Transcript Designing Experiments on Animal Behavior

Designing Experiments on
Animal Behavior
• Scientists can conduct experiments on an animal’s
behavior in its natural environment.
• Tinbergen wondered if each wasp returned only to
her own nest.
• Then he asked how does each wasp keep track of
her nests.
• The results of Tinbergen’s experiment led to new
questions.
Immediate and Ultimate Causes
of Behavior
• Behavioral biologist ask “how” and “why”
questions.
• Immediate cause - immediate interactions
with the environment.
• Ultimate cause - based on the organism’s
evolutionary adaptations.
Difference between immediate
and ultimate cause of behavior…
• When you touch something hot….you pull
away.
• Immediate cause “the how” is the reaction
to pull away.
• Ultimate cause “the why” is that natural
selection has favored this response, which
minimizes damage to the body.