what information can you give me on ethology?

Answer 1

Ethology is the zoological study of animal behavior. Ethologists have a special interest in genetically-programmed behaviors known as instincts. The predictable behavioral programs are inherited by animals through their parents and portions of the programs are open to natural selection and modification. Thus, these behaviors are phylogenetic adaptations that have an evolutionary history. This often leads to a comparative approach and has led researchers to search for the biological basis of human behavior by comparing our activities to those of our close relative (other primates; especially chimps).

There are two schools of thought as to how animals acquire their behavior patterns. Some hold to the view that animals, including humans, learn all their behavior during the course of ontogenetic development. Ducks, for example, learn how to quack like a duck and don't honk like a goose because they hear their parents while within the egg). Experiments have since shown that these behaviors are built-in and not learned.

Ethology differs from the study of Animal Behavior, in that animals behaviorists generally are interested in learned behaviors while ethologists concentrate on innate behaviors. Also, animals behaviorists tend to be trained in psychology, while ethologists are zoologists. Animal behaviorists tend to work with "bright" animals, such as rats; putting them through trials with mazes and Skinner boxes. While the study of learned behavior is both important and immediately applicable to human psychology, these behaviors cannot have an evolutionary basis (other than the neural capacity to learn)

Answer 2

It's a fascinating field that combines observations of animal behaviors with a sort of psychology that reflects our own.

There are endless stories of extremely complex scripts to wonder at and insight into your own and others heads.

I keep an ethology textbook as a 'bathroom read' just for the entertainment value of the anecdotes, but there is some real math and science on offer also. It's easy to read and full of great discoveries.

Answer 3

Well, I am an ethologist, and I could not have said it better than Jamaica. I have an interest in canid behavior and you may want to know this now. Field work can be cold, very hot and extremely dangerous at times. You need a degree in zoology and that requires a basic bio BS. Lots of math and science. But the work can be more that worth it, especially if you love animals.