1. Intro to Applied Ethology and Ethograms

Question 1

Definition of ethology

Answer 1

The observation and detailed description of behaviour with the objective of finding out how biological mechanisms fxn

Question 2

Where are ethological studies carried out?

Answer 2

Natural or semi-natural settign

Question 3

What is ethology the science of?

Answer 3

Animal behaviour, its causation and fxn

Question 4

Oskar Heinroth

Answer 4

Naturalistic biology
- instinctive, innate and adaptive behaviour

Question 5

History of behaviour science

Answer 5

1. Oskar Heinroth
   - Naturalistic biology
   - Instinctive, innate and adaptive behaviour
2. Niko Tinbergen
   - Experimental ethology
3. Konrad Lorenz
   - Theoretical ethology
4. Later (aka present day):
   - Applied ethology
5. More recently
   - Cognitive ethology
   - What animals perceive, feel and know in relation to their own behaviour

Question 6

Nikolaas Tinbergen

Answer 6

• Experimental ethology
• Applying animal behaviour research to “stress diseases”; in the 50s/60s
• 4 Q’s

Question 7

Konrad Lorenz

Answer 7

• Theoretical ethology
• Imprinting work in geese
• Use of analogies to explain causal mechanisms of behaviour
• Psycho-hydraulic model to explain vacuum activities

Question 8

What is applied ethology?

Answer 8

*multidisciplinary field
A combination of laboratory and field science, with a strong relation to other disciplines (ex. genetics, nutrition, physiology, endocrinology, neuroanatomy, ecology).

Question 9

What are ethologists typically interested in?

Answer 9

A behavioural process or a particular animal group
- often study one type of behaviour in a number of unrelated animals = comparative

Question 10

5 applications of applied ethology

Answer 10

1. Optimizing production
   - handling, best management practices, reproductive efficiency, housing design
2. Welfare assessment
   - defining animal welfare, codes of practice/standards and assessing welfare
3. Behavioural control
   - behaviour solutions (ex. training, enrichment)
4. Behavioural disorders
   - problem behaviours (ex. knowing what is normal vs pain, distress, disease etc.)
5. Behaviour and conservation biology

Question 11

4 fields of animal behaviour

Answer 11

1. Animal behaviour
2. Behavioural ecology
3. Applied ethology
4. Comparative psychology

Question 12

Ultimate explanations

Answer 12

Pertain to evolution of the species
- ultimate = POPULATION

Question 13

Proximate explanations

Answer 13

Pertain to the individual
- proximate = INDIVIDUAL

Question 14

What are fundamentals of ethology? Why?

Answer 14

Tinbergen’s 4 Qs

Why?
- Identify complementary levels of explanation

Question 15

Tinbergen’s 4 Questions

Answer 15

1. What is the CAUSATION of the behaviour?
2. What is the FUNCTION of the behaviour?
3. How does the behaviour develop during ONTOGENY?
4. How does the behaviour develop during PHYLOGENY?

Question 16

Two proximate questions

Answer 16

1. What is the causation of the behaviour?
2. How does the behaviour develop during ontogeny?

Question 17

Two ultimate questions

Answer 17

1. What is the function of the behaviour?
2. How does the behaviour develop during phylogeny?

Question 18

“What is the causation of the behaviour?”

Answer 18

• How is the behaviour achieved?
• Proximate mechanisms or proximate cause-effect relations
• Classes of proximate mechanisms: eg. brain, hormones, pheromones, neurotransmitters
• How the behaviour operates in terms of underlying mechanism and organization

Question 19

“What is the function of the behaviour?”

Answer 19

• What is the behaviour for?
• What is the behaviour designed to do?
• Darwin’s theory of evolution aka why an animal’s behaviour is usually well adapted for survival and reproduction in its enviro
• Conceptualizes the relationship btw fxn and evolution

Question 20

“How does the behaviour develop during ontogeny?”

Answer 20

• How does the behaviour develop?
• The way the behaviour reflects its embryological or developmental influences
• Classic debate in behaviour: nature vs nurture?

Question 21

The consensus among biologists is that behaviour is the product of…

Answer 21

Gene-environment interaction, in which the whole can be more than the sum of its parts, that is, the genetic and environmental components

Question 22

Critical periods in development

Answer 22

Many forms of developmental learning have a critical period = when a behaviour needs to develop properly or it will not develop at all OR there will be lifelong consequences for that animal

Question 23

Biased learning

Answer 23

Cognitive bias, come to expect a positive or negative event
- prior experience affects behaviour going forward

Question 24

Prepared learning

Answer 24

Explains why some associations are learned more easily than others

Question 25

"How does the behaviour develop during phylogeny?"

Answer 25

- Where has the behaviour come from? - Ancestral selection pressures and phylogenetic pathways that have shaped and constrained the behaviour - Captures all evolutionary explanation other than fxn/adaptation - Includes random processes such as mutation and environmental events acting on small populations; constraints resulting from early evolutionary development

Question 26

What 4 things are needed to answer Tinbergen's 4 questions?

Answer 26

1. Conduct experiments 2. Observe animal behaviour 3. Use comparative approaches 4. Develop theoretical models

Question 27

In order to communicate effectively when describing a behaviour, what is best?

Answer 27

It is always best to state what is explicitly SEEN without including interpretations

Question 28

Objective description of behaviour

Answer 28

- Can occur at various levels of detail depending on the aims of the observations ex. muscle contraction, movement of a body part, movement of an animal in relation to the enviro, effect on the physical enviro, effect on another individual

Question 29

What is the importance of the behaviour repertoire aka what does knowledge of the behaviour of food animals allow for?

Answer 29

1. Helps move animals efficiently and quietly through systems 2. Provides the ability to identify the behavioural needs of livestock in our care 3. Helps us design environments that prevent or reduce the incidence of behavioural vices and stereotypies 4. Helps identify animals in distress or who are pre-pathological

Question 30

What can the behavioural repertoire of an animal be thought of as?

Answer 30

Think of it as a "library of behaviour" for a species- it is the complete description of the array of behaviours an animal is capable of showing

Question 31

What is an ethogram?

Answer 31

An ethogram is a catalogue of the discrete behaviours typically employed by a species. These behaviours are sufficiently stereotyped that an observer may record the number of such acts, or the amount of time engaged in the behaviours in a time budget *discrete is referring to the fact that ethograms are QUALITATIVE

Question 32

How are behaviours in an ethogram described?

Answer 32

The behaviours are described without explicit reference to their purpose

Question 33

What do difficulties in compiling ethograms include?

Answer 33

Rarely performed behaviours, graded displays, inter-individual variation and non-stereotyped behaviours - all introduce ambiguities into the lexicon-like concept of an ethogram

Question 34

Is an ethogram ever complete?

Answer 34

No

Question 35

What should you be familiar with before embarking on behaviour observations to ensure that your behaviour description is precise?

Answer 35

The ethogram of the species

Question 36

What are 3 important things to do when you construct an ethogram or study animal behaviour?

Answer 36

1. Define the behaviours ahead of time - can do this in table form, pictures, or both - try to avoid using the behaviour label in the description or definition of the behaviour - properly reference 2. Make sure the everyone is actually observing the SAME behaviour - can test this by having all observers tested against the same 'standard' 3. Practice as part of preliminary observations