In Birds, a Possible Clue to the Cycle of Abuse

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/science/11booby.html?ref=science

Behavior research on Nazca boobies, ground-nesting birds native to the Galápagos Islands, has confirmed that animal behavior is similar to human behavior. Many social scientists believe that people are abusive because their parents were abusive, and for the first time, these birds are the first animals that show evidence that relates to this theory – suggesting that the “cycle of violence is generalizable.” The Nazca boobies raise only one chick at a time while the other chicks are taken care of by other adult Nazca boobies. These unrelated guardians can often by aggressive and sexual, and almost all chicks have some contact with unrelated adults. The researchers then studied 24 nestlings over three breeding seasons and carefully recorded the types and numbers of interactions with unrelated adults. Then, another group of researchers recorded the behavior of the same chicks as adults, who were unaware of the chick’s experiences with unrelated adults. They found that the more interactions a chick had with abusive, unrelated adults, the more abusive the chicks were as adults. Now, scientists can study the origin of abusive behavior using the Nazca boobies in ways that scientists couldn’t use with humans before.

I thought this article was very interesting because I never thought that a type of bird living in the Galapagos could have the same problems that humans have in terms of behavior. This article proves that, through similar experiences, animals and human’s abusive behavior comes from abusive adults – suggesting this theory is habitual. However, the article could have explained more on the study of abusive behavior in humans. In addition, it would have been fascinating to see the scientists link the Nazca boobies’ origin of abusive behavior with that of human’s.

Overall, I thought this article explained the background information to this theory and the experiment involving the Nazca boobies very well. It was easy to understand as well as intriguing. However, this article was very vague in explaining the study of abusive behavior that offspring experience in relation to their parent’s abusive behavior. In addition, I am curious to see what other experiments the scientists might perform on the Nazca boobies.