Creating an Ethogram

An ethogram is a descriptive catalog of the behaviors of a given species. In this assignment, you will attempt to create an ethogram for the nonhuman animal of your choice. To see some ethograms that have already been created so you can get a better feel for what is meant here, visit the following links:

For this assignment, find a non-human animal that you would like to study, and that is observable around the Wheaton/Norton area in sufficient numbers to allow you to make some detailed observations about its behavior.

Some places to look for animals include:

• the Wheaton Vivarium (SC 134)--see room door for open hours
• various areas on campus (Peacock Pond, soccer fields, Wheaton woods)
• the Norton Reservoir in Norton
• nearby farms (if you opt to observe animals at someone's farm, be sure to secure permission from the farm owner first!)
• local zoos and aquaria (check the zoo websites for hours and admission costs, if any [Note: the Wheaton Library may have passes you can use to visit some of these places for a reduced cost]):

*Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro, MA

*Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI

*New England Aquarium in Boston, MA

*Zoo New England in Roxbury, MA and Stoneham, MA

*Buttonwood Zoo in New Bedford, MA

*Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT

Using a format for data sheets similar to that seen below, collect no less than 5 hours of observational data on your selected species. The goal of your observations is to begin to describe, as objectively and completely as possible, the behavior of your selected species; in short, to establish the start of an ethogram for that species. In addition to your 5 hours of observation, this assignment will require you to go to the library and do some research on your species and its near relatives, so that you can interpret what you observe. DO YOUR LIBRARY RESEARCH LAST, so that it does not influence what you think you observe.

Remember to avoid functional descriptions of behavior, and try to make your ethogram as objective as possible. Upon submission of your writing assignment, be sure to include all of your data sheets along with the typed, written report.

The final written form of the assignment should take the following format:

I. Abstract. Following a title page with your name on it, provide an abstract of your study. Ordinarily, it is best to write the abstract last, when you are certain of the content of the report. Keep abstracts short and concise. Here is an example:

The flap-nosed fribblewump (Ethologica morganii) was studied on a 2 ha field in southern New England during a 5-day period in February. Action patterns observed include three types of locomotion, 13 maintenance activities, six foraging and feeding patterns, four types of agonistic behavior and seven other patterns. The most notable discovery was that this species flies using the flaps on its nose as wings, whereas its close relatives use their nose flaps for burrowing.

II. Introduction. The introduction should briefly introduce the animal studied. Its common and scientific names should appear in the first sentence. Give briefly its range and habitat, and something about its taxonomy (e.g. its scientific order and family, and perhaps something about its common close relatives).

III. Methods. This section should include where you studied the animals, how many, over what period, and at what times of the day. If the animals were confined be sure to give details of their living conditions such as the size of their cage, aquarium, etc., objects in the cage, etc. Include any other relevant methods or materials that might influence the kind of data taken or the sort of conclusions that can be drawn from such data. If you use specialized terminology (such as technical anatomical terms) be sure to include an explanation of the words or better yet, a drawing illustrating the terms.

IV. Results. This section constitutes the body of the ethogram: a descriptive listing of the behavioral repertoire of a species (as complete as possible). The focus of this study is on compiling a list of all action patterns. However, if you wish to extend the study to more complex levels of behavior (mapping the home range of movements, determining the dominance hierarchy in a group, etc.) such material may be included following the list of action patterns. Such additional material should draw upon the list of action patterns to show what are used in what ways at more complex levels of behavior.

For each action pattern, provide an account in the following format. (a) a descriptive name for the pattern. Avoid functional interpretations.(e.g., use "tail-swishing" rather than "fly-swatting"). (b) the number of times the pattern was observed (this is crucial in judging how reliable the description might be). This number refers to the total number of repeated text descriptions of the pattern in your datasheets, not to the number of times you simply saw it. (c) A clear and vivid description of the action pattern, written in such a way that the reader can readily and unambiguously visualize the action pattern. (d) Any discussion relevant to this action pattern. For instance, you may think that you have sufficient observations to warrant a hypothesis about the function of the behavioral pattern.

A sample entry is provided below:

Tail-swishing (N=5). -- The down-pointing tail is moved in a vertical plane perpendicular to the long axis of the animal such that the tip describes an arc of about 45` to either side of the midline. The principal pivot-point appears to be the proximal base of the tail at the rump, but there is often some curvature of the tail during movement. A swish from far left to far right and back to far left requires less than a second, and the number of swishes per unit time is variable. The highest recorded frequency was 14 swishes in 10 sec.

Tail-swishing appears to function in keeping insects from the rump and flank areas because it was more frequent when I could actually see insects around the animal. Furthermore, tail-swishing tended to occur with ear-flicking (see description below), which also appears to be an insect-scattering behavioral pattern.

Your list of action patterns should be organized into categories. Treat non-ritualized behavior first, and later list the displays. For instance, useful categories are locomotion and static postures, maintenance behavior (grooming, head-scratching, etc.) and reproductive behavior. You may well have to have a category of "unclassifiable" behavior as well. Grouping action patterns into categories such as these does, of course, constitute a functional interpretation of the behavior; however, at this broad level such a functional interpretation is not difficult in most cases.

V. Discussion. This is the section in which to propose further interpretation of your observations, if you wish. You should also make an effort to compare your observations with those in the literature, pointing out where your observations confirm, dispute or add to existing reports.

VI. References. List only those references that you cited in the text. Only references cited should be listed, and all references cited should be listed. I do not expect a complete literature search on your animal. In fact, I prefer that you do not do any reading until you are well along in making descriptive observations, lest you be unduly influenced by the observations of others (which could be wrong). However, you should find any major descriptive studies of your species if they exist.

VII. Appendices. Appendix I is mandatory. This should be a list of the behavioral patterns reported in the text, and an indication of where in your data sheets the information for each pattern may be found. You may refer to datasheets by date, or by page number if you have many pages on a particular date. The purpose of the appendix is to allow your TA and me to see if you can really substantiate your descriptions with your actual data.

Mechanics of the Report: Reports should be word-processed, spell-checked, and double-spaced, with adequate margins for comments and printed on standard sized white paper. Fancy covers are not necessary, but there should be a cover page giving the title. Tables and figures (if any) should be on pages separate from the text, following the reference section but before Appendix 1. Each should be referred to in the text so that the reader knows to go looking for them. If tables and figures are small you may place more than one on a page; a table or figure should be placed immediately following the page of text on which it is first cited. Number tables and figures separately and consecutively. A "table" is anything that can be typed on a typewriter, a "figure" anything that cannot. (Drawings, graphs, photos, etc. are figures.) Number all of the pages in your assignment. More details on how to compose a research report of this kind can be found here.