The behaviour of the horse

89

volume, actually, does not avoid the main failure of that kind of collective work: the papers are very diverse, heterogenous, with large disparities. But it has, at the same time, the quality of its failure, i.e. a firework of often contradictory ideas, inviting the reader to weigh all the conceptual choices in an attempt to build up his own viewpoint. The title is partly unappropriate, as only the second part directly fits with it. No more than half of the papers deal with animal representation, and animal behviour specialists are a minority amongst the authors. A consequence is that many articles present general philosophical discussions about representation and cognition. It is not obvious how the more specific issues of animal representation could find their place. Petitot’s paper has to be signalled in this respect, as it nicely overcomes that difficulty. A second consequence of the specific interest of the authors is that some basic arguments from experimental data in ethology and animal psychology are rare and mostly missing. Again, the reader should not expect to find a large and complete view of the literature in that field. It was not the aim of the book. Particularly, since the classical ethology, which already dealt with these issues more than half century ago until the present period, the discussion of ethological arguments remains very superficial and mostly incomplete. Some papers are obviously based on ethologial data (Gervet or Vauclair, for instance), but only a few viewpoints are emphasized, preventing the reader from developing a powerful criticism. The contributions of the neurobiologists to the study of animal representation are also mostly absent. In this respect, Zayan’s paper deserves to be outlined, as a successful attempt to join psychological and neurobiological aspects of animal representation. In the same way, the contribution of the formal models approach and of artificial intelligence specialists is poorly represented. Finally, one could have expected new perspectives, methodological proposals and issues to be solved for the near future from such a book. But, despite the gap between possible expectancy, and the published result, this book, because of the many stimulating ideas totally deserves to be read, discussed and commented. Raymond Campan, Biologie du Comportement, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

The Behaviour of The Horse. By Andrew F. Fraser. E.A.B. International,

228 pp.

The book is divided into 7 chapters: Basis of Behaviour, Inner Controls, Maintenance Behaviour, Reproduction, Developmental and Social Behaviour, Abnormal and Anomalous Behaviour, and Behaviour and Well-Being. The weakest portion of the book is that on the physiology and neurology, the first two sections of the book. The information is not based on the horse. Horses are too large, expensive and prone to infection to be good subjects for direct manipulation of their brains by injection or lesions. The reader would not be aware of this on the basis of the

90 information

presented

in ‘The

information

presented

is not current.

only

one

neurotransmitter

transmitters

these

criticisms

development

The

best portions

social

interactions

ing sex differences An interesting land ponies,

The

the

physiology

on

repro-

tend

studies

of foal development

of particular

to be born

interest

between

are those

1800

and

concern-

and midnight

but

experience

relationship

with

free-ranging

between

two

is subordinate,

he or she will

retreat.

disappointing

in

Newfound-

horses.

the ears will

One

horse

be laid back and

This

signalling

should

of horses. behavior

not cited. The

was

cribbing

advances

and

in

self-mutilation

veterinary

Fortunately,

horse

his experience

owners,

that

some

were

not

behaviour

book is based on the author’s

experience.

well-educated

on maintenance,

is dominant,

for

recent

neuro-

If the recipient

anomalous

more

releases

different

times.

of a dominance

groups

physiological

good.

own

Points

based on the author’s

treatments

were

practitioners,

Fillies

If the recipient

and on his personal

Katherine

Fraser’s

in ontogeny.

of multiple

chapters

deal with

in other

chapter

The

of the book

at more variable

pharmacological general,

is worthwhile.

ponies.

the

that one neuron

nerve cell has been proven. are particularly

on the shoulder.

be confirmed

as production

behaviour

suggestion

the head raised.

Furthermore,

the concept

and social

is the signalling

nips the other

by a single

the book

Horse’.

example,

replaced

of Newfoundland

colts are delivered

of The

For

has been

and neuromodulators

Despite duction,

Behaviour

and applied

and

of the

equine

interpretation

In

behavioural

of the literature

has been considerable.

behaviourists

newer

mentioned.

will

enjoy

Equine

this

book.

A. Houpt,

Cornell

University,

Animal

Behavior

Ithaca NY

Clinic,

14843-6401,

USA

Ethology Stanley

of the Endangered H. Anderson.

ISBN

3-489-63536-l.

The

North-American

polecats. ultimate

Its

narrow

and

ethogram

prairie

bred of

reintroduction made

black-footed

ferret

specialization

as

in the

species

attempts. mid-go’s

The that

The on

is a close

aim could

be

last wild

Parey,

of the

prairie

dogs

Berlin,

the only for

taken

captive

from

population,

ferrets

reviewed

European

films

as well

known here

and

49

pp,

and Siberian spp.)

human

is

the

attempts

to be alive are is to provide

propagation

and

and scattered as from

J. Miller 1993,

(Cynomys

cause being extensive

monograph

useful

By Bridn

nigripes). Paul

relative

At present, of the

31,

of

the proximate

basic data were

the

(Mustela

volume

predator

dog populations.

in captivity. the

Ferret

in Ethology

cause of its near extinction,

at ‘controlling’ kept

Black-footed

Advances

an

eventual

observations

the observation

of

captive animals. The endeavour (“ferrets

were..

is definitely

, ferrets

are..

sensible.

Stylistic

“1 convey,

swings

unwittingly

in the text between perhaps,

present

an acute feeling

and past for the