Christian Schiffmann, Linda Schiffmann, Petra Prager, Jennifer Pastorini, Marcus Clauss, Daryl Codron
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Especially in species with complex social systems, the relatedness between individuals is important information. Visual phenotypic cues present one way to identify closely related conspecifics. Humans are capable of recognizing such visual cues in the faces of their own as well as several primate species, but to which degree this applies to non-primate species is largely unexplored. Here we demonstrate the capability of 110 test persons to recognize faces of 47 male Asian elephants based on 186 photographs. The human examiners were not only able to recognize an individual based on its face after several years, but also to identify, at decreasing accuracy, full brother pairs and paternal kinship. People regularly working with elephants were more successful than laypersons. However, even laypersons recognized 73.3% of the same individuals. The identification of individual elephants by a look at their faces presents a simple approach which can be a valuable tool for in situ research.
期刊介绍：
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.
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