Animal Behavior: Mechanisms, Ecology, Evolution

by Lee C. Drickamer, Stephen H. Vessey, Elizabeth Jakob

Designed for a one-semester introductory course in Animal Behavior. Animal behavior is a broad discipline with investigators and contributions from diverse perspectives, including anthropology, comparative psychology, ecology, ethology, physiology, and zoology. The authors goal in this textbook is to use evolutionary principles as a unifying theme to provide students exposure to a number of approaches to the field of animal behavior. They also demonstrate that the varied perspectives used to study behavior are complementary and often integrated; they are not mutually exclusive. The subtitle, “Mechanisms, Ecology, and Evolution,” reflects the broad themes that dominate the book.

Genres: Textbooks, Science

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Jimyanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good introduction to the field; it gives a wide variety of examples of many different behaviors, and while it doesn't go into any of them in any depth, that is to be expected in an introductory treatment. It is not exceptionally fascinating reading, but it is not exceptionally dry, either, and it is far from impenetrable even to a non-scientist. Generally well-written, there are only a very few typos or grammatical mistakes that have slipped through the editing process.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent undergrad text for Animal Behavior. Its primary strength is the chapter on methods. I thought it was very well done, and it is usually a topic that is skipped altogether in other texts I have read on this subject. This is especially useful for classes in which students are required to actually conduct observations of animals---having a chapter discussing focal vs. continuous sampling is a real asset for that kind of project.