Niko鈥檚 Nature by Hans Kruuk, Oxford University Press, 拢20, ISBN 0198515588
THIS is a book that every behavioural biologist will want to read, and will do so with pleasure. I read Niko鈥檚 Nature from cover to cover and was informed, entertained and instructed the whole way. Who better to write about ethology and about the maestro Niko Tinbergen than Hans Kruuk, one of his many prominent students who with him helped shape the field, and whose influence continues in many directions?
Kruuk obviously highlights Tinbergen, but this is no less a record of the science of ethology and a directory of those who, along with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz, revolutionised the study of animal behaviour. In chronicling how ethology and behavioural science evolved, Kruuk spares no details, and his command of facts is impressive. He also paints a vivid picture of Tinbergen in his environment 鈥� his sand dunes, wasps and seagulls, his students and colleagues 鈥� as you might observe and record a lion and its habitat in the Serengeti.
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Tinbergen has been described as 鈥渁 force of nature鈥� and 鈥渁 brilliant birdwatcher with a passion for straight natural history鈥�. He was a determined and alert presence who on field trips drank endless cups of instant coffee and chain-smoked hand-rolled cigarettes, while bantering and joking with students.
One of his primary contributions was to bring natural history observations into the fold of science. Before the 1930s there had been lab-based animal studies of rat behaviour, but he was one of the first to critically examine diverse animals in their natural environment by asking, and differentiating, a whole new set of questions. Tinbergen and the other emerging ethologists realised that the question of why an animal behaves in any particular way is really a composite of four very different questions.
One concerns causation: what stimuli does the animal respond to with respect to its physiological state? Other 鈥渨hys鈥� of behaviour concern ontogeny (genetics and learning), function (survival and reproduction) and how the animal鈥檚 behaviour evolved. Kruuk asks these four questions about Tinbergen鈥檚 own bird-watching behaviour, although he answers them only indirectly.
The interwoven story of Tinbergen鈥檚 life is engagingly written for a broad audience. Covering close to 400 pages, it starts with his upbringing in the Netherlands, then covers his student years and Greenland expedition, academic life and wartime experiences. The differences between his experiences and those of Lorenz are striking. Many of Tinbergen鈥檚 elegant sketches and photographs illustrate the book.
I found myself drawn into the drama of his life story, from his gradual evolution into a legend through the inevitable waning of energy and powers. We are brought up close and personal to his life and associates, his extraordinary aliveness, luck, historic timing and multiple talents. To be brought up close to greatness, and then to see it decay before your eyes, is tough. It left me with a sadness and sense of loss for what once was and what may be transient.
If we, as born hunter-gatherers, ever have less reason to be close and involved in intimate contact with animals in nature, then we will lose much of that which makes us love and protect it.