Web Directory

» A Century of Generalization
   This article aims to organise existing data to test the theory that, when a behavior has been established in response to a certain stimulus, novel stimuli resembling the first will usually elicit the same response.
   http://cogprints.org/5279/01/ghirlanda_enquist2003.pdf

» A Reproductive Dictatorship: Naked Mole-rats
   The eusocial naked mole-rat is the mammalian equivalent of a social insect. This article discusses how and why the dominant queen and the infertile workers cooperate for the benefit of the whole colony.
   http://webspace.qmul.ac.uk/cgfaulkes/CGFNMR.htm

» About Gender: Ethology
   An introduction to animal reproduction, maternal strategies, living in groups, dominance and male behavior. The rest of the site deals with human gender roles, variance and identity.
   http://www.gender.org.uk/about/index.htm#ethol

» All About How Males Attract Female Birds
   Describes research into the extent to which female birds choose their mates according to their vocal ability.
   http://petcaretips.net/how-bird-attracts.html

» Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs
   Describes the wolf-pack social order as it occurs in nature, discusses the alpha concept and social dominance and submission, and presents data on the precise relationships among members in free-living packs.
   http://www.scallywags1.freeserve.co.uk/alstat/alstat.htm

» Animal Behavior
   Information from McMaster University, Canada on the research program and undergraduate courses available.
   http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/index.php/research-areas/animal-behaviour-group.html

» Animal Behavior Lab
   Overview of current research at Macquarie University, Australia, with detailed material on each project.
   http://galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au/

» Animal Behavior, Behavioral Ecology and Arachnology
   Dr George Uetz at the University of Illinois is leading research into colonial web-building spiders, communication in wolf spiders and other aspects of arachnid behavior.
   http://www.biology.uc.edu/faculty/uetz/sitemap.htm

» Animal Behavior/Sensory Biology
   Article from Wikibooks explaining that, by learning how the senses gather information, a better understanding of behavior is gained.
   http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Animal_Behavior/Sensory_Biology

» Animal Behaviour
   Daniel Mills and Gill Sheppard describe an evolutionary approach to the analysis, assessment and treatment of behavior problems.
   http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/dbs/abc/dm_behaviour_paper_1.htm

» Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science Research Group.
   The University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada examines how an understanding of the behavior of domesticated animals and poultry can contribute to their welfare.
   http://www.uoguelph.ca/abw/

» Animal Cognition
   Researchers at Edinburgh University are using both evolutionary and behavioral approaches to try to understand the factors that shape animal cognitive abilities.
   http://cognition.icapb.ed.ac.uk

» Animal Cognition Network
   Provides links to current scientific literature in the field of animal cognition. Includes journal articles, reviews, books and relevant websites.
   http://www.animalcognition.net

» Article: Bee Behavior
   By studying bees as individuals and as a colony, Stephen Taber researches how their behavior may be changed to our benefit. The site also provides a sourcebook for beekeeping.
   http://www.beesource.com/pov/usda/beekpUSA33.htm

» Avian Visual Cognition
   This multimedia cyberbook provides a comprehensive survey of this area of comparative research with chapters by top international scientists.
   http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/avc/toc.htm

» Baboon and Impala Together
   Discusses how baboons and impala interact. Offers scientific observations and images.
   http://home.comcast.net/~tom-day/babim.html

» Bee Behavior
   A project studying the behavior of bees as individuals and as a colony, including a live feed from a hive.
   http://www.beebehavior.com/

» Behavioral Ecology Research Group
   Research on the evolution of social systems and social learning at the University of Queensland, Australia.
   http://www.uq.edu.au/berg/

» Behavioural and Cognitive Influences of Kairomones on an Araneophagic Jumping Spider
   Jackson, Clark and Harland researched the factors influencing the predatory habits of the jumping spider, Portia fimbriata, which eats other spiders.
   http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/research/groups/ccnr/Papers/Downloads/Jackson_Behav2002.pdf

» Braun Lab of Hydroacoustic Research and Discovery
   Current research at Hunter College, New York, concentrates on the multiple sensory systems that fish use to detect moving and sound-producing objects, including the gymnotiform fishes that use electricity to communicate.
   http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~cbraun/braunwebsite/Research.htm

» Brood Parasitism
   This essay describes the behavior of birds that lay their eggs in the nest of another species, with links to other essays covering similar topics.
   http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Brood_Parasitism.html

» Causes and Consequences of a Lack of Coevolution in Mullerian Mimicry
   Article by James Mallet in which he discusses whether the unpalatable species that copy one another for their mutual benefit evolved together.
   http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/pap/mimcoev.pdf

» Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour
   Research into brain function and behavior, communication and higher cognition in animals as undertaken at the University of New England, Australia.
   http://www.une.edu.au/cnab/

» Chelonian Research Foundation
   This foundation supports worldwide turtle and tortoise research and produces a journal – Chelian Conservation and Biology.
   http://www.chelonian.org/

» Chimpanzee Cultures
   A searchable database of chimpanzee cultural behaviors.
   http://culture.st-and.ac.uk/chimp/

» Cognitive Architecture of a Mini-brain: The Honeybee
   Abstract of an article by Randolf Menzel and Martin Giurfa examining the extent to which adaptive behaviour in honeybees exceeds elementary forms of learning, and identifying the neural mechanisms involved.
   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11166636

» Cognitive Ecology: A Field of Substance?
   Article arguing that a greater insight into behaviors such as animal orientation, song learning, mate choice and foraging is achieved by tackling the subject from more than one starting point.
   http://cognition.icapb.ed.ac.uk/resources/pdf/Healy00.pdf

» Conflict and Cooperation
   Tamas Szekely provides a really short, illustrated guide to the family life of birds.
   http://www.bath.ac.uk/podcast/powerpoint/Szekely_CharterDay2007.pdf

» Consciousness in Animals and People with Autism
   Temple Grandin discusses his views on animal consciousness, using comparisons from his experience with autism, citing scientific evidence on other neurological disorders which affect consciousness.
   http://grandin.com/references/animal.consciousness.html

» Cooperative Breeding
   Communal breeding occurs when more than two birds of the same species provide care in rearing the young from one nest.
   http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Cooperative_Breeding.html

» Cooperative Breeding in Birds: a Comparative Test of the Life History Hypothesis
   Kathryn Arnold and Ian Owens test the hypothesis that cooperative breeding tends to occur in species with low annual mortality because this leads to overcrowded populations.
   http://www.gla.ac.uk/ibls/DEEB/ka/abstracts/lhistory.pdf

» Cophylogeny between Pocket Gophers and Chewing Lice
   Article discussing the symbiotic association between gophers and chewing lice, creatures whose life histories are conducive to parallel speciation.
   http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rdmp1c/book/draft/hafner.pdf

» Cospeciation and Rates of Evolution in Lice and Birds: a Molecular Approach
   How old is the association between a given parasite and its host? Rod Page at the University of Glasgow tries to answer this question.
   http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/Jobs/NERC/seabird.html

» Deep-sea Octocorals as Homes for Other Species
   Researchers at the Darling Marine Center at the University of Maine, examine the commensal relationships of octocorals with brittle stars and marine scale worms.
   http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04mountains/background/commensals/commensals.html

» Dolphin Institute
   Dedicated to conservation of and education about dolphins and whales. Research projects include dolphin echolocation.
   http://www.dolphin-institute.org/

» Dominance in Crayfish.
   Article from the Journal of Neuroscience on patterns of behavior, including the activation of neural circuits, during the formation of a dominance hierarchy in crayfish.
   http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/21/8/2759

» Dominance in Domestic Hen Triads
   The role of individual differences and patterns of resolution in the formation of dominance orders in domestic hen triads.
   http://cogprints.org/1960/

» EcoBirds: Anting
   Article discussing the strange behavior adopted by some birds in using ants in preening or in some instances, lying down among ants.
   http://birds.ecoport.org/Behaviour/EBanting.htm

» Elephant Corner: Mentality, Cognition and Behavior of Elephants
   Moti Nissani details his research into elephant behavior, cognition and senses, with sounds and video clips.
   http://www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/ElephantCorner/front.htm

» Encyclopedia of Psychology - Animal Behavior
   Annotated links to resources on animal behavior and instincts.
   http://www.psychology.org/links/Environment_Behavior_Relationships/Animal_Behavior-Instincts/

» Equine and Animal Cognition Reference Database
   A literature database for researchers in the field of animal cognition and equine science.
   http://references.equine-behaviour.de

» Essay: A Baboon’s Life
   An essay written by Robert Sapolsky in 1996 on violence between male baboons, ageing and friendship.
   http://www.indiana.edu/~origins/teach/PDF/Sapolsky1996.pdf

» Ethology
   Tables of contents, contacts and subscription information from this journal by Blackwell Publishing.
   http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0179-1613

» Fauna Communications Research
   Institute that researches bioacoustics and animal communication, especially of endangered species.
   http://animalvoice.com/

» Figs and Fig Wasps
   An example of mutualism, fig wasps only live for a few days but manage to perform their amazing task of finding and pollinating the flowers that are hidden deep inside the fig.
   http://www.figweb.org/

» Fish Behaviour
   Describes certain behaviors that can indicate pain in fish and the behavioral evidence for the perception of pain by fish.
   http://www.vet.ed.ac.uk/animalwelfare/Fish%20pain/Behaviour.htm

» Fish and Shrimp Interactions
   Details of research carried out by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center on the behavior of fish with varying numbers of prey species and fish densities.
   http://www.serc.si.edu/labs/fish_invert_ecology/predator_prey/fish_shrimp.aspx

» Flocker 1.1
   This free software quantifies and compares statistical measures of group size. It differentiates between outsiders' view (group size) versus insiders' view (crowding) measures, controls for the ties among data points in the latter case and handles biased
   http://www.zoologia.hu/flocker/

» Fongoli Chimps
   Article from the National Geographic Magazine on how the chimpanzees on the savannas of Senegal are hunting bush babies with spearlike sticks.
   http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/chimps-with-spears/mary-roach-text.html

» Group Mobbing Behaviour and Nest Defence
   Outlines research carried out by Katheryn E Arnold using co-operative breeding Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) in Australia on whether mobbing behavior assisted reproductive success.
   http://www.gla.ac.uk/ibls/DEEB/ka/abstracts/ethology.pdf

» Group Predation of Lions
   An investigation into the visual cues required to coordinate the complex cooperative behavior involved in hunting.
   http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~amb/papers/lionsIJCAI05.pdf

» Historical Information about Animal Cognition
   A brief survey of important scientists in the history of the study of animal behavior.
   http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/history.htm

» Honey Bee Research at the University of Illinois
   Research in Gene E. Robinson's lab that studies the mechanisms of social behavior in honey bees.
   http://www.life.uiuc.edu/robinson/

» How Locusts Decide it is Time to Swarm
   Article from the New Scientist discussing the factors that turn a relatively harmless cloud of insects into a devastating plague.
   http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9255-how-locusts-decide-its-time-to-swarm.html

» Hummingbirds and Torpor
   Article by Devorah Bennu on the strategy used by hummingbirds to conserve energy in order to survive long cold nights.
   http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2006/04/hummingbirds_and_torpor.php

» Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery: Animal Architecture
   Dr Michael Hansell has built up an extensive collection of animal artefacts, mainly bird and insect nests but also other fascinating items.
   http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/collections/zoology/animals/animal_architecture.shtml

» Kohler’s Research on the Mentality of Apes
   Excerpt from a book by Gould and Gould discussing the tests that Kohler set the chimpanzees he was marooned with during the First World War.
   http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/kohler.htm

» Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology
   Austrian organization that investigates major unsolved problems in behavioral and evolutionary ecology.
   http://www.oeaw.ac.at/klivv/

» Laboratory of Animal Ecology, Rikkyo University
   Current research includes the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior, avian behavioral ecology, and what behaviors help an animal to adapt to its environment.
   http://www.rikkyo.ne.jp/grp/animal-ecology/en/

» Long-distance Land Bird Migration
   This article discusses the reasons for migration, its advantages and disadvantages, and the different patterns of migration adopted by different bird groups.
   http://petcaretips.net/bird-migration.html

» Mammal Research at JCU
   Researchers at James Cook University are studying the life histories of several endangered Australian marsupials.
   http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/tbiol/zoology/auxillry/mammals/mamres.html

» Mammalian Hibernation
   Article by Ken Muldrew on mammalian hibernation, sleep and torpor.
   http://www.ucalgary.ca/~kmuldrew/cryo_course/cryo_chap12_1.html

» Movie Archives of Animal Behavior
   An online animal behavior video database available in various formats. Most clips filmed in Japan.
   http://www.momo-p.com/index-e.html

» Multiple Sexual Ornaments in Satin Bowerbirds
   Article by Stephanie Doucet and Robert Montgomerie on their research into the interrelationship between bower features, plumage coloration, and indicators of male quality in this species.
   http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/14/4/503

» NPR: Animal Thought and Communication
   Ira Flatow and guests look at thought and communication in apes, gorillas and monkeys [Real Audio broadcast].
   http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1601349

» Nests and Nest-Building in Birds
   Outlines a study of the Red Bishop, a colony breeding weaverbird from sub-Saharan Africa, and examines aspects of male nest-building behavior and resulting male reproductive success.
   http://docserver.bis.uni-oldenburg.de/publikationen/dissertation/2005/metada05/pdf/introduction.pdf

» Ontologies for Ethology
   Peter E. Midford's research in coding animal behavior descriptions, particularly ethograms using ontology.
   http://www.mesquiteproject.org/ontology/

» Overview of Our Research on the Variable Field Cricket
   At the Wagner Laboratory at the University of Nebraska, research is being undertaken on the evolution of male singing behavior and female song preferences in the variable field cricket
   http://cricket.unl.edu/research.html

» Partnership in Birds
   Article discussing monogamous birds and those that change partner, and why such divorces occur.
   http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/behavecol/jstacy_desertion.pdf

» Pelican Lagoon Research Centre
   This centre in Australia provides habitats for long term field studies, especially on monotremes, free from the impact of introduced species.
   http://www.echidna.edu.au

» Personality Gene Makes Songbirds Curious
   Max Planck scientists find evidence for an association between gene variants and exploratory behavior in great tits.
   http://www.orn.mpg.de/aktuelles/presse/meisen_en.pdf

» Processing Towards Life
   L Charles Birch discusses self-organisation as exampled by termites, ants and slime moulds, where patterns of behavior are determined, not by some centralised authority, but by local interactions about decentralised components
   http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2861

» Project Apis dorsata
   Provides information on a research project in Nepal to study the communication and defense behaviour of the Asian Giant Honeybee, Apis dorsata.
   http://www.apis-dorsata.info

» Reading: Manning and Dawkins, Animal Behavior
   Notes on Chapters 2 to 7 of this book covering aspects of communication, learning, memory, evolution and social organisation.
   http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/way/yek18/greg/docs/reading%20-%20Manning%20and%20Dawkins,%20animal%20behaviour.htm

» ReefQuest
   A comprehensive source of information on the biology of sharks and rays including behavioral studies.
   http://www.elasmo-research.org/site_map.htm

» Research Projects in the Mammal Research Unit
   Details of the current research projects being undertaken at the Mammal Research Unit at Bristol University, England.
   http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/research/mammal/research.html

» Research Station Petite Camargue Alsacienne
   Affiliated with the University of Basel, Switzerland. Focuses on the behavioral ecology of passerines.
   http://www.camargue.unibas.ch

» Sexual Conflict, Ecology and Breeding Systems in Shorebirds
   Paper by Tamas Szekely, Gavin Thomas and Innes Cuthill examining the different reproductive payoffs for male and female birds of adopting various diverse breeding systems.
   http://www.bath.ac.uk/bio-sci/biodiversity-lab/publications/BioScience_Octobert2006.pdf

» Sexual Selection in Bowerbirds
   Research at the Borgia Lab concentrates on understanding the evolution of the complex sexual male displays in the Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus.
   http://www.life.umd.edu/biology/borgialab/

» Slagsvold Group
   A research group at the University of Oslo, Norway. Primary focus is on the study of sexual imprinting in small passerines.
   http://folk.uio.no/larsejo/tits/index.php

» Social Behaviour of African Wild Dogs
   Katherine Green at the University of Sheffield, England, examines how the social behavior of the African wild dog is contributing to its high risk of extinction.
   http://www.shef.ac.uk/aps/mbiolsci/green-kathleen/level3dissertation.pdf

» Stress and the City: Urban Birds Keep Cool
   Ornithologists at the Max Planck Society demonstrate that urban birds are more resistant to acute stress than forest dwelling birds.
   http://www.orn.mpg.de/aktuelles/presse/stress_en.pdf

» The Arts of Deception - Mimicry and Camouflage
   Article by Rhett Butler on camouflage as used by animals and the three forms of mimicry utilized by both predator and prey.
   http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0306.htm

» The Centre for Avian Cognition
   Research at the University of Nebraska covering a broad range of behavioral and cognitive studies on birds, each combining psychological and biological perspectives.
   http://bsweb.unl.edu/avcog/

» The Dwarf Mongoose: Social Cooperation
   Article discussing the benefit for dwarf mongooses of living in a cohesive group. Also describes their symbiotic cooperation with hornbills in Kenya.
   http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/behavior/Spring2003/Rizi/SC.htm

» The European Union for Bird Ringing
   EURING coordinates bird ringing throughout Europe and promotes research needed to inform the conservation and scientific understanding of wild birds.
   http://www.euring.org

» The Evolution of Imperfect Mimicry in Hoverflies
   Article by Francis Gilbert describing Batesian mimicry and discussing the extent to which hoverflies succeed in mimicing bees, wasps and bumblebees.
   http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/archive/00000096/01/ImperfectMimicry.pdf

» The Finch Self-Medication Website
   Birds and animals have often been seen using plants, soil, insects or fungi as 'medicines'. William Astor explains his findings on this remarkable ability with regard to Estrildid finches.
   http://astorwilliam.tripod.com/

» The Gordon Lab
   A long-term study of ant colony behavior, organization and ecology undertaken by Deborah Gordon and her colleagues at Stanford University.
   http://www.stanford.edu/~dmgordon/

» The Nest Building Behaviour of Higher Apes
   Noel Egenter outlines his research into the ability of apes to weave branches into a stable construction and whether this requires a definite learning process.
   http://home.worldcom.ch/~negenter/081NestbApes_E.html

» The Peripheral Auditory Characteristics of Noctuid Moths
   Research by Dean Waters into the auditory systems sensitive to ultrasound possessed by these moths and their ability to recognise and respond to the echolocation sounds emitted by bats.
   http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/199/4/857.pdf

» The Pherobase
   A searchable database of insect pheromones and semiochemicals, now covering over 7000 species of insect.
   http://www.pherobase.com

» The Ryan Lab
   Situated at the University of Texas, this lab is addressing questions concerning the evolution and function of animal behavior. Most of the work centers on frogs and fish.
   http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/ryan/

» Theory of Mind in Nonhuman Primates
   C M Heyes revisits the question asked by Premack and Woodruff, "Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?" This question dominates the study of both social behavior in nonhuman primates and cognitive development in children.
   http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/05/46/bbs00000546-00/bbs.heyes.html

» Too Mellow for our Predatory World
   Article from the Max Planck Society on research examining flexibility in flight behavior in marine iguanas on the Galapagos Islands.
   http://www.orn.mpg.de/aktuelles/presse/echsen_en.pdf

» Trade-offs Between Extraterritorial Prospecting and Helping in a Cooperative Mammal
   Researchers at Cambridge University investigated whether male meerkats trade off their cooperative contributions to pup feeding against searching for mating and dispersal opportunities.
   http://rom.ex.ac.uk/documents/Bios/ajy204/Young%20et%20al%202005%20-%20Trade-offs%20between%20prospecting%20and%20helping%20in%20meerkats.pdf

» Unfaithful Songbirds Increase Offspring Fitness
   Article from the Max Planck Society on research showing that female promiscuity can reduce the negative consequences of inbreeding in socially monogamous birds.
   http://www.orn.mpg.de/aktuelles/presse/blaumeisen_en.pdf

» Universal Parasitism and the Co-evolution of Extended Phenotypes
   Article by Richard Dawkins argues that we should ask “Which animal is benefiting from this behavior?” rather than asking “In what way is this animal benefiting from this behavior?” Parasites are used to illustrate this thesis.
   http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n62/ai_7422481/

» Untangling the Tangle-Web: Web Construction Behavior of the Comb-Footed Spider
   Suresh Benjamin and Samuel Zschokke observed the behavior involved in the construction of a three dimensional, irregular web.
   http://nature.berkeley.edu/evolab/suresh/PDF-Files/Benjamin%20&%20Zschokke%202002.pdf

» Variation in Lekking Costs in Blackbuck
   Researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India examine the hypothesis that among lekking males of the species Antilope cervicapra, variations in lekking costs are related to differences in mating benefits.
   http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/kavita/Isvaran_Jhala_2000.pdf

» Wanted: A Reason to Divorce
   Max Planck scientists find evidence that marriage crises in blue tits are probably caused by other females.
   http://www.orn.mpg.de/aktuelles/presse/scheidung_en.pdf

» Warning Colour and Mimicry
   Mimicry is a great example of evolution by natural selection. Outline of a lecture on the subject from the Evolutionary Genetics course at University College, London.
   http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbhdjm/courses/b242/Mimic/Mimic.html

» Why Grandmothers?
   Article by Devorah Bennu examining whether grandmothers play any part in the cooperative rearing of young birds.
   http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2007/09/why_grandmothers.php

» Wolf Behavior
   Dedicated to the general public education of the behavioral habits of the wolf. Includes data on reproduction and diet.
   http://www.freewebs.com/alphawolfsabrina/

» Wolf and Wildlife Studies
   Discusses ongoing field research concerning the behavioral habits of the Fishtrap wolf pack in northwest Montana.
   http://www.wolfandwildlifestudies.com

» World on the Move: Great Animal Migrations
   BBC's Natural History Unit gathers information from correspondents, scientists and amateur naturalists to monitor migrating mammals, birds and insects as they travel.
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldonthemove/