This presentation was used to introduce Ethology as a research field to our members. The last half of the presentation used an activity to critically evaluate our members reasoning skills.

1. Ethology
How we study it, Why we should, and What it entails

2. So first of…
What is Ethology?

3. Why do we
study 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

4. How do we study it?
Typically Ethograms
Also lab experiments (issues!)

5. Ethograms
Very few components, however selection of
these components is critical.
What behaviors are you looking for
Make selection appropriate
Classification of behaviors
I.E. Aggressive, passive, bored, play etc.
Time scale
Can 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

6. Then figure out the why
they do what they do
Great 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/2014/10/1410
24-great-bustard-birds-mating-sex-animals-science/
False Alarm Calls
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/1405
01-drongo-kalahari-desert-meerkat-mimicry-science/

7. 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

8. Diet Studies
Diet 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?

9. Nest size and Colony
Density
Colonies 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.

10. Average Life
Span
After 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.

11. Here’s the thing….

12. All those facts and
figures were of
humans….

13. 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….

14. Knowing this. How does that change
your perception?