About I’m a Scientist

I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of £500 to communicate their work.

Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.

This is the Animal Behaviour Zone. It has a range of scientists studying all different topics. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!

About this Zone

Hippopotamus

Hippos use the smell of their dung to attract a mate, image by BS Thurner Hof for Wikimedia

Bee

Bees do a little dance to show their friends where the food is, image by Braboowi for Wikimedia

Animal behaviour is all about what animals are doing and why they are doing it. People have been watching animals for a very long time.

Thousands of years ago, people watched how animals behaved to help with hunting and taming animals. These days, lots of people like watching how animals behave for different reasons.

Scientists who study animal behaviour try to work out why animals are behaving in a particular way. There are certain common ‘problems’ that animals need to solve, such as eating, drinking, protecting themselves from predators and reproduction. Much of animal behaviour is based on solving these problems.

Some animals behave in very interesting ways; from bees doing a special dance to show their hive-mates where the best flowers are, to hippos using the smell of their dung to attract a mate. Yuck.

There are loads of different animal behaviours, some stranger than others. Some people even believe that if we study the ways animals behave, we can learn more about the way humans behave!