116
A
ny dog owner will describe
the companionable and
loyal relationship they
enjoy with their pet. The Austrian
zoologist Konrad Lorenz set out
to explain this behavior in Man
Meets Dog (1949). He described the
behavior of dogs and other pets as
substantially innate, “instinctive
activity,” as opposed to behavior
learned through conditioning.
Lorenz proposed that such hard-
wired behavior helped the animal
survive as a species. For example, a
domestic dog’s loyalty to its human
master originates in the natural
behavior of its wild ancestors,
which were loyal to the pack leader
because this had benefits in terms
of hunting success and safety.Field experiments
Lorenz was not alone in his theories.
Other biologists working in the field
included fellow Austrian Karl von
Frisch and Dutch biologist Nikolaas
Tinbergen, who studied animals
in their natural environments. Until
then, most animal behavior studies
had taken place in laboratories or
artificial settings, so the behavior
witnessed was not entirely natural.
Studying animals in the wild had
its own challenges, particularlywhen devising rigorous field
experiments that could be repeated,
so that the findings could be
recognized as facts, not anecdotes.
The term “ethology” was coined
by American entomologist William
Morton Wheeler in 1902 to describe
the scientific study of animal
behavior. Ethologists study animals
in their natural habitats, combining
laboratory studies and fieldwork
in order to describe an animal’s
behavior in relation to its ecology,
evolution, and genetics.
Ethologists found that in certain
situations, an animal will have a
predictable behavioral response.
They called this a “fixed actionIN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURES
Konrad Lorenz (1903–89),
Nikolaas Tinbergen
(1907–88)BEFORE
1872 Charles Darwin’s The
Expression of the Emotions in
Man and Animals posits that
behavior is instinctive and has
a genetic basis.1951 Nikolaas Tinbergen’s
The Study of Instinct lays
down the foundations and
theory behind ethology, the
study of animal behavior.AFTER
1967 Desmond Morris,
a British zoologist, brings
ethology to bear on human
behavior in his popular book
The Naked Ape.1976 British evolutionary
biologist Richard Dawkins
publishes The Selfish Gene,
describing how most of an
animal’s behavior is designed
to pass on its genes.Ducklings imprinting is an example
of instinctive behavior that can be
manipulated—to make them imprint
on humans or even inanimate objects.THE BOND WITH A TRUE
DOG IS AS LASTING AS
THE TIES OF THIS EARTH
CAN EVER BE
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
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