An Introduction to Animal Behaviour

Description

Wolves excitedly greet each other as members of the pack come together; a bumble bee uses its long tongue to reach the nectar at the base of a foxglove flower; a mongoose swiftly and deftly bites its prey to death; young cheetahs rest quietly together, very close to sleep. Now in full colour, this revised and updated edition of Manning and Dawkins' classic text provides a beautifully written introduction to the fundamentals of animal behaviour. Tinbergen's four questions of causation, evolution, development and function form the fundamental framework of the text, illustrated with fascinating examples of complex behavioural mechanisms. The authors provide accounts of all levels of behaviour from the nerve cell to that of the population. The strengths of An Introduction to Animal Behaviour as a textbook include its clear explanations and concise, readable text and the enthusiasm of the authors for their subject.

Aubrey Manning, OBE FRSE was Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh. His main research and teaching interests were based around animal behaviour, development and evolution. He completed his DPhil under Niko Tinbergen and is now Emeritus Professor. He received the Zoological Society of London Silver Medal in 2003 for public understanding of science. Marian Stamp Dawkins is Professor of Animal Behaviour at the University of Oxford where she heads the Animal Behaviour Research Group. Her research interests lie around animal perceptual worlds, with particular emphasis on animal suffering. She has authored, co-authored and edited eight books dealing with subjects ranging from basic behaviour to animal suffering and consciousness.

'This introduction to 'the liveliest aspect of all that lives' (as Konrad Lorenz famously called behaviour) covers all the angles one would expect from a biologically oriented approach. It will be of tremendous value to any student seeking to explore what questions this field of research addresses and the many useful insights and concepts it has developed.' Frans de Waal, Emory University, Atlanta 'Combining the best of classical ethology with modern developments in behavioural biology, the sixth edition of a famous textbook is enormously welcome. I strongly recommend this beautifully written and illustrated book to students of all ages.' Patrick Bateson, University of Cambridge