Ethogram

Ethogram (also: behavior inventory , action catalog , Action System ) is a term of behavioral biology . The word is derived from the Greek ἔθος ethos ("custom, custom") and γράμμα gramma (written). An ethogram is “the most precise and detailed inventory possible of all behavior patterns occurring in the species in question ”, thereby “the basis of any scientific research into behavior ” and, in particular, an indispensable prerequisite for the preparation of a written or graphical record of the behavior of individuals of this type Ethograms can be called ethometry .

The creation of ethograms

An ethogram is a precise description of behavior and is used to explain the “ morphology of behavior”. When recording an ethogram, all essential behaviors of an animal species must therefore be precisely defined and delimited from one another, so that different observers can come to the same results while recording the behavior of a particular individual at the same time. In addition, it is essential to ensure that there is no interpretation of behavior: the ethogram is, as it were, the descriptive basis on which the interpretation of the observable behavior is later built.

The creation of ethograms has its roots in animal psychology and classical comparative behavioral research (ethology) of the 1920s and 1930s and is still considered an important method in behavioral biology. The method was developed when behaviorists moved away from anecdotally describing individual animals and instead analyzed the innate foundations of behavior of the entire species. However, this research approach reaches its limits when it comes to registering non- stereotypical behaviors, assigning intentional movements and variations between individual individuals. In addition, it is hardly possible in practice to delimit modes of behavior from one another without prior knowledge of the function of the behavior, i.e. its interpretation, being included in these definitions.

The creation of behavior logs

Depending on the question and the protocol method, a distinction is made between short event elements and longer time elements :

Event elements are sensibly counted so that their frequency or rate (= frequency per unit of time) can be determined.
In the case of time elements, it makes sense to measure their duration or the proportion of time in which the behavior is carried out (“time budget”).

Furthermore, it must be determined how detailed the survey should be: Is it sufficient, for example, to register “cleaning yourself” for a house mouse or should - furthermore - between “washing your face with your front paws”, “picking your ear”, “with scratching the back of the feet on the stomach ”etc. can be distinguished? It must also be determined at what time interval the behavior is to be noted. 1, 5 or 10 second intervals are common in rodents ; in the case of less agile animal species, however, larger intervals may be appropriate. Finally, it is useful to define an abbreviation for each behavior element, so that quick noting is ensured when observing the behavior.

Based on the behavior logs collected from several test animals of the same species, u. a. the mean frequency of occurrence of a certain behavior and the duration of a certain activity can be determined statistically. Quantitative statements on the probability of certain sequences of behavior ( behavioral patterns ) are also possible in this way.

If, for example, white “ laboratory mice ”, gray house mice caught in the wild, and mixed breeds from “laboratory mouse” and wild caught mice are analyzed in a comparative way, statements can also be made on the inheritance of behavior.

A well-known, but only moderately standardized, test arrangement is the open field test .

Examples of behavioral categories in an ethogram

Peter M. Kappeler gives the following examples in his textbook behavioral biology :

Locomotion (locomotion): crawling, running, walking, swinging, jumping, hopping, standing up, climbing, jumping with a mouse
Comfort behavior: yawning, scratching, stretching, shaking, licking your nose, blinking, flapping your tail, wiping your paws, cleaning yourself
Orientation behavior: sniffing, scenting, fixing, looking up, touching, touching, turning around, scratching
Eating behavior: suckling, chewing, gnawing, hiding food, drinking, urinating, hunting,
Ranking or territory behavior: localized urination (mark territory with urine), growling, barking, whining, lurking, straightening up, baring teeth, turning the body towards / away, jumping, lying on its side, showing throat, hissing, raising fur, putting up ears
Sexual behavior: courtship songs, showing off (peacock: hitting a wheel; gorilla: hitting the chest; ...), feeding, beaking, rubbing

literature

Konrad Lorenz : Here I am - where are you? Ethology of the greylag goose. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1988, ISBN 978-3-492-03246-9 .

Web links

Ethogram of the drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) , created by the animal school of the Hanover Zoo. The drill is a primate -Art of the family Cercopithecidae .

Individual evidence

^ Entry ethogram in: Klaus Immelmann : Grzimeks Tierleben , supplementary volume behavior research. Kindler Verlag, Zurich 1974, p. 626.
^ Klaus Immelmann: Introduction to Ethology. Plenum Press, New York and London 1980, p. 2, ISBN 978-1-4684-1056-3 .
↑ Peter M. Kappeler: Behavioral Biology. Springer, Berlin and Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-540-24056-3 .

[1] Entry ethogram in: Klaus Immelmann : Grzimeks Tierleben , supplementary volume behavior research. Kindler Verlag, Zurich 1974, p. 626.

[2] Klaus Immelmann: Introduction to Ethology. Plenum Press, New York and London 1980, p. 2, ISBN 978-1-4684-1056-3 .

[3] Peter M. Kappeler: Behavioral Biology. Springer, Berlin and Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-540-24056-3 .