the study of animal behavior with emphasis on the behavioral patterns that occur in natural environments.
Origin: 1895–1900; earlier, as the study of relations between an organism and its environment < F éthologie, coined by French zoologist I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1805–61); see ethos, -logy
The scientific study of animal behavior, especially as it occurs in a natural environment.
The study of human ethos and its formation.
[French éthologie, from Latin ēthologia, art of depicting character, from Greek ēthologiā : ēthos, character; see ethos + logos, speech, expression; see -logy.] eth'o·log'i·cal (ěth'ə-lŏj'ĭ-kəl) adj., e·thol'o·gist n.