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Behavioral Observation Assignment

Students must complete 12 behavioral observations of animals over 12 weeks. Observations require detailed recording of an animal's behaviors for 10 minutes minimum and use either focal-animal or scan sampling techniques. Notebooks will be graded on adherence to requirements and quality of observations.

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Prajna B
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9 views

Behavioral Observation Assignment

Students must complete 12 behavioral observations of animals over 12 weeks. Observations require detailed recording of an animal's behaviors for 10 minutes minimum and use either focal-animal or scan sampling techniques. Notebooks will be graded on adherence to requirements and quality of observations.

Uploaded by

Prajna B
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment for Behavioral Observation

One of the most important techniques employed by ethologists (individuals that study
animal behavior) is the observation of animal behavior. Observing animal behavior
involves systematic recording of the activities of particular animals. To familiarize
students with this common technique, each student will be required to complete a series
of observations of an animal’s behavior using a variety of animals. Each observation will
consist of a detailed description of an animal’s behavior for at least 10 minutes (with one
exception) and observations must be collected once weekly from the week of 30 August
to 14 November (12 total observations). Record your observations in a composition
notebook (bound, not a spiral). Any animal can be observed for these exercises with the
following restrictions:

 The same individual animal cannot be used for more than 2 observations
 Domestic animals (dogs, cats, livestock, etc.) cannot be used for more than 3
observations
 Non-domestic captive animals (zoo animals, etc.) cannot be used for more than 3
observations
 At least 2 observations MUST be conducted on invertebrates
 At least 2 observations must be conducted on prairie dogs (there is a town within
walking distance on the northeast side of campus) and one observation period
must use focal-animal sampling and one must use scan sampling (see below)
 At least one observation must be at least 30 minutes long

Observation notebooks are worth 75 points and will be graded based on adherence to the
above restrictions and requirements as well as the quality of the observations from a
behavioral standpoint. Notebooks will be due on 17 November and late notebooks will
not be accepted.

You will use one of two general types of behavioral observation techniques for your
observations, focal-animal sampling and scan sampling (also called group sampling or
instantaneous sampling). In focal-animal sampling, the actions of a focal animal are
observed and recorded during a prescribed time period. In scan sampling, the observer
watches each animal only briefly at periodic intervals (every minute, 10 minutes, etc) and
records their activity (i.e., animal A – alert, animal B – feeding, animal C – feeding,
animal D – grooming, etc.).

NOTE: Arrange to meet with me if you have questions or concerns during the course of
this project, I will be happy to look over your notebook and provide advice.
Recording Behavioral Observations

Your observations must include the following:

Date:

Location: be specific enough for me to find your location

Conditions: cloud cover, approximate temperature, moon phase (if observation occurs at
night), wind speed, etc. (include anything that may influence or alter behavior)

Subject: species, whether an individual or a group, etc.

Sample frequency: e.g., every 30 seconds, 1 minute, etc.

Description/name of behaviors: e.g., alert – animal sits up and scans area, grooming –
animal cleans fur, aggressive – animal chases/bites others, greeting – animal smells
others

Start time:

Stop time:

List of behavior (observation data):

Examples:

Focal-animal observations

15:20:00 feeding
15:20:30 feeding
15:21:00 alert
15:21:30 alert

Scan sampling

15:20:00 12 dogs on surface, 8 feeding, 2 resting, 2 alert


15:20:30 13 dogs on surface, 4 feeding, 9 alert – large hawk flew by
15:21:00 13 dogs on surface, all alert – large hawk in area
15:21:30 etc.
Behavioral Observation Grading Form

Name: _______________________________

Criteria Points Points


Requirement
possible earned
Number of
12 60
observations
Repetition Same individual not used
0 max 10
more than twice
Category of
Domestic 3 max 10
observation
Non-domestic captive 3 max 10

Invertebrates 2 min 10

Prairie dog (focal-animal) 1 min 10

Prairie dog (scan sampling) 1 min 10


Time
30 minutes 1 min 10

At least 10 minutes 11 min 10


Observation Complete information for all
caption observations (see Recording All 60
information Behavioral Observations)
Observation Content of observation
All 50
content appropriately detailed
Overall quality Appropriate effort, legibility,
All 50
etc
Total points 300

Score (300/points earned)

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