The Social Behavior of Highly Cognitive Animals: Examples from Crows,
Monkeys, and Orca Whales

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

James Ha PhD

Centralia College, Lyceum Series

http://www.centralia.edu/news/lyceum.html

Abstract: In this talk, Dr. Jim Ha provides an overview of his work on the social
behavior of several highly cognitive species, including pigtail macaque
monkeys, northwestern crows, and near-shore killer whales. The emphasis
in his talk is that, in highly cognitive species, there is an extra
dimension of complexity to the social behavior, such as individual or kin
recognition, cultural transmission of information, or complex social
structures. He discusses his research on social structure and pregnancy
outcome in pigtailed macaques, including data on the results of a massive
social reorganization of an established breeding colony. He also discusses
the effects of kinship in determining the costs and benefits of
food-stealing behavior in socially-foraging northwestern crows. He presents
the results of a study of the factors affecting social affiliation in a
rapidly declining, near-shore population of killer whales, based on an
analysis of a 25-year database of movement and behavior observations.