Science in Animal Behaviour

On August 3, 1915, American zoologist Donald Redfield Griffin was born. As a Harvard undergraduate and early pioneer in animal behaviour studies, he investigated bat echolocation as the animal’s means of navigation, along with fellow student and future neurophysiologist, Robert Galambos. Griffin coined the word echolocation to describe the location by emitted ultrasonic sound and its echo used by bats during night navigation. He wrote Listening in the Dark, then Echoes of Bats and Men.

These investigations prompted further study into the conscious behaviour of animals. Griffin caused no little controversy because up to his time, scientists typically considered “thinking” in animals to be outside the scientific box. He cited sophisticated animal behaviours, food gathering techniques, the use of tools, and the capacity to explore a different and/or puzzling environment as all worthy of scientific study.

Griffin even learned to fly a plane to follow migratory birds on the wing, from gulls to gannets. In Bird Migration: The Biology and Physics of Orientation Behaviour, he suggested that, beyond the scientific belief in “modified sensory organs”, possibly other factors to consider during bird migration might include the bird’s recognition and use of visual landmarks like rivers, cloud formations, ocean patterns, and celestial cues. Ridiculed by some at the time, Griffin’s speculations have been proven by following generations of researchers.

Griffin carried out rigorous research in animal behaviour on his own and with colleagues into communications systems of honeybees, beavers, the injury-faking plover, and more. He continued to call attention to animal behaviour and raise questions for future study in his following books, The Question of Animal Awareness, Animal Thinking, and Animal Minds. By encouraging peers to keep an open mind and a clear eye on focused investigations, Griffin gave future zoologists a specialization for extraordinary pursuit in Ethology, the study of animal behaviour.

B Bondar / Real World Content Advantage