Animal Behavior, Young Readers Edition

The study of animal behavior began with early man's first attempts to understand the creatures around him. Today it is still one of the most complex and challenging branches of all science. In fact, at present we seem closer to understanding the origins of life itself than we are to understanding how and why most living things behave as they do.This understanding does not depend on advanced mathematics, on delicate instruments or on giant computers. An experienced student of animal behavior, armed with binoculars and hidden in a blind, can gather in a few hours enough facts about his subject to keep him thinking for a year. Some behaviorists experiment with animals in the laboratory; others prefer to watch them undisturbed in their surroundings because they believe that the animal's behavior has helped the species to survive and evolve under the conditions of the environment.Behavior study is not a field for narrow specialists. The author, Dr. Tinbergen, has had wide experience and he adds deep volume, which constitutes not only a challenge but an encouragement to every reader. Anyone, Dr. Tinbergen seems to say, who has a sharp eye and ear, is patient and does not jump to conclusions can learn a great deal by studying animals, and he might even make observations of lasting value to science.- Kenneth D RoederProfessor of PhysiologyDepartment of BiologyTufts Universityfrom the Introduction