Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

What does human-animal studies have to offer ethology?

  • Commentary
  • Published:
acta ethologica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although animals are the primary focus of studies in human-animal studies (HAS), very few ethologists engage with this discipline. Insights from HAS can help provide a deeper and richer understanding of animal behaviour and human-animal interactions. HAS perspectives regarding animal and human spaces, the sociozoological scale theory, and the concepts of animal agency and intersubjectivity in human-animal interactions help demystify puzzling aspects of human-wildlife conflict scenarios and impel a re-examination of ethological dictums and methodologies. We argue that inputs from human-animal studies will aid in the growth of ethology.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alger J, Alger S (2003) Cat culture: the social world of a cat shelter. Temple University Press, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Altmann J (1974) Observational study of behavior: sampling methods. Behav 49:227–267

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Altmann SA, Altmann J (2003) The transformation of behaviour field studies. Anim Behav 65:413–423

    Google Scholar 

  • Aplin LM, Sheldon BC, Morand-Ferron J (2013) Milk bottles revisited: social learning and individual variation in the blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus. Anim Behav 85:1225–1232

    Google Scholar 

  • Arluke A, Sanders C (1996) Regarding animals. Temple University Press, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Asquith PJ (2011) Of bonds and boundaries: what is the modern role of anthropomorphism in primatological studies? Am J Primatol 73:238–244

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, M. (2013). Revisiting capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) and the ancient Maya. Rev de Primatol https://doi.org/10.4000/primatologie.1683

  • Bateson P (2015) Ethology and human development. In Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science, pp 1-36, New York: Wiley-Blackwell

  • Bekoff M, Jamieson D (1991). Reflective ethology, applied philosophy, and the moral status of animals. In Perspectives in ethology, pp 1–47. The Humane Society of the USA

  • Bennett PM, Owens IPF, Nussey D, Garnett ST, Crowley G (2005) Mechanisms of extinction in birds: phylogeny, ecology and threats. In: Purvis A, Gittleman JL, Brooks T (eds) Phylogeny and conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 317–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhatia S, Athreya V, Grenyer R, MacDonald DW (2013) Understanding the role of representations of human-leopard conflict in Mumbai through media-content analysis. Conserv Biol 27:588–594

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Birke L (2002) Effects of browse, human visitors and noise on the behaviour of captive orangutans. Anim Welf 11:189–202

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Birke L (2003) Who—or what—are the rats (and mice) in the laboratory? Soc Anim. 11:207–224

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Birke L (2011) Preface: in hope of change: rethinking human-animal. In: Taylor N, Signal T (eds) Theorizing animals: re-thinking human-animal relations. Brill, Amsterdam, pp xvii–xx

    Google Scholar 

  • Biro D, Inoue-Nakamura N, Tonooka R, Yamakoshi G, Sousa C, Matsuzawa T (2003) Cultural innovation and transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees: evidence from field experiments. Anim Cog 6:213–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyles JG, Storm JJ, Cresswell W (2007) The Perils of Picky Eating: Dietary Breadth Is Related to Extinction Risk in Insectivorous Bats. PLoS ONE 2(7):e672

  • Brandt K (2004) A language of their own: an interactionalist approach to horse-human communication. Soc Anim 12(4):299–316

    Google Scholar 

  • Budiansky S (1999) The covenant of the wild: why animals chose domestication: with a new preface. Yale University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Burghardt GM, Bartmess-LeVasseur JN, Browning SA et al (2012) Perspectives – minimizing observer bias in behavioral studies: a review and recommendations. Ethol 118:511–517

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns JG (2008) The validity of three tests of temperament in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). J Comp Psychol 122:344–356

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Candea M (2010) “I fell in love with Carlos the meerkat”: engagement and detachment in human-animal relations. Am Ethnol 37:241–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Candea M (2013) Habituating meerkats and redescribing animal behaviour science. Theory, Culture & Society 30:105–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter AJ, Feeney WE, Marshall HH, Cowlishaw G, Heinsohn R (2013) Animal personality: what are behavioural ecologists measuring? Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 88:465–475

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chauhan NPS, Singh R (1990) Crop damage by over abundant populations of Nilgai and Blackbuck in Haryana (India) and its management. Proceedings of the Fourteenth Vertebrate Pest Conference, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  • Crist E (1998) The ethological constitution of animals as natural objects: the technical writings of Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen. Biol Philos 13:61–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Crofoot MC, Lambert TD, Kays R, Wikelski MC (2010) Does watching a monkey change its behaviour? Quantifying observer effects in habituated wild primates using automated radiotelemetry. Anim Behav 80:475–480

    Google Scholar 

  • de Sá-Nogueira Saraiva, R. (2006). Classic ethology reappraised. Beh Phil 89–107

  • Decker DJ, Chase LC (1997) Human dimensions of living with wildlife: a management challenge for the 21st century. Wildl Soc Bull 25(1973-2006):788–795

    Google Scholar 

  • DeMello M (2012) Animals and society: an introduction to human-animal studies. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickman AJ (2010) Complexities of conflict: the importance of considering social factors for effectively resolving human-wildlife conflict: social factors affecting human-wildlife conflict resolution. Anim Conserv 13:458–466

    Google Scholar 

  • Dore KM, Riley EP, Fuentes A (2017) Ethnoprimatology: a practical guide to research at the human–nonhuman primate interface. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ducatez S, Audet JN, Lefebvre L (2013) Independent appearance of an innovative feeding behaviour in Antillean bullfinches. Anim Cogn 16:525–529

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duffy R, Moore L (2011) Global regulations and local practices: the politics and governance of animal welfare in elephant tourism. J Sustain Tour 19:589–604

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg JF (1980) Ecology and behavior of the Asian elephant. Elephant 5:36–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Elvin M (2004) The retreat of the elephants: an environmental history of China. Yale University Press, New Haven

  • Fedigan LM (1997) Is primatology a feminist science? In: Hager L (ed) Women in human evolution. Routledge Press, London, pp 56–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedigan LM (2010) Ethical issues faced by field primatologists: asking the relevant questions. Am J Primatol 72:754–771

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher JB, Hinde RA (1949) The opening of milk bottles by birds. Brit Birds 42:347–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Flynn C (2000) Battered women and their animal companions: symbolic interaction between human and nonhuman animals. Society & Animals 8:99–127. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853000511032

  • Fox LR, Morrow PA (1981) Specialization: species property or local phenomenon? Science 211:887–893

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes A (2012) Ethnoprimatology and the anthropology of the human-primate interface. Annu Rev Anthropol 41:101–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes A, Hockings KJ (2010) The ethnoprimatological approach in primatology. Am J Primatol 72:841–847

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fukuda Y, Manolis C, Appel K (2014) Management of human-crocodile conflict in the Northern Territory, Australia: review of crocodile attacks and removal of problem crocodiles. J Wildl Manag 78:1239–1249

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadd ME (2005) Conservation outside of parks: attitudes of local people in Laikipia, Kenya. Env Cons 32:50–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodall J (1964) Tool-using and aimed throwing in a community of free-living chimpanzees. Nature 201:1264–1266

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson K, Riley E (2017) Beyond neutrality: the human–primate interface during the habituation process. Int J Primatol 39:852–877

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway DJ (2003) The companion species manifesto: dogs, people, and significant otherness. Prickly Paradigm Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Harcourt AH, Coppeto SA, Parks SA (2002) Rarity, specialization and extinction in primates. J Biogeogr 29:445–456

    Google Scholar 

  • He Q, Wu Z, Zhou W, Dong R (2011) Perception and attitudes of local communities towards wild elephant-related problems and conservation in Xishuangbanna, southwestern China. Chinese Geogr Sci 21:629–636

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill CM (2002) Primate conservation and local communities - ethical issues and debates. Am Anthropol 104:1184–1194

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurn S (2017) Human–animal relations (HAR). In: Fuentes A (ed) The International Encyclopedia of Primatology. Wiley-Blackwell, New York, pp 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Irvine L (2007) The question of animal selves: implications for sociological knowledge and practice. Qual Sociol Rev III:18

    Google Scholar 

  • Irvine L (2012) Animals as Lifechangers and Lifesavers. J Contemp Ethnogr 42(1):3–30

  • Jerzak L (2001) Synurbanization of the magpie in the Palearctic. In: Marzluff JM, Bowman R, Donnelly R (eds) Avian ecology and conservation in an urbanizing world. Springer US, Boston, pp 403–425

    Google Scholar 

  • Kardish MR, Mueller UG, Amador-Vargas S, Dietrich EI, Ma R, Barrett B, Fang CC (2015) Blind trust in unblinded observation in ecology, evolution, and behavior. Front Ecol Evol 3:51. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2015.00051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawai M (1965) Newly-acquired pre-cultural behaviour of the natural troop of Japanese monkeys on Koshima Islet. Primates 6:1–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight J (2009) Making wildlife viewable: habituation and attraction. Soc Anim 17:167–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Leach E (1964) Anthropological aspects of language: animal categories and verbal abuse. In: Lenneberg EH (ed) New directions in the study of language. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 23–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Leblan V. (2013). Introduction: emerging approaches in the anthropology/primatology borderland. Rev de Primatol https://doi.org/10.4000/primatologie.1831

  • Lefebvre L (1995) The opening of milk bottles by birds: evidence for accelerating learning rates, but against the wave-of-advance model of cultural transmission. Beh Proc 34:43–53

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lehner PN (1979) Handbook of ethological methods. Garland, New York.

  • Locke P (2013) Explorations in ethnoelephantology: social, historical, and ecological intersections between Asian elephants and humans. Env Soc 4:79–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorenz K (1935) Der kumpan in der umwelt des vogels. J Ornithol 83:289–413

    Google Scholar 

  • Malone N, Wade AH, Fuentes A, Riley EP, Remis M, Robinson CJ (2014) Ethnoprimatology: critical interdisciplinarity and multispecies approaches in anthropology. Crit Anthropol 34:8–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Manfredo MJ, Dayer AA (2004) Concepts for exploring the social aspects of human–wildlife conflict in a global context. Hum Dimens Wildl 9:1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh DM, Hanlon TJ (2004) Observer gender and observation bias in animal behaviour research: experimental tests with red-backed salamanders. Anim Behav 68:1425–1433

    Google Scholar 

  • Matusov, Eugene. (1996). Intersubjectivity without agreement. Mind, Culture, and Activity. 3. 25-45

  • McDougall P (2012) Is passive observation of habituated animals truly passive? J Ethol 30:219–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Mennechez G, Clergeau P (2006) Effect of urbanisation on habitat generalists: starlings not so flexible? Acta Oecol 30(2):182–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Menzel EW (1969). Naturalistic and experimental approaches to primate behaviour; in Naturalistic Viewpoints in Psychological Research (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston)

  • Naughton-Treves L (1997) Farming the forest edge: vulnerable places and people around Kibale National Park, Uganda. Geogr Rev 87:27–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton-Treves L, Treves A (2005) Socio-ecological factors shaping local support for wildlife: crop-raiding by elephants and other wildlife in Africa. In: Woodroffe R, Thirgood S, Rabinowitz A (eds) People and wildlife: conflict or co-existence? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 252-277

  • Nowak K, Lee P C (2013). “Specialist” primates can be flexible in response to habitat alteration. In Marsh L K, Chapman C A (eds) Primates in fragments, pp. 199–211, Springer, New York

  • Ord TJ, Martins EP, Thakur S, Mane KK, Börner K (2005) Trends in animal behaviour research (1968–2002): Ethoinformatics and the mining of library databases. Anim Behav 69:1399–1413

    Google Scholar 

  • Parathian HE, McLennan MR, Hill CM et al (2018) Breaking through disciplinary barriers: human–wildlife interactions and multispecies ethnography. Int J Primatol 39:749–775

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Philo C, Wilbert C (2000) Animal spaces, beastly places: new geographies of human-animal relations. Springer, New York

  • Priston NEC, McLennan MR (2013) Managing humans, managing macaques: human–macaque conflict in Asia and Africa. In: Radhakrishna S, Huffman MA, Sinha A (eds) The macaque connection: cooperation and conflict between humans and macaques. Springer, New York, pp 225–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Radhakrishna S, Jamieson D (2018) Liberating primatology. J Biosci 43:3–8

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reader SM, Laland KN (2003) Animal innovation. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Reader SM, Nover D, Lefebvre L (2002) Locale specific sugar packet opening by lesser Antillean bullfinches in Barbados. J Field Ornithol 73:82–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Reader SM, Morand-Ferron J, Flynn E (2016) Animal and human innovation: novel problems and novel solutions. Phil Trans R Soc B371:20150182

    Google Scholar 

  • Riley EP (2007) The human-macaque interface: conservation implications of current and future overlap and conflict in lore Lindu national park, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Am Anthropol 109:473–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Riley EP (2018) The maturation of ethnoprimatology: theoretical and methodological pluralism. Int J Primatol 39:705–729

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson CAJ, Remis MJ (2018) Engaging holism: exploring multispecies approaches in ethnoprimatology. Int J Primatol 39:776–796

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders CR (2003) Actions speak louder than words: close relationships between humans and nonhuman animals. Symb Interact 26:405–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Saraswat R, Sinha A, Radhakrishna S (2015) A god becomes a pest? Human-rhesus macaque interactions in Himachal Pradesh, northern India. Eu J Widl Res 61:435–443

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanklin E (1985) Sustenance and symbol: anthropological studies of domesticated animals. Annu Rev Anthropol 14:375–403

    Google Scholar 

  • Soulé M (1985) What is conservation biology? BioSci 35(11):727–734

    Google Scholar 

  • Spinka M, Wemelsfelder F (2011) Environmental challenge and animal agency. In: MC MCA, Mench JA, IAS O, Hughes BO (eds) Animal welfare. CABI International, Wallingford, pp 27–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamps J, Barlow G (1973) Variation and stereotypy in the displays of Anolis aeneus (Sauria: Iguanidae). Behav 47:67–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Steward H (2009) Animal Agency. Inquiry 52(3):217–231

  • Strum SC, Fedigan LM (eds) (2000) Primate encounters: models of science, gender, and society. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Sukumar R (2003) The living elephants: evolutionary ecology, behaviour, and conservation. Oxford University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Tami G, Gallagher A (2009) Description of the behaviour of domestic dog (Canis familiaris) by experienced and inexperienced people. Appl Anim Behav Sci 120:159–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Trautmann TR (2015) Elephants and kings: an environmental history. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuyttens FA, Stadig L, Heerkens JL, Buijs S, Ampe B (2016) Opinion of applied ethologists on expectation bias, blinding observers and other debiasing techniques. Appl Anim Behav Sci 181:27–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Vijayakrishnan S, Sinha A (2019) Human-captive elephant relationships in Kerala: historical perspectives and current scenarios. Gajah 50:29–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Visalberghi E, Fragaszy DM (1990) Food-washing behaviour in tufted capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella, and crabeating macaques, Macaca fascicularis. Anim Behav 40:829–836

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren Y, Buba B, Ross C (2007) Patterns of crop-raiding by wild and domestic animals near Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria. Int J Pest Manag 53:207–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Washburn S (1973) The promise of primatology. Am J Phys Anthropol 38:177–182

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolch JR, Emel J (eds) (1998) Animal geographies: place, politics, and identity in the nature-culture borderlands. Verso, London.

  • Wolfe C (2009) Human, all too human: “animal studies” and the humanities. PMLA 124:564–575

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore, 560 012, India

    Sindhu Radhakrishna

  2. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bangalore, 560 064, India

    Asmita Sengupta

Authors
  1. Sindhu Radhakrishna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Asmita Sengupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sindhu Radhakrishna.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Radhakrishna, S., Sengupta, A. What does human-animal studies have to offer ethology?. acta ethol 23, 193–199 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-020-00349-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-020-00349-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation