PRIMATE BEHAVIOR

Ethology = “...biology is its mother, whereas for a father, a very plain zoologist, Charles Darwin” Lorenz

Behavior is….

• “The study of behavior encompasses all the movements and sensations by which animals mediate their relationship with the external world- physical, biological, and social”.

Alexander

• “Actions carried out by an individual subject”

Patterson

Questions to be asked….

• What?

• When?

• How?

• Why?

• Where?

Describe dominance

Feeding? Travel?

Aggressive? Leadership? Displacement?

Benefits received?

What season or housing situation?

Tinbergen’s four areas of inquiry

• Causation

• Development

• Function

• Evolution

How does it work?

How did it develop? (learned)

Why do it? What is for?

How did it evolve?

How do we do it?

Things to think about...

• Field versus captive

• Species

• Anthropomorphism

Research

Captive work

Anthropomorphism

What is the process (list…)

• Ask a question

• Preliminary data

• Form Hypothesis and predictions

• Decide what to measure

• Choose methods to help you measure

• Collect

• Analyze and interpret

You’ll be doing research in no time….You’ll be doing research in no time….