Leg autotomy in a spider has minimal costs in competitive ability and development

Article Abstract:

Male Holocnemus pluchei spiders missing one front leg vary very little from intact males in their ability to compete over webs and prey. Similarly, there is no difference between injured and intact males in their tendencies to leave or stay in webs into which they are introduced. The loss of a single leg does not reduce the overall ability to fight over prey. However, injured males lost more interactions that involved biting and lunging than had been anticipated. Overall, species that are capable of autotomy but only do so in cases of extreme distress could be more severely affected by leg loss than species that quite commonly shed limbs.

Research, Physiological aspects, Spiders, Autotomy

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Social and environmental factors modulate the learning of pine-cone stripping techniques by black rats, Rattus rattus

Article Abstract:

Social and environmental factors, such as age of isolation and pine-cone structure, influence the mode of behavior of black rats, Rattus rattus, in stripping of pine cones. Pups isolated from their mothers that were exposed to pine-cones since birth use an inefficient shaving technique while most of the pups exposed between 20 or 30 days of age acquire the spiral technique of cone stripping. Pups cannot learn cone stripping with only brown cones, which have tougher scales.

Behavior, Observations, Learning in animals, Animal learning, Rattus rattus, Black rat

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