ZOOL326: Animal Behaviour
,1 — Introduction
Why do we Study Animal Behaviour?
- animals have always been of the utmost importance to humans
- a major source of food, materials for clothes and shelter
- a source of danger
- evidence in art, middens, burials, mythology and management practices that
continue today
- hunting; either as they prey or to help
- agriculture - industry and conflict
- conservation and management
- animal welfare
- to better understand ourselves and our impact
- we are an animal - our evolutionary history influences many of our
behaviours
- understanding other model systems can therefore help us understand
ourselves
2 — Observing Behaviour
Lecture Objectives
- how do we observe behaviour
- some pitfalls to be aware of
- relevance to your major project
Studying Animal Behaviour
- be methodical – science should be repeatable
- observe and describe – ‘watch and wonder’ approach
- then ask questions – form hypothesis
- read martin and bateson for advice
- quantify data to reject/accept hypothesis
, - relate your conclusions to the literature
- avoid anthropomorphism
Project Components and Composition
- project outline – 5%, 500 words
- chance to ask questions
- confirm your approach with little risk to your grade
- won’t be held to it, format is flexible
- poster/waterbird reports allow feedback on hypotheses, analyses, data presentation
- project report – 35%
- behavioural repertoire: what was quantified?
- draw an ethogram
- continuous vs time sampling
- hypotheses, statistics and graphing
Choosing a Species
- birds – diurnal, active, visual and auditory monitoring
- mammals – mostly nocturnal, olfactory important
- reptiles/frogs
- invertebrates – individual identity tough, use colony
- livestock or captive individuals possible
Power of Observation
- observation = powerful tool, plays a crucial role in answering questions about animal
behaviour
- scientific methods build on unbiased observations, hypothesis formation, predictions
and tests, in order to develop a comprehensive explanation of the phenomenon
being studied
- animal behaviour is concerned with what animals do, so observing behaviour is key
to understanding this
, Describing Behaviour
- observations form the factual basis of the study of animal behaviour
- how do we catalogue observations?
- an ethogram is a detailed account of the behavioural patterns of a species
Ethogram: Spider Contests as a Linear Example
- stages of escalation in male-male contests
- (1) orient: 2 spiders concurrently maintain orientation toward (“see”) each
other. usually, the first spider to see the other adopts a “hunch” display, with
the body raise far above the substrate, and standing still
- (2) pose: both spiders adopt hunch displays
- (3) proximate: one or both spiders approach the other
- (4) spar: having approached to within two or three body lengths apart, the
spiders repeatedly lunge forward, filing their legs upward. during these
exchanges, spiders sometimes ram directly into their rivals face
- (5) embrace: spiders step forward until touching face to face, with front legs
held out the side, and attempt to push each other backwards
- (6) struggle: spiders grasp one another, roll and bite at each other
What if More Complex Communication is Required?
- functionally referential signalling: provides information on predator type
- can also encode urgency
Hypothesis Testing
- hypotheses formalise direct tests of ideas by generating predictions about future
behaviour
- null hypothesis is essentially no ‘change’ or effect:
- H0: acoustic signals alone do not elicit predator-specific alarm behaviours
- alternate hypothesis is the opposite
- HA: acoustic signals alone do elicit predator-specific alarm behaviours
- both H0 and HA cannot be true i.e. do ≠ do not
- playback experiments confirmed that the monkeys respond to the calls alone
- alternate accepted, null hypothesis rejected
,1 — Introduction
Why do we Study Animal Behaviour?
- animals have always been of the utmost importance to humans
- a major source of food, materials for clothes and shelter
- a source of danger
- evidence in art, middens, burials, mythology and management practices that
continue today
- hunting; either as they prey or to help
- agriculture - industry and conflict
- conservation and management
- animal welfare
- to better understand ourselves and our impact
- we are an animal - our evolutionary history influences many of our
behaviours
- understanding other model systems can therefore help us understand
ourselves
2 — Observing Behaviour
Lecture Objectives
- how do we observe behaviour
- some pitfalls to be aware of
- relevance to your major project
Studying Animal Behaviour
- be methodical – science should be repeatable
- observe and describe – ‘watch and wonder’ approach
- then ask questions – form hypothesis
- read martin and bateson for advice
- quantify data to reject/accept hypothesis
, - relate your conclusions to the literature
- avoid anthropomorphism
Project Components and Composition
- project outline – 5%, 500 words
- chance to ask questions
- confirm your approach with little risk to your grade
- won’t be held to it, format is flexible
- poster/waterbird reports allow feedback on hypotheses, analyses, data presentation
- project report – 35%
- behavioural repertoire: what was quantified?
- draw an ethogram
- continuous vs time sampling
- hypotheses, statistics and graphing
Choosing a Species
- birds – diurnal, active, visual and auditory monitoring
- mammals – mostly nocturnal, olfactory important
- reptiles/frogs
- invertebrates – individual identity tough, use colony
- livestock or captive individuals possible
Power of Observation
- observation = powerful tool, plays a crucial role in answering questions about animal
behaviour
- scientific methods build on unbiased observations, hypothesis formation, predictions
and tests, in order to develop a comprehensive explanation of the phenomenon
being studied
- animal behaviour is concerned with what animals do, so observing behaviour is key
to understanding this
, Describing Behaviour
- observations form the factual basis of the study of animal behaviour
- how do we catalogue observations?
- an ethogram is a detailed account of the behavioural patterns of a species
Ethogram: Spider Contests as a Linear Example
- stages of escalation in male-male contests
- (1) orient: 2 spiders concurrently maintain orientation toward (“see”) each
other. usually, the first spider to see the other adopts a “hunch” display, with
the body raise far above the substrate, and standing still
- (2) pose: both spiders adopt hunch displays
- (3) proximate: one or both spiders approach the other
- (4) spar: having approached to within two or three body lengths apart, the
spiders repeatedly lunge forward, filing their legs upward. during these
exchanges, spiders sometimes ram directly into their rivals face
- (5) embrace: spiders step forward until touching face to face, with front legs
held out the side, and attempt to push each other backwards
- (6) struggle: spiders grasp one another, roll and bite at each other
What if More Complex Communication is Required?
- functionally referential signalling: provides information on predator type
- can also encode urgency
Hypothesis Testing
- hypotheses formalise direct tests of ideas by generating predictions about future
behaviour
- null hypothesis is essentially no ‘change’ or effect:
- H0: acoustic signals alone do not elicit predator-specific alarm behaviours
- alternate hypothesis is the opposite
- HA: acoustic signals alone do elicit predator-specific alarm behaviours
- both H0 and HA cannot be true i.e. do ≠ do not
- playback experiments confirmed that the monkeys respond to the calls alone
- alternate accepted, null hypothesis rejected
