Ethology
hideEthology (from Greek: ἦθος, ethos, "character"; and -λογία, -logia) is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology (not to be confused with ethnology, which compares and contrasts different human cultures).
Although many naturalists have studied aspects of animal behavior throughout history, the modern discipline of ethology is generally considered to have begun with the work during the 1930s of Dutch biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen and Austrian biologist Konrad Lorenz, joint winners of the 1973 Nobel Prize in medicine. Ethology is a combination of laboratory and field science, with a strong relation to certain other disciplines — e.g., neuroanatomy, ecology, evolution. Ethologists are interested typically in a behavioral process rather than in a particular animal group and often study one type of behavior (e.g. aggression) in a number of unrelated animals.
The desire to understand animals has made ethology a rapidly growing topic, and since the turn of the 21st century, many prior understandings related to diverse fields such as animal communication, personal symbolic name use, animal emotions, animal culture and learning, and even sexual conduct, long thought to be well understood, have been modified, as have new fields such as neuroethology.
For more information about Ethology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with animal behaviour
Pigs learn to understand mirrors
Oct 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A study of domesticated pigs has found that with just a little experimentation they can find food based only on a reflection in a mirror.
Making a clean getaway: Scientists demonstrate how bird baths make for more accurate flyers
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Newcastle University scientists investigating why starlings bathe so often have discovered it alters their escape behaviour, with clean birds proving the most accurate flyers.
Yawning toons make an ape gape
Sep 08, 2009 |
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Computer animations of yawning chimpanzees provoke the same irresistible grins in real chimps, according to an unusual study released Wednesday.
Spanish ethologist who discovered albino gorilla dies at 87
Aug 06, 2009 |
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Spanish ethologist Jordi Sabater Pi, who discovered the only albino gorilla known to man in the 1960s, has died at the age of 87, the University of Barcelona said Thursday.
Using 'dominance' to explain dog behavior is old hat
May 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study shows how the behaviour of dogs has been misunderstood for generations: in fact using misplaced ideas about dog behaviour and training is likely to cause rather than cure unwanted ...
Fallow deer become hoarse in the hunt for a mate
May 19, 2009 |
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Fallow deer become hoarse when trying to attract a mate, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.
Fish may actually feel pain and react to it much like humans
Apr 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Fish don't make noises or contort their faces to show that it hurts when hooks are pulled from their mouths, but a Purdue University researcher believes they feel that pain all the same.
Sexual harassment from males prevents female bonding, says study
Apr 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The extent to which sexual harassment from males can damage relationships between females is revealed in a new study. Led by the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of ...
Scientists confirm crab's memory of pain
Mar 27, 2009 |
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New research published by a Queen’s University Belfast academic has shown that crabs not only suffer pain but that they retain a memory of it.
Bizarre bird behavior predicted by game theory
Feb 25, 2009 |
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A team of scientists, led by the University of Exeter, has used game theory to explain the bizarre behaviour of a group of ravens. Juvenile birds from a roost in North Wales have been observed adopting the ...
