Department of Biology, The Sage Colleges, 65 First Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Behav Genet. 2011 Nov;41(6):810-29. doi: 10.1007/s10519-011-9453-6. Epub 2011 Mar 16.
An interest in the role of the social environment on the evolution of behavior led Professor Benson Ginsburg to studies of wolf social behavior. He initiated the University of Connecticut wolf project with a family group of wolves housed in a protected enclosure in an isolated area of campus. One aim of this project was to conduct a longitudinal study of a family group of wolves in order to understand the proximate behavioral mechanisms underlying mating dynamics with a degree of control and opportunistic observation that could not be achieved through field studies. The development of social relationships and the dynamics of mating were observed for 9 years. As in nature, agonistic relationships strongly influenced reproductive success, successful breeding was limited to a single pair each season, and the behavioral dynamics included status transitions with breeder rotations. Our work, when combined with the results of other captive wolf studies, has contributed valuable information to the general understanding of wolf social behavior, especially regarding the proximate behavior patterns underlying group social interactions and reproduction. This understanding has broadened perspectives on the dynamic interplay between social behavior and evolutionary processes.
对社会环境在行为进化中的作用的兴趣促使本森·金斯伯格教授开展了对狼的社会行为的研究。他在康涅狄格大学启动了一个狼研究项目，将一个由狼组成的家庭群体安置在校园内一个偏远地带的一个受保护的围场内。该项目的一个目标是对一个狼的家庭群体进行纵向研究，以便在一定程度上控制和有机会观察交配动态的基础行为机制，而这些在野外研究中是无法实现的。社会关系的发展和交配的动态已经观察了 9 年。与自然界一样，竞争关系强烈影响着繁殖成功，每个季节只有一对狼能够成功繁殖，行为动态包括地位的转变和繁殖者的轮换。我们的工作，结合其他圈养狼的研究结果，为人们对狼的社会行为的一般理解做出了贡献，特别是对群体社会互动和繁殖的基础行为模式的理解。这一理解拓宽了人们对社会行为和进化过程之间动态相互作用的认识。
