Animal Behavior

Biology 17

Why Study Animal Behavior???

Animal Behavior

History

Prehistoric Times

• Cave Drawings 40000 BC

Ancient Greek Period

• Greek Writing • 1700 BC - Head injury and brain function• 340 BC – Aristotle – Anatomist /Philosopher

• Historia Animalium• Mutualism• Tool use• Brood Parasitism

Native Americans

• Southeast Texas - Bonfire• Mass Killings -12000 years ago

The Three Foundations

• Medical Anatomy and Physiology• Evolution• Human Psychology

Medical Anatomy and Physiology

• Andreas Versalius (1543)• De humani corporis fabrica

libri septem (On the fabric of the human body in seven books)

• Paul Broca (1861)• Speech Production

The Evolutionary Foundation

• Charles Darwin (1859)• The Origin of Species• Natural Selection• Sexual Selection

The Evolutionary Foundation

• George John Romanes (1884)• Mental Evolution in Animals• Behavior could be studies

among different animals and infer relationships

• Injective knowledge

Human Psychology

• Comparative Psychology (Psychologists)• This school of thought advocates the use of

strict experimental procedures to study observable behaviors (or responses) in relation to environment (or stimuli)

• Ethology (Zoologists)• This school of thought advocates studying

behavior under naturalistic conditions. It explores animal behavior in the context of animal anatomy and physiology. Ethologists specifically considered the significance of inherited elements of behavior alongside learned components

Comparative Psychologists

• John B. Watson (1930)• Behaviorism• Little Albert

Comparative Psychologists

• Ivan Pavlov (1904)• Noble Prize • Classical Conditioning

Comparative Psychologists

• B.F. Skinner (1938)• The Behavior of Organisms• Operant Conditioning• Skinner Box

Ethologists

• Karl von Frisch (1973)• Noble Prize

• Bee Dance

Ethologists• Konrad Lorenz (1973)

• Noble Prize• Imprinting• FAP• Ethograms

Ethologists

• Niko Tinbergen (1973)• Noble Prize• The Study of Instinct• FAP (with Lorenz)• Four Questions

Ethologists

• Niko Tinbergen (1973)• Four Questions

• Causation• Development• Evolution• Function

• Mneumonic• ABCDEF

• Proximate vs. Ultimate Questions???

Other famous Behaviorists