Lecture 1: Introduction

Question 1

Why should we study animal behaviour?

Answer 1

• Understanding the reproductive behaviour of pests may lead to their control.
• knowledge of the migratory routes of an endangered whale or shorebird may enable conservationists to design adequate reserves.

Question 2

What are the four paradigms of studying animal behaviour?

Answer 2

• Behavioural ecology: The study of the evolutionary and ecological basis of behaviour, and the role of behaviour in enabling animals to adapt to their environment.
• Ethology: Focuses on identifying generalisable ‘laws’ of animal behaviour that predictably result from evolutionary processes.
• Comparative Psychology: The application of psychological theory to animals, usually in a laboratory setting.
• Sociobiology: The attempt to explain complex social behaviours, including human cultures, in terms of ecology, adaptation and evolution.

Question 3

Define ‘ethogram’.

Answer 3

A description of the main types of behaviour and the frequency and conditions under which the behaviours are exhibited.

Question 4

Define ‘innate releaser’ (sign stimulus).

Answer 4

An effective cue in releasing a specific behavioural pattern.

Question 5

Define ‘fixed action pattern’.

Answer 5

A sequence of innate behavioural acts that is essentially unchangeable and usually conducted to completion once it is started.

Question 6

Define ‘supernormal stimulus’.

Answer 6

A stimulus that elicits a stronger response than the stimulus for which it evolved.

Question 7

What are Tinbergen’s four questions?

Answer 7

• Causation (how)
• Development (how)
• Evolution (why)
• Function (why).

Question 8

Define ‘proximate explanations’.

Answer 8

How a behaviour is produced– through physiological mechanisms, genes, immediate environmental influences, and development.

Question 9

Define ‘ultimate explanations’.

Answer 9

Why a behaviours produced– because of evolutionary history and adaptive function.