Animal Behavior Biology 17
Why Study Animal Behavior???
Animal Behavior History
Prehistoric Times Cave Drawings 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 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 studied 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 Ivan Pavlov (1904) Noble Prize Classical Conditioning
Comparative Psychologists John B. Watson (1930) Behaviorism Little Albert
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
Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior Proximate Immediate causes Mechanisms Ultimate Evolutionary causes Adaptive value of the behavior
Mastigias paupua Golden Medusa Migrates upward during the day and descends at night Also migrate from the west to the east during the day and return in the evening
Proximate Cause At night – undirected pulsing of bell to “taxis” This causes them to head east until they hit the shadows on the east from the trees which cause them to move west in the afternoon. Mechanism – “ocelli” – photosensitive neurons control their swimming behavior and direct them toward the light
Ultimate Cause Get most of their food from zooxanthelle (photosynthetic) Over millions of years, individuals that behaved in this way received more food and were able to leave more offspring with the ability to coordinate their muscle contratctions to ensure light for the zooxanthelle