Introduction to Animal Behavior

Question 1

Niccolas Timbergen?

Answer 1

• developed ethology/ethogram
• studies same behavior across multiple unrelated species to discover the laws of behavior
• won nobel prize

Question 2

Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989)

Answer 2

• studied imprinting (Geese)
• studied social behaviors
• Wrote “King Solomon’s Ring”
• won nobel prize

Question 3

Karl Von Frisch (1886-1982)

Answer 3

• Karl Von Frisch (1886-1982)
  decoded bee language (waggle dance)
• won nobel prize

Question 4

Tinbergen’s 4 Questions on Animal Behavior

Answer 4

CDEF

Causation: (proximate question)
What are the immediate stimuli that produce the behavior?
How is it modified by recent learning?
How does behavior function on a molecular, physiological, and neurological level?
How does the behavior function cognitively and socially

Development: (proximate)
How does behavior change with age
what early experiences are required for the behavior to be expressed
How does the environment interact with development and behavior?
Evolution; (ultimate question)
how does behavior compared to a similar behavior in a related species
How do phylogenetic processes and constraints affect the behavior
Why did the behavior evolve the way it did?
Function (Adaptation at a microevolutionary level) (ultimate question)
How does the behavior affect an animal’s chances to survive or reproduce

Question 5

difference between proximate and ultimate

Answer 5

Proximate factors:
what are the mechanisms involved (genetics, neuroscience, endocrinology)

Ultimate questions: Why did the behavior evolve?