Animal behavior is a diverse area of study that looks at the organization of a single animal or even its cells but also compares group dynamics and adaptations over time. People who study behavior look at these different levels. An endocrinologist looks at how hormones dictate behavior through life. A physiologist studies how the nerves, muscles and sense organs are stimulated and coordinated to produce behavior. A psychologist or ethologist is interested in how the whole animal works and the factors that affect it. A behavioral psychologist traditionally studies how an animal learns in a lab while an ethologist describes naturally occurring behaviors in the wild. All of these areas of animal behavior combine to give a complete view of how and why animals act the way they do. Today, however, the scientific study of animal behavior is generally lumped under ethology.
The ultimate goal of ethologists is to understand patterns of animal behavior. An ethogram is a complete list of behaviors for an animal. This includes actions alone and with other animals, postures, color changes and vocalizations. Ethologists base their work on repeated observations and measurements.
Like other sciences, the study of animal behavior answers questions using the scientific method. This is a series of steps that build on each other to arrive at conclusions:
make a hypothesis (an educated guess)
test the hypothesis
form a theory
prove the theory
state a law
Not all studies end in a law, or even a theory on which all scientists agree. It is important to share information so that everyone can keep up with new information and changing ideas.
When your students design behavior studies they should quantify their work with real data. This information can be shared and reproduced. Students should be encouraged to design their own projects, bearing this in mind. Two concepts you might introduce are interval studies and how to work with questions and variables.
Interval studies identify behaviors at specific times, such as every minute or hour. These studies are good for projects that devote a lot of time to basic animal observation. They help build an ethogram. A stopwatch or watch with a second hand and recording sheet are the basic equipment, with perhaps binoculars for animals that you cannot approach. At the end of each designated time segment, the exact behavior is noted. Behaviors that fall between the intervals are not noted. The behavior list generated from this study can be used to quantify actions. To figure out the time devoted to each behavior, total the check marks in each category. Then total all check marks. Use the following formula to determine what percent of the time the animal spends in each category.
|
= | % time spent on behavior |
Example: You watch a pigeon for 25 minutes and note its action every minute on the minute. You see grooming 6 times during the 25 observations.
|
= | 24% time spent grooming |
Variables are factors that you can change to manipulate what is happening. Studies that use variables study one aspect of behavior, such as aggression, feeding or choices. In an experiment, the "control" is your baseline reading. It is used to compare against experiments with variables. It is only fair to introduce one variable, or change, at a time and then observe its result. For example, if you were studying to see if crayfish are territorial, you could first watch how one animal uses a defined amount of space. This is the control situation. You might guess that the number of hiding spaces or fellow crayfish, available food or area of the tank make a difference. Each one of these new situations is a variable. The results of these changes compared to the control allow you to make conclusions.
Studying animals in a controlled environment, like an aquarium or zoo, is different from studying their behavior in the wild. Animals in captivity are protected from predators, provided with food, limited in range and exposed to a simplified environment. Not all behaviors are ideally suited for short studies at an institution. For instance, courtship is usually seasonal. Feeding may have occurred already. Most animals are fed early in the morning. You can't study nocturnal habits at a place that closes to the public before night. It is best to look for a broad range of behaviors and to observe social interactions.
Reprinted courtesy of the National Aquarium in Baltimore
