We have previously reported that sound sequence discrimination learning requires cholinergic inputs to the auditory cortex (AC) in rats. In that study, reward was used for motivating discrimination behavior in rats. Therefore, dopaminergic inputs mediating reward signals may have an important role in the learning. We tested the possibility in the…

Zoos and aquariums have shifted their focus over recent years, taking a much more active role in wildlife conservation and in promoting conservation learning among their visitors. Research in these settings provides a valuable foundation for the emerging field of non-captive wildlife tourism. In particular, valuable lessons regarding the potential…

Reports on research related to the theory that the nervous systems, and hence the behavior, of animals may be permanently modified during initial periods of early life in response to environmental stimuli. (GS)

Presents models that ascribe social behavior, such as altruism and parental sacrifices for the young, to a kind of genetic imperative wherein individuals maximize their genetic contribution to the next generation. (GS)

Cherokee Indian children were named after those animals they had most frequently killed until a chief dreamed that children's names should be derived from the first animal seen at dawn. (JC)

Presented are descriptions of and information about various endangered species in Wisconsin. They include: the timber wolf (Canis lupus lycaon); Forester's tern (Sterna forsteri); the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis); Higgins' eye pearly mussel (Lampsilis higginsii); the piping plover (Charadrius melodus); the osprey (Pandion haliaetus); the…

This paper outlines research designed to establish dietary correlates of malnutrition, and questions the common assumption that high protein foods should be used as dietary supplements in humans. Because thorough investigation of dietary needs in children is ethically unfeasible, squirrel monkeys were used in the research to study the biological…

The fates of phrenology and evolutionary theory in the 19th Century are studied in order to assess the current status of sociobiology and predict its future. (Author/AM)

Seven rhesus monkeys reared on diets high in phenylalanine to induce phenylketonuria (PKU--a metabolic disorder associated with mental retardation if untreated) were compared with normal, pair-fed, and younger controls; frontal brain-lesioned monkeys; and those raised on high-tryptophan diets in three object discrimination tasks. (Author)

Evidence is found against a learning or instrumental model of aggression production, and a novel theory is advanced suggesting that infants are genetically predisposed to acquire specific behavioral characteristics shown by the mother. (Author/JMB)

Examined the development of pattern recognition in infant pigtailed macaques using the familiarization novelty technique. Results indicate that by at least 200 days postconception subjects show a consistently reliable visual response to novelty. (Author/RH)

Discusses the optics of fly fishing, considering where to cast the fly once a fish is seen. Also considers what the fisherman looks like to the fish, examining refraction at a water surface, actual and apparent light rays, and how sticks in the water might look to a fish. (JN)

Three groups of macaque mother/infant dyads were observed while each lived in ecological settings that differed in level of foraging demand and, hence, the amount of work each mother was required to perform to obtain her daily rations. Findings suggest that in monkeys, as in humans, when mothers are psychologically unavailable to their infants,…

Argues that common anatomical and functional characteristics exist among the brains of reptiles, mammals, and man--the most significant commonality for educators being social behavior. Illustrates inherited behavior, including behavior observed in classroom and believed to be learned by placing it in context of a model "triune"…

Social and nonsocial behaviors of infant rhesus (macaca mulatta) and pigtail (M. nemestrina) monkeys reared in total social isolation were compared with those of socialized controls. Results question the generality of rhesus total isolate behavior as a model for some human problems. (Author/SB)