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Animal Behavior and Human Behavior

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Animal Behavior and Human Behavior
Mary A. Warren
Rene Christopher
Bio-365
Grand Canyon University

Abstract
Over time there has been much curiosity concerning animal behavior and the search to indentify the connection with our animal friends and the human-being. Fifty years ago, a young Englishwoman walking through a rainforest reserve came across a dark figure hunched over a termite nest. She stops to observe a big male chimpanzee actually making a tool to retrieve his food from the termite nest, just as we humans use a spoon or fork. This chimpanzee picks up a twig and strips the leaves from it and bends it to fit inside the little hole (Jane Goodall, 2010). Jane Goodall had witnessed one of the most important scientific observations ever in this chimpanzee. From a child she had always been told that humans and only humans used and made tools. She was amazed with what she had just witnessed with her own eyes, therefore doubting some information she had been told as a child. (Jane Goodall, 2010). This was the beginning of research on the human-chimpanzee relationship.
There has also been a lot of research done concerning the elephant. Forty years of research has revealed the elephant also exhibit human like behavior. They communicate within their herds displaying many of the humanistic traits, expressing emotions such as flirting, anger and even some of the same parenting skills displayed in humans (Choi, 2011). The observation of the elephants from a distance, showed they display relationships similar to the human relationship They even display pain for their mate when they are in trouble.
I know some people who have dogs and their dogs end up having the same type of personality as the owner. There are so many different breeds of dogs and many times people develop a misconception of the breed and feel a certain breed of the dog will act a certain way regardless of their training. Although, with proper training any breed can become a proper pet and a member of a family. I have been a dog owner many times throughout my life and all of my dogs became a huge part of my family displaying many of my own personality traits. Proper training of a dog can take away the stigma of a bad breed and allows the dog to become more of a pet regardless of his breed. Regardless of who learns from whom there is much to be learned and the teacher can develop a better relationship. The similarity between humans and their pets are based on trust, love, and knowing the difference of pleasure and pain. Relationships with our pets can be as strong as a relationship with another human, if not stronger at times. Testing the claim of pets with proper training from a kind and loving owner display a much calmer demeanor, therefore displaying a much stronger sense of loyalty to all family members. This test will apply to all breeds of canines such as, the expensive breeds, mutts, and shelter dogs.

History/Rationale The study of animal behavior has been successfully practiced for many years now, with the study of many different types of animals. This study will be focusing on the animal behavior concerning our canine friends. Today, canines have become a part of the human family. “Approximately 61 million dogs are pets in the United States” (Marinelli, Adamelli, Normando & Bono, 2007, p. 457).The history of the canine has proven that humans have depended on canines to assist them in work and pleasure. The sheep dog has been herding sheep for many years, saving the farmers a huge amount of money by keeping the sheep together and rounding up the stray. The German Police dog has been used in law enforcement for tracking missing people and locating drugs that the humans cannot. The proper training of these dogs has resulted in many farmers and law enforcement agencies reaping a huge success in their line of work. Household canines that are pets have actually saved the life of their owners by waking them when a fire has broken out inside their home in the middle of the night. One must ask themselves how a canine knows the danger of a fire or can express such strong emotionally bond with a human? The 2002 United States Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook stated that, out of American dog owners, 51 percent perceived their dogs as members of the family (Dotson & Hyatt, 2008). This study will focus on how canines express many of the very same emotions and display similarities of the human emotions. Our canine friends tend to learn much faster than humans; they quickly learn that good behavior reaps love and affection.

Statement of hypothesis and objective Randomly selecting 100 pets, 50 male owned and 50 female owned. This experiment will be stratified sampling between male and female. Testing the claim of pets with kind, loving owner display a much calmer demeanor, therefore displaying a much stronger sense of loyalty. Canines from all breeds seem to want the love and bonding with humans. The objective of this study is to prove that the canine population craves a sense of belonging just as humans crave love from another human. Another point that will be proven in this study is that the type of owner truly makes a difference in what type of pet we may end up with. Our canine friends are not naturally bad in their nature; it is the owner that molds the canine. Canines learn just like children and the objective of this study is to prove with proper training and love anyone can have a great and well-behaved pet.
Data and Method Data will be gathered from 50 males and 50 females living in urban areas and in rural areas. This will be an observation experiment along with a brief questionnaire for the owner to complete. There will be a copy of the questionnaire and data chart exhibiting the chosen sex of the canine chosen by the sex of the human, located in the appendix. The reason behind the concern of the sex of the canine chosen by each sex is that human have a tendency to display the same sex in their pets as in their personal life. When asking the men concerning the same sex canine, their explanation was as following: It was a buddy issues just as men choose male friends, they tend to choose male canines. The males that choose females did so for breeding purposes and selling the offspring. The females, mainly the single females choose the opposite sex; this is due to substituting the canine for the male child.

Results of study The results of this study show that the men tend to choose the large masculine outside type of canine 75% of the time. The females show more indication of choosing the small breed of dog 85% of the time, due to the fact they keep their pet inside and treat them more like children. The behavior differences in the male and female owned canines are basically from the different training approach used. Males want masculine dogs, so they use a stronger training program to get their results. Females want a well behaved cute pet that can provide the companionship they tend to be missing in their life. From our survey, we found males prefer outside dogs and females prefer inside dogs. This is not to say the bond each have with their pets are not equal, it is just displayed in a total different matter.
Conclusion
Animal behavior is a very mysterious and more like the human behavior than most people even recognize. After all humans are animals too, the study of how humans and canines truly connect deserves to be studies in depth, due to the fact the brain in the other animals work on the basis of the human brain. Our pets do tend to pick-up our traits and many times develop the very same attitudes as their owners. Raising a pet from a puppy can often carry the same results as when you raise a child, they become more like you than you ever dreamed. We as human could learn so much about ourselves if we just pay more attention to our pets’ behavior. This study support the idea of proper training from a loving and caring owner can develop a great and loyal pet.

Reference
Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience Contributor, (2011) 40-Year Study Finds Elephants and Humans Are Remarkably Alike Retrieved From: http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/40-year-study-finds-elephants-and-humans-are-remarkably-alike.html
Dotson, M. J., & Hyatt, E. M. (2008, May). Understanding dog-human companionship. Journal of Business Research, 61(5), 457-466. Retrieved from Science Direct.
Marinelli, L., Adamelli, S., Normando, S., & Bono, G. (2007). Quality of life of the pet dog: Influence of owner and dog’s characteristics. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 108, 143-156. Retrieved from Science Direct
Michael Barendse, Ed.D. Goodall, Jane, Informational Paper Retrieved From http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper341.html

APPENDIX
Questionnaire:
Survey given to each participate 1- What was the reason behind wanting a dog? 2- Was the breed taken into consideration before getting your pet? 3- Why did you choose your breed? 4- Did you consider the cost of caring for a pet before buying? 5- Is your dog a shelter dog? 6- Was there something missing in your life, you wanted to fill with this pet?

Chart 50= 100% | 50=100% | 50=100% | 50=100% | Male Pet Owner with Male dogs | Male Pet Owner with Female Dog | Female Pet Owner with Male Dog | Female Pet Owner with Female Dog | 23 or 0.46% | 27 or 0.54% | 38 or 0.76% | 12 or 0.24% | N1=50, X1=23, N2=50,X2=27Claim: p1< or = p290% Confidence Level-0.243958

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