October 7, 2024

Aisha Chloe C. Camaquin 

11th Grade

John F. Kennedy High School 

Neuroethology is the study of animal behavior and how it is affected by the nervous system. It combines concepts from neurobiology, the study of the nervous system, and ethology, the study of human and animal behavior, to explain why an animal acts the way it does in its natural environment. 

Let’s look at toads and Jörg-Peter Ewert’s experiment to better understand this concept. 

In nature, a toad would turn, approach, fixate, and snap at a worm when it sees one. This sequence is the animal’s natural response to seeing prey. 

In Ewert’s experiment, a black strip was used to replicate prey. When it looked and behaved like a worm, the toad would act out its natural response. If not, the toad would just ignore it. 

When examining the amphibian’s neurons, it showed that seeing the worm-like strip excited its T5(1) neuron strongly and TH3 neuron weakly, causing the toad to register the strip as prey. On the other hand, when it saw the non-worm-like strip, the toad’s T5(1) neuron was excited weakly and the TH3 neuron strongly, causing the toad to ignore it. 

The results of this experiment show that certain stimuli around a toad affect the type of signals that its neurons fire, which in turn affect the action the toad acts out. Because of this, it is a great demonstration of neuroethology.

Other than prey-catching in toads, neuroethology can be seen in all animals. Birds learning and making songs, bats using echolocation, honey bees leaving their hive and finding their way home—all of these are examples of the study. Unlike other neurobiological scientists who use standard lab animals (rats, fruit flies, etc.), neuroethologists can study any animal to their preference.

In addition to understanding animals, it can be used to comprehend other ideas. For instance, the data collected from neuroethology can be used to improve technology. It can also be used to understand humans. For instance, a scientist might study zebras and finches to decipher how children learn how to communicate since both babies and finches pick up on speech in a similar manner. 

Compared to other sciences, this study is fairly recent; it is only around 60 years old. This is because it requires advanced technology to study the neurons in animal brains. Advancements in other neurological sciences such as neuroanatomy, neuroendocrinology, and biological cybernetics, were what contributed to its development. 

Fortunately, neuroethology is headed toward a promising future, as technology has been rapidly progressing. There have also been advances in molecular biology and genetics that may be beneficial for the study.