Intro to Ethology

First Word Stuff…

Ethology- the scientific study of animal behavior

Entomology- the scientific study of insects

etymology- the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.

2, The Legacy of Ethology

Konrad Lorenz- He developed the idea of an innate releasing mechanism to explain behaviors that are instinctive. Experimented with supernormal stimuli such as giant eggs or dummy bird beaks that could release the fixed action patterns more powerfully than the natural objects for which the behaviors were adapted. He shared a Nobel Prize in 1973 with Karl von Frisch and Niko Tinbergen in the area of Physiology or Medicine. Most of his work surrounding ethology was done between 1949 and his death in 1989.

Niko Tinbergen- He is well known for developing the four questions he believed should be asked about any animal behavior regarding Proximate and Ultimate Mechanisms. A Major portion of his research surrounded supernormal stimuli and he was known for collaborating with Konrad Lorenz based around the fact that one could build an artificial stimulus more effective than the original stimulus. The majority of his work was done in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Karl Von Frisch- An Australian ethologist whose work centered around the sensory perceptions of European honey bees. He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1973 along with Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen for his work in behavior physiology regarding communication between insects. The majority of his work was done after retirement between 1953 and 1974.

d. Edward Thorndike- an American Psychologist whose work on animal behavior and the learning process led to the theory of connectionism and the foundation of modern psychology. His most notable contribution involved his research with cats and how they learned to escape from puzzle boxes using fairly basic stimuli, allowing him to formulate the laws of effect, recency, and exercise. Most of his work was done between 1912 and 1944.

B.F. Skinner- an American Psychologist most notable for his innovation of radical behaviorism which particularly underlies the school of psychology known as experimental analysis behavior. His animal models were primarily rats and pigeons. He is also credited with the invention of the operant conditioning chamber to record rate of response of the organisms inside to various stimuli. Most of his work was done between 1938 and 1990.

T.H. Morgan- an American geneticist and embryologist most noted for his work with mutations of the fruit fly drosophila melanogaster. In His famous fly room he was able to demonstrate that genes are carried on chromosomes and the mechanical basis of heredity. These discoveries formed the basis of modern genetics. In 1933 he was awarded the nobel prize in medicine in physiology for genetics. Most of his work he did between 1900 and 1933.

Seymour Benzer- a physicist, molecular biologist and behavioral geneticist known for his work with the fruit fly drosophila to study basic animal behavior and pioneer neurogenetics working with drosophila melanogaster. He discovered the first circadian rhythm, or 24 hour cycle, mutants in a gene they called “period”. Most of his work was done between 1964 and 2006.

Jane Goodall- a researcher responsible for multiple discoveries based around social life of chimpanzees while going out and observing them over course of a few years. The majority of her work was done between 1960 and 1977 however she teachers and lectures to this day.

Diane Fossey- an american zoologists who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over periods of 18 years. She observed them in the mountain forests of Rawanda while she made sure they were protected from poachers. Ironically she was murdered in her cabin by poachers on December 26, 1989. Between that time and 1954 she focused most of her research.

E.O. Wilson- an American biologist who, in the area of ethology, is known for his systematic study of ant and ant behavior. From this he established sociobiology as a new scientific field. The majority of his work he did between 1960 and 1994.

Thomas Eisner-is the professor of chemical ecology at cornell university. He is a world authority on animal behavior and a field biologist with experience on four continents. He has worked and devoted his life since 1940s to advancement of ecology, ethology and evolution.

l Peter and Mary Grant- a husband and wife team known for 30 years of painstaking study of Darwin’s finches on Daphne Major in the Galapagos Islands. They branded every bird on the island and collected about every statistic possible from them.

Cesar Milan- a self taught professional dog trainer known for his television series The Dog Whisperer. He uses his research based around natural dog behavior to teach owners how to get responses from their pets.

John B. Watson-an American Psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism after doing extensive research. Between 1913 and the late 1940’s he has run experiments based on human behavior and made great contribution to its science.

Robert Yerke- an american psychologist who was a pioneer in the study of human and primate intelligence and also the study of the social behavior of gorillas and chimpanzees. He went about his work mostly between 1902 and 1924.

3. After Lorenz, Tinbergen, and Frisch, won the nobel prize for studies in ethology in 1973, ethology was finally taken seriously as real science.