Legendary primatologist Jane Goodall revolutionized the study of chimpanzees during her fieldwork in Gombe, Tanzania. The behaviors she witnessed changed our perception of apes from instinct-driven creatures to tool-inventing beings. This activity will help you learn how to collect
Activity summary
In this activity, you will learn about ethology, or how researchers turn observations of living things into scientific data, and then create a report or a video/audio analyzing what you saw. While we cannot go to Gombe on short notice, we can watch uncut videos of zoo-dwelling primates online and apply scientific techniques to go beyond what a typical zoo visitor sees.
There are different ways to collect data on animal behavior. We will be practicing scan sampling whereby the observer records the behaviors of the group at set intervals. By contrast, focal sampling involves recording every action of one specific individual over a length of time. After your observation, you will write a 500-word reflective report to present your findings (or create a 3-5 minute video or audio).