• Question: What animals have the most complex behaivior to study?

    Asked by rebeccas to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 12 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 12 Jun 2012:

      I had a friend who studied red pandas in China – they found it very difficult as like many small mammals, their behaviour is very subtle and discreet and therefore hard to pick up on.

      I think any companion animal or pet can be complex to study because they are so connected and influenced by their owners in ways that may not be clear to us. Things like how much time they’ve spent with their owners, their routines, how they’re managed can all add up and make studying them complex!

    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 13 Jun 2012:

      I think all animals have very complex behaviour, we are learning about them all the time and if we thought we knew all about their behaviour we would stop studying them but we continue because they are all so complicated.

      Prey animals like rabbits are difficult to study because they hide from humans and this makes it difficult to see what they are doing. Little seems to be known about wild and captive rabbit behaviour and how they live in their social structure, even though they are so common!

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