Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
We propose that the Internet, with its capacity to archive and disseminate large
quantities of multimedia information, will revolutionize the use and useful-
ness of ethograms. For example, in parallel to a written publication on badger
vocalizations (Wong et al. 1999), we have created a multimedia vocal etho-
gram and another (Stewart et al. 1997) based on digital video.
Ethograms are often constructed in a pretrial period during which behav-
ior appropriate to the study is chosen and described. However, short studies
are unlikely to detect a complete catalog of relevant behavior and are likely to
miss social behavior characteristic of context-sensitive dyadic interactions.
Fagen (1978) tentatively proposed that a sample of 50,000 acts or more might
generally be necessary to estimate the repertoire of a typical carnivore or pri-
mate species. Fagen's estimate was based on the biologically general type-token
relationship. This relationship was shown by May (1975) to be a general sta-
tistical property of all catalogs in which an infinite number of objects belong
to a finite number of categories. It prescribes that the logarithm of the number
of types in an inventory depends approximately linearly on the logarithm of
the total number of acts in the catalog (Fagen and Goldman 1977). In prac-
tice, our badger study confirmed the point: Some antagonistic behaviors
(coordinated attack on the rump of an animal after a partner has grasped its
head) that we predicted might occur from their occasional appearance in ritu-
alized play between cubs were seen for the first time in earnest between adults
only after thousands of hours of direct observation. Although rare in badgers,
these coordinated attacks gave an important insight into a previously undocu-
mented realm of cooperative aggression.
What are the components of an ethogram? Ideally, each element might be
purely descriptive, free of any imputed function. A heroic attempt at this
purity of description was Golani's (1976; see also Schleidt et al. 1984) use of
balletic choreographic scores to quantify the spatial and sequential organiza-
tion of body part movement, together with its qualities such as speed and force
and the degrees of variation tolerated within categories. It was intended to help
solve what Golani (1992) called a blind spot in the behavioral sciences: the
need for a universal language to describe animal movement. Despite potential
for universality of description, such quantitative choreography has proved
impractical for most field studies. Also, focusing on the minutiae of postures
may be too detailed for this purpose. A realistic option, facilitated by the Inter-
net, is the creation of an archive of film clips and spectrographic catalogs
within a taxonomic library. However, such a “content and quality” ethogram is
still denuded of context. Is a bird pecking a conspecific attempting fighting,
grooming, or feeding? The answer may seem obvious from the rate of pecking,
