Bio342_Animal_Behavior_2008_lab2 NAME ___________

Zoo Field Trip for Ethograms

For a description of the recording methods read chapter 6 in Martin and Bateson.
Before lab check out the website (http://www.oregonzoo.org/ ), read this handout and
think about what animals you want to observe and what questions one can ask in a
zoo?
The day of lab bring your lab notebook and these instructions. Meet in the lab at 1:00,
Pick up a stopwatch and clipboard. Wear appropriate clothing for the weather.

ETHOGRAM
An ethogram is a primary tool in ethology. Ethology is a zoological, evolutionary
approach to animal behavior that includes examination, generally under natural
conditions, of the proximate causes and development of behavior as well as the
ultimate evolution and adaptive value. The ethogram is a catalogue or dictionary of the
discrete behaviors typically employed by a species. The included behaviors are
sufficiently stereotyped that an observer may record the number of acts, or the amount
of time engaged in the behaviors. The ethogram may include drawings (or
photographs) in addition to a written description of each discrete behavior. In an
ethogram, behaviors are described without explicit reference to their purpose. For
example, although a specific movement may represent a putative threat display it
should be given an objective name such as "head forward" or "bracing display", and
not "head forward threat" or "bracing threat". The definition of the display as a
component of antagonistic interactions arises from the context and surrounding
behaviors in which the display is observed. Ethograms often represent an early stage
of investigating the behaviors of a species and the contexts in which they occur, but
may also be the basis of formal scientific research. In the early years of animal
behavior, the primary goal of many studies was the description of behavior. Although
complete ethograms are rarely published anymore in behavior literature, they are often
used by zoos to describe normal behavior and monitor captive behavior in order to
identify pathology due to illness or poor animal care. Ethograms also serve as a
valuable tool for many lab and field experiments on both model organisms and
ecological studies As a too,l the ethogram usually describes only a small portion of the
complete behavioral repertoire.

Follow these links to see different types of ethograms:

--An ethogram for behavioral genetic studies in a model organism (Drosophila)
http://labworks.hms.harvard.edu/fruit_fly/thriller/index.html
--An ethogram to monitor captive “behavioral syndrome” (horse)
http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/dbs/research/headshaking/ethogram.htm
--An ethogram to monitor captive normal behavior (tamarins)
http://gargoyle.arcadia.edu/biology/tamarin/Methods/Ethogram/ethogram.htm
--An ethogram for social behavior (Anolis) (follow the links from here for video examples and
measurement methods)
https://notes.utk.edu/bio/greenberg.nsf/63bbb8a8bd4c0eef852563ed0072e463/086a04290e49e2488525
6b0a00497920?OpenDocument
--An ethogram focused on facial and verbal communication (chimpanzees)
http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/groups/research/chimpanzee-cognition/CCL/ethogram.htm
--An ethogram for field work (cockatoo)
www.santafe.edu/~jpepper/thesis/03-Ethogram.pdf

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 Bio342_Animal_Behavior_2008_lab2 NAME ___________

In lab this week you will build an ethogram and develop a hypothesis that can be
tested in the zoo. You will use different Sampling and Recording techniques in order to
collect data and determine the best method given your goals.

AT THE ZOO:
Walk around and appreciate the animal diversity. Then working with a partner, choose
an animal, or group of animals, or even an enclosure with multiple species, that you will
observe for the next 3 hours. Keep in mind that large charismatic animals are often very
boring to watch for 3 hours, birds and small mammals are often more active. Your goal
today is to learn something about the behavior of the animal in the zoo. You will be
asked to formulate a question and then collect data to answer that question. Several
types of questions can be asked and answered with behavioral observation within a zoo
setting. Remember that a zoo has several goals in addition to public entertainment, the
zoo also aims to educate the public, engage in conservation programs for endangered
animals, and also participate in basic research.
Your own question and observations today should address one of these areas.

A B C

You may be concerned with the welfare of a particular animal such as Sayer et al.,
(2007)(A) who studied the behavior of a particular one-armed gibbon in the Lincoln park
zoo. Or you may be interested in how a particular aspect of the enclosure affects animal
behavior. David Shepherdson and colleagues have recently redesigned the elephant
house here at the Oregon Zoo (B) because of a study regarding flooring type (Meller et
al., 2007). Simple behavioral descriptions are often possible in a zoo that would be
much more difficult to obtain in the wild but which will greatly facilitate future
identification of behavior in the wild, for example, differentiation of two species (Marlof et
al., 2007) or the details of mating behavior (Xie, 2006)(C). The zoo setting also offers
the possibility to repeatedly obtain physiological measures or hormone samples from
the same individual, making captive animals a great resource for understanding animal
biology. Consider how your own questions might be augmented by such repeated
measures, though this is beyond the scope of our exercise today.
Today you will create an ethogram and pose a question. You will then apply different
recording and sampling techniques in order to devise a protocol that will allow you to
address your question. The data you collect today can be viewed as "preliminary data"
for a larger study. When you applying for a grant to conduct a large study it is important
to have solid preliminary data and a detailed protocol in order to demonstrate to the
granting agency that your study is not only worth doing, but also that it is doable.
Your data should either be recorded on the data sheets provided and
permanently attached to your lab notebook or recorded directly into your lab
notebook.

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 Bio342_Animal_Behavior_2008_lab2 NAME ___________

BACKGROUND INFORMATION - Record

o Common name and scientific name and geographical distribution of animal:
o What characteristics can be used to distinguish sex, age and individuals?
o Describe the zoo enclosure habitat and population objectively (sketch the cage?).
o Describe the zoo habitat subjectively, compare it to the animal's wild habitat.
FIRST OBSERVATION – Ad libitum – 15 minutes
Fifteen minutes (or more) ad libitum (record everything you see),
SECOND OBSERVATION – create an ethogram ~ 15 minutes
Using your first observation notes and any ongoing observation spend some time to
make an ethogram of the behaviors you expect to see during your later observations.
The ethogram should be as complete as possible describing as many discrete
behaviors as you observe. Include drawings if appropriate.
BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER - formulate a question - 15 minutes
With your partner, formulate a question or two about the animals and enclosure you
are observing. Is there a dominance hierarchy? Are the females more aggressive than
the males? Do the juveniles have a different time budget than the adults? Which food
source is preferred? Decide which behaviors will be important to record in order to
address your question. You will try scan sampling, focal sampling, behavior recording
and 1/0 instantaneous recording in order to determine the most accurate and efficient
mechanism to collect the necessary data to address your question.
THIRD OBSERVATION – Scan sampling– 15 minutes
Use your ethogram to do a fifteen minute scan (or instantaneous) sample with timed
recording. At the end of each 2 minute interval record what each animal in the cage or
enclosure is doing. (Can individuals be unambiguously identified?). This method gives
a snapshot picture of behavior. Unless there are multiple animals in your enclosure this
will be no different than instantaneous recording, the value of scan sampling is that it
allows collection of data from large groups of individuals. It does not provide the most
accurate time budget.
FOURTH OBSERVATION – focal sampling– 20 minutes
Use your ethogram to do a five minute focal sampling with continuous recording for
each individual in the enclosure (up to 4 animals). The value of focal sampling is that it
can be used to construct accurate time budgets based on individuals.
FIFTH OBSERVATION – behavior sampling – 15 minutes
From your ethogram, select one or two behaviors that occur most frequently. For these
behaviors record each instance of the behavior that occurs in a 15 minute period
(record the time if possible, and the individual if possible to identify). Like scan
sampling, behavior sampling allows you to collect data from multiple individuals
simultaneously, but because you use continuous recording you will obtain more
accurate measures of specific behaviors although it is not possible to count as many
behaviors.
SIXTH OBSERVATION – 1/0 method - 15 minutes
Use your ethogram to do 3 five minute 1/0 recording. Record only whether the
behavior did or did not occur during that five minutes. The value of 1/0 recording is that
it allows for a greater number of behaviors to be scored and captures brief intermittent
behaviors.

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 Bio342_Animal_Behavior_2008_lab2 NAME ___________

EVALUATED AFTER THE ZOO:

1) One page written "grant application"
What question do you propose to address?
Why is this question important?
Why is the zoo the proper place to address this question? (if not state why and
justify the need for field observation of wild animals)
What is the observation protocol you propose? (if your question would require
physiological measures or tissue samples, state this but do not go into detail on
those methods).
Why is this observation technique better than another possible technique?
Can you provide preliminary data to demonstrate the feasibility of this study? (a
single graph, or table from your work at the zoo is sufficient)

The proposal will be evaluated for clarity, and demonstration that you have
mastered the concepts of behavioral observation. The proposal will NOT be
evaluated on the relative scientific merit of the project, or the quality of the
preliminary data, but you are encouraged to be realistic.
Post this on the courses server BEFORE lab next week.
Attach a copy to your lab notebook.

2) Prepare a single (or two) power point slides of your data to present in lab
class next week.
Post this on the courses server BEFORE lab next week.

References available on the courses server or see Zoo Biology journal for many more examples.

Marlof, B., McElligott, A.G., Miler, A.E. (2007) Female social dominance in two Eulemur species
with different scocial organizations Zoo Biology 26:201-214.

Martin and Bateson "Measuring Behavior: an introductory guide. 2nd edition" Cmabridge
University Press 2001.

Meller, C.L., Croney, C.C., Shepherdson, D. (2007)

Effects of rubberized flooring on Asian elephant behavior in captivity. Zoo Biology Zoo Biology
26:51-61.

Sayer, E.C., Whitham, J.C., Margulis, S.W. (2007) Who needs a forelimb anyway? Locomotor,
postural and manipulative behavior in a one-armed gibbon Zoo Biology 26:215-222.

Xie, Y. (2006) Primary observations on rutting behavior of the captive red goral Zoo Biology
25:117-123.

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Bio342_Animal_Behavior_2008_lab2 NAME ___________

FIRST OBSERVATION – Ad libitum – 15 minutes

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 Bio342_Animal_Behavior_2008_lab2 NAME ___________

SECOND OBSERVATION – create an ethogram ~ 15 minutes

Behavior Description sketch

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THIRD OBSERVATION – Scan – 15 minutes

Write a very brief description of each

dual description
indivi
individual in the cage.

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Use a code for each behavior.

1
At the end of each minute record the
behavior of each individual.

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OBSERVATION (MINUTE)
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FOURTH OBSERVATION – focal – 5 minutes each (20minutes total)

Use a tick mark to record each occurrence of each behavior for the focal animal
Behavior focus on 1 focus on 2 focus on 3 focus on 4

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FIFTH OBSERVATION – behavior record – 15 minutes

Explain why you selected these behaviors (are they related, of particular interest, too
difficult to accurately record with the other methods etc.)

SELECTED BEHAVIORS

1 2 3 4 5

individual description

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Bio342_Animal_Behavior_2008_lab2 NAME ___________

SIXTH OBSERVATION – 1/0 method - 5 minutes each (15 minutes total)

Use a 1 or a 0 to record whether or not each behavior occurs during each observation
Behavior period 1 period 2 period 3

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