A Dictionary of Ethology

by Klaus Immelmann, Colin Beer

What do such words as “information,” “displacement,” and “courtship” mean to the growing ranks of ethologists who study animal behavior? Like all sciences, ethology has accumulated its own set of concepts and terms, taken from everyday language, borrowed from neighboring disciplines, or coined especially to describe novel ideas and phenomena. Klaus Immelmann and Colin Beer have responded to the acute need for an authoritative dictionary of ethology with this valuable guide to the world of animal behavior.

The authors present a balance of historical, enduring, and current terminology, providing clear and concise definitions of the terms central to ethological writing. They give special treatment to terms from related disciplines, particularly evolutionary biology, physiology, ecology, and sociobiology, and to controversial concepts such as “instinct,” “motivation,” and “imprinting.” For words like these, the authors take pains to explain the nature of the problem, to distinguish differences of meaning, and to chart the range of application. A preponderance of terms relate to the behavior of higher vertebrates, especially mammals and birds, since these animals supply a high proportion of ethology’s basic ideas and technical concepts.

Representing the culmination of two decades of assiduous scholarship, this book will be immensely useful to neophyte and professional alike.

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Klaus Immelmann was a German professor of zoology and department head of ethology, with a special interest in ornithology. He undertook field research in Africa and Australia, and published works in German and English. His second and third visit to South Africa were in 1969 and 1971. Immelmann became a permanent executive member of the International Ornithological Union, and its president in 1986. He is the author of Australian Finches in Bush and Aviary (1965), regarded as the first standard text on the subject, and a study of comparative biology of estrildid finches in Australia. His first visit to Australia was in the late 1950s, shortly after receiving his PhD.