Description: Wolves excitedly greet each other as members of the pack come together; a bumble bee uses its long tongue to reach the nectar at the base of a foxglove flower; a mongoose swiftly and deftly bites its prey to death; young cheetahs rest quietly together, very close to sleep. Now in full color, this revised and updated edition of Manning and Dawkins' classic text provides a beautifully written introduction to the fundamentals of animal behavior. Tinbergen's four questions of causation, evolution, development and function form the fundamental framework of the text, illustrated with fascinating examples of complex behavioral mechanisms. The authors provide accounts of all levels of behavior from the nerve cell to that of the population. The strengths of An Introduction to Animal Behavior as a textbook include its clear explanations and concise, readable text and the enthusiasm of the authors for their subject.
Brief description: Aubrey Manning, OBE FRSE was Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh. His main research and teaching interests were based around animal behaviour, development and evolution. He completed his DPhil under Niko Tinbergen and is now Emeritus Professor. He received the Zoological Society of London Silver Medal in 2003 for public understanding of science.
Review Quotes: "This introduction to 'the liveliest aspect of all that lives' (as Konrad Lorenz famously called behavior) covers all the angles one would expect from a biologically oriented approach. It will be of tremendous value to any student seeking to explore what questions this field of research addresses and the many useful insights and concepts it has developed."
Frans de Waal, Emory University, Atlanta