Field Studies in Animal Behavior

Field studies of animals help scientists understand the complexities and causes of animal behavior. Wild animals interact with their physical sur­roundings and the biological world while breeding, eating, and moving within their habitat. Although some behavioral studies are conducted in lab­oratories or zoos, many of the behaviors that animals exhibit in the wild are closely interconnected with the plants and animals around them and can only be observed during field studies.

Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, presented his theory of evolu­tion by natural selection in 1859, after observing the correlation between beak sizes and feeding behavior of ground finches in the Galapagos Is­lands. This theory has helped to shape a conceptual framework for mod­ern biology.

Between 1930 and 1950, Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian naturalist, and Nikolas Tinbergen, a Dutch-born zoologist, developed the field of ethol­ogy, the modern science of animal behavior. Their field studies of animals, such as ducks, geese, gulls, butterflies, fish, wasps, and bees, led to studies of animal behavior becoming more organized and systematic in seeking the causes of instinctive behavior, how it has evolved over time, and how it con­tributes to a species’ survival.

Gray wolves (Canis lupis) exhibiting submissive behavior. Studies of animal behavior seek the causes of behavior, how it has evolved over time, and how it contributes to a species' survival.

Lorenz and Tinbergen used little more than binoculars and a notebook for documenting careful and detailed descriptions of animal behaviors. To­day, modern technology also plays a role in studies of animal behavior. For example, radio telemetry is used to track the movements and behavior of various animals from reptiles and amphibians to large mammals, satellite telemetry is used to document bird and sea turtle migration routes, and depth recorders are placed on diving seals and whales.

Field investigations address many different types of behavior, including social behavior, mating systems, sheltering and feeding habits, predator-prey relationships, migration, and navigation. Although field studies have taught scientists many things about animal behavior, questions still remain. The study of these questions helps reveal the roles individuals play within a species, the niches a species fills in relation to other species, including hu­mans, and even how humans behave and how their actions affect other species. For example, the apparent grieving rituals of elephants and the en­vironment of mutual care in which they rear their young continue to fasci­nate many people and the “self-sacrificing” behavior of bees and ants have contributed to the science of sociobiology.

Field studies of animal behavior have the practical value of increasing researchers’ understanding of how to conserve threatened and endangered species, as well as how to control pest species. English zoologist Jane Goodall is known for her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania, which began in 1960. Through her extensive fieldwork and detailed reports, she has greatly in­creased human understanding of primate behavior and has documented be­haviors, such as tool use and warfare, which were previously believed to be unique to humans. Goodall’s efforts have helped to prolong the survival of chimpanzees in the wild and have brought the issues of wildlife conserva­tion to the attention of the world.

References

Goodall, Jane. Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe.

New York: Soko Publications Limited, 1990.

Halliday, Tim, ed. Animal Behavior. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.