Animal Behavior What Is an Ethologist?

Animal Behavior – What is an Ethologist?

Ethology is the study of animal behavior. Ethologists are particularly interested in the difference between instinct and learned behavior. Just one hundred years ago, ethology was not a recognized science. Thanks to the work of several science pioneers, animal behavior is now an area of continued study and research. The original ethologists were Pavlov, Lorenz, Von Frisch, and Tinbergen. There is extensive information about them available on the internet and at the local library. Other ethologists are not as well known, and it may require more work on your part to find information about them.

Task: 1. Use the internet to research the unique history and contributions of one of the ethologists listed below. Use at least 3 sources 2. Answer the questions provided 3. Create a poster or brochure summarizing your findings a. Include the answers to the questions b. Include at least 2 visual aids i. One of the scientist ii. One of the scientist at work or the subject of the scientist’s work 4. Write a short biography of this person (300 – 500 words) and present it orally along with a visual poster to your class in a way that will help the class understand how important one individual can be to ethology.

People: Konrad Lorenz Nikolaas Tinbergen Karl von Frisch Ivan Pavlov B. F. Skinner Dian Fossey Jane Goodall Aubrey Manning Adriaan Kortlandt John Calhoun Dawn Prince-Hughes Birutė Galdikas Irene Pepperberg William Homan Thorpe

Questions: Answer who, what, when, where, why AND the following: o Birth / death dates o What motivated the person to dedicate his/her life to studying animal behavior? o what his/her training was? o who was influential in his/her life? o how she/he came to do the work she/he did? o what difficulties she/he encountered? o what she/he accomplished? o how she/he did it? (what tools were used or developed? o What was the impact of his/her work? o what she/he are doing now (if they are still living)? o What contributions to animal science is your scientist best known for? o What are 5 interesting things you learned about your scientists or animal behavior research from this project? o Think of other things you would like to know about the person and try to find answers.