Animal Behaviour Concepts and Approaches

Introduction

• Animal behaviour can be studied for various reasons, including interest in species, processes, patterns, or broader questions.
• Approaches include conceptual/therapeutic and empirical/methodological approaches.
• Key examples of species are turtles, chipmunks, apes, marmosets, coyotes, birds, voles and elephant nose fish.
• Key examples of processes are theory of mind, reproductive suppression, fear/boldness traits.
• Key examples of patterns are preening, grooming behavior, and play behaviour.
• Key examples of broader questions are conservation, evolution, parasitology, and development of animal behaviours.

Two Major Fields

• Psychology (Comparative Psychology): Focuses on animal behaviour from a psychological perspective using methods often conducted in laboratory settings.
• Biology (Behavioral Biology): Focuses on animal behaviour from a biological perspective incorporating ethology, sociobiology, and behavioral ecology.

Areas with Peripheral Interest

• Anthropology: Includes primatology (study of primates) and anthrozoology (human-animal relationships).
• Computer Sciences: Artificial life (AL), artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics utilize behavioural models.
• Neurosciences and Biomedical Sciences: Animal models are used to understand human diseases and disorders.
• Model Systems: These are animals commonly used to understand biological processes. Rodents are an example.

Applications

• Animal behaviour research impacts behavioural techniques for training service animals, animal welfare, therapeutic applications (zootherapy and companionship), and conservation/pest control.
• This research is used to develop strategies for species preservation and pest control strategies.

Comparative Psychology

• Definition: A branch of psychology focusing on the understanding of animal behaviour based on psychological principles utilizing experimental methods.
• Historical Context: Comparative psychology dominated behavioral science during the behaviorism era, for example Watson and Skinner.
• Focus: Primarily studies learning and acquired behaviours, often ignoring mental processes.

Ethology

• Definition: The study of animal behaviour in natural settings emphasizing innate behaviours and species-specific traits.
• Approach: Focuses on observable behaviours and ecological validity in natural environments, using inductive methods and observational studies.
• Key Figures: Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and Karl von Frisch, awarded the Nobel Prize.

Comparative Psychology vs. Ethology

• Nature vs nurture debate: Ethology emphasizes innate behaviours while comparative psychology focuses on learned behaviors.

Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology

• Sociobiology: Emerged from E.O. Wilson's book, emphasizing evolutionary biology and genetics. Key figures include George Williams, Richard Dawkins, and Robert Trivers.
• Behavioural Ecology: Focuses on the interaction between animal behaviour and the environment, including social behaviours, mating systems, foraging strategies, and evolutionary fitness (survival and reproduction).

Behavioural Classification Biases

• Ethology: Focuses on behaviours, patterns, structures, and mechanisms, often related to survival and reproduction.
• Behavioural Ecology: Focuses on functions of behaviours and their relationship to survival and reproduction.

Fixed Action Patterns (FAPs)

• Characteristics: Triggered by specific stimuli; executed consistently; stereotyped; predictable across individuals within a species.
• Example: Greylag geese egg-rolling behaviour

Animal Taxonomy

• Taxon (taxa): A classification unit in biological taxonomy.
• Taxonomy (systematics): Science of classifying organisms, including their naming and identifying features.

Vertebrate Terminology

• Lower Vertebrates: Agnatha (jawless fishes), Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous), Osteichthyes (bony).
• Higher Vertebrates: Amniota, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals

Vertebrate Evolutionary Tree

• Agnathans, Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes, Tetrapods, and Amniotes (Reptiles, Birds, Mammals) are part of the vertebrate evolution.

Mustelids and Adaptations

• Key species: Spotted skunk, American mink, Wolverine, American badger, Fisher,
• Shared Characteristics: Musk glands for scent marking.

Domestic Cats

• Ancestry: Likely from African wildcats (felis lybica), and possibly European wildcats (felis sylvestris).

Domestication Syndrome

• Definition: A set of phenotypic traits arising.
• Examples: Non-behavioral (reduced brain size, changes in reproductive cycles, colour changes), Behavioral (increased tameness), and Origins.

Phenotypic Dimensions

• Chemophenes (molecular changes), Somatophenes (body morphology), Physiophenes (physiological systems), Ethophenes (observable behaviours), Psychophenes (internal processes).

Mating Systems

• Polygamy: Often strong sexual dimorphism and competition.
• Monogamy: Often weaker sexual dimorphism and similar investment from both partners.
• Conflicts in mating preferences include male desires, female preferences, and indicator of fitness.

Male-Male Competition

• Aggression, Sperm competition, Kleptogamy

Reproductive Success

• Measures include the number of offspring born, weaned individuals, and individuals reaching reproductive age.

Sexual Selection

• Evolutionary mechanisms where traits favour mating success due to their quality and quantity.

Parental Care

• Activities that enhance offspring survival (feeding and guarding). It includes maternal, paternal, and alloparental care.

Parental Care Theories

• Parental Provision Model; Conflict Model; Symbiosis/Mutualism Model

Mating in Birds

• About 90% of bird species are mating monogamously.

Gang-brooding

• Multiple parents caring for multiple broods.

Group Size and Population Regulation

• Key concepts pertaining to groups and their populations.

Evolutionary/Ecological Theories of Group Selection and Overpopulation

• Wynne-Edwards' Group Selection; Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome; Calhoun's and Christian's Models; Sapolsky's Work on Dominance and Stress

Syngnathids and Northern Pipefish

• Overview of sehaorses, pipefish, pipehorses, and seadragons.

Turtles (Testudines)

• Nova Scotia species, temperature-dependent sex determination, reproduction, and conservation.

Salamanders (Urodela)

• Nova Scotia species, morphs, characteristics, reproduction and habitat.

Overview of Key Animal Taxons

• Overview of Key Animal Taxons, like Marsupialia, Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Rodentia, Cetacea, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Primates.