Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

A.Word.A.Day--ethology

ethology (ee-THOL-uh-jee) noun

The study of animals' behavior in their natural environments.

[From French éthologie, coined by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, zoologist (1805-1861).]

"Field biologists such as Poole and Goodall, who've each spent decades studying the behavior of animals in their natural habitats, do not doubt that elephants, chimpanzees and other creatures feel intense, humanlike emotions - from happiness, sadness and anger to perhaps even love and embarrassment... Research by (Marc) Bekoff and others - in fields ranging from ethology to neurobiology - is beginning to provide scientific support for the notion that animals feel a wide range of emotions."
Laura Tangley, Natural Passions, International Wildlife (Vienna), Sep/Oct 2001.

This week's theme: coined words.

X-Bonus