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reflection bio 551

Submitted by kruzzoli on Sat, 12/08/2018 - 09:20

This was the first specified biology class that I have taken that was more in depth than just “evolution” or “ecology”. I had a lot of prior knowledge about evolution and some animal behavior in terms of environment from other biology classes, but I learned a lot more in depth examples of how to apply evolutionary concepts to the roles of animals. I never looked deeply into animal communication before this class but now I notice a lot more animal interactions and I find myself trying to reason certain behaviors that I observe. When I went home throughout this semester I noticed how my cat interacts with us more and that there are certain things he does that will always be indicators of something he wants. When he wants to be fed he will nudge me and meow, so I know he’s hungry. When he wants to be let outside, instead of nudging me he’ll walk around my feet until I follow him to the door. I’ve noticed that there are different signals for different reasons, which is something I did not think about prior to this course. We also recently got a new cat and I’ve noticed that my cat has started to act differently when in the presence of the new cat. Now,  I try to observe behaviors and think of reasons that could explain a certain meow or tail movement and then observe to see if I can reason it. This is a new behavior of mine that I developed from this class because I did not think about my cat having different signals and different ways to communicate before this class. From this class I have become more curious about how animals interact with one another and I observe my pets a lot more than I would have without taking this course.

 

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