Some Aspects Of Predator Recognition And Antipredator Behavior In The Black Capped Chickadee Parus Atricapillus

This SpringerBrief answers the question on how birds recognize their predators using multidisciplinary approaches and outlines paths of the future research of predator recognition. A special focus is put on the role of key features to discriminate against predators and non-predators. The first part of the book provides a comprehensive review of the mechanisms of predator recognition based on classical ethological studies in untrained birds. The second part introduces a new view on the topic treating theories of cognitive ethology. This approach involves examination of conditioned domestic pigeons and highlights the actual abilities of birds to recognize and categorize.

The study of animal behavior throws light on everything said to be ?natural?: social and family relations, mating, communication, and learning. Comparative Perspectives in Modern Psychology illustrates that human behavior is best understood through a method of comparative psychology, based on evolutionary theory that views behavior as the result of the complex interplay of genetics and environment. Contents include: ?The Comparative Psychology of Monogamy? by Donald A. Dewsbury; ?Coming to Terms with the Everyday Language of Comparative Psychology? by Meredith J. West and Andrew P. King; ?The Darwinian Psychology of Discriminative Parental Solicitude? by Martin Daly and Margo Wilson; ?A Comparative Approach to Vocal Communication? by Charles T. Snowdon; ?A New Look at Ape Language: Comprehension of Vocal Speech and Syntax? by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh; ?A Synthetic Approach to the Study of Animal Intelligence? by Alan C. Kamil.

June and Dec. issues contain listings of periodicals.

Since the last edition of this definitive textbook was published in 2013, much has happened in the field of animal behavior. 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 behavior that explains underlying concepts in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and accessible to students. Each chapter in the book 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 behaviors. 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 behavior 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.