Animal Behaviour Basics

Your final week looking at animal behaviour. Hopefully, you have enjoyed looking at some of the basics and a few of the most famous studies related to this field. We've barely scratched the surface!  This final week is going to ask you to reflect on the previous weeks but also consider some other thoughts. Firstly, we have only looked at male scientists in the field of animal behaviour. Most of the big studies that laid the framework for others came at a period of history when there were few women in science. There are, however, plenty of women working in this field - who are they?  Secondly, do you think that by studying animals we can start to understand our own nature? Altruism and play are examples that are often used to suggest that we can, but other behaviours cannot be so easily linked.  Finally, what other research do you see happening in this field? Why do you see a future there? Is there much more to be found out? The answer is that there is plenty more,...

Why do kittens chase a ball of string? Why do puppies stalk each other? Young animals often play with each other and we probably see this as cute! However, it is thought that behind these play behaviours there are some important reasons and life lessons. Play is a voluntary behaviour and often intrinsically motivated. Make a prediction. Why do you think kittens stalk pieces of string or each other? It may not be that difficult to work out. But is play advantageous in the wild when it distracts them from predators and expends energy? Some play even hurts animals. Young elephants end up stuck in the mud, young seals end up washed out to sea and when the play is too boisterous, injuries happen. So is play really about learning for the future? Or are there other reasons? Is it simply just fun? In fact, science hasn't been able to come up with much solid evidence on why animals play. The best guess is that it prepares them for later life, but concrete evidence is yet to b...

Wolfgang  Köhler  was a German psychologist and phenomenologist who contributed to Gestalt psychology ( an attempt to understand the laws behind the ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world). It is work on chimp's problem solving that we look at this week. Köhler was inspired to work with chimps for two main reasons. Firstly, because they are so closely related to humans in brain function and structure. Secondly, to gain knowledge of intelligent acts. He realised early on that chimps were individuals and had unique characteristics. His work focused around providing the chimps with problems that were difficult, but not impossible for the chimps to solve.  By observing these behaviours,  Köhler learned a great deal - including his hypothesis that chimps planned and learned from failures. Your task this week is to research more about  Köhler's chimps. This is a more open ended task so you can researc...

Back to instinctive responses for this week and a look at habituation. This is the process whereby an animal stops responding to a stimulus.  Imagine if you responded to every stimulus around you - you would be exhausted! Habituation means animal stop responding to stimuli that are not biologically relevant. For example, a turtle will draw it's head into the shell when it is tapped on the head. After a while, when it realises that it isn't in danger, it stops withdrawing into the shell. Abused animals will often cower when humans are near them if they have had a bad history. After time, when they realise that their new owners pose no threat, they stop doing this. Habituation is one of the concerns with captive animals and releasing them into the wild. If they are no longer scared of humans, they don't run when poachers are near. Your task this week is to research habituation and then design a study based around your research. Some things to include: What ...