ABSTRACT
Flexible targeted helping is considered an advanced form of prosocial behavior in hominoids, as it requires the actor to assess different situations that a conspecific may be in, and to subsequently flexibly satisfy different needs of that partner depending on the nature of those situations. So far, apart from humans such behaviour has only been experimentally shown in chimpanzees and in Eurasian jays. Recent studies highlight the prosocial tendencies of several bird species, yet flexible targeted helping remained untested, largely due to methodological issues as such tasks are generally designed around tool-use, and very few bird species are capable of tool-use. Here, we tested Goffin's cockatoos, which proved to be skilled tool innovators in captivity, in a tool transfer task in which an actor had access to four different objects/tools and a partner to one of two different apparatuses that each required one of these tools to retrieve a reward. As expected from this species, we recorded playful object transfers across all conditions. Yet, importantly and similar to apes, three out of eight birds transferred the correct tool more often in the test condition than in a condition that also featured an apparatus but no partner. Furthermore, one of these birds transferred that correct tool first more often before transferring any other object in the test condition than in the no-partner condition, while the other two cockatoos were marginally non-significantly more likely to do so. Additionally, there was no difference in the likelihood of the correct tool being transferred first for either of the two apparatuses, suggesting that these birds flexibly adjusted what to transfer based on their partner´s need. Future studies should focus on explanations for the intra-specific variation of this behaviour, and should test other parrots and other large-brained birds to see how this can be generalized across the class and to investigate the evolutionary history of this trait.
Subject(s)
Cockatoos/physiology , Creativity , Learning/physiology , Reward , Animals , Female , MaleABSTRACT
We present first results on a newly built broadband emission spectrometer for the laboratory making use of a double sideband (DSB) heterodyne receiver. The new spectrometer is perfectly suited for high-resolution emission spectroscopy of molecules of astrophysical importance. The current SIS receiver operates at RF frequencies between 270 and 390 GHz, coincident with Band 7 of the ALMA telescope. The instantaneous bandwidth is 5 GHz (DSB). In this work the full spectrometer and its components are described. Its performance, in particular its sensitivity, stability, reproducibility and systematic errors, is characterized in detail. For this purpose very broad band emission spectra of methyl cyanide have been recorded and compared to theoretical spectra. Isotopic variants are found in natural abundance and features attributed to vibrationally excited species are all recorded in the same spectrum. The performance of the new spectrometer is compared extensively to that of a traditional FM-absorption spectrometer and to recent versions of chirped-pulse spectrometers operated in the mm-wave regime. Further applications and future advancements of the current instrument are discussed.
ABSTRACT
Males and females have different sexual interests and subsequently may show conflicting sexual strategies. While dominant males try to monopolize females, promiscuity benefits females and subordinate males. One way to escape monopolization by dominant males is to copulate in their absence. We tested this inhibitory effect of males on the sexual behavior of their group members in captive group-living Rhesus macaques. Copulations between females and nonalpha males almost exclusively took place when the alpha male was out of sight. Furthermore, the inhibiting effect was not unique for the alpha male. An upcoming nonalpha male also inhibited copulations of its group members, and three other nonalpha males inhibited female copulation solicitations. Females adjusted their behavior to the presence of bystander males, as they initiated and accepted initiations more often in absence than in presence of bystander males. Although not significant, in males, a similar pattern was found. The observed reduction in mating behavior in presence of bystander males is in accordance with an "audience effect," in which the behavior is modulated in relation to the presence or absence of third parties. This audience effect may serve as an important mechanism to reduce (aggressive) interruptions of subordinate male copulations.
Subject(s)
Macaca mulatta/psychology , Sexual Behavior, Animal , Social Behavior , Animals , Female , MaleABSTRACT
An attractive target for anti-herpes chemotherapy is the herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) protease encoded by the UL26 gene. Studies with HSV-1 strains that harbour mutations in the protease gene have demonstrated that the protease is essential for DNA packaging and virus maturation. The UL26 translation product is 635 amino acids long and undergoes autoproteolytic processing between residues Ala247/Ser248 and Ala610/Ser611. The N-terminal processing product (amino acids 1-247) contains the protease domain. To perform crystallization studies and high throughput screening for potent inhibitors, large amounts of the HSV-1 protease are required. However, expression of the natural HSV-1 protease gene in Escherichia coli using a T7-promoter-regulated system is low and does not allow for the efficient production of larger amounts of highly purified enzyme. In this report, we describe the use of a synthetic protease gene with optimized E. coli codon usage. The level of protease expression was at least 20 times higher with the synthetic gene as compared to the natural UL26 gene. The HSV-1 protease was purified to homogeneity in three steps using mixed-bed ion-exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, and hydroxyapatite chromatography.
