Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Ethology, behavioral ecology and sociobiology ............................................................................. 2

Karl von Frisch ............................................................................................................................... 3

Konrad Lorenz ................................................................................................................................ 3

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 5

References ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction
Animal behavior is a biological phenomenon and as such a product of evolution. Animals behave
in different ways to respond to different environmental factors.

Ethology, behavioral ecology and sociobiology

Behavioral ecology a branch of ecology concerned with the relationship between an animal's
behavior and the conditions of its environment. Unlike ethology, behavioral ecology looks at
animal behavior that is primarily influenced by its environmental conditions e.g. behavior such as
feeding, mating and predator-prey interactions. (Bearder, 1995). Sociobiology is a field
of biology that aims to examine and explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from
disciplines including ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population
genetics. Within the study of human societies, sociobiology is closely allied to Darwinian
anthropology, human behavioral ecology and evolutionary psychology.

Sociobiology investigates social behaviors such as mating patterns, territorial fights, pack hunting,
and the hive society of social insects. It argues that just as selection pressure led to animals
evolving useful ways of interacting with the natural environment, so also it led to the genetic
evolution of advantageous social behavior (Wilson, 1975).

Behavioral ecology deals the learned behavior in animals by manipulating variable in a controlled
environment, while on the other hand ethology deals about instinctive behavior in animals by
observing them in their natural environments without interacting. Behavioral ecology works with
only a few particular species that are good at learning tasks in response to changes in the
environment. Ethology study entire species across abroad spectrum of species in order to compare
and contrast the interaction between species genetically programmed behavior and their
environment. Despite their different approaches ethology, behavioral ecology and sociobiology
deal with the study of animal behavior. The three complement each other and in most cases
overlap.
Karl von Frisch
Zoologist whose studies of communication among bees added significantly to the knowledge of
the chemical and visual sensors of insects. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physiology with
animal behaviorists Konrad Lorenz and Nikolas Tinbergen.

About 1910 Frisch initiated a study that proved fishes could distinguish color and brightness
differences. He also later proved that auditory acuity and sound-distinguishing ability in fishes is
superior to that in humans (Bearder, 1995).

Frisch is best known for his studies of bees, however. In 1919 he demonstrated that they can be
trained to distinguish between various tastes and odors. He found that while their sense of smell is
similar to that of humans, their sense of taste is not as highly developed. He also observed that it
is not limited to the quality of sweetness. He found that bees communicate the distance and
direction of a food supply to other members of the colony by two types of rhythmic movements or
dances: circling and wagging. The circling dance indicates that food is within 75 m of the hive,
while the wagging dance indicates a greater distance.

In 1949 Frisch established that bees, through their perception of polarized light, use the Sun as a
compass. He also found that they are capable of using this method of orientation when the Sun is
not visible, apparently remembering patterns of polarization presented by the sky at different times
of the day and the location of previously encountered landmarks.

Konrad Lorenz
Austrian zoologist, founder of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior by means of
comparative zoological methods. His ideas contributed to an understanding of how behavioral
patterns may be traced to an evolutionary past, and he was also known for his work on the roots
of aggression (Lehrmen, 1953).

Lorenz was the son of an orthopedic surgeon. He showed an interest in animals at an early age,
and he kept animals of various species; fish, birds, monkeys, dogs, cats, and rabbits many of which
he brought home from his boyhood excursions. While still young, he provided nursing care for
sick animals from the nearby Zoo. He also kept detailed records of bird behavior in the form of
diaries.

In 1922, after graduating from secondary school, he followed his father wishes that he study
medicine and spent two semesters at Columbia University, in New York City. He then returned to
Vienna to study.

During his medical studies Lorenz continued to make detailed observations of animal behavior.
Encouraged by the positive response to his scientific work, Lorenz established colonies of birds,
such as the jackdaw and graylag goose, published a series of research papers on his observations
of them, and soon gained an international reputation (Lehrmen, 1953).

In 1935 Lorenz described learning behavior in young ducklings and goslings. He observed that at
a certain critical stage soon after hatching, they learn to follow real or foster parents. The process,
which is called imprinting, involves visual and auditory stimuli from the parent object; these elicit
a following response in the young that affects their subsequent adult behavior. Lorenz
demonstrated the phenomenon by appearing before newly hatched mallard ducklings and imitating
a mother duck quacking sounds, upon which the young birds regarded him as their mother and
followed him accordingly.

Lorenz’s early scientific contributions dealt with the nature of instinctive behavioral acts,
particularly how such acts come about and the source of nervous energy for their performance. He
also investigated how behavior may result from two or more basic drives that are activated
simultaneously in an animal. Working with Tinbergen of The Netherlands, Lorenz showed that
different forms of behavior are harmonized in a single action sequence (John, 2005).

Lorenz concepts advanced the modern scientific understanding of how behavioral patterns evolve
in a species, particularly with respect to the role played by ecological factors and the adaptive
value of behavior for species survival. He proposed that animal species are genetically constructed
so as to learn specific kinds of information that are important for the survival of the species. His
ideas have also cast light on how behavioral patterns develop and mature during the life of an
individual organism.
In the latter part of his career, Lorenz applied his ideas to the behavior of humans as members of
a social species, an application with controversial philosophical and sociological implications. he
argued that fighting and warlike behavior in man have an inborn basis but can be environmentally
modified by the proper understanding and provision for the basic instinctual needs of human
beings. Fighting in lower animals has a positive survival function, he observed, such as the
dispersion of competitors and the maintenance of territory. Warlike tendencies in humans may
likewise be ritualized into socially useful behavior patterns (John, 2005).

Conclusion
Studies have proven that animals behave in in different ways in response to different factors.
Behaviorists and etiologists both study animal behavior bur they differ ibn how they view the
causes of it.
References

Bearder, S. K. (1995). Natural History. Retrieved from merriam-webster: www.merriam-

webster.com

John. (2005). The behavior of animals. uk: Blackwell.

Lehrmen. (1953). crtique of instinctive behavior. uk: quartery review of biology.

Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis.