How diverse is the field of animal behavior?
The study of animal behavior is enormously diverse, largely because behavior is central to so many aspects of an animal’s biology. Virtually any kind of behavior performed by an animal may be the subject of study. Some questions that have attracted considerable interest include those about how animals communicate, how they choose mates, how they find food and shelter, and how they are affected by the negative impact of human activities on the environment. How did you and other colleagues become interested in animal behavior? Many scientists studying animal behavior begin with a simple interest in watching animals; others come to the study of behavior from related fields, such as ecology, evolutionary biology or comparative physiology. There are many summer research opportunities for college students or even high school students to become involved with animal behavior research in the laboratory or in the field. These programs often provide the first serious exposure to animal behavior r
