Ethograms Animal Observation Lab

All ethological research must begin with accurate observation of the subjects at hand. One of the most important aspects of accurate observation is that the observer be able to isolate and distinguish one type of behavior from another. For example, when a primate scratches itself, is it engaging in ritual grooming behavior or is it simply scratching an insect bite? Researchers must be able to distinguish and catalogue such differences if they are to acquire a complete picture of the range of meaningful behaviors of an animal (Shanor & Kanwal, 2009).

In my observations of two species of animals at the Bronx Zoo I was able to observe (and record) a number of distinct behaviors. In observing a group of monkeys (some orange in color, others dark brown) I was very much aware of the fact that the different individual monkeys...

His body language looked depressed and he is not interacting with the other monkeys as the rest of them are.
This same monkey also spent some time eating grass with both hands. At the same time as he was eating he was peeing -- which seems a strange combination for a human. But he was clearly perfectly happy with the combination of behaviors because he did it several times.

I also observed sea lions. The most striking behavior I saw them engage in was their vocalizations. In a way they speak just like humans. They seem very intelligent and playful -- and are certainly very noisy. I concentrated on their noisy barking and found it very interesting how a male sea lion communicated with a female one. He took his head out of the…