Animal Behavior

A comparative and integrative overview of how and why animals as diverse as insects and humans behave the way that they do, linking behaviors to the brain, genes, and hormones, as well as to the surrounding ecological and social environments.

Preface
For more than 40 years, Animal Behavior has been the leading textbook for introducing undergraduate students to the topic of animal behavior. John Alcock authored the first edition of this book in 1975, and after 9 subsequent versions, this eleventh edition brings on a new lead author, Dustin Rubenstein. The eleventh edition maintains its narrative tone as well as its focus on both evolutionary and mechanistic approaches to understanding how and why animals as different as insects and humans behave the way they do. In an effort to keep up with the rapidly evolving field of animal behavior, this new version also brings a more integrative approach to studying behavior, emphasizing the growing body of research linking behavior to the brain, genes, and hormones, as well as to the surrounding ecological and social environments. Topics like epigenetics and collective behaviors are highlighted for the first time. Additionally, the book covers the growing number of comparative phylogenetic studies in animal behavior that make use of ever-larger molecular phylogenies to generate and test new ideas in the evolution of animal behaviors. Ultimately, the book retains its primary goal of giving students a window into the various level of analysis that researchers use to explain why all living things-including humans-behave, often in complex ways.
New to the Eleventh Edition
In addition to a new lead author, the eleventh edition features several new approaches and features that support both student learning and instructor teaching. After extensive research concluded that most users prefer the classic organizational structure from early editions, rather than the changes that were made in the tenth edition, the book returns to its classic organizational struc-ture, with proximate mechanisms introduced early in the book and before an extended discussion of the ultimate factors underlying behavior. Yet, each chapter attempts to highlight both proximate and ultimate explanations throughout, illustrating the integrative nature of the field today. This edition also includes a refined organizational structure within each chapter that makes material more accessible to students and instructors alike. Figures and photos throughout the book have been updated and revised as well, providing a fresher look that, along with the addition of error bars on most graphical figures, makes it easier for students to learn how to interpret data. The addition of new pedagogical features also makes it easier for students to learn complex concepts and apply behavioral and evolutionary thinking to thought-provoking questions and problems. Found in every chapter, these new boxes and tables emphasize hypothesis testing, data interpretation, and problem solving. Finally, since most students are drawn to animal behavior out of a fascination with something they have seen on TV or in nature, in each chapter we provide short URLs offset in the margins to give students rapid access to high-definition video and audio clips of the behaviors discussed in the text.