Principles of Animal Behavior, 5th Edition

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 on 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.

Author Biography

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.