arXiv subjects

Manabi Paul

Publications and source records attributed to Manabi Paul.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Begging with a Purpose? Testing Behavioural Hallmarks of First-Order Intentionality in Free-ranging Hanuman Langurs

Intentional communication has been studied extensively in primates, yet evidence from free-ranging non-ape species remains limited. Human-directed food-solicitation gestures in Hanuman langurs (Semnopithecus entellus) have recently been described, but whether these behaviours exhibit behavioural hallmarks associated with first-order intentionality remains unknown. Here, we experimentally investigated the presence of these hallmarks in free-ranging Hanuman langurs across six anthropogenic sites in southern West Bengal, India. We conducted 360 experimental and control trials and quantified behavioural markers commonly used to operationalize intentional communication. Experimental trials elicited audience checking, recipient-directed orientation, rapid approach responses, food-solicitation gestures and gestural flexibility, whereas these behaviours were rare or absent in control trials. Differences between experimental and control conditions were significant across all six study sites. Signalling also ceased following food acquisition, consistent with the stopping rule associated with an Apparently Satisfactory Outcome. Our findings demonstrate the presence of multiple behavioural hallmarks linked to first-order intentionality in the human-directed gestural communication of free-ranging Hanuman langurs. These results extend the study of intentionality beyond apes and provide new insights into the evolutionary distribution of intentionality-related traits across primates.

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arXiv2016

Clever mothers balance time and effort in parental care: a study on free-ranging dogs

Mammalian offspring require parental care, at least in the form of suckling during their early development. While mothers need to invest considerable time and energy in ensuring the survival of their current offspring, they also need to optimize their investment in one batch of offspring in order to ensure future reproduction and hence lifetime reproductive success. Free-ranging dogs live in small social groups, mate promiscuously, and lack the cooperative breeding biology of other group living canids. They face high early life mortality, which in turn reduces fitness benefits of the mother from a batch of pups. We carried out a field based study on free-ranging dogs in India to understand the nature of parental care provided by mothers at different stages of pup development. Using behavioural patterns of mother-pup interactions, we draw up a timeline of pup ontogeny. Our analysis reveals that mothers cleverly reduce investment in energy intensive active care and increase passive care as the pups grow older, thereby keeping overall levels of parental care more or less constant over pup age.

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arXiv2016

Do dogs live in joint families? Understanding allo-parental care in free-ranging dogs

Cooperative breeding is an excellent example of altruistic cooperation in social groups. Domestic dogs have evolved from cooperatively hunting and breeding ancestors, but have adapted to a facultatively social scavenging lifestyle on streets, and solitary living in human homes. Pets typically breed and reproduce under human supervision, but free-ranging dogs can provide insights into the natural breeding biology of dogs. We conducted a five year long study on parental care of free-ranging dogs in India. We observed widespread alloparenting by both adult males and females. Allomothers provided significantly less care that the mothers, but the putative fathers showed comparable levels of care with the mothers. However, the nature of care varied; mothers invested more effort in feeding and allogrooming, while the putative fathers played and protected more. We were unsure of the relatedness of the pups with the putative fathers, but all the allomothers were maternal relatives of the pups, which provides support for both the benefit-of-philopatry and assured fitness returns hypotheses. Free-ranging dogs are not cooperative breeders like wolves, but are more similar to communal breeders. Their breeding biology bears interesting similarities with the human joint family system.

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arXiv2016

Selfish Pups: Weaning Conflict and Milk Theft in Free-Ranging Dogs

Parent-offspring conflict theory predicts the emergence of weaning conflict between a mother and her offspring arising from skewed relatedness benefits. Empirical observations of weaning conflict has not been carried out in canids. In a field-based study on free-ranging dogs we observed that suckling bout durations reduce, proportion of mother-initiated suckling bouts reduce and mother-initiated suckling terminations increase, with pup age. We identified the 7th - 13th week period of pup age as the zone of conflict between the mother and her pups, beyond which suckling solicitations cease, and before which suckling refusals are few. We also report for the first time milk theft by pups who take advantage of the presence of multiple lactating females, due to the promiscuous mating system of the dogs. This behaviour, though apparently disadvantageous for the mothers, is perhaps adaptive for the dogs in the face of high mortality and competition for resources.

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arXiv2013

The Meat of the Matter: A thumb rule for scavenging dogs?

Animals that scavenge in and around human localities need to utilize a broad range of resources. Preference for any one kind of food, under such circumstances, might be inefficient. Indian free-ranging dogs, Canis lupus familiaris are scavengers that are heavily dependent on humans for sustaining their omnivorous diet. The current study suggests that because of evolutionary load, these dogs, which are descendants of the decidedly carnivorous gray wolf, still retain a preference for meat though they live on carbohydrate-rich resources. The plasticity in their diet probably fosters efficient scavenging in a competitive environment, while a thumb rule for preferentially acquiring specific nutrients enables them to sequester proteins from the carbohydrate-rich environment.

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arXiv2012

Parent-offspring Conflict in feral dogs: A Bioassay

The parent-offspring conflict theory is an interesting premise for understanding the dynamics of parental care. However, this theory is not easy to test empirically, as exact measures of parental investment in an experimental set-up are difficult to obtain. We have used the Indian feral dog as a model system to test the POC theory in their natural habitat in the context of the mother's tendency to share food given by humans with her pups in the weaning and post-weaning stage. Our behavioural bioassay convincingly demonstrates an increase of conflict and decrease of cooperation by the mother with her offspring over a span of 4-6 weeks. We also demonstrate that the conflict is intentional, and is not influenced by the hunger levels of the pups or the litter size.

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