Author: The Ethogram

The official blog of the UC Davis Animal Behavior Graduate Group.

Field Frame Friday: Lunch is served

Common murres (Uria aalge) dive to hunt for fish, and use their wings for both swimming underwater and flying in the air! [Photo by Alycia Drwencke and caption by Karli Chudeau] Reference Watanuki, Y & Katsufumi, S. (2008). Dive angle, swim speed and wing stroke during shallow and deep dives in Common Murres and Rhinoceros…

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Sunday Sketch: Highland cattle

Did you know that Highland cattle have established dominance hierarchies? The strong relationships between these cattle were associated with low aggressive tension, which could help explain their increased reproductive performance! Sketch contributed by Maggie Creamer Source:  Reinhardt, C., Reinhardt, A., & Reinhardt, V. (1986). Social behaviour and reproductive performance in semi-wild Scottish Highland cattle. Applied Animal…

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Fowl Play: When handling birds gets auk-ward

It’s owl in a day’s work When it comes to researching avian species, it is common practice among ornithologists to capture, handle, and band birds [4]. This is standard for monitoring populations, identifying individuals, and obtaining physiological and behavioral data. Nobody really questions this; it’s all an important part of getting the information necessary to…

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Sunday Sketch: Peacock spider

Did you know that male peacock spiders (Maratus spp.) perform elaborate courtship displays to attract mates? In the coastal peacock spider (Maratus speciosus), the male extends his opisthosoma (the fan-like back) and orange setae (hair-like structures on either side) to produce a colorful display! Sketch contributed by Lea Pollack Source: Otto, J., & Hill, D….

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Transgenerational Plasticity: Lamarck’s Redemption

Dust off any high school biology textbook, flip to the evolution section, and you’ll see the stoic, world-weary face of Charles Darwin, father of evolutionary theory. His book On the Origin of Species laid the foundation for concepts, such as natural selection, that shape how we understand evolution and species diversity today. Pair his work…

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Field Notes: Kiddie pools in Mongolia

This summer I was part of an international-interdisciplinary team studying a social-ecological system in the Selenge River Valley of northern Mongolia. I know: that’s two hyphens too many, but hang in there, there were also the largest salmon in the world, sheep as far as the eye could see, and crispy yogurt chips.  There were…

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