AR103 Chapter Notes -Basal Metabolic Rate, Leopard Attack, Social Grooming
14 Mar 2014
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Document Summary
Behaviour is anything organisms do that involves action in response to internal or external stimuli; the response of an individual, group, or species to its environment. Such responses may or may not be deliberate and they aren"t necessarily the results of conscious decision making. In mammals and birds, behaviour is extremely complex because it"s been shaped over evolutionary time by interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Scientists study behaviour in free-ranging primates from an ecological and evolutionary perspective, meaning that they focus on the relationship between behaviours, the natural environment, and various physiological traits of the species in question. Ecological is pertaining to the relationships between organisms and all aspects of their environment (temperature, predators, non-predators, vegetation, availability of food and water, types of food, disease organisms, parasites, etc. ) Behavioural ecology is the study of the evolution of behaviour, emphasizing the role of ecological factors as agents of natural selection.
