Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study
Abstract Behavioural contagion is a curious phenomenon of human social life which is believed to facilitate group living. It has also been demonstrated in animals that some behaviours may be contagious: how widespread this phenomenon is remains unclear, as only a few species have been tested. In thi...
Published in: | Behaviour |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Brill
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-00003530 https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/156/1/article-p59_3.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/beh/156/1/article-p59_3.xml |
id |
crbrillap:10.1163/1568539x-00003530 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crbrillap:10.1163/1568539x-00003530 2024-09-09T19:38:54+00:00 Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study Wojczulanis-Jakubas, K. Plenzler, J. Jakubas, D. 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-00003530 https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/156/1/article-p59_3.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/beh/156/1/article-p59_3.xml unknown Brill Behaviour volume 156, issue 1, page 59-77 ISSN 0005-7959 1568-539X journal-article 2019 crbrillap https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-00003530 2024-08-05T04:11:02Z Abstract Behavioural contagion is a curious phenomenon of human social life which is believed to facilitate group living. It has also been demonstrated in animals that some behaviours may be contagious: how widespread this phenomenon is remains unclear, as only a few species have been tested. In this context, we examined whether three behaviours commonly exhibited by moulting southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ): “sneezing”, scratching and yawning could be contagious. Using the randomization approach, we found this to be the case in general for all the behaviours, although the pattern was not that obvious or present at all for all the social groups. This indicates there is a potential for social contagion but the issue is complex. Despite limitations associated with observational study on small-size social groups, this is the first report of contagious behaviours in marine mammals and is to encourage further investigation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seal Southern Elephant Seals Brill Behaviour 156 1 59 77 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Brill |
op_collection_id |
crbrillap |
language |
unknown |
description |
Abstract Behavioural contagion is a curious phenomenon of human social life which is believed to facilitate group living. It has also been demonstrated in animals that some behaviours may be contagious: how widespread this phenomenon is remains unclear, as only a few species have been tested. In this context, we examined whether three behaviours commonly exhibited by moulting southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ): “sneezing”, scratching and yawning could be contagious. Using the randomization approach, we found this to be the case in general for all the behaviours, although the pattern was not that obvious or present at all for all the social groups. This indicates there is a potential for social contagion but the issue is complex. Despite limitations associated with observational study on small-size social groups, this is the first report of contagious behaviours in marine mammals and is to encourage further investigation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wojczulanis-Jakubas, K. Plenzler, J. Jakubas, D. |
spellingShingle |
Wojczulanis-Jakubas, K. Plenzler, J. Jakubas, D. Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study |
author_facet |
Wojczulanis-Jakubas, K. Plenzler, J. Jakubas, D. |
author_sort |
Wojczulanis-Jakubas, K. |
title |
Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study |
title_short |
Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study |
title_full |
Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study |
title_fullStr |
Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study |
title_sort |
indications of contagious behaviours in the southern elephant seal: an observational study |
publisher |
Brill |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-00003530 https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/156/1/article-p59_3.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/beh/156/1/article-p59_3.xml |
genre |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seal Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seal Southern Elephant Seals |
op_source |
Behaviour volume 156, issue 1, page 59-77 ISSN 0005-7959 1568-539X |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-00003530 |
container_title |
Behaviour |
container_volume |
156 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
59 |
op_container_end_page |
77 |
_version_ |
1809908063241502720 |