Design an animal

Designing your animal; writing the paper
Throughout the course, we will cover various aspects of behavior, including:
Sensory processes
Communication
Feeding/foraging
Anti-predator behavior
Reproductive behavior
Social organization/social behavior
In designing your animal for this assignment, you should address each of these aspects of its behavior. Think carefully about the various aspects of the behavior of the animal you design. The behaviors exhibited by your animal should “fit together”, and the behavioral capabilities of your animal should enable it to survive in the environment in which it lives. (Or, if it’s not a good fit, you should acknowledge that this is the case and discuss how the animal deals with that.) Your final animal design should demonstrate your understanding of the principles and content of animal behavior that you’ve learned throughout the course, and should demonstrate your ability to apply and integrate these principles in order to “create” a coherent organism.

Your paper should consist of the following sections:

Animal Name
Be sure to give your animal a common name, and an appropriate scientific name. Although in the real world there are rules and conventions for establishing scientific names, we won’t worry about that for this assignment. Feel free to name it after yourself if you like. After all, you “discovered” it, and are the first person to accurately describe it.

Habitat
Describe basics of the habitat in which the animal lives. Desert? Forested area? Mountainous? What other species live in this habitat? Is your animal restricted to a particular type of habitat? I recommend that you do some background research on a specific habitat to help you design your animal. The more you know about the details of the habitat where the animal lives, the easier it will be to design an animal that will live there. Feel free to include photos of the habitat if you like.

Physical description of your animal
Include information about size, body type, coloration patterns, other important physical characteristics, locomotion patterns, etc. Is there sexual dimorphism (that is, are males and females differently colored? Different sizes?) You may include a picture if you like.

Activity pattern, sensory capabilities and primary modes of communication
Is the animal diurnal or nocturnal? Remember, that will be important when considering sensory capabilities. Describe the animal’s sensory systems and capabilities in detail. (For example, if your animal has good hearing, don’t just say it has good hearing. You must include specifics, such as the frequency range of its hearing. Likewise, if it can discriminate color, explain the characteristics of its visual system than make this possible.) You should also make it clear either in this section or in later sections how the animal’s sensory capabilities are important in its survival and reproductive success. So, in addition to addressing primary modes of communication here, you should also describe communication in detail in later portions of the paper where it is important. For example, how does the animal attract mates? Communicate with conspecifics? Detect prey/evade predators? Sensory systems are important for all of these behaviors.

Diet; feeding and foraging
What does the animal eat? Be as specific as you can – what potential food sources for your animal are located in this habitat? How does your species locate and acquire food? How is the food distributed (patches, etc)? Is this animal a predator? If so, how does it locate and capture prey? How do characteristics of optimal foraging theory apply to this animal’s feeding habits?
Note: you’ll need to think about what other animals are available in this habitat for your animal to eat/prey upon.

Antipredator behavior
What are the major predators of your animal? How does it avoid being preyed upon? What anti-predator strategies does it use? Note: Sensory capabilities and physical characteristics of your animal may be especially important here.

Space use
Where does this animal spend most of its time? How large is the home range? Is this animal territorial? Why or why not? (i.e., consider the role of resource distribution.) How does it mark and defend its territory?

Reproductive behavior
This includes multiple aspects of behavior. This may be a relatively lengthy section of your paper, since we will cover a lot of material related to this topic. What is the typical mating system of this species? How is sexual selection (intersexual selection/intrasexual selection) important for this species? Does it show parental care? How much (are the young more on the precocial end of the continuum, or more altricial)? Which sex provides the care? How does this fit with the mating system of this animal? Is there any evidence of adaptive sex ratio allocation?

Sociality/Social organization
Does this animal live in groups, or is it primarily solitary? If it lives in groups, what types of social organization does it have? Does it have a dominance hierarchy? If so, describe/explain the characteristics of dominance hierarchies in this species. Does it show kin selection? Reciprocal altruism? Does it live in long-term, stable groups? Or are social organization patterns more temporary?

Conservation
Is the population of this species declining? If so, why? What are the main threats to this animal’s population? Does this species need more protected habitat? What would you recommend for conservation practices for your animal?

Relationship to humans
For example – Do they eat humans? Do humans hunt them? Are they considered pests? Do humans think they are cute? Does this species have some symbolic value? Are they revered or respected in some way? Do human attitudes toward this species have any conservation implications (may be addressed in section above)?

Your final paper should include each of the sections above. Your paper should demonstrate an understanding of the importance and role of the above questions/factors in an animal’s life, and how these factors are interrelated. Your paper should therefore not simply be a list of answers to the above questions, but should focus heavily on the “why” aspects of the questions. For example, if the animal is nocturnal, what are the implications of this for sensory capabilities, predator/prey relationships, habitat use, etc. Show how aspects of this animal’s behavior and physical characteristics enable it to survive in the habitat in which it lives. A very important aspect of this paper is demonstrating your ability to apply what you have learned in this course. Therefore, your paper should incorporate specific concepts, theories, content, and principles we have been covering throughout the course.

Getting help with your ideas for your animal
You should definitely use course material and material in your textbook to help you develop ideas about your animal. You may also want to research existing animals to get ideas. You may also discuss your ideas with other students, either in this class or other classes, and with anybody else you care to. You can even ask for help on the class discussion board. If you use ideas suggested to you by other people, you must acknowledge this in the Acknowledgements section of your paper (see below). Your paper, of course, is to be your work, in your own words. If you have ANY questions about this policy and how the JMU Honor Code covers work on this paper, ask this question on the Discussion Board. It will be helpful for everyone to hear the answer.

Using sources
I expect you to use your textbook, course materials, research articles you read for the class, and other class materials in the writing of this paper. In addition, you may wish to do additional research to find journal articles or other sources to use in writing this paper. Although this is not required for this paper, wise use of additional sources may improve your paper.

Paper format
Your paper should consist of the sections listed above. Feel free to start each section with a heading, just as I’ve done above (e.g. “Antipredator Behavior”.) In addition, you MUST include the following sections:
References
This should be a list (in APA format) of all sources you used for this paper (including your textbook, if you used it). You can cite the Course Material on Blackboard as follows:
Course Materials, “Antipredator Behavior,” Psyc/Bio 395, Summer 2013.