Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Evolution of Behavior

The evolution of behavior is the study of how the behaviors of animals, including humans, arise and change over evolutionary time through processes such as natural and sexual selection. It examines why particular behaviors—foraging strategies, mating systems, communication, social cooperation, aggression, and parent…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 2 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 25× across the literature 🗓 Reviewed June 2026

Overview

The evolution of behavior is the study of how the behaviors of animals, including humans, arise and change over evolutionary time through processes such as natural and sexual selection. It examines why particular behaviors—foraging strategies, mating systems, communication, social cooperation, aggression, and parental care—exist, how they contribute to survival and reproductive success, and how they are shaped by genetics, environment, and developmental experience. By treating behavior as a trait subject to evolutionary forces, this field, central to ethology, seeks to explain both the adaptive value of behaviors and the mechanisms by which they are inherited and modified across generations. It draws on comparative studies, field observation, and evolutionary theory to understand behavioral diversity within and between species. Within the journal's focus on ethology, the evolution of behavior connects animal conduct to the broader principles of evolutionary biology. Research relevant to this broad scope includes works engaging with evolutionary theory and the development of the concept of evolution itself, reflecting the field's grounding in the framework that explains how heritable traits, including behavioral ones, change over time. By integrating behavior with evolutionary principles, this area illuminates the origins and functions of the actions of living organisms. This page gathers peer-reviewed, open-access research relevant to animal behavior, ethology, and evolutionary biology.

Research published in this journal

2 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 2 articles above have been cited 25 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Evolution of Behavior, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in International Journal of Ethology.

Journal editorial board
Hsueh-Wen Chang · Taiwan

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.