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Book reviews
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The Dezelopment of Animal Behaziour, Johan Bolhuis and Jerry Hogan editors .
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Blackwell Publishers, 1998, 322 pp., UK £59.99, US$64.95 hardback ISBN
0-631-( )
20707-4, UK £16.99, US$34.95 paperback ISBN 0-631-20708-2
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Someone I forget who once remarked that the state of a science could be told from the extent that it forgets its history. Sciences that have well-established paradigms and that are making rapid advances rarely pay much attention to theories, or even data, that are 20 or even 10 years old, especially where these have been superceded. Only sciences
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still fumbling in the pre-paradigmatic fog bother much with their history. Perhaps in that way, even if they don’t know where they are, or where they are going, at least they
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know how they got there . This book is an excellent collection of classic papers in the field of behavioural development originally published between 1935 and 1996. The articles together give a thorough overview of some of the main issues, and some of the key findings in this field over the last few decades. No doubt as to the quality of the selection, which is no surprise given the quality of the editors. However, the selection is just that: a selection. The great majority of the articles deal with birds, especially bird song, and the classical ethological concepts of imprinting and sensitive periods figure heavily. There is little on psychological analysis of learning, and not much on mammals, especially the larger ones. Although the book does have some welcome articles in neurobiology, there is a disappointing absence of articles on the use of the techniques of molecular biology to try to understand exactly how genetic make-up influences develop-ment. In addition, with the current interest in cognition, the lack of articles dealing with cognitive development is also disappointing.
The question I pose on behalf of the potential reader is as follows: is it worth the trouble to read it? The collection does show just how clearly some scientists can explain and analyse complex ideas. The several articles related to imprinting and sensitive periods do show the progress that has been made in understanding some limited aspects of behavioural development. My interest in reviewing this volume comes from my own desire to know more about the field of behavioural development, which has obvious, underappreciated relevance for applied ethology. I must confess, while reading it, I was constantly niggled by feelings of guilt. Perhaps I ought to spend my time reading papers that are being published now. Knowing the history of ideas is all very well, but what is the current standing of these ideas among researchers most active in the field? Are these ideas still current, or was I reading something of only historical interest? This book did not really give me a satisfactory answer to such questions. The editors begin each section of the book with a one-page introduction that often does little more than summarize the articles. Far more useful would have been a final summing up, indicating
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the current standing of the field, what questions are currently being asked, and how these relate to the issues discussed in these classic articles.
The foreword by Patrick Bateson is interesting for the suggestion that the recent interest in analysing complex systems, rather than simple linear relations, is a result of the popularity among teenagers of computer games. In the preface, the authors indicate the renewed interest in analysing the causal and developmental basis of behaviour rather
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than focussing almost exclusively on functional questions, which has been the ten-dency in the last few decades. This comes as a relief to us who have watched bemusedly the attempts, sometimes enlightening but often tortured, to apply behavioural ecology theories to domesticated farm animals. If this book can help re-orient and re-interest ethologists, especially applied ethologists, toward questions of behavioural development and causation, this alone, in my mind, will have justified its publication. However, I thought that behavioural ecology had made some contribution to behavioural develop-ment, principally through life history analysis. However, there is nary an article in this collection, apart from Lorenz’s, that discusses the ecological and evolutionary context of behavioural development.
The papers themselves are grouped into sections. Section one, entitled ‘General Principles of Behavioural Development’, includes a classical paper by C.H. Waddington on ontogenetic systems. While interesting, it is left unclear how these ideas have been affected by the great leaps in understanding the biochemical mechanisms whereby DNA actually directs development. A useful article by Oppenheim points out that much of the behaviour of young animals is not just an imperfect stage on the way to more complex adult forms but represents specific adaptations to the particular demands placed on young animals. Two articles by Bateson and Horn and by Ten Cate discuss imprinting and sensitive periods, which were cornerstone concepts in early ethology.
Part 2, entitled ‘Theoretical debates’ would be better described if the title were in the singular, since it deals almost exclusively with the infamous ‘naturernurture debate’. There are articles, rebuttals and counter-rebuttals by Lorenz, Lehrman and Hebb. Applied ethologists have been accused of using simplified and somewhat garbled accounts of Lorenz’s ideas in their own research, and these chapters could be read with profit for the light they throw on the difficulties these ideas pose. However, is this the only theoretical debate in the area of behavioural development? At least, by remember-ing the history, we may avoid repeatremember-ing it in the current ‘geneticisation’ of biology, and the ever-present temptation to ‘explain’ phenotypic phenomena, including behaviour, by identifying the underlying genes.
Sections 3 and 4 deal with ‘Empirical paradigms’ and show some of the experimental models and the results of various investigations into the development of perceptual and motor systems. There are classic papers by Lorenz, Marler, Fentress and others. Again, the papers are very interesting, but without any context, the non-expert reader is left guessing how these concepts and results are faring nowadays.
In short, the articles collected give a reasonable overview of the main issues in certain areas of behavioural development, especially those that are of interest to the editors. The book might be useful for students with some knowledge of the current state of the study of behavioural development, who would be able to put the articles into the
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afraid someone wishing to enter the field such as from applied ethology would find only limited value here. A well-written article that summarized the papers, and indicated how they had led into the present, would be of much greater value to the non-specialist. A final question regarding such collections is a boringly economic one. The book is not overly expensive, compared to the average price of such books, but it is not exactly cheap. Is it worth buying the book or better just to photocopy the contents page and find the original articles in the library? Most of the articles would appear to still be readily available, and I have a feeling that I probably won’t read most of them more than once. Some articles, such as the wonderful classic article by Kruijt on the development of behaviour in the red jungle fowl, are published as far-too-brief excerpts, leading the reader to wonder why the editors just didn’t print the title, followed by the exhortation ‘‘Read this!’’. Besides, what are we paying for? Couldn’t the articles have been scanned and put on the web for free?
Jeff Rushen Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Dairy and Swine Research and DeÕelopment Centre, PO Box 90, LennoxÕille, Quebec J1M 1Z3, Canada E-mail address: rushenj@em.agr.ca
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An introduction to animal behaziour, Aubrey Manning and Marian Stamp Dawkins. Cambridge University Press, 1998, 450 pp. UK £18.95, ISBN 0 521 5789 1 (paperback ; UK £55.00, hardback ISBN 0 521 57024 7) ( )
An Introduction to Animal BehaÕiour is a book you want to pick up and read immediately. The cover shows two Rainbow Lorikeets, one gently preening its mate’s feathers. A beautiful photograph taken by Marian Stamp Dawkins of young cheetahs reclining sleepily begins the introduction in which two important points are made. The
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first is that animal behaviour is a very popular subject with biologists and I would add with students and the general public; and secondly, experimental studies with animals are now controlled by law in many countries.
The theme throughout the book is based on Tinbergen’s overlapping concepts: the
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function of behaviour, the evolution of behaviour, causation including both internal and
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external factors , and behavioural development of young animals as they mature. The six chapters after the introduction incorporate these concepts through discussions on the development of behaviour, stimuli and communication, motivation and decision-making, learning and memory, and evolution. This information is integrated into the final chapter on social organization.
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to think about various possibilities. The examples used are interesting, and the idea of cultural transmission of behaviour is examined using bird song and chimpanzee soci-eties.
Chapters 3 and 4 create a logical progression from behavioural development to stimuli and communication, and to motivation and decision-making. These chapters show how animals perceive, evaluate and then respond to their environment, which is
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the crux of Tinbergen’s concept of causation. The section on communication Chapter 3 and associated signals, both honest and deceptive, is fascinating and well illustrated with examples from a wide range of animal species. Chapter 4 addresses the idea of measuring motivation as an assessment of animal welfare. Topics include methods of measuring how much an animal is motivated to perform a certain behaviour, and what this measurement means in terms of the animal’s welfare. It is fitting that an up-to-date book on animal behaviour presents the idea that behaviour can give advance warning that something is wrong before pathophysiological symptoms appear.
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The most exciting question in Chapter 5 Learning and Memory is, ‘‘Can animals think and reflect on their actions?’’ The word ‘‘cognition’’ does not appear in the index, so I was pleased when I found this section. The chapter exposes readers to the possibility that there is consciousness of some sort in animals, and that one of the most powerful arguments for animal consciousness is an evolutionary one.
Chapter 6 discusses Tinbergen’s concept of the evolution of behaviour and the use of molecular phylogeny as an aid to understanding the sequence in which behaviour
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evolved. In Chapter 7 Social Organization , the concepts of evolution, learning, cooperation, communication and kinship are drawn together, and their influence on social behaviour is put into context. A short summary of primate social organization serves as an appropriate illustration.
An Introduction to Animal BehaÕiour is an excellent introduction to basic be-havioural concepts and includes key original research as well as very recent work. The book is easy to read, well illustrated, and contains a comprehensive index. As a new student’s introduction to animal behaviour, it is an ideal book, but it also allows more experienced behaviourists to easily catch up with recent work. As a teacher of animal behaviour to veterinary, agricultural and animal science students, I am sure the book will also be a useful resource for the more applied aspects of these courses.
Judith K. Blackshaw Department of Veterinary Science and Animal Production, The UniÕersity of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072, Australia
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