University of Glasgow
Exploration Society
Ecuador Expedition 2003
Ferruginous
Pygmy-owl (Glaucidium brasilianum)
Final Report
Edited and compiled by Stewart White
DEEB, Graham Kerr Building
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
E-mail s.white@bio.gla.ac.uk
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………3
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………..4
BIRD PROJECT REPORTS………………………………………..4
INSECT PROJECT
REPORTS……………………………….…….9
MAMMAL PROJECT
REPORT…………………………………...13
FINANCES…………………………………………………………15
EXPEDITION
PERSONNEL………………………………………16
Striped Manakin (Machaeropterus
regulus)
Acknowledgements
The members of the University of Glasgow Exploration Society Expedition to Ecuador 2003 wish to extend their thanks to the following organisations for their financial support:
University of Glasgow Court, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Dennis Curry Trust, the Cross Trust, Blodwen Lloyd Binns Bequest, Scottish Parrot and Foreign Bird Club.
Thanks are also due to relatives, friends and everybody else who put their hands into their pockets to buy toasties, sweeties, t-shirts, raffle tickets and helped out in the many and various fund-raising activities.
The Ecuador Expedition would not be possible and certainly only half as enjoyable without the help of our many friends in Ecuador; Dr Giovanni Onore, Cesar Tapia, Elicio Tapia, Queti Tapia, Darwin and Rosalva Garcia, Edwin, Olmero, Fidel, Leandro and everybody in the Payamino Community.
Figure 1. Francesca Pandolfi
with Orange-winged Amazon (Amazona amazonica)
Introduction
The University of Glasgow Ecuador Expedition 2003 was the third of what we hope will be a series of research visits to Ecuador.
Our main contacts in the country are Dr Giovanni Onore and Darwin Garcia. Giovanni owns the Otonga Research Station in the Andes south-west of Quito and has been welcoming foreign researchers for some time.
At Otonga the main part of the ornithological work was to
continue a capture-recapture study, originated in 2002. A second, smaller study trained hummingbirds
to feed from artificial flowers and recorded their responses to changes in
sugar concentration and assessed their ability to remember flower position.
Darwin Garcia is the representative of the Indian tribe that owns the Sumaco Reserve. He is the son of a missionary and a member of the local tribe, who has returned to the area after completing a teaching qualification, and now represents the tribe. The tribal lands have been made into the Sumaco Reserve and the tribe wants to generate income from Eco-tourism. They have already turned down offers from outside companies to run tours in their area and recently singed an agreement with Aalborg Zoo in Denmark for long term financial support. Darwin has recently started his own business bringing tourists into the area. The main task in Sumaco was to continue building up a species list for the reserve although several small projects were also conducted. The information we have discovered in 2000, 2002 and 2003 will be made available to Darwin to help him develop his eco-tourism business, support the tribe and also protect the reserve.
Bird Research
Project Reports
The Neotropics
The Neotropical region has long been recognised as supporting a high level of biological diversity. Of the world’s 9,700 bird species no fewer than 3,600 (39%) occur in the non-Caribbean Neotropics (16 % of the planet’s land area) (Wege and Long, 1995). 290 of these species were, in 1995, considered at risk of extinction (Wege and Long, 1995) due to a range of anthropogenic disturbances: timber extraction, clearing for agriculture, drainage of wetland, mining, and other disturbances. Pristine habitats are becoming increasingly disturbed and fragmented. There is therefore increasing urgency to do something to halt or slow down the loss of species. One important task is to gain as much information as possible about the organisms dwelling in the remaining undisturbed areas of the Neotropics. The bird studies in the University of Glasgow Ecuador Expedition 2002 were an attempt to build on the information gathered in 2000 from two pristine sites in Ecuador, one in the Andes and one in Amazonia.
Ecuador
Ecuador has around 1,530 resident and migrant bird species (Ortiz and Carrión, 1991). Of these c.37 are endemic, 160 have restricted ranges, 6 are classified as critical, 13 as endangered, 43 as vulnerable, 46 as near-threatened and 3 as data deficient (Stattersfield et al, 1998; BirdLife International, 2000).
Endemic Bird Areas (EBA’s) have been identified by mapping the distributions of birds which have had, in historical times, breeding ranges of less than 50,000 km2. An area supporting at least two of these restricted range species is identified as an EBA, a place where global extinctions are likely to occur unless the habitat can be protected (Wege and Long, 1995). Nine of these EBA’s lie partially or wholly within Ecuador. In addition 50 Key Areas, the most important places for globally threatened bird species in the Neotropics (Wege and Long, 1995), have been identified in Ecuador.
In summary Ecuador has an extensive, valuable avifauna much of which is under threat. The more that is known about it the more able we will be to protect it for future generations to enjoy.
Ornithological
Survey of Otonga Forest Reserve
Introduction
Otonga Forest Reserve lies in the Andes to the South West of Quito, at 79o 00’ 00” West and 0o 25’ 00” South. It is at an altitude of 2100m and is an area of pristine cloud forest, disturbed only by narrow trails and lies in the Chocó EBA. The study had two main targets; first of all to capture and band as many birds as possible as part of what is hoped will be a long-term capture-recapture project; secondly to compile as complete a species list as possible to complement work already done in the reserve.
Figure 2.
Anna Morton extracting a bird from a mist net
Methodology
Mist netting, was conducted over a twenty one day period in July and August 2003. Five 18m long x 2.5m high North Ronaldsay mist nets of standard 33mm mesh were used each day (Figure 2.). Nets were erected on paths and in clear areas near the field station and opened at dawn, around 06.00 and left running until late morning, from 11.00 – 12.00 depending on weather conditions. In over 50 net sites were used, at three distinct altitude levels, in a variety of positions, on tracks, across the side of and down hills and on the ridge at the top of the reserve. The weather followed a regular pattern in that most days cloud cover would descend in early afternoon, soaking the nets and reducing bird activity to a minimum. All identifications were made using reference books on South American avifauna (Ridgely & Tudor, 1989, 1994; Ridgely & Greenfield, 2001a, b).
Figure 3. Prize catch of the summer – Moustached
Antpitta
Results
In all 285 birds in 42 species were captured. One species of particular note captured was the Moustached Antpitta Grallaria alleni, an endangered species endemic to the west slope of the Andes and only found in a handful of sites (Figure 3.). A large number of marked birds were recaptured from 2002, a promising sign for the capture-recapture project.
Ornithological Survey of Sumaco Reserve, Napo
Lowlands
Introduction
Sumaco reserve is a newly created reserve in an area of relatively undisturbed lowland rainforest in the Napo Lowlands area of Ecuador at approximately 77 10' W, 0 25' S. Mist-netting was conducted during August 2003. The first aim was to continue with the work done in the 2000 and 2002 Glasgow Expeditions in building a species list for the area, the second to continue the capture-recapture study started in 2000. The third important aspect of the work was to generate further ecological information for our local contact, Darwin Garcia.
Methodology
Three study sites were investigated for five days each. Five 18m x 2.5 m., 33mm mesh size mist nets were erected at random each day between 06.00 and 12.30. Approximately half of the sites used were sites which had previously been sampled in 2000 or 2002, the rest were completely new sites. All identifications were made using reference books on South American avifauna (Ridgely & Tudor, 1989, 1994; Ridgely & Greenfield, 2001a, b).
Results
A total of 331 birds in 59 species were
captured, taking the overall species list for the area to over 200. Again many previously marked birds were
captured.
References
BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife.
Ortiz C.F., and Carrion, J.M. (1991) Introduccion a las aves del Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador: Fundacion Ecuatoriana para la Conservacion y el Desarrollo Sostenible.
Ridgely, R.S. & Tudor, G. (1989) The birds of South America: The oscine passerines. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Ridgely, R.S. & Tudor, G. (1994) The birds of South America: The suboscine passerines. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Ridgely, R.S. & Greenfield, P.J. (2001a) The birds of Ecuador: Status, Distribution and Taxonomy. Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates.
Ridgely, R.S. & Greenfield, P.J. (2001b) The birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates.
Stattersfield, A.J., Crosby, M.J., Long, A.J. and Wege, D.C. (1998) Endemic bird areas of the world: priorities for bird conservation. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International (BirdLife Conservation Series 7).
Wege, D.C. and Long, A.J. (1995) Key areas for threatened birds in the neotropics. Cambridge, UK: Birdlife International (BirdLife Conservation Series 5).
Hummingbird Feeding Behaviour:
Nectar Concentration Preference and
Memory for Flower Location
Introduction
This study investigated some aspects of the feeding behaviour of hummingbird species found in the Andean cloudforests of central Ecuador. Experiments were conducted in Otonga Reserve in Cotopaxi Region. The species of main focus were male Violet-tailed Sylph Aglaiocerus coelestis and Brown Inca Coeligena wilsoni (Figure 4.). However, male Fawn-breasted Brilliant Heliodoxa rubinoides and the speckled Hummingbird Adelomyia melanogenys also featured in the results.
Methods
Model flowers containing sucrose solution were used to create enriched patches within the birds’ natural habitat. Two identical patches of artificial flowers were set up and the same experiments conducted in each. After a period of training hummingbirds visited the models regularly and fed from all flower positions. Through the manipulation of sucrose concentration and flower position it was possible to investigate some aspects of feeding behaviour.
The first experiment consisted of a row of five identical flower models placed 50cm apart. Results were recorded by observing the flowers over 3 hour time periods with each flower containing a sucrose solution of a different concentration. Each concentration was presented in turn at each of the five positions. In two separate tests concentrations of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25% and then 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45% were compared.
The second experiment used the same set up of flowers and was designed to investigate the capacity for memory of flower location. This was achieved by filling the middle flower in the sequence with sucrose solution and the two outer flowers on each side with water. By observing the order of visits to flowers it was possible to assess the memory capacity of the birds. The next stage was to determine how the hummingbirds remembered and relocated position. The experimental design tested two hypotheses; firstly that the flower was located by a recall of absolute position, and secondly that it was located by relative position to the other flowers. The hypotheses were tested by moving the absolute and relative position of the flower containing sucrose.
The third experiment aimed to investigate the hummingbirds’ ability to associate a specific flower design with the supply of sucrose solution. Three different flower designs were represented in a uniformly spaced grid containing three flowers of each design. Control experiments showed no preference for flower position or design. By putting water into two flower types it was possible to manipulate flower positions and determine if flowers supplying sucrose were remembered due to flower appearance or simply due to position.
Figure 4. Brown Inca feeding on artificial flower
Results
Male A. coelestis were found to prefer higher sucrose concentrations and their feeding time increased with increasing concentration. C. wilsoni behaved similarly although less preference was shown for higher concentrations. Both species demonstrated a strong ability to remember the position of a rewarding flower and returned repeatedly to feed from the same position. This ability was found to be based on the recognition of absolute position and it is suggested that this involved the use of various global visual clues. Finally, A. coelestis did not show any ability to associate a specific flower design with a sucrose reward and again used absolute position to locate the sucrose source within the flower grid.
Niall Lightfoot
Insect
Research Project Reports
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Rainforest
– Foraging in leaf-cutter ants Atta
cephalotes
Introduction
The expedition to
Ecuador gave me the opportunity to carry out scientific research on the
leaf-cutter ants Atta cephalotes. This
species of ant is part of the tribe Attini, a morphologically distinctive group
found only in the New World. Atta
are amongst the dominant herbivores in neo-tropical ecosystems (Wheeler 1907;
Feener & Moss 1990) and play a major role in soil excavation and plant
growth (Haines 1978). The amount of
vegetation cut from Tropical forests by Atta alone has been calculated to lie
between 12 and 17 percent of total leaf production (Cherret 1968). An increasing recognition of the ecological
and economic impact of Atta has been coupled
with a growing interest in the study of their behaviour in recent years
(Holldobler & Wilson 1990).
Methods
The study was conducted
in August 2003 at two sites in the Sumaco Region of the Northern Oriente,
Ecuador (77 10’W and 0 25’S). Initial observations
were made on several colonies of Atta
cephalotes, three of which were selected for study. The first colony was located in Juri-Juri
while the second and third colonies were in Quilli Curi. On returning from Ecuador the data collected
was analysed and used to write my honours project. This project contributes greatly towards my final degree.
Atta can be broadly differentiated into a series of
castes: minima, media, maxima and soldiers in increasing order of size (Weber
1966). Each caste is thought to perform
specific tasks within the colony. In Atta,
minima ants have been described riding upon leaf fragments carried nestwards by
larger workers, a behaviour which has given them the name “hitch-hikers”
(Figure 5.). The aim of the present study
was to measure the foraging rate and abundance of hitch-hikers of three
colonies of Atta cephalotes in Ecuador.
Comparisons were made between rates of foraging at different times of
day, at different points on the trail and between the different colonies. The abundance of hitch-hikers at different
times of day along the foraging trail and in the presence of parasitoids was
noted. For the data collected, the role
of hitch-hikers in the colony and their impact on foraging success was
discussed.
Results
Statistical analyses
were performed using Minitab 13. The
results obtained were extremely interesting.
There was no significant difference between foraging rate of ants at the
three colonies. The speed of laden
ants from each of the three colonies was found to be significantly different
with greater mean and median speeds of laden ants at colony two than the other
colonies. Number of unladen ants
passing a given point was also significantly different at each colony.
The number of
hitch-hikers was found to change significantly at different times of day,
between colonies and at different points on the trail. Colony two had the highest mean, median and
maximum number of hitch-hikers per leaf.
It was at this colony that two specimens of the parasitoid Neodohrniphora
prolixa (Brown) were captured.
Therefore the higher number of hitch-hikers per leaf may be an affect
caused by the presence of these parasitoids, as suggested from previous studies
(Eibl-Eibesfeldt & Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1967; Feener & Moss 1990, Wetterer
1995, Erthal & Tonhasca 2000). Both
phorids were sent to R.H.L. Disney, University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge,
England for identification.
The computer program “Scion Image” was used
to calculate the surface area of each leaf obtained. There was a highly significant difference between the surface
area of leaves collected in each colony.
Mean and median leaf surface areas were largest at colony two. Hence
this is an alternative reason for the greater number of hitch-hikers observed
at this colony.
Figure 5. Hitchhikers on leaf
fragment
Dissection of 81 minima
and 96 maxima workers respectively resulted in the discovery of neither larvae
nor parasites. Over all three samples, head
widths of workers ranged from 0.8 mm to 3.1 mm. A correlation between head
width of maxima workers and number of hitch-hikers carried showed no
significant correlation. Therefore for
the sample obtained, larger workers did not carry a significantly greater
number of hitch-hikers.
Discussion
Participation in this
expedition allowed me to carry out research necessary for the completion of my
honours project. The chance to carry
out a real scientific study is an invaluable experience for any undergraduate
science student. Therefore I feel
immensely grateful and privileged to have been part of an experience which was
not only useful, but was one of the most enjoyable and memorable of my life.
References
Cherret, J.M. (1968) The foraging behaviour of Atta cephalotes (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). 1. Foraging
pattern and plant species attacked in tropical rain forest. J. of Anim. Ecol. 37: 387-403.
Eibl-Eibesfeldt,
I. & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, E. (1967) Das
Parasitenabwehren der minima-Arbeiterinnen der blattschneider-Ameise (Atta
cephalotes). Zeitschrift fur
Tierpsychologie 24: 278-281.
Erthal,
M. Jr. & Tonhasca, A. (2000)
Biology and oviposition behaviour of the phorids Apocephalus
attophilus and the response of its host, the leaf-cutting ant Atta
laevigata. Entomol. Exp. et Appl. 95: 71-75.
Feener, D.H. Jr. & Moss, K.A.G. (1990) Defence against parasites by hitchhikers in leaf-cutting ants: a quantitative assessment. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 26: 17-29.
Haines, B.L. (1978) Element and energy flows through colonies of the leaf-cutting ant Atta columbica in Panama. Biotropica 10: 270-277.
Holldobler, B. & Wilson, E.O. (1990) The ants. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Weber, N.A. (1966) Fungus-growing ants. Science 153:587-604.
Wetterer, J.K. (1995) Forager size and ecology of Acromyrmex coronatus and other leaf-cutting ants in Costa Rica. Oecologia 104: 409-415.
Wheeler, W.M. (1907) The fungus-growing ants of North America. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 23: 669-807.
Anna Morton
Substrate Preference and Minimisation of
Travel Time in New World Army Ants
Introduction
Ants in the genus Eciton have no fixed habitation and move from one place to another as they exhaust hunting grounds. This constant movement, whether it be for foraging or the emigration of the bivouac would suggest that the ants should select the easiest substrates to move over. The aim of the study was to identify whether New World army ants choose to walk over substrates which maximise their walking ability and allow the greatest distance to be covered in a fixed time period.
Methods
The fieldwork was conducted in August 2003 in two locations in the Sumaco Reserve, Napo Region, Ecuador, an area of primary forest. On average seven 30-35 minute sweeps through the rainforest were carried out per day and army ant raids identified by searching on previously cleared trails. Raids were classified in one of three forms. Columns were characterised by their ordered line structure and military like precision. Swarms were identified by the lack of order and ants moving in many directions. Emigration was identified by the majority of the ants moving in one direction carrying young.
The substrate was divided into three types; ‘easy’ substrate was defined as smooth fallen bamboo or tree trunks with an extremely even surface, ‘medium’ substrate was defined as a layer of leaves, dry earth, sticks, grass or moss, ‘difficult’ substrate was wet mud or earth with an extremely uneven surface. The frequency of 10cm sections of trail observed on each type of substrate was recorded using a tally system. A stopwatch was used to measure the time taken for ants to travel a measured one metre for all raid types, all substrates and all castes. Ants of various castes were collected from each column for later identification.
Results
Three species of Eciton were observed, E. rapax, E. hamatum and E. drepanophorum.
In E. rapax only column swarms were observed; emigration in this species only occurring at night. The time to travel one metre did not differ between outbound and inbound workers. Only ‘easy’ and ‘medium’ substrates were seen to be used. Workers were found to travel significantly more quickly on ‘easy’ substrates (median = 10.1±1.7s, n = 20) than on ‘medium’ substrates (median = 16.7±4.5s, n = 50) (Mann-Whitney U-test, p<0.001). No substrate choice data were recorded for this species.
In E. hamatum no significant difference was found between the time to travel one metre for workers in emigrations (mean = 18.9±7.4s, n = 75) and columns (mean = 17.8±7.6s, n = 120) (Z-Test, Z = 0.1753, p>0.05). Major caste ants were found to take less time to travel one metre in columns (mean = 13.6±5.4s, n = 120) than in an emigration (mean = 19.0±4.7s, n = 30) (Z-Test, Z = 5.55, p<0.01). A significant difference was found between the mean time for workers to travel over ‘easy’ (mean = 14.4±6.8s, n = 100), medium (mean = 21.4±6.8s, n = 55) and difficult substrates (mean = 23.3±4.9, n = 40) (ANOVA, F = 37.03, p>0.001). A post-hoc Tukey test showed the differences to lie between ‘easy’ and ‘medium’ and ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’. Similar results were found for majors. E. hamatum were found to preferentially choose ‘easy’ over ’medium’ over ’difficult’ substrates (χ2 = 57.34, p>0.01).
In E. drepanophorum workers took less time to travel one metre in a column (mean = 17.5±5.8s, n = 118) than in an emigration (mean = 22.0±5.3s, n = 40). No significant difference was found for travel time in majors between columns and emigrations. Workers were found to take less time to travel on ‘easy’ (median = 9.4±1.7, n = 28) than ‘medium’ (median = 19.6±4.2s, n = 90) and ‘difficult’ (median = 20.7±5.3s, n = 40) substrates (Kruskal-Wallis, H = 68.42, p>0.001). For majors significant differences were found between travel times on all three substrates. E. drepanophorum were found to preferentially choose ‘easy’ over ’medium’ over ’difficult’ substrates (χ2 = 26.16, p<0.01).
Discussion
Space does not allow a detailed discussion of the results of this study. The results were much as might be expected, with ants being shown to move more quickly on smoother substrates. In broad terms this perhaps demonstrates that the ants’ view of the substrate may coincide with the human view! In the two species where data were collected the ants were not surprisingly shown to choose the ‘easy’ substrates over the ‘medium’ and the ‘medium’ over the difficult. Interesting future studies might look at these choices in more detail by manipulating substrates and increasing sample sizes to bring more swarms and emigrations into the dataset.
Zoë Reid
Mammal Research
Project Report
Can Monkeys Count?
Numerical Competence in a Capuchin Monkey
(Cebus albifrons)
Introduction
In August 2003, experiments were conducted with a single male white fronted Capuchin monkey (Cebus albifrons) in the Napo region of Ecuador, South America.
The project aimed to determine whether the monkey could make numerical comparisons between small numbers of simultaneously presented patterns displaying disparate numbers of items.
Methods
The monkey was presented with an array of three bowls placed upside down in positions 1, 2 and 3 running from left to right, upon a black plastic sheet approximately 1 metre square. One of the three concealed a food item. This bowl was termed the ‘correct’ bowl, while the other two were termed ‘incorrect’. Each bowl was marked with a number of symbols, with the ‘incorrect’ bowls being consistently marked with fewer symbols than the ‘correct’ bowl (see Figure 6).
1 2 3
Incorrect Correct
Figure 6. Diagrammatic representations of the stimulus
bowls presented, showing the bowl concealing the food reinforcement marked with
a greater number of symbols than the bowls containing no reinforcement
Turning over the ‘correct’ bowl would result in a positive reinforcement, a food reward, while attempting the remaining two ‘incorrect’ bowls would result in negative reinforcement by the absence of such a reward. The food item was always a single piece of cold, unsweetened popcorn, cooked on the previous day. The bowls were of fairly heavy ceramic, but with frilled edges, allowing the monkey to insert his fingers underneath each one and flip it over with minimal difficulty. The subject’s task was to correctly identify on his first attempt the bowl that concealed the food reward.
In condition A of experiment 1, the monkey was presented with stripes of silver tape (1cm in width and 1cm apart) running across the bowls, the correct bowl being marked with three and the incorrect with two. Following this, the rest of the conditions in experiment 1 explored a larger number of stripes, with the difference in number of stripes between the correct and incorrect bowls being either one or two. The final condition was designed with three different options available, specifically to show that the monkey was not responding simply on the basis of odd one out. This was to control for the confounding factor that all the previous trials could conceivably have been correctly attempted with the knowledge that the bowl that was different from the other two would always yield the reward.
To ensure that the monkey was making his choice on the basis of numerical cues alone, a number of sub-conditions were devised. Sub-conditions 1-4 not only required the animal to pick out four stripes from two stripes but also to complete the task when these stripes were presented at orientations differing from the usual vertical. The experimental set-up was such that the subject always approached the three bowls from the same direction, with a wall behind and the experimenters sitting either side of the plastic sheet. This ensured that perceived symbol orientation throughout the other conditions was constant, making these manipulations a suitable control. Following this the subject was presented with a final sub-condition in which the number of stripes remained at four and two but the stripes were of unequal width and placed at different distances apart. The correct bowl displayed four stripes of 1cm across 1cm apart from each other, while the two incorrect bowls had two stripes of 2cm across, 3cm apart. This ensured that the cumulative area of the presented symbols was equal. Success in these trials would show that the monkey was not making his judgements on the basis of pattern recognition.
Experiment 2 was designed to determine whether the animal could transfer skills from the original task to a situation presenting novel symbols. The symbols marking the three bowls were thus changed from stripes to circles.
For each set of trials the monkey was presented with successively greater numbers of symbols, to a maximum of eight. The subject demonstrated an ability to reliably discriminate between numbers as high as seven and eight and also exhibited transfer of training under novel test conditions. Controls established that the subject’s choices were based on numerousness judgements, rather than recognition of pattern, cumulative area, brightness or an ability to determine the ‘odd one out’.
Results
The monkey’s success in discrimination between numbers as
high as seven and eight excludes the possible explanation that his accuracy was
due to the non-counting method of subitising, while the small number of overall
trials makes prototype pattern matching unlikely. Results showed the accuracy of the subject to be well above chance
levels (above 78% overall accuracy for both experiments), both for numbers
above six and under novel test conditions.
These findings indicate that this animal has a naturally occurring grasp
of the concept of numerousness, and can make ordinality judgements accordingly.
There is nothing in this data to rule
out the possibility that this non-human subject can count. Conversely, there is
nothing at present to confirm that it can. Although counting was not
demonstrated, due to the absence of special training for and evidence of
numerical tagging, this does not undermine the numerical ability that has been
established.
Discussion
Unfortunately, the
results of single subject studies are problematic because they have limited applications
to a wider field. As such, this work does not attempt to
suggest that the conclusions drawn are applicable to all white fronted
capuchins, but rather intends to highlight numerical capabilities that appear
to exist in a species not previously studied. Although single
subject studies are often questioned, I am inclined to believe that if a
randomly chosen experimental animal reliably demonstrates ability, the
implication is that this aptitude is within the capacity of the species.
Consequently, these findings require further investigation.
Christine Gould
Figure 7. Christine with male capuchin during a brief bout of good behaviour.
Finances
In order for the expedition to go ahead a large of amount of fund raising was required. Each member made a personal contribution of £700, and everybody helped in letter writing, t-shirt selling, running the snack bar, a club night, and other various activities, the University gave a generous grant of £450, and the Carnegie and Dennis Curry Trusts contributed generously. Below is the complete set of accounts for the Expedition.
Income
Personal contributions £4900
University of Glasgow £ 450
Carnegie Trust £2000
Dennis Curry Trust £1000
Exploration Society - First Aid course £ 600
Club night £ 900
T-shirt sales £1100
Snack Bar £ 611
Other fund raising activities £1395
Total Income £12956
Expenditure
Flights (International) £5200
Flights (Internal) £ 640
Other transport £ 200
Insurance £ 560
Equipment £ 600
Administration £ 500
First Aid course £ 850
T-shirts £ 590
Snack Bar £ 211
Food and accommodation £3600
Total Expenditure £12951
Expedition Personnel
Trine Bretteville L2 Psychology
Christine Gould L4 Zoology
Niall Lightfoot L4 Zoology
Anna Morton L4 Zoology
Francesca Pandolfi Zoology Graduate, University of Glasgow
Zoë Reid L4 Zoology
Helen Simmons L3 Zoology
Stewart White University of Glasgow Staff