Name: Cindy Joy E.

Jabillo Course & Year: BS in Biology III

Exercise 2

Developing an Ethogram

Horse (Equus caballus)

INTRODUCTION

A record of an animal's behaviors used in ethology, the scientific and impartial study

of animal behavior, is called an ethogram. Zoology, the study of animal biology,

includes the subfield of ethology. Based on a sample of observations made over time

of different animal groups or individuals, researchers compile a list of behaviors.

These behaviors, known as action patterns, are discrete, repeatable, identifiable acts

that are described in detail in accordance with characteristics such as their form,

speed, duration, strength, and/or orientation. Ethograms are directories or catalogs

of species-typical behaviors. In the wild, ethograms are used to observe animals over

time in order to determine which behaviors are common and which ones might be

anomalous, as well as to track the wellbeing and stability of a group through social

interactions. Researchers can discover novel, previously unrecognized behaviors as

well as what they can reveal about the animals and their environment. Scientists can

use ethograms to identify behavioral changes that may be caused by illness, habitat

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Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
loss, new predators in the area, or other stresses or dangers to the individual

animals, their groups, or even an entire species.

These investigations can tell which animals in any group are companions, who is

dominant, who is submissive, and other social situations. Ethograms are also utilized

for both wild and captive populations to determine social relationships.

Understanding animal behavior helps us better understand complex conservation

issues, such as how to protect endangered species, evaluate environmental quality,

create nature preserves, and assess the significance of human-related threats to the

survival of otherwise healthy animals. (S. Tenny, 2014).

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this activity, we are expected to describe and categorize behaviors based

on the observations of a chosen animal subject, we also must know how to develop

ethogram out from the gathered information and lastly, we must used how to

construct a behavioral flow chart.

MARERIALS AND METHODS

Materials

Laptop or smartphone, internet connection, data, calculator, timer, paper /

notebook, pencil/ pen.

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Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
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Location

Image taken from google maps.

Procedure

We observed our chosen species which is horse (Equus caballus) for about 10-minute

block of time. We have done the observation repeatedly (three times with 20- minute

interval so a total of three 10-minute observations). We listed all the behaviors that

we observed from our observed animal. The behaviors were listed as specific as

possible. Next is we carefully described what we meant by each named behavior. The

description is of course a complete and precise enough that any other person who

reads will be able to picture out the behavior we described and can distinguished it

from other behavior.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
The behaviors has been organized into functional categories so that behaviors that

achieved a common function would be group together. The functional categories may

include: foraging behaviors, resting behaviors, grooming behaviors, play behaviors,

predator avoidance, reproductive behaviors, and care of young.

Name of the animal: Horse (Equus caballus)

Location: 10ᵒ44‛33‛‛N 124ᵒ47‛52‛‛E

Figure 1. Study site of the activity. (Visayas State University, near Animal Science Department & VSU

Gymnasium

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
Date/ Time Functional Behavior Description Special Notes

Observed Category

March 15, 2023 Grooming Scratched its The horse

@10:53 AM to Beahavior right side body would

11:03 AM scratched its

body to keep

the insects

away.

Foraging Eats grass for It would sort

behavior about 3 mins. all the leaves

and grasses

and gather to

its mouth.

Foraging Keeps swishing their

behavior waggling its tail back and

tail while forth as they

eating. are eating also

means that

they are happy

or agigated

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 Foraging and Making weird It makes weird

grooming noises. noises after 4

behavor mins. Of

eating grass,

horse makes

noises for

grooming.

Foraging It eats again,

behavior chew its food

for about 3

minutes.

Foraging Keeps eating

behavior again whle

waggling its

tail

Foraging Until the last

behavior minute it inly

keeps on

eating

Grooming Because of

Behavior some insects

that landed to

its body the

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 horse keep

shaking its

body to

prevent the

insect from its

body

Table 1. Observed behavior in the first 10-minute observation.

March 15, 2023 Foraging The horse

11:23 AM to behavior tried to eat the

11:33 AM branch of the

tree in front of

it. It keeps on

sniffing the

branch

Foraging After it failed

behavior to eat the

branch, it

return to eat

the grass

Foraging and It walks

walking toward a

behavior certain place

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Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 to eat grass (5

steps away)

It scratched its

nose

Foraging It only keeps

behavior eating for

about 4

minutes

Grooming It wag its tail

behavior left side

Grooming It moves its

Behavior tail because of

the insects

Foraging It accumulated

behavior first the

grasses using

its teeth and

mouth before

eating

Insect It wag its tail

avoidance to where the

behavior insect located

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 Sleeping it blinked it During the

behavior eye only half interval of the

of it 2nd 20

minutes it rest

and slept.

Table 2. List of observation in the 2nd 10-minute observation.

March 15, 2023 Sleeping The horse Because it is

11:53 AM to behavior sleepy already done eating, it

12:03 PM proceed to

sleep

Sleeping It lifts its back As the horse

Behavior left foot sleeps it is

observed to lift

its back left

foot.

Sleeping and Even though

grooming the horse is

behavior sleepy it stoll

wag its tail to

keep the

insects away.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 Sleeping For about 7

behavior minutes it

only sleep in

the span of

time

Sleeping and Keeps shaking Even it slept it

grooming its body also vibrate it

behavior body to avoid

the insect

from landing

to its body

Sleeping It suddenly

behavior bow its head a

little bit but is

still sleeping

with a half

closed eyes.

Sleeping and Keeps Because of

Grooming disrupted insects that

Behavior keeps on

landing on the

horse body it

keeps on

waking up

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 Sleeping For about 10

Behavior minutes it

only slept.

Table 3. List of observation in the 3rd 10-minute observation.

DISCUSSION

Horses have wide mouths and lips that move quite easily, they normally eat the

section of the pasture plant they have chosen by chewing it off between their upper

and lower incisors. Horses can browse by taking green material from bushes, trees,

or other plants in addition to grazing near to the ground. Horses have the power to

choose what they eat thanks to these anatomical/behavioral pairings. Frequently, the

horse will choose the most appetizing section of the hay and ignore the stems and

unpleasant parts. Horses are extremely picky when pasture is appropriate. A horse is

referred to as a "spot grazer" (A. Griffin, 2019).

They will consume areas of the pasture until the ground is barren, even though the

area immediately adjacent to the bare place may be Either lying down or standing up,

horses can rest. They are napping when they are standing still; this is a mild sort of

sleep. The horse will stand with its head and neck down, one hind leg cocked, and its

hind legs resting on the ground. The lower lip droops, the eyes are partially to

entirely closed, and the ears dangle relaxed to the side. The heart rate also decreases

as the horse begins to breathe more slowly but deeply. Even when the horse is dozing

off, it continues to shoo flies away by twitching its skin or moving its tail lush and

green. Selectivity also diminishes as fodder supply does. In a situation of danger, the

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
horse will also immediately become alert once more so that it can effectively address

the apparent threat. The horse frequently experiences deep slumber that lasts for one

to two minutes while sleeping.

(A-Jo. King,2022) "Horses have a unique anatomical feature called the stay

apparatus, a group of tendons and ligaments that work together so the horse can

remain standing with little muscular effort, which allows horses to sleep standing

up." (J. Ransom, N.a) Huddling is a common aspect of a herd of wild horses' resting

behavior. The head-to-tail posture of band members during this form of resting

behavior promotes grooming in addition to providing physical protection. Insects

can be controlled around the head thanks to the neighbors' tail-swishing effect.

Grooming is considered a maintenance behavior in horses. It removes ectoparasites

such as lice and flies suggest that mutual grooming removes parasites that cannot be

removed by self-grooming alone. A negative correlation is expected between the total

grooming time that each individual receives from other individuals (mutual

grooming) and the total time spent for self-grooming. (M. Shimada and N. Suzuki,

2020) In horses, grooming is regarded as a maintenance behavior. The fact that it

eliminates ectoparasites like lice and flies shows that mutual grooming gets rid of

parasites that self-grooming cannot. The amount of time spent self-grooming is

projected to be negatively correlated with the amount of time spent receiving

grooming from others (mutual grooming).

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 Sleeping

T Walking

T
Foraging

Insect avoidancde

Grooming T
T
Figure 2. Behavioral flowchart of the horse.

CONCLUSION

Developing an ethogram requires a lot of observations on the observed organism.

Ethogram is a list of behavior that showed by the species observed according to how

it behaved in the observed time and place. In order to eliminate subjectivity and

functional inference regarding a behavior's potential function, an ethogram's

behaviors are typically characterized as objective, mutually exclusive, and without

subjectivity. The most interesting behavior that the researcher observed is the

sleeping behavior because of its unique way of doing such activity. Major problem of

this activity would be the time, it is supposedly a one-day observation, but the time is

limited so the observation is not that exhaustive.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
RCOMMENDATION

To the future researcher, we recommend allotting a longer period of time in

observing the desired species because it would be more accurate and distinct.

Observe it in a specific manner and monitor the health and stability of a group

through group interactions. The researcher also wants to suggest studying more

group of species in order to differentiate its behavior among others.

REFERENCES

A. Griffin,2019.Horse Feeding Behavior. Horse Feeding Behavior | Extension

Horses

E-quin.com. Horse Behavior explained: resting. Horse behaviour explained:

resting behaviour and sleep cycle of the horse (e-quine.com)

M. Shimada & N. Suzuki (2020). The Contribution of Mutual Grooming to Affiliative

J. Ransom,(2009). Quantifying Equid Behavior—A Research Ethogram for Free-

A. Jo King (2002). Do Horses Sleep Standing up?. Do Horses Sleep Standing Up?

| PetMD

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.