This accessible introduction to animal behaviour provides an authoritative yet reader-friendly guide for the interested naturalist. It presents current knowledge about the way animals behave and will enable the reader to derive more pleasure from their observations of animals by gaining a deeper understanding of their behaviour. The concepts are presented in an easily appreciated way with which everyone can associate.

In the first part of the book, the author explores how animals behave by considering the physical processes involved in the way animals perceive their environment and what determines how they respond to it.  This is followed by the 'why' of animal behaviour in which the author examines many topics under the overall issue of expressing behaviour, and the evolutionary forces that have shaped – and continue to shape – the detailed form of more complex behaviours. Therefore questions such as why animals forage in the way they do and how that foraging pattern may be refined to optimal efficiency; why animals adopt a particular reproductive strategy and breeding behaviour and why some animals live as solitary individuals, while others live in groups and so on. 

The book is copiously illustrated throughout in support and interpretation of the text. While the pictures enhance understanding of the written text, the text also showcases the exquisite illustrations of wildlife artist Catherine Putman.

Part 1: Mechanisms of animal behaviour – Understanding animal behaviour. Reflex behaviours. Linking responses and the coordination of more complex behaviours. Receiving stimuli and analysing the incoming information. Motivation and its capacity to modify simple response patterns. Learning and its effects in modifying behaviour. ‘Unpredictable’ behaviours: redirected behaviour and displacement activities. Behaviour genetics and the evolution of behaviour.

Part 2: The adaptation of behaviour – Adaptiveness of behaviour; optimising the returns. Living in groups and the advantages of sociality. Reproductive behaviour and reproductive strategies. Courtship displays and mate choice. Cooperative breeding and arguments about altruism . Territoriality and aggression. Animal navigation.  ‘If we could talk to the animals…’

This will be of particular appeal to everyone with an interest in animal behaviour and all naturalists.

‘…he has set out to give a broad understanding and knowledge resulting from what is out there after generations of scientific research. This book contains surprises even for the most experienced… It is designed to give insight into what to expect from animals: knowledge that must surely reward both humans and other life on this planet’. Appropiate Technology

‘…the author looks not just at how animals behave, but considers as well what actually motivates and drives them, bringing together current understanding of a wide complex topic. The result is comprehensive, enlightening and immersive, ranging across a wide variety of species from butterflies to lions, with a few surprises along the way. There is a wealth of knowledge packed into its pages. This is a very readable book…This book comes highly recommended and will be valuable to anyone with an interest in animal behaviour, be it academic or casual, adding a new insight to a fascinating subject’. Deer Journal

‘I particularly recommend this book to students minoring in biology, ecology, environmental and veterinary sciences: Putman’s clearly written and easy to understand style is sure to explain the complex concepts without relying on hard to decipher terminology’. 10,000 Birds

‘...the book provides an engaging and educational read’. Inside Ecology

‘The book finishes with an extremely valuable question and answer section. This is a book that would seriously augment any type of study of animals, and amateur naturalists like me will also learn much from its pages’. Wildlife Detective. The blog of Alan Stewart

‘...comprehensive treatment of the subject will suit a range of practitioners including naturalists. ...he brings the subject alive in this engaging book’. ECOS

'a superb book... a highly-detailed description of the natural triggers.... is often as fascinating as the outcomes...a really interesting read'. Lochaber life 

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