) and the proportion of responses that are major (lasting >30 s), statistically controlling for age, the presence of an infant, and 2-month “seasons”. I predicted that more socially connected individuals would exhibit less frequent acute antipredator responses because they would be better-informed about risk and therefore would exhibit fewer false alarms. I For the same reasons, I also predicted that they would exhibit more major (vs. minor) responses because false alarms are more likely to involve shorter responses (Cords 1987). Contrary to predictions, however, more closely connected individuals exhibited higher rates of acute antipredator responses, which might reflect their enhanced ability to learn about danger from surrounding groupmates, allowing them to detect more potential threats. There was no evidence that social connectivity was associated with the proportion of responses that lasted >30 s. I also found that the rate of acute antipredator responses and the proportion of responses that lasted >30 s varied with season. I then conducted 90-s focal vigilance follows, to assess how long females exhibit antipredator vigilance after controlling for other social and microhabitat factors (e.g., surrounding vegetation density), which can influence conspecific monitoring and exposure to potential predators. I predicted that more well-connected individuals would exhibit lower levels of antipredator vigilance in the absence of any imminent threats and after controlling for other social and spatial factors. More closely connected individuals who were in the spatial center of their social group did spend less time vigilant, but social connectivity was not associated with vigilance times when subjects were at the group’s edge, where exposure to predators and thus predation risk should be highest and antipredator vigilance should generally be higher. In the spatial center of the group, more closely connected individuals should be in a better position to observe their social partners’ antipredator behavior. Microhabitat also influenced antipredator vigilance in multiple ways, which highlights the spatial variation of perceived predation risk in a complex environment. Lastly, I conducted a playback experiment where I examined responses to signals from conspecifics and heterospecifics that are associated with different levels of threat. I predicted that more poorly connected individuals would respond strongly to all signals that might be associated with predators because they must identify personally whether danger is real, whereas more well-connected individuals would have more differentiated responses because they should be near social partners more frequently and can rely on their partners’ antipredator reactions to assess risk levels. However, although subjects did respond more to direct cues of the predator’s presence (its own calls) than to indirect cues of its presence (alarm calls by conspecifics and heterospecifics), there was no evidence that social connectivity affected responses to playbacks. As expected, stimulus type did affect responses—calls from predators (vs. alarm calls or social calls from non-predators) elicited increased looking responses from subjects, which suggests that stimuli that directly signal predator presence will elicit antipredator behavior regardless of the listener’s social connectivity. Overall, social connectivity seems to play a limited role in blue monkeys’ antipredator strategy but there was some evidence that more well-connected individuals were less vigilant when surrounded by groupmates. The ability to distinguish alarm calls by individual callers has not been well-studied, but animals might benefit from making such distinctions if callers vary in how reliably they signal danger. For decades, researchers have tested whether animals can discriminate callers using the habituation-dishabituation paradigm. After habituating subjects by repeatedly presenting calls of one individual, A, they examine whether subjects dishabituate when they hear the calls of a different individual, B (test stimulus). In Chapter 4, I first review studies that used this paradigm to evaluate whether animals discriminate between conspecific callers and then report on two playback experiments which tested whether wild blue monkeys are capable of such discrimination. My review revealed much methodological variation, particularly in the habituation phase and criteria, statistical analysis, and controls. In experiments, I contrasted two methods of habituation, either presenting a fixed number of stimuli (set after pilot observations) or evaluating responses during the series before progressing to the test. Afterwards, I conducted Wilcoxon signed-rank tests to assess habituation statistically. In the first experiment where I played back a fixed number and rate of calls, it was statistically unclear whether subjects habituated to caller A, despite preliminary observations and similar studies that suggested that the experimental design would be appropriate. Because there was not strong evidence that subjects habituated, I did not evaluate statistically whether subjects differentiated between callers in the full dataset. However, in the second experiment where I assessed habituation during the trial, subjects did habituate to caller A and there was weak support that they dishabituated to caller B, which suggests that caller discrimination may occur. From my experiences, I propose an improved design for studies using the habituation-dishabituation paradigm. Lastly, I explore the mechanisms that drive phenotypic variation in social tendencies (and in turn, social connectivity) in adult females. For natural selection to occur, there must be variation in traits, differentiated fitness benefits based on phenotypes, and heredity or a genetic basis underlying phenotypic variation. The previous chapters highlight the variation in and some of the benefits of social connectivity. In Chapter 5, I conducted an exploratory analysis to examine what factors account for phenotypic variance. Using animal models, I found that both environmental and additive genetic variance accounted for some of the phenotypic variance seen in traits associated with social tendencies (using social connectivity as a proxy). Variance in the social environment (i.e., environmental variance) played a large role in shaping observed phenotypic variation in social connectivity. However, all six of the social network measures examined were weakly heritable, which suggests that there is also a genetic basis for behavioral variation, allowing selection to occur. This dissertation emphasizes the importance of examining both antipredator behavior and sociality using multiple experiments, observations, and measures, while also considering the importance of study species and habitat complexity. The relationship between antipredator behavior and social connectivity is not straightforward and can vary greatly between study systems. Although many of my predictions were not supported, I did find evidence that blue monkeys are receptive to heterospecifics, vary their acute antipredator responses and vigilance based on social relationships with conspecifics, adjust their antipredator vigilance according to spatial positioning, and potentially discriminate between alarm callers. The findings presented here expand our knowledge of how animals learn about predation risk by being attentive to conspecifics and heterospecifics.

Forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) sociality is relatively little-studied due to the difficulties of making direct observations in rainforests. In Central Africa elephants aggregate at large natural forest clearings known as bais, which have been postulated to offer social benefits in addition to nutritional resources. This thesis explores the role of these clearings as social arenas by examining bai use within three main themes; ecology, sociality and risk factors. Seasonal changes in elephant use of the Maya Nord bai (Republic of Congo) are described, along with the demography of the visiting population. Elephant visit rate was highly variable; the number of elephants using Maya Nord in an observation day ranged from 0 to 117 animals. This variability was unrelated to local resource availability and productivity suggesting that bai use occurs year round. Elephants in Odzala-Kokoua do not show high fidelity to a single clearing; 454 elephants were individually identified and re-sighted an average of 1.76 times (range 1-10) during the twelve month study period. Previous bai studies have yet to quantify how elephants associate with one another within the bai area. This study examines socio-spatial organisation and associate choice using two measures of association within the 0.23 km2 bai area; aggregations (all elephants present in the clearing) and parties (elephants spatially co-ordinated in activity and movement) and distinguishes these from parties that range together (i.e. arrive and leave together). Social network analyses (SocProg) were used to describe inter- and intra-sexual multi-level organisation in the bai environment, and to illustrate the non-random nature of elephant aggregations and parties. Bais were shown to function as social arenas; female elephants showed active choice of certain associates and active avoidance of others when creating parties, whereas males were less discriminatory. Parties formed in the clearing (mean size= 3.93, SE= 0.186) were larger than ranging parties (mean size= 2.71, SE= 0.084) and elephants stayed for 50% longer in the clearing when they associated with individuals from outside their ranging party. Inter- and intra-sexual relationships were maintained within the clearing, and these are suggested to offer elephants essential opportunities for social learning. The patterning and nature of the relationships observed at the Maya Nord clearing indicates that forest elephants use a fission-fusion social structure similar to that of savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana africana); relationships are significantly structured by age- and sex- and underpinned by individual identity. Old experienced females hold key roles for forest elephants, and male relationships are superimposed on the network of female associations. Odzala-Kokoua elephants use bais to maintain their social relationships despite being highly sensitive to the anthropogenic risks involved in using these open areas. The results of this study suggest that forest and savannah elephants lie on the same social continuum, balancing social “pulls” to aggregate against the ecological “pushes” that force groups to fission. Previous models of savannah elephant sociality construct levels of association and social complexity upwards from the basic mother-calf unit (e.g. Wittemyer & Getz 2007). My results suggest that it may be more appropriate to consider elephant sociality and associations as in dynamic equilibrium between social and ecological influences acting at all levels of grouping, and to explicitly test how these underlie the opportunity costs that elephants are willing to pay in order to maintain social groupings.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Melbourne, 1978. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-279).