You have now completed the requirements of RMHS for the course ANIMAL BEHAVIOR 530. Your instructor contends that you have "just begun" your study of ethology and would like each of you to complete any of the first group (Books), and any of the second group (trips, museums, and so on). This course is just the beginning of acquiring knowledge about ethology. Obviously, these lists register the interests and educational prejudices of your instructor.

When you complete a book or visit, send me a post card with a few lines about the book or visit. Cards are noted in a special grade book and you will get a special award and ultimately, a "Citation Certificate" upon course completion. Send post cards to Dr. 'Laine Gurley-Dilger, c/o Rolling Meadows High School, 2901 Central Road, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 or communicate by email to lgurleyd@dist214.k12.iil.us or call (847)718-5725. If I am retired by the time you get to this (in another 15 years!) you'll still remember my phone #. If I've moved, ask for Dilger in the Cornell University vicinity, probably Freeville, NY.

This communication must be done to get "credit". There is no time limit for this. You have the rest of your life to do it. Enjoy this assignment. Grow and Learn!!
LIST ONE: Books or Courses

1. The Hidden Life of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1994. This is a bit anthropomorphic, but worth the reading. It's about 4 hours of reading time and well worth it.

2. Man Meets Dog by Konrad Lorenz And just about anything else Lorenz wrote.

3. Any of George Schaller's books: The Mountain Gorilla, The Serengeti Lion, or The Last Panda, to name a few.

4. The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris is old but good.

5. Ishmael by Dan Quinn

6. The Story of B by Dan Quinn

7. Feinman, Richard P. (1988) Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman - Adventures of a Curious Character", W. W. Norton & Co., NY, NY. Feynman was a physicist and teacher who wrote this autobiographical book. During the Challenger disaster inquiry he did a simple demonstration with ice water to show the unreliability of the O ring seals under low temperature. Feynman has a first-rate and curious mind which got him into constant mischief as well as into the cutting edge of history with such endeavors as his involvement with the Manhattan Project. We discussed Feynman on the topic of smell with the bottles handled or not, the books handled or not, etc. in class after our Tee shirt study.

8. Asimov, Isaac and Jason Shulman (Eds.)(1988). Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations. Read through here and tell me which ones you found appropriate to any given situation. Did you use any of them?

9. Uhrin, Michael (1992). It has been said. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine Volume 35 (3):380. Another book of cool quotations. Just remember -- famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly!

10. Any works by Jared Diamond. He is the most entertaining writer the Discover Magazine has and you'll enjoy him. He has a new book out this year.

11. Take a college course on Sexual Behavior

12. Take a college course on Animal Behavior or Neurobiology and Behavior or Mammal Social Behavior.

13. Take a college course in Ornithology. Send me evidence of your grade and describe the lab practical at the end of the course. Tell me your professor's name, how you liked it, if you felt mildly prepared for it, etc.

14. Take a college course in Field Natural History (it's all about identifying wild things outdoors, it isn't any history at all).

15. Read Animal Behavior, edited by Tim Halliday, University of Oklahoma Press, 1994

LIST TWO: trips to take/places to visit

1. ZOOS - any local zoo where you are attending school or living and working. Describe the aviary to me, the exhibits which are most striking to you, etc.

2. Milwaukee Botanical Domes

3. The gardens around the Chicago Botanical Gardens buildings

4. Volo Bog for birding

5. Area forest preserves for Birding

6.Exotic trips to Africa, Australia, Alaska, Rainforest areas, etc.

7.Quetico provincial park

8. Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. Go up to the bird and insect areas and spend your time understanding the exhibits. You'll especially like the fairy tern egg, the egg display, and the behavioral exhibits, all meticulously identified. Then view the rest of the museum. By the time you go there, they may have other things of behavioral interest as well. Things on display may really surprise you!

:) :) :) :) :) :) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^)

Ultimately I figure YOU OWE ME! I have shared a lot of knowledge with you and frankly I think you ought to pay me back with some new stuff you learn and I probably don't know! Although I am an avid reader of every animal behavior oriented thing in print, there's so much I don't know.

Write to me about this new stuff! Keep me on the cutting edge! Let me know of situations in which any of the concepts you've learned with me have applied in your life, studies, observations, etc. Be specific and explicit!

Just let me know how you are doing ... really.

PUT THIS SOME WHERE YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER !