Yigui Zhang

• Doctor of Psychology
• Medical Doctor at Nanjing University

Eyespots have been shown to perform an anti-predator function by intimidating predators. But whether predators are deterred by the eyespots’ mimicking eyes of higher-order predators, or by the conspicuousness of the spots, is still being debated. The anti-predator mechanism of eyespots, which involved the predator’s visual perception and cognition,...

This study aims to reveal the nature and motivation of human cooperation. By adopting the public goods game paradigm of competition and repetition, and introducing factors such as punishment and heterogeneous contributions, an experiment was conducted at Nanjing University in China, where 224 undergraduate students participated in seven games, incl...

Extensive research has consistently underscored the significance of visual information, particularly facial cues, in primates’ establishment and maintenance of social relationships within their communities. This study aims to delve into the cross-species face recognition capacities of gibbons through exposure to a diverse array of two-dimensional f...

It is no doubt that the reciprocal altruism of humans is unparalleled in the animal world. However, how strong altruistic behavior in the non-human animal is still very controversial. Almost all previous researches allowed only one individual in the dyad for action or dyad to accomplish tasks and obtain rewards simultaneously. Here, we designed cur...

Behavioral responses to novelty, including fear and subsequent avoidance of novel stimuli, i.e., neophobia, determine how animals interact with their environment. Neophobia aids in navigating risk and impacts on adaptability and survival. There is variation within and between individuals and species; however, lack of large-scale, comparative studie...

Behavioural responses to novelty, including fear and subsequent avoidance of novel stimuli, behaviours referred to as neophobia, determine how animals interact with their environment. Neophobia aids in navigating risk and impacts on adaptability and survival. There is variation within and between individuals and species, however, lack of large-scal...

In this study, the improved Aesop’s fable paradigm—a series of experiments originally used to test whether some animals understand the causality associated with water replacement—was used to explore the cognitive ability of Azure-winged magpies ( Cyanopica cyanus ). Experimental results on causal cue tasks showed that the Azure-winged magpies prefe...

The growing population of outdoor free-ranging cats poses increasing threats to biodiversity. While those threats are now well recognized, how human-cat interactions contribute to shape population dynamics have been overlooked. In this study, we explore major variables associated with the distribution of free-ranging cat density in 30 universities...

The growing population of outdoor free-ranging cats poses an increasingly serious threat to biodiversity. Identifying the strategies that outdoor free-ranging cats apply to live with humans is an interesting research topic. In this study, we provided robust estimates of free-ranging cat density in 30 universities in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China...

家养有蹄类动物的反刍行为已有大量研究，而受限于野外条件，野生有蹄类动物反刍行为的研究有限。以往研究认为，体型可能是影响动物反刍行为的重要因素。本研究以日本奈良公园日本梅花鹿Cervus nippon nippon和中国江苏大丰麋鹿Elaphurus davidianus为研究对象，观察记录并比较分析了发情期的日本梅花鹿与发情期的麋鹿在卧息时反刍行为的种内及种间差异。按照年龄性别差异，分5种类型（成年雄性、成年雌性、亚成雄性、亚成雌性和幼鹿）研究两物种食团咀嚼时间、咀嚼频率和咀嚼速率的差异。结果表明，1）日本梅花鹿的咀嚼速率和食团咀嚼时间受性别-年龄的显著影响：咀嚼速率为幼体 > 亚成雌性 > 亚成雄性 > 成年雌性 > 成年雄性，而食团咀嚼时间为成年雄性 > 亚成雄性 > 成年雌性 > 亚成...