PTE-RL 原音Animal behavior V1

We can ask two fundamental questions about animal behaviour, they referred to as proximate and ultimate. Proximate questions are those concerned with the mechanisms that bring about behaviour, ultimate questions are those concerned with the evolution of behaviour. We can divide the proximate and ultimate questions into two sub-questions. For proximate, how does the behaviour develop, and secondly what causes the behaviour. For ultimate, you can ask how did the behaviour evolve, and secondly what is the adaptive significance of the behaviour what’s purpose. Together these comprise what are called Tinbergen's four questions about animal behaviour. Niko Tinbergen was one of the founding fathers of the study of animal behaviour. These questions represent the different ways of studying animal behaviour and understanding the difference between those four questions are fundamental to understanding behaviour and indeed the whole of biology. How do we study animal behaviour well that depends on the type of question we’re hoping to answer.