behaviour learning outcome 2

what is ethnology

The study of animal behaviour with the emphasis on the behavioural patterns that occur in the natural environment Ethnologists essentially study animal behaviour in the wild

Reasons for studding natural animal behaviours:

To learn more about the animals

Ability to locate animals based on patterns

Helping animals and preventing extinction

Learning more about how interact with each other Helps to compare domestic and wild animals

Improving captive animal management = zoo animals such as captive elephants and giraffes, so natural environment can be mimicked and natural behaviours can be exhibited

Managing animal populations = reducing populations of badgers near cattle and putting in appropriate disease prevention to prevent the badgers giving the cows TB.

Knowing the badgers behaviours can help prevent them

Improving animal welfare = observing wild animals such as endangered species to ensure that appropriate changes can be made to ensure that the welfare is good and see if there is any help these animals may need

who are the three main ethnologists

Konrad Lorenz Nikolaas tinbergen Charles dawin

EXAMPLE - describe dog laying down

Laying on right or left side, stomach or back, with eyes closed and head down

EXAMPLE - describe dog walking

All four legs extended underneath the dog to support its weight, one front eg extended forward in sync with opposing back leg and placed on the ground followed by this same sequence with the opposite legs and repeated.

steps to design an ethogram

Choose your animal
Make a list of behaviours you would expect to see
Observe the animal - make notes, monitor behaviour, take photos
Write descriptions on the behaviours seen - say when you see and not what you think
Put all information into a table
Write codes for each behaviour / description

steps to write descriptions for ethograms

You need to describe exactly what you see
It may vary per individual
Example - cat sitting = cat is positioned with its front legs extended straight, front paws and rump positioned on the ground

what did Konrad Lorenz do

Konrad Lorenz 1903 -1989 = he did an experiment where the goose eggs were separated and who ever they were exposed to first they would gravitate to and follow. He called it imprinting, he studdied attachment behaviour in geese, imprinting happens between 12 and 17 hours (critical period)

what did nikolaas Tinbergen do

Nikolaas tinbergen 1907-1988 = the four questions of behaviour, proximate causes and ultimate causes, what stimulus and function causes behaviour, how a behaviour occurs and why natural selection favoured it, what does the animals body do in response to the stimulus

what did Charles Darwin do

Charles dawin 1809 -1882 = collected animal and plant sepcimens for study. Most favourable charfactistc survives and passes that gene on when it reproduces (natural selection)