Some basic concepts

Abstract

The principles on which the ethological approach to animal behaviour is based were worked out mainly from studies on vertebrates other than mammals. More recently, the same approach has been fruitfully adopted in the study of mammalian behaviour, particularly by German zoologists and a very considerable body of factual information has already been amassed. Although new information is still coming in at an ever increasing rate, it seems worth while to attempt some interim synthesis of what is already known; from this to see whether the principles deduced from studies on other groups require any modification, amplification or restriction when applied to mammals; and finally to try to clarify what are the particular features that characterise mammalian behaviour.