m The knowledge of animal behaviour is important since the primitive

societies.

m More than 10,000 years ago, hunters and gatherers need a good
understanding of animal (wildlife) behaviour in order to survive,
especially when hunting large and dangerous animals.

m Such understanding and relationship with animals exists till the

present times, more so when we domesticate wild animals for our
benefits; serve as companion animals, as food and clothing, as
pets, as a means of transportation, as experimental animals and for
entertainment. Understanding of farm and wild animal behaviour is
important to the consumer, farmer, pet owner, zoo keeper, park
manager, wildlife managers, farm manager, veterinarian and
scientist.
m Understanding animal behaviour began with the theory of
Y
 (evolution due to natural selection) by Charles Darwin
and Alfred Wallace in 1858.

m Dispersal of young animals, habitat selection, feeding,

breeding, territoriality, daily and seasonal activities, migration,
activity patterns are among the types of behaviour that holds a
strong implication for wild and domestic animal management.

m Some of the early ethologists include Herbert Spencer, Alfred

Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin, G. J. Romanes, and William
James, Konrad Lorenz (greylag geese and jackdaws) and
Nikolaas Tinbergen. Present well known ethologist include
Jane Goodall (chimpanzee), Dian Fossey (gorilla) and Birute
Gladikas (orang utan).
m Brightly coloured bill, yellow with red spot
on lower mandible near the tip
m Mother approaches nest with chicks,
stands over chicks and taps bill on the
ground, reveal red spot on lower bill,
chicks stimulated, pecks red spot, mother
regurgitates food in front of it.
m Scientific study ±chicks are provided with
heads and bill of various shapes and
colours.
m Finding-Colour is insignificant. Why?
m Chicks attracted to red spot and
narrowness of bill etc.
m uisner and Wilson, 1975 - Study of the entire behavior pattern on an
animal in its natural surrounding with emphasis on its function and
evolutionary history.

m Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen - emphasize the study of

Õ
   

 Õ   .

m Comparative a 


- behavior in artificial laboratory
situations.
m Scientific study of Õ    

m Combination of biology and psychology.
m umphasize inherent behaviour in Õ
 


Õ .
m Animal behaviour patterns are complex and are derived from
inherent traits (genetic code) and learned responses to particular
settings and stimuli.
m Na
al 
 appa

  because it reveals the environmental

and social circumstances in which the behaviour originally evolved,
and prepares the way for more realistically designed laboratory
experiments and domestic animal husbandry.
m **obeying rules or laws of natural origin.
m uthology covers a very wide scope without limitations and is
operational in
    where studies are focused.

m Animal behaviour exists at various levels ± species to individuals;

micro to macro and field to laboratory.
m Behaviour - movements animals make.
m u.g. Motion to non motion and non motion to motion.
m Response to external or internal stimuli.
m uxample:
m Black ± headed seagull behaviour study: Parents removing broken egg shells from the
nest sites soon after the young hatch and dry to reduce predation. The white inner
surface of the egg shell reflects light efficiently and could serve as a conspicuous signal
to crows and herring gulls which prey extensively on young gulls and unhatched eggs.
The idea was tested and proved correct. Removal of egg shell is a behavioural trait
favoured by nature. Parents acting in this way would have greater fitness; would leave
more offspring than other parents lacking this behaviour (Tinbergen, 1965).

m u

   is a catalogue of the discrete behaviors typically
employed by a species. These behaviors 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.
m Phenotype = particular behaviour observed is influenced by
genotype (innate, inborn) and the environment (physiological status,
general environment, recent events, stimuli or lack of stimuli, level of
nutrition, health, experience and learning).
m Assist better management of farm, laboratory and wild animals.
Designing better environment for the animals.
m uliminate or reduce stress in captive animals.
m Diagnose diseases ± understanding of behavioural patterns made
by animals is an important part of diagnosis (eg. Dog with
abdominal pain because it assumes an abnormal posture with rump
high and head low or horse kicking at belly is indicative of colic).
m Assess animal emotional state or temperament ± helps in restraint
and examination (manual or tranquilization; nocturnal versus
diurnal).
m Moral stance ± consumers of animal products.
m Animal welfare ± legislation.
m Communicating with animals and understanding the messages they
are sending is vital to animal husbandry and disease diagnosis and
veterinary medicine.

m Animal communicates not only by auditory signals (hearing) as in

humans but also by visual (sight), vocal (sound) and olfaction
(smell).

m uxample?