Ethologie

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2010/09/29/monkeys-in-the-mirror-and-the-nature-of-science/

Blogs / The Loom « Announcements, Announcements, cont’d.: An Evening of Creation The Vaccine Tree (Plus An Extended Deadline For The Science Ink Book) Science Tattoo » Monkeys in the mirror and the nature of science submit to reddit . . 2diggsdigg

Charles Darwin wondered if animals were aware of themselves. Allowed to visit a rare orangutan in the London Zoo, he brought a mirror and observed the ape apparently make faces at its own reflection. It’s hard to say for sure that the orangutan really was aware that its reflection was its own. Over a century later, a scientist named George Gallup turned Darwin’s idea into a more rigorous test. He would secretly put a mark on an animal’s forehead and see if it noticed the difference the next time it passed a mirror.

Human adults pass this test, but young children don’t, suggesting that our self-recognition takes time to develop. Some chimpanzees (our closest relatives) seem to pass this mirror test, but others fail it. Orangutans also show mixed results. Beyond the primates, studies have indicated that magpies, dolphins, and elephants pass the mirror test. In a new paper in PLOS One, Luis Populin of the University of Wisconsin publish what may be the first compelling evidence that monkeys pass the mirror test too.

Nikon’s Small World was founded in 1974 as a means to recognize excellence in photography through the microscope. The competition’s reputation has grown over the years and is regarded as the leading forum for recognizing beauty and complexity as seen through the microscope.

http://bioecologie.over-blog.com/article-nikon-s-small-world-la-photographie-microscopique-58985472.html

La Biodiversité, tout le monde en parle ! Mais qu'est-ce qui se cache exactement derrière ce terme ? Biodiversité d'ici et d'ailleurs, organisé par le Département de Biologie des Organismes de la Faculté des Sciences de l'ULB (DBO), vous invite à en savoir plus les jeudi 7, samedi 9 et dimanche 10 octobre au Jardin botanique Jean Massart.

Les fourmis envahissantes des îles Galapagos, les orchidées africaines, l'évaluation de la santé écologique d'un milieu aquatique et l'effet des engrais sur la biodiversité, seront quelques uns des sujets abordés au travers d'expositions, conférences ou observations binoculaires dans un cadre d'exception: le Jardin botanique et expérimental Jean Massart. Des visites guidées de ses collections botaniques seront également au programme. Téléchargez le pdf ci-dessous pour connaitre le programme détaillé de toutes les activités.

Toujours sur le thème, la Faculté des Sciences invite le 11 octobre à 19h à la salle Dupréel, le professeur Pierre-Henri Guyon à discuter de la biodiversité, des sciences et de la société. Où en est-on aujourd'hui avec la biodiversité et les biotechnologies?

ScienceBlogging – Join if you have original thoughts, insight, talent, and dedication to work

If you have original thoughts, insight, talent, and dedication to work then you will be best fit into the elite group of Science Bloggers.

ScienceBlogging is an experiment in science communication, and aimed to enable discussions and dialogues in much digital form. Here you will have freedom to write anything you want and show your creative instincts. We do not edit your work and we do not tell you what to write about. We only sensor adult and other prohibited content.

Come join this community! Send email to blogs at thesciencejobs . com along with your first blog writing in not less than 250 words. Selection will be based on merit.

Read more: http://www.thesciencejobs.com/jobs/biology/ecology/19102?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thesciencejobs%2Fnew+%28Jobs+and+Fellowships+in+all+branches+of+Science%29#ixzz11N7MO39F

Naturel brut , ça continue ! Le parcours artistique du WWF profite de la fête des jardins qui se déroulera les samedi 26 et dimanche 27 septembre dans tous les parcs de la capitale, pour lever le voile sur l’une de ses dernières installations : l’exposition photo des étudiants de GOBELINS , l’école de l’image. Rendez-vous dès samedi prochain et jusqu’au 31 octobre dans le Parc des Buttes-Chaumont pour tordre le cou aux idées reçues grâce à 15 clichés inédits sur la biodiversité.

La fête des jardins

Les jardins de Paris sont en fête le samedi 26 et le dimanche 27 septembre 2009.

Pour la 13e édition de la Fête des jardins, des animations gratuites sont organisées dans les 20 arrondissements de la capitale et cinq villes de la première couronne, durant tout le week-end. En effet, Puteaux, Montreuil-sous-bois, Aubervilliers, Saint- Mandé et Clichy-la-Garenne participent pour la première fois à la Fête des jardins et vous invitent à partir à la découverte du Grand Paris.

Un programme d’animations riche et varié vous attend au parc de Bercy et dans une centaine de jardins. De nombreuses activités ludiques, des jeux, des découvertes, des cours, des démonstrations, des promenades, ..., et sous le soleil !

Paris proposera aussi des démonstrations de bûcherons élagueurs dans les arbres (Bercy, Monceau, Montsouris, Buttes-Chaumont, école Du Breuil), des techniques de rempotage et des spectacles.

L’expo photo

Dans le cadre de son parcours artistique Naturel brut, le WWF-France a sollicité GOBELINS, l’école de l’image pour montrer la biodiversité autrement.

Donner de la visibilité à des artistes en herbe tout en les sensibilisant à la problématique de l’érosion de la biodiversité, telle était l’ambition de ce partenariat inédit.

Ce sont les étudiants en photographie (options prise de vue / post-production photographique) de la promotion 2011 qui ont répondu à l’appel. Après avoir été sensibilisés à la problématique de la disparition des espèces par l’équipe du WWF, ils ont reçu la consigne de traiter le sujet de façon personnelle en proposant un regard nouveau sur la biodiversité.

Leurs quinze photographies nous confrontent à nos propres contradictions, entre l’envie d’une cohabitation pacifique avec la nature et notre obstination à la maltraiter.

Évoquant tour à tour les relations ambigües que nous entretenons avec l’environnement, les services rendus par la nature et la biodiversité en péril, leurs images surprennent, amusent ou effraient et en tout cas, nous interpellent.

GOBELINS, l’école de l’image (www.gobelins.fr) - Acteur de référence dans les formations aux métiers de l’image, GOBELINS, l’école de l’image est l’une des 11 écoles de la Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Paris (CCIP). Elle accueille chaque année plus de 700 élèves et apprentis et 1 400 stagiaires en formation continue dans les domaines suivants : multimédia, cinéma d’animation, communication et industries graphiques, photographie, vidéo & son. 86 % des diplômés de l’école trouvent un emploi dans les 6 mois qui suivent leur remise de diplôme. L’activité formation continue de l’école est certifiée ISO 9001.

Plus d’infos sur www.naturel -brut .fr

Mathilde Valingot

Offre en ligne sur le site des Réseaux Tee

http://www.reseau-tee.net/eco-emploi/index.php?module=offre&action=detail_offre&langue=fr&idOffre=c363282eb7fb

From Sarah, by email Dear Carole, Please can you help me with an embarrassing problem which I can't seem to control that annoys my boyfriend (and my previous one too).

I'm in love with him, and he with me; we've been together for four years. But I talk more than him and can't seem to stop myself, especially when I'm excited or happy, when he's just trying to quietly enjoy the moment.

It doesn't help that he's Hungarian. I have learned a few basics of his native language, but am nowhere near fluent and can't hold a conversation in Hungarian.

Do you have any advice to help me control my talking when I'm excited or happy?

Carole replies: Evolutionary theorists have argued that the evolution of female sociability is linked to the development of the primate neocortex.1 This is the part of the brain responsible for language, sensory perception and self-awareness, among other cognitive abilities. (Neocortical abnormality is associated with autism and impaired communication skills.) The neocortex is proportionally larger in primates than in other mammals, larger in the apes than in monkeys and significantly bigger in humans.2

In addition, information transfer points between the brain's two hemispheres are larger in human females, thus facilitating rapid inter-hemispheric processing of linguistic and empathic information.3

It is thought that social evolution in primates has been female-driven and that females are selected for group co-operation.4 The idea is that those of our female primate ancestors who were communicative and co-operative breeders left behind higher numbers of descendants than those who did not communicate and co-operate.5

By around six months human infants start to babble and, depending on the sociability of the individual, this spontaneous chattiness may continue into adulthood. This is more likely to happen in females than males. Innate sex differences in brain architecture may give females the edge in social communication, though the difference is unrelated to measures of general social intelligence.

All of this research indicates that you, Sarah, and your ancestors have evolved to be chatty, babbling females. When primates become excited their vocalisations increase and you are no different. When you are in the company of like-minded female friends that isn't a problem. You can talk as much as you want, jump backwards and forwards between themes and sub-themes, and concurrently narrate multiple storylines. Your friends will happily reciprocate and no one will lose the plot.

But your hard-wired chattiness annoys the men in your life – men not hard-wired for empathic chattiness. You have reached a point now where you want to please your partner by controlling your spontaneous vocalisations. You are willing and perhaps able to adapt to his requirement for silence.

But here's your dilemma.

Many female primates only commune with males during sex, the rest of the time being spent in the company of females and infants. Males are often found sitting alone. By contrast, humans have developed a monogamous culture in which males and females spend social time together. Frequently men wish the females in their lives behaved more like males and women wish the men in their lives could get in touch with their feminine side.

Your personality type is most probably more socially flexible than your partner's, so it may be easier for you to quieten down than for your partner to reciprocate your need for constant chatter.

But at what cost? For an evolved, advanced social animal to deny this large part of herrself and metaphorically gag herself could lead to depression. Empathic humans have an innate requirement for companionship, shared experience and to listen and explore all points of view.6 It is a therapeutic necessity for babbling humans to be able to exchange chatter, and to analyse the crucial information held therein, rather than to experience emotional highs and lows in isolation.

As you are in love with your current boyfriend, however, you will not want to find a new, chattier male. Perhaps, instead, when you cannot be in the physical company of girlfriends you could simply phone or message them? That way you could continue to live out your excited, babbling happiness and your desire to share that happiness with others without irritating your partner.

You might also try purging your excited thoughts by writing them down.

Just don't forget that you have a duty to know your evolved self and keep yourself happy.

A childless female monkey has found a way to satiate her maternal drive adopt a baby from another species, zookeepers report today.

The mother, a golden-headed lion tamarin named Maternal Juanita, lives at the ZSL London Zoo. She took a liking to her neighbor's baby an emperor tamarin just weeks after it was born.

Now the surrogate mum can be seen jumping around zoo exhibits with the 2-month-old baby on her back. The emperor tamarin's grey body and white moustache stand out against its "mother's" fiery orange mane. The baby tamarin is already showing signs of an adult's signature white moustache. In fact, the animals are thought to have been named after the Emperor of Germany, Emperor Wilhelm II, due to their long, white moustaches.

"Juanita has never had a baby before so it seems like her mothering instinct has just kicked in this time around," said Lucy Hawley, a senior zookeeper at the zoo. "Who knows what animal she'll be carrying around next?"

Emperor tamarins, native to South America, are usually raised by their fathers who carry them until they are old enough to fend for themselves.

Despite the monkey mix-up, there does not seem to be any hard feelings between Juanita and her neighbor the biological parent of the emperor tamarin.

"At first the father of the emperor tamarin baby was a little nervous about Juanita but now they all seem to get along just fine," Hawley said.

It is second time that the ECCS challenge is taking place, so let us start a tradition! The objective of the ECCS Challenge is to be the most imaginative that you can, applying what ever knowledge you have in the field of complexity sciences, to tell us something insightful about the data we provide you. Be delighted in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of systems presented (compare RFC1392 :-)! What for?

Besides of all the fame the delighted winner obtains a free registration for the Vienna ECCS'11 conference plus travel support of up to 500€. What to do?

====================================================================

The challenge this year consists of three undirected real-world networks with more or less encrypted labels, but we do not tell you what they represent.

Here are some questions to inspire you:

   * What do the networks have in common?
   * Which natural grouping of nodes would you suggest and why?
   * What is your favorite representation for the three networks?
   * Which results do you obtain using your own complex system's
     toolbox?
   * As add-on: Can you give a nickname for each network?

But be aware that you might also be nominated for an antiECCSaward for the worst "ridiculogram" (how Mark Newman coins the indiscriminate use of obfuscating network diagrams).

We are really looking forward to your contributions. In case it is too easy for you, do not hesitate to ask for another two networks.

====================================================================

Download the Datasets at ECCS'10 Challenge page

http://eccs2010.eu/challenge

====================================================================

Enter the Challenge

To enter the challenge you need to be at ECCS'10 in September. Only attendants of the conference can enter (although not all team members need to be registered). During September submissions should be sent by email to challenge@eccs2010.eu

Your submission should consist of a 3 page document (PDF) with the description of your findings and also a PDF/powerpoint/keynote presentation (5 slides max) with your findings. You'll have to present your findings during the conference.

Please, don't submit early. Early submissions will be rejected. Submissions will be open from September 1 to September 15. Winners will be announced during the last day of the conference.

Good luck

                  -- The ECCS'10 Challenge Team

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-- http://cssociety.org/

July 12, 2010

by David Tenenbaum

Monkeys in enduring relationships show a surprising correspondence in their levels of oxytocin, a key behavioral hormone, according to research published online June 28 in the journal Hormones and Behavior.

While measuring oxytocin in the urine of 14 pairs of cotton-top tamarins, Charles Snowdon, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of psychology, observed a wide range of hormone levels.

But he also saw a striking correspondence among the couples: When one mate had a high level of oxytocin, so did the other, and vice versa.

Furthermore, partners with a high level of oxytocin performed correspondingly more cuddling, grooming and sex, while those with low levels of oxytocin spent less time on these relationship-building activities.

The hormone oxytocin was originally studied for its role during childbirth, when it helps cement the mother-child emotional attachment. More recently, it has been linked to many other attachments. "Only in the past 20 years have we started to think more broadly about oxytocin's social function in forming and maintaining long-term relationships," says Snowdon.

In monogamous mammal species, he says, "We see that oxytocin in parts of the brain in females leads to pair-bonding." An oxytocin nasal spray makes people more willing to trust strangers. Oxytocin rises after orgasm, massage and petting. "All this together suggests that oxytocin would play some role in creating strong pair bonds in these cotton-top tamarins, who are socially monogamous," says Snowdon, "and that the amount of cuddling, grooming, stroking and sex might be related directly to the oxytocin level."

In the new study, Snowdon, Toni Ziegler, a scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, and their collaborators measured urine samples for oxytocin and recorded behavioral activity three times a week for three weeks, and then noticed the surprising correspondence between both members of the pairs.

Predictably, the study showed that high oxytocin among females was associated with more cuddling and stroking, and that among males, the major element was the amount of sex.

Snowdon may have been the first to respond "Isn't that familiar!" to this part of the results: It doesn't take a high-tech lab to notice that women and men have different emotional and physical needs, and the monkeys seem to echo this need.

But he noticed something else: The high-oxytocin monkeys seem to know how to soothe their partners. In previous studies, after monkey pairs were mildly disturbed either by removing one animal for a half hour or by introducing the scent of another female, both partners increased cuddling and sex as though to mend the relationship.

In the current study, the partners seem to know what the other partner needed. "Males in a high-oxytocin relationship were more likely to initiate cuddling, and females were more likely to initiate sex," Snowdon says. "These males were initiating the behavior that the female needed for high oxytocin, and the females with high oxytocin were initiating the behavior that male partner needed for high oxytocin."

Snowdon says this "monkey version of 'kiss and make up' suggests that sex and affiliative behavior may play an important role in maintaining a relationship."

Stroking, sex and cuddling are critical parts of what it means to be a cotton-top tamarin, and to be human, Snowdon says. "Here we have a nonhuman primate model that has to solve the same problems that we do: to stay together and maintain a monogamous relationship, to rear children, and oxytocin may be a mechanism they use to maintain the relationship. Therapeutically, I'd suggest this would have relevance to human couples." Share this story: