Description:

This well-accepted book, now in its Fourth Edition, is a need-based extension of the previous book. The text is further enriched with more information to understand animal behaviour coherently and scientifically. In the new edition, the book introduces its readers with the recent topics, such as eusociality, social learning, imitation, ritualization, mating, sexual cannibalism, gravireception, and magnetoreception.

The book attempts to provide a reasonably suitable account of animal behaviour for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Although the behaviour of animals has fascinated people for a long time, behavioural biology has been introduced into syllabi very recently. The study of behaviour received its important boost from the work of Charles Darwin who used the term 'instinct', to refer to the natural behaviour of animals. In the 1930s, a comprehensive theory of animal behaviour emerged through the work of Konrad Lorenz and, later by Niko Tinbergen. Biological study of behaviour, in fact, came of age as a science when Lorenz, Tinbergen, and Karl von Frisch received the Nobel Prize for their contribution to science.

Observing and describing exactly what animals do is fascinating, and scientific analysis of their behaviour is significant for several reasons. Each species tends to have an array of stereotyped behaviours, some of which are shared with related species, but others are unique. Ecology, natural selection, macroevolution, microevolution, and genes constitute the foundation of animal behaviour. Various animal groups exhibit diverse strategies for survival and reproduction which are discussed in this book.

KEY FEATURES

• Presents a well-balanced view of ethology.

• Discusses current developments, challenges, and prospects in the field.

• Includes a glossary of important terms.

• Offers chapter-end questions to check students' understanding of the concept.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• B.Sc. (Biology)

• M.Sc. (Zoology/Life Sciences)

• Sociology and Anthropology