Ethology (from the Greek ethos and logos, “character” and “study”) is the scientific branch that studies animal behavior . To do this, it is necessary to know the habits and behaviors of the animal we want to study. An essential tool in an ethological study is the ethogram. By definition, an ethogram is the set of natural behaviors that a specific animal species manifests in general or in a specific situation. The purpose of the ethogram is to build a catalog of natural behaviors, which is constantly updated with the increase of studies on the species under consideration. However, it is necessary to define a catalog that is consistent with the study we are carrying out. We will see later how and when these behavioral lists can vary.
Cormorant in “dominant” posture
Assumptions for the construction of an ethogram
In general, an ethogram consists of a definition , or ID , and a description. The definition may be the same or different from that found in other ethological studies. The important thing is to use the same terminology throughout the study. The description of a behavior must be operational (objective or empirical) and not functional .
Operational definition: Play bow = The dog bends its back, the front of the body is close to the ground, while the back is raised and perpendicular to the ground. The front legs are more or less extended, while the head is lowered. Functional definition: Play bow = The dog lowers its hind limbs and head to invite another dog, object or animal to play.
We also said that only natural behaviors are used in an ethogram , not artificial ones . In other words, all those behaviors that are the result of training are not used. Hence the need, when possible, to construct ethograms using field and laboratory observations, so as to define the behavioral plasticity of an animal.
Observations can be made on a whole group, and / or on single individuals. The choice of the subject mainly depends on the type of behavior we want to observe. For example: if we wanted to study the courtship of seahorses (gen. Hippocampus ) it would be necessary to analyze both animals, both the male and the female; if we wanted to study the courtship of the capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus ), we will examine, initially, the male, so as to understand the behaviors carried out during the dance, and then the female if we are interested in his response.
2 – Analysis of Vacuum Chewing behavior.
The situation can change the need to have a more or less extensive ethogram. It is a common practice, in fact, to use only specific behavioral macro-areas (eg gaming, stress, competitive, affiliative behaviors …) to describe the situation we are analyzing. It is not necessary to insert in an ethogram all the behaviors that have been found in that animal, but only those that concern the space-time behavioral sphere we are observing. We speak of Species-oriented if the study is based on the general observation of the animal, and the ethogram must be as complete as possible, or Concept-oriented if the work will focus on specific behavioral categories.
How an ethogram is constructed
Imagine having to elaborate an ethogram that includes the individual behaviors concerning the interspecific playful interaction (i.e. between members of different species) between the dog and the horse.
The first step (fundamental and mandatory) is to search and analyze the previous bibliography that exists on the game between the dog and the horse. Does our research boil down to this topic? Of course not! We will then have to look for the studies that talk about play in dogs, horses, dog-X interspecific play, horse-X interspecific play and interspecific play between XX.
Part of the ethogram in the article “Leveling playing field: synchronization and rapid facial mimicry in dog-horse play”.
After analyzing the literature we should have a gender picture of the interspecific game. At this point we can take the ethograms of the game in the dog and the horse, which we found previously in the literature. With the lists in hand we can analyze the videos! At first it will be a bit difficult, because we will have to choose a definition that identifies a specific behavior, and be able to distinguish one behavioral pattern from another. With practice this process will become easier and easier.
At the end of the analysis we will draw up our ethogram. For a quick and easy understanding of behaviors, it is recommended that they be divided into behavioral modules that concern specific issues, such as: offensive, defensive, escape, contact, remote.
Remember the rules for a good ethogram:
- It fully describes the situation you are analyzing;
- Simple, linear and intuitive;
- Behaviors are described objectively (operating) and non-functional.
