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Since the last edition of this definitive textbook was published in 2013, much has happened in the field of animal behaviour. In this fourth edition, Lee Alan Dugatkin draws on cutting-edge new work not only to update and expand on the studies presented, but also to reinforce the previous editions' focus on ultimate and proximate causation, as well as the book's unique emphasis on natural selection, learning, and cultural transmission. The result is a state-of-the-art textbook on animal behaviour that explains underlying concepts in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and accessible to students. Each chapter in Principles of Animal Behavior provides a sound theoretical and conceptual basis upon which the empirical studies rest. A completely new feature in this edition are the Cognitive Connection boxes in Chapters 2–17, designed to dig deep into the importance of the cognitive underpinnings to many types of behaviours. Each box focuses on a specific issue related to cognition and the particular topic covered in that chapter.
As Principles of Animal Behavior makes clear, the tapestry of animal behaviour is created from weaving all of these components into a beautiful whole. With Dugatkin's exquisitely illustrated, comprehensive, and up-to-date fourth edition, we are able to admire that beauty anew.
Preface
1 Principles of Animal Behavior
2 The Evolution of Behavior
3 Hormones and Neurobiology
4 Molecular Genetics and Development
5 Learning
6 Cultural Transmission
7 Sexual Selection
8 Mating Systems
9 Kinship
10 Cooperation
11 Foraging
12 Antipredator Behavior
13 Communication
14 Habitat Selection, Territoriality, and Migration
15 Aggression
16 Play
17 Animal Personalities
Glossary
References
Credits
Index
Lee Alan Dugatkin is an animal behaviourist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science in the Department of Biology at the University of Louisville. He is the author of more than a 150 papers and author or coauthor of many books including The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness, Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose: Natural History in Early America, and, most recently, How To Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog), the last two also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Review of previous editions:
"Dugatkin offers a highly readable overview of the modern field of animal behavior, keeping up with the exponential growth over the last few decades. Instead of the usual choice between inborn and learned behavior, this book offers the reader with a fully integrated view."
– Frans de Waal, Emory University, on the third edition
"This is an up-to-date text that shows not only how theory and empirical data are combined, but how they are derived on the ground."
– Bernd Heinrich, University of Vermont, on the third edition
"The book reveals a richly illustrated panoramic view of animal behavior and, where it can, it also provides examples of the physiological, neurobiological, and molecular genetic mechanisms that may underlie it [...] Dugatkin's text [...] can be enjoyed by anyone who has an interest in the beauty of animal behavior [...] Excellent."
– Times Higher Education, on the second edition
"Up to date, highly integrative, and richly illustrated. It thus merits serious consideration by anyone looking for a textbook to support undergraduate offerings in animal behavior or behavioral ecology [...] Principles of Animal Behavior is comprehensive and readable, summarizing not only what is well documented but more importantly where integrated understanding is lacking, and thus where further research will prove most profitable."
– Animal Behaviour, on the first edition
