ethologist

American  

[ee-thah-luhj-ist] / iˈθɑ lədʒ ɪst /

noun

plural

ethologists

1. a specialist in or student of ethology.

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Explanation

A scientist who studies how animals behave is an ethologist. Are you fascinated by the waggle dance that bees do to show other bees where to find food? You might want to consider becoming an ethologist! A zoologist who specializes in animal behaviors is an ethologist, and their field is called ethology. These scientists are interested in the characteristic behaviors of different animals, especially how they act in their natural environments. An ethologist might study courtship rituals among various species, compare the way birds express aggression, or investigate animals that exhibit altruistic behavior. The word ethologist derives from the Greek ethos, "character."

Example Sentences

Yet studies show that flat-faced dogs possess “kindchenschema” or “baby schema,” a term coined by ethologist Konrad Lorenz to describe infantile features that elicit caregiving reactions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

“For decades there has been a debate about whether animals are capable of such a level of abstraction,” said study leader Marianna Boros, a neuroscientist and ethologist at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2024

“It is really surprising that nobody else noticed this before,” says Patrizia d’Ettorre, an ethologist at Sorbonne Paris North University, France.

From Scientific American • Dec. 2, 2022

Márta Gácsi, an ethologist at Eötvös Loránd University who helped pioneer the Strange Situation test for dogs and wolves in 2005, says the results don’t match what her team has seen.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 20, 2022

Others, like Niko Tinbergen, another very famous early ethologist, do experiments out in the place where the animals live.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall