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Lachrymal secretion in tenrecs: physiological, behavioral and phylogenetic contexts (Tenrecinae, Afrosoricida)
Bálek, Jiří ; Horáček, Ivan (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
The secretion of white liquid around the eyes and nose with a spiny tenrecs Echinops telfairi and Setifer setosus mentions for the first time Poduschka in 1974, but until now this phenomenon in these species no one paid any detail. Similar secretion was described in Mountain beaver or by shrews. The impetus for shedding the excitement caused by the presence of an individual female or another male or its odor. Males secretions also used for marking territory. A total of 70 samples of eye secretions from ten male Echinops telfairi during the entire active season (from March to October) have been collected within this study. For protein detection method was used two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE) and subsequent identification by mass spectrometry. An autopsy of the eye area was performed for representatives of all four genera of the subfamily Tenrecinae (Tenrec, Setifer, Echinops, Hemicentetes), died in Pilsen Zoo. It was found that a) species of pinholes that produce ocular secretions are significantly higher tear and Harder's gland, b) secretions contain lipocalins - proteins with the ability to transmit pheromones and other hydrophobic molecules, c) secretions of the orbital region having a different composition than the secretions from the nasal area (significantly lower protein...
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Antipredatory and exploratory behaviour as personality measure in Eublepharis macularius
Staňková, Jana ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
This thesis "Antipredatory and exploratory behavior as an expression of personality in Leopard (Eublepharis macularius)" focuses on behavior Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) in the exploratory and antipredation test. The aim is to determine whether some of the symptoms are characteristic of personality Leopard. The theoretical part will demonstrate the concept of personality. What are the terms for it to be about the phenomenon say that it is an expression of personality. We will deal with the various attempts used. The practical part will focus on the design of individual experiments and the results arising therefrom. Keywords: personality, repeatability, antipredator behavior, exploratory behavior
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Object permanence as a method to study higher cognitive functions of primates
Englerová, Kateřina ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence is a cognitive ability, which allows individual to realize the existence of an object even it is not directly accessible to its senses. This ability is essential for successful using of complex cognitive operations. Object permanence is qualitatively and gradually change throughout the development of a child. Congruently, it is not developed to the same level in various species of animals. The aim of this study is to study object permanence in naive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), because there is still some uncertainty about the development of this ability in macaques. Our results show that the naive subjects do not have the highest stage of object permanence (and they do not use representative strategy to solve the tasks), however, other results of our team suggest that more experienced individuals are able to achieve the highest stage under certain circumstances. We show that experimental design used to test object permanence can be modified and used also for studying of other cognitive abilities. We test the preferences of macaque monkeys toward novel non-food stimuli. The reactions of different species of animals can vary. The reactions depend on the type of stimuli (food or non-food), but also on the ecology and ethology of the species. Age, sex and personality of the...
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Magnetic field effects on exploration behaviour of rodents
Štefanská, Lucie ; Němec, Pavel (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Magnetoreception, i.e., the ability of animals to detect magnetic field parameters, has been described in a number of phylogeneticaly distant species, including mammals. Animals that regularly undertake long migrations, as well as non-migratory species, are able to make use of directional information derived from the Earth magnetic field. Recently, this ability has been documented in laboratory mice from the C57BL/6J strain, which were used as the model organism also in our study. The aim of this thesis was to analyze the locomotory activity and behavioral parameters in mice exposed to various experimentally manipulated magnetic fields in an open field test (OFT). Overall, the effect of experimental magnetic fields on activity level and behaviors of C57BL/6J mice during OFT exploration was rather weak. Nevertheless, a detailed analysis revealed that magnetic fields influenced the angular velocity of mice in the first 20 minutes of the OFT and the following behaviors: grooming, digging, and nose-to-wall contacts. Different parameters of magnetic fields affected different behaviours in a specific manner. Changes of behavior in time were most visibly affected. These results remain open to interpretation, however, it seems that the experimentally manipulated magnetic fields might represent stimulus...
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Sexual size dimorphism and related phenomena in ungulates
Polák, Jakub ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Remeš, Vladimír (referee) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) defined by differences in body size of a conspecific male and female are widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom and ungulates belong among the most dimorphic mammals. In most species males are the larger sex which is often explained by differing sex-specific reproductive roles. While parental investment is predominantly left to females which are the selective sex, males have to fight for access to receptive mates in intensive combats where body size, strength, and condition are often critical. The relationship between male body size and reproductive success varies according to a mating system with the highest SSD being achieved by harem and promiscuous species. Even though several compilation studies of SSD have been done on ungulates it is rare that systematic research is closely concentrated on a well-defined specialised homogenous group where detailed knowledge on its life-history traits is also available. I have focused on subfamily Caprinae and Bovinae with the objective to conduct a detailed analysis of their SSD and its evolutionary traits. Using advanced phylogenetic methods I could reconstruct the ancestral state in wild goats and sheep that was characterised by medium SSD which then took two different routes of evolution depending on a type of habitat and...
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Signs and causes of stereotypy, stress and depression in animals
Hášová, Tereza ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
The chronic stress is caused by different, longer period of time acting stressors, such as sub-optimal living conditions, social stress or long-term changes of abiotic factors. Abnormal behavior during stereotyping and depression is caused by chronic stress, genetic factors and personality of the animal. Proactive animal is coping with stress by repetitive activity. In contrast, an animals depression is suspended by reactive personality and shows lack of interest and apathy to the stimulus. In animals in captivity after prolonged exposure to stress there are different types of stereotypic behavior depending on their natural way of life and their main activities. The effect on abnormal behavior has ontogenesis (including genetic factors, prenatal stress and the impact of personality) and early life experiences. Key words: Stress, stereotypy, depression, coping, proactive personality, reactive personality
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A test of "object permanence" in Paridae and effect of neophobia and individual explorative strategies on success in solving object permanence tasks
Marhounová, Lucie ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence (OP) is a cognitive ability that enables animals to mentally represent the existence of hidden objects even if they can not be perceived by senses. In humans, OP develops during six qualitative stages, in which the understanding of relationships between objects in space and time changes. Current research shows that primates, some carnivores and several species of birds also acquire various degrees of this ability depending on their social life and foraging strategies. Many studies of OP have focused on food-storing birds but yet only in the Corvidae family. Therefore we decided to test this ability in two species of the Paridae family, food-storing coal tit (Periparus ater, N=23) and non-storing great tit (Parus major, N=24) to find out which stage they can achieve and whether there is a difference between these species in relation to their caching ability. Our results suggest that food-storing coal tits search for completely hidden objects significantly better than great tits. Most of the great tits were not able to solve this task. However, the upper limit for both species is probably Stage 4 because coal tits probably solved OP tasks with more screens randomly or used alternative strategies rather than mental representation. Substantial interindividual variability in the...
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Analysis of factors affecting human preferences and thus effort given to the conservation of animal species
Lišková, Silvie ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Komárek, Stanislav (referee) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Recently, it was reported that humans treat animals that they perceive as aesthetically attractive unequally to the "ugly" ones, turning more attention to them and setting more conservation programs for their protection. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the issue focusing around animal beauty in more detail by examining human preferences towards one of the most popular animal taxon, the birds. In three subsequent studies, we assessed human preferences towards selected bird species: all members of the order of parrots, randomly selected representatives of all non- passerine bird families, and all members of the vividly colored passerine family Pittidae. The first study revealed that the preferred parrots were kept in zoos in higher numbers, regardless of their conservation priority (IUCN status). We discussed possible consequences of this finding and the benefits that may arise in the light of animal conservation if this bias in species preferences was to be considered by conservation specialists. We also found that people preferred long-tailed parrots possessing blue and yellow colors over green ones, which were probably perceived as dull and uninteresting as the majority of the parrots are fully or partially green. In the next two studies, we found that shape, pattern, and overall...
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Personality and cognition in great tit (Parus major)
Šimánková, Hana ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Success of an individual in various cognitive tasks can be influenced by many factors. Among the significant ones, that were studied in relationship with cognitive abilities, are animal personality and age. Great tit personality types are evaluated from explorative behavior and reaction towards novel object. We recognize Fast explorers, which are more active but superficial explorers, and Slow explorers, which are cautious, slower but thorough. Fast individuals manipulate sooner with a new food and non food objects. Slow individuals return later to offered food after being disrupted and they have higher breath rate. Some studies have revealed that Fast and Slow personalities differed in their cognitive abilities, for example in spatial tasks, in associative learning, in discrimination tasks or memory tasks, but many of them focus on only one type of task. In order to test both personalities thoroughly we tried to select types of tasks that focused on various abilities - two diverse types of extractive tasks, positive and aversive discrimination task and avoidance learning with firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus) in young naïve birds. Birds were tested in three age categories: young naïve hand reared birds, one year olds and two years and older birds. Fast and Slow individuals differed in aversive...
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Human preferences to primate species and their consequences
Zelenková, Michaela ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
One of the most important traits of an individual is the appearance. Though mankind desires to unlock the "beauty code" for centuries, it is very difficult to do so. A lot of papers focuses on the characterization of appearance and preferences towards it. It is now obvious that instead of using just one factor to describe the nature of "beauty", we need to comprehend a lot of factors that put together the puzzle pieces of an attractive individual. Nowadays, a widely accepted fact is that symmetry makes facial and other body features attractive. Other important factors are averageness or so-called baby schema with distinct young features. Similar rules apply for evaluation of preferences towards other, non-human species, especially primates. The most attractive primates have facial features that resemble humans or that are round with big, distinctive eyes (baby-schema). Thus, for humans, the most attractive primates are the ones that are similar to us and that are large in body size, while the unattractive ones have an appearance distinctive to humans. Moreover, humans distinguish two main primate faces: nice and friendly, baby-like faces, and aggressive, dangerous faces.
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