Allonursing in river buffalo, Bubalus bubalis: nepotism, incompetence, or thievery?

Article Abstract:

There are individual differences in river buffalo cows' inclination to accept their own offspring and non-filial calves and for the calves to successfully ask for milk from their mothers and other cows. Of the 30 cows, only 13 account for 97% of allonursing. Allonursing is often correlated with decreased growth rate in the donors' calves but is unrelated to kinship or mutual relationships among cows and is associated with a lack of maternal experience in young cows and certain theft of milk by hungry calves when not provided with milk.

Behavior, Animals, Water buffalo, Animal young

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Human assortative mating: more questions concerning genetic similarity theory

Article Abstract:

The computer simulation to study mate choice reveals that there is scanty proof for Rushton's statement that in the absence of adaptive mechanisms, the chance configuration will crumble down in later generations. Though the simulation is a too simplified model of human behaviour, it indicates the feasibility of an alternative biological theory for assortative mating on a range of partially inherited characteristics for which there are partly fluctuating preferences.

Human behavior, Courtship

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Disentangling association patterns in fission-fusion societies using African buffalo as an example

Article Abstract:

A heuristic simulation model is used to illustrate potential problems in applying traditional techniques of association analysis to fission-fusion societies and a new index of association, the fission decision index (FDI), is proposed. The results obtained from traditional methods and from FDI are compared using data from African buffalo, Syncerus caffer, in the Kruger National Park.

Genetic aspects, Computer-generated environments, Heuristic, Heuristics (Psychology), African buffalo

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