Current, balanced, and comprehensive. Principles of Animal Behavior has long been considered the most current and engaging introduction to animal behavior. The Third Edition is now also the most comprehensive and balanced in its approach to the theoretical framework behind how biologists study behavior.
Born in 1962, Lee Alan Dugatkin is a professor and distinguished university scholar in the department of biology at the University of Louisville. His main area of research interest is the evolution of social behavior.
A good introductory overview of the field; Dugatkin highlights most all of the important points. A bit watered-down though, content-wise, which seems to be a publisher-promoted trend in textbooks generally (see reviews of Alcock's newest editions on Amazon).
ok it was interesting, but i got sick of writing notes and memorizing every single chapter for my animal behavior & evolution course. there's only so much you can read about cichlid fish and honeybees before getting tired of it all.
This is my least favorite book undergrad text on Animal Behavior. It's way too elementary for college students, and it oversimplifies a lot of things. I thought that the analogy comparing predator-prey adaptations to the arms race during the Cold War (and the accompanying figure of nuclear warheads) was totally stupid.