Partner A__________________________
Partner B__________________________
Partner C________________________
Zoo Ethology Report
Hypotheses: What will these animals do and how much time will they spend doing it? (Before you start)
I. General Information (Record this before beginning any other observations )
Animals observed:
Location:
Date & time frame:
Weather conditions:
Habitat Conditions:
Total observation time:
II. Animal Characteristics: (Record before beginning what follows. Be thorough!)
Animal #
Detailed Animal Characteristics (Sex, size, markings, distinguishing features, etc.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Animal Behaviors Observations Directions:
1. Choose an animal to observe in an animal grp. w/ several animals to watch, that is easy to see & active.
2. Use a stop watch. You & your partners watch 1 animal for five minutes, & write down every single
behavior you see. Do NOT change to another animal at this time! Switch to another animal after five
minutes & repeat this procedure for individual # 2.
3. Observe a total of 6 animals of the same species for a total of 30 minutes (5 min. / animal). If there are less
than 6 animals, increase observation time to maintain the 30 minute period.)
4. Sit with your partners & organize the behaviors into categories. (Use a separate sheet of paper.)
Determine the major categories of behavior (≈5or6), placing subcategories below these on your paper.
If you are unsure why a behavior is occurring or if no related behaviors occur, give that behavior its
own category, or place it in an “other” category. Specify what behaviors fall in the “other” category.
5. After you have an organized list of behavior categories written down, leave space to the side of each
category to accurately record times.
6. Have 1 partner be the recorder, one the observer, & one the timer. Select 1 animal from your animal
group & observe for 5 min, recording each behavior & the time spent on the behavior, using your list
from step 5 above. If the behavior is so short you have trouble timing it, estimate it at 1-5 sec. Note:
If a behavior occurs that is not on your list, add it to the bottom of the list & categorize it later.
7. After the first 5 min, switch partner roles & observe the 2nd animal.
8. Repeat step 6 above until all 6 animals are observed for the total of 30 min. (5 min. each individual). Keep
switching roles so that each partner has a chance to do each role.
9. Total your times for each behavior category (including subcategories) to get a total time for each
behavior category. Add all the times for the categories together to get total minutes. (≈ 30 min.)
10. To calculate % time for each behavior category, divide the total behavior time by the total observed
for the major behavior & multiply by 100.
Animal Behaviors: Complete the following after all data is collected & organized.
III. Animal Behaviors Table
Behavior Category
Times
Total
Time
% of total
time
Other (Specify what is in this category)
Graph of Time Spent on Behaviors:
 Insert a PIE GRAPH of the percentages of time the animal spent on the major behavior categories.
 Provide a color-coded key for the pie graph. *Be sure to list what behaviors are included in “Other”.
Analysis Questions: Answer in complete sentences reflecting the question.
1. Which behavior category did your animal spend the most time doing? (1)
2. Which behavior category did your animal spend the least time doing? (1)
3. Describe how the process of determining the major behavior categories went for you & your partner.
Was it easy, difficult? Was there overlap? If so, how did you deal with this problem? (3)
4. Explain why you think one should collect data for animal behavior observations at the same time of day,
at the same time of year. (2)
5. Explain why you think your animal’s behavior might be different under different weather conditions.
Give specific examples. (3)
6. Explain why behavior observations would be different in the wild. Give specific example to support
your ideas. (4)
 Write up as a formal lab, using Lab template on web page. Omit: Materials, Method,
Observations, Sketches, & Calculations.
 Due one week after Zoo Trip.