Ethology & behaviour

Ethology

Noun

The science of animal behaviour

I am writing this as we are covering it in my class. The study of animal behaviour is a interesting field of study and learning. During the 1960s and 1970s we started to question how animals act as previously people were more concern about what we can get from animals and how to get them to not escape.

There is a big line between what is normal and what is not. If a dog chases its tail every once in a while, that can be cute and sweet but if it does it everyday for ten minutes then it becomes a problem. In captivity, we can see many types of stereotypic behaviours (I will cover stereotypic behaviour in another post), especially in zoos. These behaviours include head bobbing, swaying and pacing.

Many different factors can effect an animals behaviour, from people to other animals. Stress can heavily effect animal behaviour, if a chicken is stressed they do not lay eggs. In the farming industry, a hen not laying eggs is a very bad sign as the farmer doesn't get more money, so in many cases they kill the chicken and replace it. Now what could have cause the chicken to be stressed? Anything from being in a small living space, which is sadly common in the egg industry, or being with a wrong social group.

Normal behaviours can include:

• foraging 
• hunting 
• sleeping
• grooming 
• courting 
• territorial displays
• nest building 
• eating

Abnormal behaviours can include:

• hyperactivity 
• excess inactivity 
• hyper agression 
• stereotypic behaviours
• feather or fur stripping 
• chewing or biting self

 

This image shows a giraffe exhibiting an abnormal behaviour, bar biting. Stereotypic and abnormal behaviours are not only seen in domesticated animals. Wild animals, normally in zoos, also show negative behaviours and actions. You often see animals pacing, or head bobbing.

A strange behaviour is cannibalism. In the wild, it does occur in times where food is very limited. With captive pigs, cannibalism is often witnessed. This is due to overcrowding and lack of enrichment. Tail biting happens a lot. This can be easily prevented by adding more hay and giving them more room.

That's all we've covered so far in class, so I hope your learnt something about animal behaviour. Sorry it wasn't a very fun post today, but I aim to have the next animal information post to be on pygmy hippos, so stay tuned for that!