EthologyHow we study it, Why we should, and What it entails

So first of… What is Ethology?

Why do westudy ethology?

Know more about the natural world

Can draw parallels to human behavior and health

Determining the why it works may help better understand ourselves

Implications for economic related animals

How do we study it?

Typically Ethograms

Also lab experiments (issues!)

EthogramsVery few components, however selection of these components is critical.

What behaviors are you looking forMake selection appropriate

Classification of behaviorsI.E. Aggressive, passive, bored, play etc.

Time scaleCan be in terms of what the animal is

doing every X minutes, cataloguing all behaviors for X minutes every Y minutes (I.e. Catalogue behaviors every 30 minutes for 5 minutes), or just a running clock

Then figure out the why they do what they doGreat you have what they’re doing, but we may want to know why.

Eating to survive vs. Eating a very specific diet or food for a reason http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141024-great-bustard-birds-mating-sex-animals-science/

False Alarm Calls http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140501-drongo-kalahari-desert-meerkat-mimicry-science/

So let’s make an example...

You are a space explorer stationed on an alien world. Your mission is to collect data on the dominant species there. Your team is running ethograms and presenting you with all the data they collect. Your job is to disseminate their info and come to a conclusion.

Assumed Variables:

The planet is earth like

The dominant species inhabits most regions of the world

Diet StudiesDiet 1: One of your research peons (we shall call them Undergraduates) found that one population of the species consumes 95% plant matter mainly from starchy and “dense plants”

Diet 2: However, a competing peon discovered a separate larger population in which only 30% of the diet is herbivorous consisting mainly of “grain-like” plants.

What do we make of these conclusions?

Nest size and Colony DensityColonies were seen ranging in density from sparsely populated to extremely dense populations, and “family size” ranged from large numbers of independent individuals from both sexes to average nest sizes of 7.

Average Life SpanAfter tagging and observing individuals you have found that their average lifespan.

One of your peons found that, Males lived an average of 32 years, whereas Females lived 43 years.

In another region a different peon found that Males lived an average of 80 years and Females 84 years.

Here’s the thing….

All those facts and figures were

of humans….

Here’s where they came from...Diet #1: Gujarat India- Mostly Vegetarian due to religion and food availability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarati_cuisine *

Diet #2: Broadly speaking american diet: https://draxe.com/charts-american-diet/

Colony #1: Millenials in america http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/obamas-america-one-third-millennials-broke-single-living-home

Colony #2: African Family Size in Kuwait https://www.nakono.com/tekcarta/databank/households-average-household-size/

Age Region 1: Haiti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy *

Age Region 2: Iceland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy*

*And yes I used wikipedia….. Deal with it….

Knowing this. How does that change your perception?