Principles of Animal Behavior, 5th Edition - by Lee Alan Dugatkin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Incorporating essential revisions to reflect the latest scientific advancements, a celebrated author and scientist offers a leading textbook on animal behavior.

So much has happened in the field of animal behavior since the last edition of this definitive textbook was published in 2020. In this fifth edition, Lee Alan Dugatkin continues to draw on cutting-edge new research not only to update and expand on the studies presented but also to reinforce the previous editions' focus on ultimate and proximate causation as well as the book's unique emphasis on natural selection, learning, and cultural transmission in nonhuman animals. The result is an essential update to the leading textbook on animal behavior that explains underlying concepts accessibly and with scientific rigor.

Completely new features include:

• Anthropogenic Connection Boxes. Humans are changing the planet. We are clearing forests, polluting the oceans, irrigating deserts, poisoning the soils, and driving a dramatic increase in global temperatures. All of these changes alter both the habitats where animals live and the species themselves as they evolve in response to our impact on their surroundings. Students will dig deep into how anthropogenic evolution affects animal behavior.
• Social Network Connection Boxes. Researchers have discovered that social networks play a critical role in almost every aspect of animal life: what they eat, how they protect themselves, who they mate with, the dynamics of parent-offspring relations, aggression, navigation, communication, play, cooperation, culture, and more. Students will discover how social network studies enrich our understanding of the wondrous complexity of animal behavior.

As Principles of Animal Behavior makes clear, the tapestry of animal behavior is created by weaving all of these components into a beautiful whole. In this lavishly illustrated, comprehensive, and up-to-date edition, we can admire that beauty anew.

Review Quotes

"Dugatkin offers a highly readable overview of the modern field of animal behavior, keeping up with the exponential growth over the last few decades. Instead of the usual choice between inborn and learned behavior, this book offers the reader with a fully integrated view."--Frans de Waal, Emory University, on the third edition

"The book reveals a richly illustrated panoramic view of animal behavior and, where it can, it also provides examples of the physiological, neurobiological, and molecular genetic mechanisms that may underlie it. . . . Dugatkin's text . . . can be enjoyed by anyone who has an interest in the beauty of animal behavior. . . . Excellent."-- "Times Higher Education, on the second edition"

"This is an up-to-date text that shows not only how theory and empirical data are combined, but how they are derived on the ground."--Bernd Heinrich, University of Vermont, on the third edition

"Up-to-date, highly integrative, and richly illustrated. It thus merits serious consideration by anyone looking for a textbook to support undergraduate offerings in animal behavior or behavioral ecology. . . . Principles of Animal Behavior is comprehensive and readable, summarizing not only what is well documented but more importantly where integrated understanding is lacking, and thus where further research will prove most profitable."-- "Animal Behaviour, on the first edition"

About the Author

Lee Alan Dugatkin is an animal behaviorist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science in the Department of Biology at the University of Louisville. He is the author of more than 200 research papers, and his writing has appeared in Scientific American, American Scientist, New Scientist, and The Washington Post. His many books include Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose, How To Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog), Power in the Wild, The Well-Connected Animal, and Dr. Calhoun's Mousery, all also published by the University of Chicago Press.