Comparative Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary and Ecological Approach - Hardcover

Comparative Animal Behavior meets the need for a "student friendly" and comprehensive text in the rapidly expanding field of animal behavior. It achieves a good balance between recent, "hot" research and classic studies of animal behavior, in an organized and engaging manner. Comparative Animal Behavior surpasses other texts in its coverage of the rapidly developing area of evolutionary psychology and differs from standard texts in its organizational approach which is designed to draw students into the material in a way that no other animal behavior textbook does. Brief, rather than extensive, discussions of history are presented throughout the text to hold students interest. The amount of material integrating psychological and biological approaches surpasses the competition. Comparative Animal Behavior also responds to recent shifts in research and theoretical interests by providing current information in the areas of animal learning and cognition, parasitism, and mutualism. Maier describes his book as a "labor of love," that reflects a life-long interest in the subject and over thirty-five years of teaching experience.