Investigation of the Effects of Social Experience on Snapping Intensity in Equus caballus Foals

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dc.contributor.authorMcCusker, Matthew Eriken
dc.contributor.committeechairLickliter, Robert E.en
dc.contributor.committeememberPrestrude, Albert M.en
dc.contributor.committeememberHoffman, Kurt A.en
dc.contributor.departmentPsychologyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:33:18Zen
dc.date.adate2003-05-07en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:33:18Zen
dc.date.issued2003-03-18en
dc.date.rdate2004-05-07en
dc.date.sdate2003-04-10en
dc.description.abstractThis study attempted to examine three aspects of Equus caballus foal snapping behavior. First, it suggested that the previous theoretical explanation for snapping established by behavioral researchers was incorrect. Second, as a means of suggesting an alternative hypothesis, this study proposed that snapping behavior could be a modified play response that was elicited when foals were confused by the complex social signals displayed by conspecifics. Finally, this project tested the aforementioned hypothesis by recording interactions between foals and conspecifics and analyzing the snapping intensity with each subject's previous level of social experience. There were two indicators utilized to establish social experience. First, the "age" of the foal was employed as a measure of overall life experience and development. Second, the number of hours per day the foal was exposed to conspecifics gave an effective measure of the amount of time the subject had an opportunity to learn the complex Equine visual communication (referred to as "out-time").en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-04102003-181631en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04102003-181631/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/31672en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartSnappingThesisMcC.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjecthorse behavioren
dc.subjectsnappingen
dc.subjectbehavioral developmenten
dc.subjectfoal behavioren
dc.subjectsubmissionen
dc.subjectdominanceen
dc.titleInvestigation of the Effects of Social Experience on Snapping Intensity in Equus caballus Foalsen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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