Studying Animal Behaviour Flashcards
Why do people study animal behaviour?
to assess the welfare of an animal
for health and safety
for better understanding of animal behaviour
for training an animal
to manage an animal’s behaviour
to provide enrichment
for breeding and conserving animals
Who are some influential people in the field of animal behaviour?
Charles Darwin
Ivan Pavlov
Konrad Lorenz
B F Skinner
Nikolaas Tinbergen
Jane Goodall
What contribution did Charles Darwin make to the field of animal behaviour?
before the 1800s animal behaviour was not studied in a structural way
people deemed animal behaviour as unimportant
in 1871 Charles Darwin published his second book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex
the book spoke about the characteristics of animals that gave them reproductive advantage
the book gave people a better understanding on animal behaviour and made other people want to study it
What contribution did Ivan Pavlov make to the field of animal behaviour?
in 1897 Ivan Pavlov discovered the training technique classical conditioning
he was conducting research on the digestion of dogs when he noticed the dogs’ physical reaction to the food changed over time
at first the dogs would only salivate when the food was placed in front of them however the dogs started to salivate slightly before their food arrived
he realized that they were salivating at the noises that were consistently present before the food arrived
to test this theory he set up an experiment in which he rang a bell shortly before presenting food to the dogs
over time the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone
What contribution did Konrad Lorenz make to the field of animal behaviour?
studied the behaviour of geese by dressing up as a mother goose to see how the goslings would react
What contribution did B F Skinner make to the field of animal behaviour?
known for his work in operant conditioning
he found that behaviour that had pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated and behaviour that had unpleasant consequences wasn’t likely to be repeated
What contribution did Nikolaas Tinbergen make to the field of animal behaviour?
evented the four questions that attempt to explain animal behaviour
What contribution did Jane Goodall make to the field of animal behaviour?
one of the first people to study animal behaviour in the wild
lived among chimpanzees to study their behaviour
discovered chimpanzees make and use tools to eat
What are Tinbergen’s four questions?
- causation - what happens in the body of an animal to link the stimuli with the response
- development - nature vs nurture how young animals learn at different life stages
- evolution - history of natural selection to create adaptations
- function - how the behaviour benefits the animal
