Submissions are invited for a symposium on "Cooperative (Big) Predators: The links between Communication, Cognition and Sociality", to be held at the Behaviour 2015 conference in Cairns, Australia, 9-14th August. We are particularly interested in presentations giving species-specific examples of the link between communication and cognition, communication and sociality, or cognition and sociality, in large predators. However, all submissions dealing with the link between these aspects of animal behaviour are welcome. Submission details can be found on the Behaviour 2015 website http://www.behaviour2015.org/symposium-details/.
Cooperative (Big) Predators: The links between Communication, Cognition and Sociality Symposium Organisers: Arik Kershenbaum - University of Cambridge Daniel Blumstein - University of California Los Angeles Marie Roch - San Diego State University Jan Koler-Matznik - New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society Holger Klinck - Oregon State University Eloïse Déaux - Macquarie University Barbara Smuts - University of Michigan Emma J Dunston - Charles Sturt University Rebecca Doyle - University of Melbourne Jackie Abell - University of Coventry Social predators, like wolves and hyenas, have evolved complex social structures and behaviours such as cooperative hunting. Many of these species also display complex communication behaviours, and the combination of these two phenomena suggests sophisticated cognitive capacities and processes. This symposium will draw together contemporary research findings on the links between communication and social behaviour (including cooperation) of large predators. The symposium will synthesise a new approach to the study of the cognitive-communicative- social complex, and its implications for future research into the evolution of cognition and language. One outcome of the symposium will be a published collection of papers outlining this approach. Papers are invited that explore each of these themes and the interaction between them from the perspective of a single species, or from a cross-species perspective.
