Behavior of Animals

by Johan J. Bolhuis, Luc-Alain Giraldeau (Contributor)

This wide-ranging textbook provides a broad overview of the current state of animal behavior studies.

Genres: Animals

536 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 2004

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The field of animal behavior has continued to develop. The time appears to be gone when one person can write a book that encompasses the discipline. Robert Hinde did so in his 1970 work, Animal Behaviour. However, this work is an edited volume, with a variety of experts delving in detail into various key issues related to animal behavior. This volume wisely uses Niko Tinbergen's famous "four questions" formulation as the takeoff point. Tinbergen, a Nobel laureate, asserted that for a complete understanding of behavior, we had to answer four questions: causation, development, function, and evolution of the behavior.

The first chapter is a nice introduction to the history of the study of animal behavior (another term often used for this discipline is ethology). Some key points: the importance of studying the central nervous system of species, of being aware of behavioral ecology, and cognitive ecology .

The next section, Part I, explores mechanisms of behavior. Among subjects considered in this section: motivation (a chapter authored by Jerry Hogan), the development of behavior (Johan Bolhuis), animal cognition (Nathan Emery and Nicola Clayton). An example in more detail. . . . In the 1950s, there was debate between classical ethologists such as Konrad Lorenz (who spoke of the importance of instinct) and those who emphasized the developmental aspect of behavior (e.g., T. C. Schneirla and Dan Lehrman). Over time, these two schools came to a rapprochement. Indeed, Tinbergen began with three questions and only after the interaction with developmentalists did he add "development " as one of his questions. And with that addition, the study of animal behavior (or ethology) took a "great leap forward."

Part II considers the function and evolution of behavior. That is: What is the survival value of particular behaviors? How did those behaviors evolve? The chapters cover a set of key issues: the function of behavior (Luc-Alain Giraldeau), communication (Peter McGregor), mate choice and sexual selection (Mark Elgar), evolution of behavior (Michael Ryan), and social systems (Anne Pusey). One key chapter is Pusey's which examines the basis for social systems. Some species tend to live solitary lives, but others develop social systems as a part of their adaptive strategies. Certainly, humans are a social species. Hence, this chapter is of value in placing human evolution in a larger context. Key issues considered include why cooperation has developed among social species.

Part III concludes this volume. There are useful chapters on animal welfare and animal conservation. However, perhaps the most intriguing chapter in this section is the final one, entitled "Human Behavior as Animal Behavior" (authored by the esteemed team of Martin Daly and Margo Wilson). They consider some issues that must be considered if thinking that humans are simply one more animal species, including human culture, ethical issues in experimenting with humans, the role of human language. One the other hand, they conclude that humans are, nonetheless, products of the evolutionary process.

For those interested in animal behavior, this is a terrific place to begin to learn about the subject. I would recommend this volume most highly.