What is an ethogram?

a catalog of an animal’s
behavioral repetoire, detailing the
different forms of behavior that
are displayed by an animal
Importance of constructing
ethograms
• Some important points:

• it is desirable to create an ethogram in which the categories of

behavior are objective, discrete, and do not overlap with each other;

• definitions should be clear, detailed and distinguishable from each

other;

• can be as specific or general as the study warrants

e.g.
research project dealing strictly with aggressive behavior in
chimpanzees can be composed simply of the various forms of
aggression displayed by that species

deal with the general pattern of chimpanzee behavior

 for objective and valid
observations:
• choose one observation group: individual,
pair or a litter

• make observations at same time for days

• avoid interpreting behaviors other than

what is observed
 Laboratory activity
Obtain M. musculus

Confined in cage alone with food, water, paper

Observe behavior at same time of the day

for 3 days at most

Identify behavior exhibited by the animal

Determine the amount of time (in minutes) spent by

the animal on a particular behavior

Record the flow of activities done by the mouse

 What to do with the information
gathered?
• come up with an organized information by
presenting information in:

• tabular manner
• graphical form
• ethogram flow chart
 For simplicity of presentation, one can do the following:

• group similar behavior: related to feeding,

grooming, playing, etc.
• In the succeeding slides, grooming
behaviors such as:

• ‘combing’ of head
• ‘combing’/licking of body
• ‘combing’/licking of leg were presented in:

• Tabular
• Graphical
• Flow ethogram
 Daytime grooming behavior of female M
musculus #1 after 1 hr observation

Activities Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Total Time

time spent in
spent for %age for
3 days 3 days
‘comb’ .77 2.52 .12 3.41 79.86
head
‘comb’/ 0 0 .13 .23 5.38
lick legs
‘comb/lick 0 0 .63 .63 14.75
body’
 Percentage of daytime grooming activities of female M.
musculus for 3 days (I hr observation) in relation
to other behaviors

2.37% is spent on grooming for 3 days, i.e.,

4.27 min /180 min for 3 days

All other activities, ‘comb’/lick body; 14.75%

97.63%
‘comb’/lick legs; 5.38%

‘comb’ head,
79. 86%
 Sequence of events as gathered from actual observation when you listed
the sequence of behavior from start to finish

‘comb’ head Size indicate the

amount spent on
behavior
Width of arrow indicates the frequency
at which a behavioral
transition occurs. in this example:

there were 14 other behaviors manifested b4

it lick its body (thick arrow)
‘comb’/ lick
body Leg licking – followed immediately after body
licking (thin arrow)

There were 7 other behaviors manifested b4

body licking recurred (thicker arrow)

‘comb’/ lick leg

Ethograms can be as simple as this

• Or can be as complex as this example in the
leg of D. melanogaster)
 What is important:

• one is able to convey important information

in a simple and organized way

• one can now interpret such behavior in

relation to the overall activities of the
organism
• (example: after constructing the grooming ethogram of mouse, we can do another
ethogram: on activities that indicate presence of ectoprasite: [vigorous body scratching,
head scratching] then relate the ethograms after)

• learn more about the organism under study

As an exercise, you can go back to your data and construct
your own simple ethogram, like all activities related to
feeding 