Assignment for Behavioral Observation

One of the most important techniques employed by ethologists (individuals that study animal behavior) is the observation of animal behavior. Observing animal behavior involves systematic recording of the activities of particular animals. To familiarize students with this common technique, each student will be required to complete a series of observations of an animal’s behavior using a variety of animals. Each observation will consist of a detailed description of an animal’s behavior for at least 10 minutes (with one exception) and observations must be collected once weekly from the week of 30 August to 14 November (12 total observations). Record your observations in a composition notebook (bound, not a spiral). Any animal can be observed for these exercises with the following restrictions:

  • The same individual animal cannot be used for more than 2 observations
  • Domestic animals (dogs, cats, livestock, etc.) cannot be used for more than 3 observations
  • Non-domestic captive animals (zoo animals, etc.) cannot be used for more than 3 observations
  • At least 2 observations MUST be conducted on invertebrates
  • At least 2 observations must be conducted on prairie dogs (there is a town within walking distance on the northeast side of campus) and one observation period must use focal-animal sampling and one must use scan sampling (see below)
  • At least one observation must be at least 30 minutes long

Observation notebooks are worth 75 points and will be graded based on adherence to the above restrictions and requirements as well as the quality of the observations from a behavioral standpoint. Notebooks will be due on 17 November and late notebooks will not be accepted.

You will use one of two general types of behavioral observation techniques for your observations, focal-animal sampling and scan sampling (also called group sampling or instantaneous sampling). In focal-animal sampling, the actions of a focal animal are observed and recorded during a prescribed time period. In scan sampling, the observer watches each animal only briefly at periodic intervals (every minute, 10 minutes, etc) and records their activity (i.e., animal A – alert, animal B – feeding, animal C – feeding, animal D – grooming, etc.).

NOTE: Arrange to meet with me if you have questions or concerns during the course of this project, I will be happy to look over your notebook and provide advice.

Recording Behavioral Observations

Your observations must include the following:

Date:

Location: be specific enough for me to find your location

Conditions: cloud cover, approximate temperature, moon phase (if observation occurs at night), wind speed, etc. (include anything that may influence or alter behavior)

Subject: species, whether an individual or a group, etc.

Sample frequency: e.g., every 30 seconds, 1 minute, etc.

Description/name of behaviors: e.g., alert – animal sits up and scans area, grooming – animal cleans fur, aggressive – animal chases/bites others, greeting – animal smells others

Start time:

Stop time:

List of behavior (observation data):

Examples:

Focal-animal observations

15:20:00feeding

15:20:30feeding

15:21:00alert

15:21:30alert

Scan sampling

15:20:0012 dogs on surface, 8 feeding, 2 resting, 2 alert

15:20:3013 dogs on surface, 4 feeding, 9 alert – large hawk flew by

15:21:0013 dogs on surface, all alert – large hawk in area

15:21:30etc.

Behavioral Observation Grading Form

Name: ______

Criteria / Requirement / Points possible / Points earned
Number of observations / 12 / 60
Repetition / Same individual not used more than twice / 0 max / 10
Category of observation / Domestic / 3 max / 10
Non-domestic captive / 3 max / 10
Invertebrates / 2 min / 10
Prairie dog (focal-animal) / 1 min / 10
Prairie dog (scan sampling) / 1 min / 10
Time / 30 minutes / 1 min / 10
At least 10 minutes / 11 min / 10
Observation caption information / Complete information for all observations (see Recording Behavioral Observations) / All / 60
Observation content / Content of observation appropriately detailed / All / 50
Overall quality / Appropriate effort, legibility, etc / All / 50

Total points

/ 300
Score (300/points earned)