Skip to main content

Perissodactyla Cognition

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
  • 62 Accesses

Synonyms

Cognitive ecology; Equids; Human-horse interaction; Rhinos; Social cognition; Tapirs; Ungulates

Introduction

Perissodactyla comprise the tapirs (Tapiridae), the rhinos (Rhinocerotidae), and the equids (Equidae). In order to evaluate their cognitive capacities, it is important to consider the species’ social and environmental challenges (Griffin et al. 2017). Only by knowing the challenges, to which animals have to adapt, their cognitive capacities can be relativized to other species, for example, if humans are not encountered on regular basis, animals may not need to learn how to read human given cues, even though they may be able to do so in a captive situation.

The Perissodactyla show large variation in their social organization, and in the environments in which they live. All Perissodactyla species are heavily hunted and some species, such as the Asian Baird’s tapir (T. bairdii), the Malayan tapir (T. indicus), the Indian rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), and the Javan...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Baragli, P., & Regolin, L. (2008). Cognitive tests in equids (Equus caballus and Equus Asinus). In K. Krueger & K. Krueger (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3 international equine science meeting. Wald: Xenophon Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, C. J., & Harris, S. (2008). Directed movement and orientation across a large natural landscape by zebras, Equus burchelli antiquorum. Animal Behaviour, 76(2), 277–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlstead, K., & Brown, J. L. (2005). Relationships between patterns of fecal corticoid excretion and behavior, reproduction, and environmental factors in captive black (Diceros bicornis) and white (Ceratotherium simum) rhinoceros. Zoo Biology, 24(3), 215–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinková, I., & Policht, R. (2016). Sex and species recognition by wild male southern white rhinoceros using contact pant calls. Animal Cognition, 19(2), 375–386.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Daniel, J. C., & Mikulka, P. J. (1998). Discrimination learning in the white rhinoceros. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 58(1–2), 197–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischhoff, I. R., Sundaresan, S. R., Cordingley, J., Larkin, H. M., Sellier, M.-J., & Rubenstein, D. I. (2007). Social relationships and reproductive state influence leadership roles in movements of plains zebra, Equus burchellii. Animal Behaviour, 73(5), 825–831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabor, V., & Gerken, M. (2014). Shetland ponies (Equus caballus) show quantity discrimination in a matching-to-sample design. Animal Cognition, 17(6), 1233–1243.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, A. S., Tebbich, S., & Bugnyar, T. (2017). Animal cognition in a human-dominated world. Animal Cognition, 20(1), 1–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grzimek, B., Hay, J. T., & Hutchins, M. (2003). Grzimek’s animal life encyclopedia (Vol. 17). Detroit: Gale Cengage. ISBN:0-7876-5362-4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanggi, E. B. (2003). Discrimination learning based on relative size concepts in horses (Equus Caballus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 83(3), 201–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanggi, E. B., & Ingersoll, J. F. (2009). Long-term memory for categories and concepts in horses (Equus caballus). Animal Cognition, 13(3), 451–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hausberger, M., Roche, H., Henry, S., & Visser, E. K. (2008). A review of the human-horse relationship. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 109(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klingel, H. (1972). The behavior of horses (Equidae). Handbuch der Zoologie, 8, 1–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, K., & Flauger, B. (2011). Olfactory recognition of individual competitors by means of faeces in horse (Equus caballus). Animal Cognition, 14(2), 245–257.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, K., Farmer, K., & Heinze, J. (2014a). The effects of age, rank and neophobia on social learning in horses. Animal Cognition, 17(3), 645–655.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, K., Flauger, B., Farmer, K., & Hemelrijk, C. (2014b). Movement initiation in groups of feral horses. Behavioural Processes, 103, 91–101.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, K., Schneider, G., Flauger, B., & Heinze, J. (2015). Context-dependent third-party intervention in agonistic encounters of male Przewalski horses. Behavioural Processes, 121, 54–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Linklater, W. L. (2000). Adaptive explanation in socio-ecology: Lessons from the Equidae. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 75(1), 1–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Malavasi, R., & Huber, L. (2016). Evidence of heterospecific referential communication from domestic horses (Equus caballus) to humans. Animal Cognition, 19(5), 899–909.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marneweck, C., Jürgens, A., & Shrader, A. M. (2017). Dung odours signal sex, age, territorial and oestrous state in white rhinos. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 284(1846).

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, L. M. A., Byrne, K., & D’Eath, R. B. (2013). Pair-bonding and companion recognition in domestic donkeys (Equus asinus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 143(1), 67–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osthaus, B., Proops, L., Hocking, I., & Burden, F. (2013). Spatial cognition and perseveration by horses, donkeys and mules in a simple A-not-B detour task. Animal Cognition, 16(2), 301–305.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pfungst, O. (1907). Der Kluge Hans. Ein Beitrag zur nichtverbalen Kommunikation. Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurter Fachbuchhandlung für Psychologie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinho, G. M., Gonçalves da Silva, A., Hrbek, T., Venticinque, E. M., & Farias, I. P. (2014). Kinship and social behavior of lowland tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) in a central Amazon landscape. PloS One, 9(3), e92507.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Proops, L., Burden, F., & Osthaus, B. (2009). Mule cognition: A case of hybrid vigour? Animal Cognition, 12(1), 75–84.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ringhofer, M., & Yamamoto, S. (2017). Domestic horses send signals to humans when they face with an unsolvable task. Animal Cognition, 20(3), 397–405.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubenstein, D. I. (1986). Ecology and sociality in horses and zebras. In D. I. Rubenstein & R. W. Wrangham (Eds.), Ecological aspects of social evolution (pp. 282–302). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schilder, M. B. H. (1990). Interventions in a herd of semi – Captive plains zebras. Behaviour, 112(1–2), 53–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuetz, A., Farmer, K., & Krueger, K. (2016). Social learning across species: Horses (Equus caballus) learn from humans by observation. Animal Cognition, 20(3), 567–573.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zenzinger, S. (2010). Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur optischen Kommunikation bei im Zoo gehaltenen Schabracken- und Flachlandtapiren (Tapirus indicus und Tapirus terrestris). Der Zoologische Garten, 79(4–5), 162–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Konstanze Krueger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Krueger, K. (2017). Perissodactyla Cognition. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_903-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_903-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics