Social Behaviour in Animals: With Special Reference to Vertebrates

174 Pages·1990·10.66 MB·English

by  N. Tinbergen (auth.)

Social Behaviour in
Animals
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
VERT EBRAT ES
N. TINBERGEN
Formerly Reader in Animal Behaviour
in the University of Oxford
With a new foreword
by C. P. Baerends
S
CHAPMAN AND HALL
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Road, CIT East, Madras 600 035
First edition 1953
Reprinted three times
Second edition 1964
Reprinted 1965, 1969
First published in Science Paperbacks 1965
Reprinted 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971 and 1972
Facsimile reprint 1990
©
1953. 1964, 1965,:\". Tinbcrgen
ISBN 978-0-412-36920-9 ISBN 978-94-011-7686-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-7686-6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature,
without the written permission of the copyright holder and
the publisher, application for which shall be made to the
publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Tinbergen, Niko, 1907-
Social behaviour in animals : with special reference to
vertebrates. - 2nd ed.
1. Animals. Social behaviour
I. Title
591. 51
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tinbergen, N., 1907-
Social behavior in animals, with special reference to
vertebrates 1 N. Tinbergen ; with a new foreword by
G.P. Baerends.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Social behavior in animals. 2. Vertebrates -
Behavior.
I. Title.
QL775.T5 1990 89-77968
591.5'1 - dc20 CIP
CONTENTS
CHAP. P40a
I INTRODUCTION I
Statement of the problems - The Herring Gull -
The Three-spined Stickleback - The Grayling -
Types of social co-operation
II MATING BEHAVIOUR 22
The functions of mating behaviour-Some instances
of timing-Persuasion and appeasement-Orienta
tion-Reproductive isolation-Conclusion
III FAMILY AND GROUP LIFE 40
Introduction-Family life-Group behaviour
N flGHTING 57
Reproductive fighting-The functions of reproduc-
tive fighting-The causes of fighting-The peck-
order
V ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL CO-OPERATION 72
Recapitulation-The actor's behaviour-The be
haviour of the reactor-Review of releasers-Con
clusion
VI RELATIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPEcms
The release of reactions-The avoidance of release
VII THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 99
Differentiation and integration-The establishment
of social ties-Further developments-Conclusion
Regulation
VIII EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 118
The comparative method-Comparison of social
systems-Comparison of releasers-Conclusion
IX SOME HINTS FOR RESEARCH IN ANIMAL SOCIOLOGY 129
BIBLIOGRAPHY 140
INDEX 147
III
PREFACE
T
HIS book is not intended as an exhaustive review
of facts. Its aim is rather the presentation of a bio
logical approach to the phenomena of social behaviour.
This type of approach was revived by Lorenz's pioneer
studies. It is characterized by emphasis on the need for
renewed and careful observation of the huge variety of
social phenomena occurring in nature; by emphasis on a
balanced study of the three main biological problems
function, causation, evolution; by emphasis on an appro
priate sequence of description, qualitative analysis, quanti
tative analysis; and finally by emphasis on the need for
continuous re-synthesis.
The character of this approach, combined with the
limitations of space, have determined this book's contents.
Limits of space led to the omission of a great deal ofd es crip
tion. Thus, Deegener's voluminous work on fhe multitude
of types of animal aggregations has not been discussed.
Also, the highly specialized 'states' of social insects have
not been treated in detail, since there are excellent books
dealing exclusively with them.
The nature of the approach makes this book essentially
different from other books on social behaviour. On the one
hand, I have treated briefly some problems which have
been much more elaborated by other authors. Thus Allee's
works are mainly concerned with the various uses animals
derive from crowding; there is little mention of the causes
underlying social co-operation, and when dealing wiih
these causes, attention is focused entirely on the pheno
menon of peck-order-an interesting, but minor aspect of
social organization. Other workers seem to attach undue
value to the influence of transmission of food from one
individual to another; while this is admittedly a factor in
v
vi SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN ANIMALS
the development of some social relationships, it is again
merely one element of a large complex of phenomena.
Lastly, there is an enormous amount of scattered and often
unrelated analytical evidence, acquired under such special
laboratory conditions that it is at present impossible to say
how it is related to the normal life of the species concerned.
On the other hand, I considered it of great importance
to work out the formulation of the main problems, of their
relation to each other and to more special, subordinated
problems. This task, together with the necessary descrip
tions of many new facts found through 'naturalistic' study,
and with the first qualitative steps of analysis, required
much space. In addition, I wanted to formulate and
emphasize some new theories which I consider important
because of their great heuristic value. Thus the significance
of intraspecific fighting, the causation of threat and court
ship behaviour, the functions of releasers, and other
problems to which the new approach has made distinct
contribution~, have been presented in some detail, and
an attempt has been made to give them their proper place
in the complex system of problems.
I have tried to present my thoughts in such a way that
they can easily be followed by interested non-professionals.
I t is my hope that by doing so I will stimulate research,
for I am convinced that the amateur can still make great
contributions to our young science.
I am much indebted to Dr. Michael Abercrombie and
to Desmond Morris for valuable criticism and for revising
the English text; to Dr. L. Tinbergen for drawing part of
the illustrations, and to the Oxford University Press for
permission to use a number of the illustrations from my
book The Study of Instinct. My thanks are further due to
Dr. Hugh Cott for permission to reproduce Fig. 61 and
to Dr. Brian Roberts for permission to use his splendid
penguin photograph used for the wrapper and on Plate 5.
TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. Page
I. Male Herring Gull about to feed female 4
2. Upright threat posture of male Herring Gull 5
3. Herring Gull feeding chick 6
4. Herring Gull chick crouching 7
5. Boundary fight of two Three-spined Stickleback males
(after Ter Pelkwijk and Tinbergen, 1937) 9
6. Courtship sequence of Three-spined Stickleback (after Tin-
bergen, 1951) 10
7. Male Three-spined Stickleback guarding young 13
8. The Grayling: dorsal view; ventral view (after Tinbergen et
al., 1942) 15
9. The 'bow' of the Grayling (after Tinbergen et al., 1942) 16
10. Male Kestrel passing prey to female 18
I I. Blackbird feeding young 19
12. Young Tilapia natalensis returning to female 20
13. Swarming of oyster larvae (after Korringa, 1947) 25
14. Male Three-spined Stickleback courting a crude model of
female 27
15. Female Three-spined Stickleback following male model 28
16. Pre-coition display of European Avocets (after Makkink,
1936) 29
17. Pre-coition display of Herring Gulls (after Tinbergen, 1940) 30
18. Male Bitterling courting the female during spawning (after
Boeseman et al., 1938) 31
19. Saturnia pyri 33
20. Lapwing in flight 34
2 I. The function of song in the locust Ephippiger (after Duym and
Van Oyen, 1948) 35
22. Male Ten-spined Stickleback showing nest entrance to
female (after Sevenster, 1949) 38
23. Time spent fanning by male Three-spined Stickleback.
Fanning graph when eggs are replaced on 4th day 42
24. Young Cuckoo throwing out an egg of its foster parents
(after Heinroth and Heinroth, 1928) 43
25. Female Herring Gull proposing to male 46
Vll
Vlll SOC I ALB E H A V IOU R I NAN I MAL S
Fig. Page
26. Night Heron at rest; performing the 'appeasement cere-
mony' 47
27. Hemichromis bimaculatus: the relieved parent swims away in
a straight course (after Baerends and Baerends, 1948) 48
28. Ringed Plover with chicks 5 I
29. Two ways in which a male Redstart advertises its nest-hole
to a female (modified from Buxton, 1950) 52
30. Wagtails mobbing a Sparrow Hawk 55
31. Fighting Red Deer 57
32. Tail-fighting in fish (after Tinbergen, 1951) 58
33. Threat display of the English Robin (after Lack, 1943) 58
34. Frontal threat display in Cichlasoma meeki and Hemichromis
bimaculatus (after Tinbergen, 1951) 59
35. Male Antelope cervicapra marking a tree with the secretion of
the scent-gland located in front of the eye (after Hediger,
~ ~
36. Bitterling male with Mussel (after Boeseman et al., 1938) 60
37. Fighting male Chaffinches 6r
38a. A test on the dependence of attack on territory 63
38b. The same males in territory B 63
39. Bitterlings react to an empty Mussel (after Boeseman et at.,
~ ~
40. Experiments on the release of fighting in male Three-spined
Stickleback (after Tinbergen, 1951) 66
41. Threat posture of male Three-spined Stickleback (after Tin-
bergen, 1951) 67
42. An experiment on fight-releasing stimuli in the Robin (after
Lack, 1943) 67
43. Female and male American Flicker (after Noble, 1936) 68
44. Head of Shell Parrakeet (after Tinbergen, 1951) 69
45. Male Cuttlefish at rest and displaying (after L. Tinbergen,
~) ~
46. Male Fence Lizard in display (after Noble, 1934) 70
47. Various displacement activities functioning as threat (after
Tinbergen, 1951, and Makkink, 1936) 76
48. Models of Herring Gull heads (after Tinbergen and Perdeck,
1950) 79
49. Models of Herring Gull heads (after Tinbergen and Perdeck,
1950) 80
50. Male Snipe 'bleating' 82
TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS lX
Fig. Page
5 I. Two ordinary scales and one scent-scale of the male Gray-
ling (after Tinbergen et al., 1942) 82
52. Mating Garden Snails (after'Meisenheimer, 1921) 83
53. Visual display phase of Common Newt (after Tinbergen and
Ter Pelkwijk, 1938) 84
54. Male Common Newt sending a water current to the female
(after Tinbergen and Ter Pelkwijk, 1938) 84
55. Flight line of a Hover Fly (Bombylius) (after Knoll, 1926) 88
56. Flight line of a Honey Bee (after Knoll, 1926) 89
57. Linaria vulgaris and its orange honey guide (after Knoll, 1926) 90
58. Artificial flowers with honey guide models (after Knoll, 1926) 90
59. Flight line of a Pine Hawk Moth 91
60. Longitudinal section of inflorescence of Arum macula tum
(after Knoll, 1926) 92
61. Chaetodon capistratus and its 'eye spot' (after Cott, 1940) 94
62. The Digger wasp Ammophila adriaansei with prey (after
Baerends, 1941) 100
63. Termite 'king' and 'queen' 103
64. An ant worker and soldier 121
65. A termite worker and soldier 121
66. Male Fiddler Crab displaying (after Pearse from Verw/y, 1930) 122
67. Displacement preening in courting ducks 126
PLATES
Facing
page
I. Male Three-spined Stickleback, adopting the threat posture
(Plwto by N. Tinbergen) 20
2. The forward threat posture of the Black-headed Gull (Photo
by N. Tinbergen) 30
Head-flagging of Black-headed Gulls (Photo by N. Tinbergen)
3. A male Grayling courting a female of the related species
Hipparchia statylinus (Photo by N. Tinbergen) 36
Singing male Natterjack (Flashlight photo by N. Tinbergen)
4. Ruffs on lek (Photo by F. P. J. Kooymans) 40
Unusual nest relief by a Lesser Black-backed Gull (Photo by
M. G. Rutten)
5. Young Herring Gulls in submissive posture (Photo by N.
Tinbergen) 48
A 'creche' of the King Penguin in South Georgia (Photo
by Brian Roberts)
6. Herring Gull feeding chick (Photo by N. Tinbergen)
Two experiments with head models (After Tinbergen and
Perdeck, I950)
7. Eyed Hawk Moth at rest (Photo by N. Tinbergen) 90
Eyed Hawk Moth displaying 'eye'-spots (Photo by N. Tin
bergen)
8. Larvae of the Cinnabar Moth, showing true warning colora-
tion (Photo by N. Tinbergen) 94
x
FOREWORD
T
HIS book is a revised and translated version of a Dutch
text which originally appeared in 1946. Tinbergen had
written it during the war, much of it when he was imprisoned
in a German hostage camp. He based it largely on his own
observations and research which he had carried out in the late
1920s and the 1930s, a time that included the seven years in
which he introduced the newly developing discipline of
ethology into the biological curriculum of the University of
Leiden.
Ethology as Niko Tinbergen saw it, aimed at a broad study
of the 'instinctive' or species-characteristic behaviour of
animals, with a strong emphasis on the adaptiveness to the
ecological niche in which each species is living. It was to him
obvious that such work had to start from observing animals in
their natural surroundings, preferably in the field or, if that
were impossible, under semi-natural conditions. When
Tinbergen began his career in the early 1930s, the study of
animals in the field was not held in very high esteem by most
professional zoologists of the day, who tended to leave the
confines of their laboratories only for catching and killing the
objects of their research. Most publications on wildlife had
been written by amateurs and this made it easy for such work
to be depreciated as a 'hobby'.
Tinbergen was convinced that to make ethology respectable
as a biological science, clear questions had to be derived from
the observations made and then methods developed for answer
ing them. Following Huxley, he therefore pointed out that
three different sorts of 'why-questions' about behaviour should
be asked: questions about itsfunction or adaptiveness, questions
about its immediate causation and questions about the way it
develops in the course of evolution. In Social Behaviour in Animals
Tinbergen shows his readers how to look at the behaviour of
Xl