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This paper investigates how interspecies greeting routines between humans and horses/dogs are organized. The aim is to understand how humans and animals jointly organize 'becoming socially co-present' (Pillet-Shore, 2008). The data comprises 12 h of video recordings with 30 humans, 40 horses and 7 dogs participating in every-day activities such as walks, dinner parties and grooming sessions. Multimodal interaction analysis (e.g., Mondada, 2019) is used to investigate how humans and horses/dogs initiate and respond to greetings, and image based transcriptions of human and animal actions are used to avoid species hierarchy. The analyses reveal that humans and animals make a distinction between being physically co-present and socially co-present in interspecies interaction, and that all involved species take initiatives to greet and respond to such initiatives. The findings show both similarities and differences to human–human greetings, which is are addressed in a concluding discussion. By including animals' systematic communicative actions in the investigation of social life and co-operative action we gain knowledge on how understanding both within and across species boundaries is achieved, which may have implications for how humanity views other living species on the planet. • Humans and horses/dogs take initiatives to greet each other. • Humans and horses/dogs collaborate to become socially co-present. • Interspecies greetings have similarities and differences to human–human greetings. • Studying interspecies greetings increases our understanding of communication. • Image based transcriptions of animal actions avoids species hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication between group members is mediated by a diverse range of signals. Contact calls are produced by many species of birds and mammals to maintain group cohesion and associations among individuals. Contact calls in bats are typically relatively low-frequency social calls, produced only for communication. However, echolocation calls (higher in frequency and used primarily for orientation and prey detection) can also facilitate interaction among individuals and location of conspecifics in the roost. We studied calling behaviour of brown long-eared bats (Plecotus auritus) during return to maternity roosts in response to playbacks of social and echolocation calls. We hypothesised that calling by conspecifics would elicit responses in colony members. Bat responses (inspection flights and social calls production) were significantly highest during social call and echolocation call playbacks than during noise (control) playbacks. We suggest that social calling in maternity roosts of brown long-eared bat evolved to maintain associations among roostmates, rather than to find roosts or roostmates, because this species is strongly faithful to roosts and the social groups and roosts are stable over time and space. Living in a stable social group requires recognition of group members and affiliation of social bonds with group members, features that may be mediated by vocal signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To balance the trade-offs of male co-residence,males living inmulti-male groups may exchange ritualized greetings. Although these non-aggressive signals are widespread in the animal kingdom, the repertoire described in the genus Papio is exceptional, involving potentially harmful behaviours such as genital fondling. Such greetings are among the most striking male baboon social interactions, yet their function remains disputed. Drawing on the comprehensive analysis from our own research on wild Guinea baboons, combined with a survey of the literature into other baboon species, we review the form and function of male--male ritualized greetings and their relation to the various social systems present in this genus. These ritualized signals differ between species in their occurrence, form and function. While ritualized greetings are rare in species with the most intense contest competition, the complexity of and risk involved in greeting rituals increase with the degree of male--male tolerance and cooperation. The variety of societies found in this genus, combined with its role as a model for human socioecological evolution, sheds light on the evolution of ritualized behaviour in non-human primates and rituals in humans. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socialized wolves' relationship with humans is a much debated, but important question in light of dog domestication. Earlier findings reported no attachment to the caretaker at four months of age in a Strange Situation Test, while recently attachment to the caretaker was reported at a few weeks of age in a similar paradigm. To explore wolf–human relationship, we analysed behaviours of hand reared, extensively socialized wolves towards four visitor types: foster-parents, close acquaintances, persons met once before, and complete strangers during a greeting episode. As hypothesized, in the greeting context subjects showed more intense and friendly behaviour towards foster-parents, than other visitor types, which may reflect familiarity and affinity. However, differences were more pronounced in the group situation (at six months of age) than in the individual situation (at 12 and 24 months), suggesting that unique status of foster parents may become less distinct as wolves get older, while exploration of novel social agents is expressed more with older age. Fear related behaviour patterns were only found in the individual situation, mainly displayed towards strangers. We showed that, in case of extensively socialized wolves, distinctive affiliation and affinity towards the foster parent prevails into adulthood.

Background Dominance is one of the most pervasive concepts in the study of wolf social behaviour but recently its validity has been questioned. For some authors, the bonds between members of wolf families are better described as parent-offspring relationships and the concept of dominance should be used just to evaluate the social dynamics of non-familial captive pack members (e.g., Mech & Cluff, 2010). However, there is a dearth of studies investigating dominance relationships and its correlates in wolf family packs. Methods Here, we applied a combination of the most commonly used quantitative methods to evaluate the dominance relationships in a captive family pack of 19 Arctic wolves. Results We found a significant linear and completely transitive hierarchy based on the direction of submissive behaviours and found that dominance relationships were not influenced by the competitive contexts (feeding vs. non-feeding context). A significant linear hierarchy also emerges amongst siblings once the breeding pair (the two top-ranking individuals) is removed from analyses. Furthermore, results suggest that wolves may use greeting behaviour as a formal signal of subordination. Whereas older wolves were mostly dominant over younger ones, no clear effect of sex was found. However, frequency of agonistic (submissive, dominant and aggressive) behaviours was higher between female–female and male–male dyads than female–male dyads and sex-separated linear hierarchies showed a stronger linearity than the mixed one. Furthermore, dominance status was conveyed through different behavioural categories during intra-sexual and inter-sexual interactions. Discussion Current results highlight the importance of applying a systematic methodology considering the individuals’ age and sex when evaluating the hierarchical structure of a social group. Moreover, they confirm the validity of the concept of dominance relationships in describing the social bonds within a family pack of captive wolves.

To balance the trade-offs of male co-residence, males living in multi-male groups may exchange ritualized greetings. Although these non-aggressive signals are widespread in the animal kingdom, the repertoire described in the genus Papio is exceptional, involving potentially harmful behaviours such as genital fondling. Such greetings are among the most striking male baboon social interactions, yet their function remains disputed. Drawing on the comprehensive analysis from our own research on wild Guinea baboons, combined with a survey of the literature into other baboon species, we review the form and function of male-male ritualized greetings and their relation to the various social systems present in this genus. These ritualized signals differ between species in their occurrence, form and function. While ritualized greetings are rare in species with the most intense contest competition, the complexity of and risk involved in greeting rituals increase with the degree of male-male tolerance and cooperation. The variety of societies found in this genus, combined with its role as a model for human socioecological evolution, sheds light on the evolution of ritualized behaviour in non-human primates and rituals in humans. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.

Socialized wolves' relationship with humans is a much debated, but important question in light of dog domestication. Earlier findings reported no attachment to the caretaker at four months of age in a Strange Situation Test, while recently attachment to the caretaker was reported at a few weeks of age in a similar paradigm. To explore wolf-human relationship, we analysed behaviours of hand reared, extensively socialized wolves towards four visitor types: foster-parents, close acquaintances, persons met once before, and complete strangers during a greeting episode. As hypothesized, in the greeting context subjects showed more intense and friendly behaviour towards foster-parents, than other visitor types, which may reflect familiarity and affinity. However, differences were more pronounced in the group situation (at six months of age) than in the individual situation (at 12 and 24 months), suggesting that unique status of foster parents may become less distinct as wolves get older, while exploration of novel social agents is expressed more with older age. Fear related behaviour patterns were only found in the individual situation, mainly displayed towards strangers. We showed that, in case of extensively socialized wolves, distinctive affiliation and affinity towards the foster parent prevails into adulthood., Competing Interests: We have no competing interests.

Background: Dominance is one of the most pervasive concepts in the study of wolf social behaviour but recently its validity has been questioned. For some authors, the bonds between members of wolf families are better described as parent-offspring relationships and the concept of dominance should be used just to evaluate the social dynamics of non-familial captive pack members (e.g., Mech & Cluff, 2010). However, there is a dearth of studies investigating dominance relationships and its correlates in wolf family packs., Methods: Here, we applied a combination of the most commonly used quantitative methods to evaluate the dominance relationships in a captive family pack of 19 Arctic wolves., Results: We found a significant linear and completely transitive hierarchy based on the direction of submissive behaviours and found that dominance relationships were not influenced by the competitive contexts (feeding vs. non-feeding context). A significant linear hierarchy also emerges amongst siblings once the breeding pair (the two top-ranking individuals) is removed from analyses. Furthermore, results suggest that wolves may use greeting behaviour as a formal signal of subordination. Whereas older wolves were mostly dominant over younger ones, no clear effect of sex was found. However, frequency of agonistic (submissive, dominant and aggressive) behaviours was higher between female-female and male-male dyads than female-male dyads and sex-separated linear hierarchies showed a stronger linearity than the mixed one. Furthermore, dominance status was conveyed through different behavioural categories during intra-sexual and inter-sexual interactions., Discussion: Current results highlight the importance of applying a systematic methodology considering the individuals' age and sex when evaluating the hierarchical structure of a social group. Moreover, they confirm the validity of the concept of dominance relationships in describing the social bonds within a family pack of captive wolves., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests.