A Study of Gerbil Behavior

1. A Study ofGerbil Behavior By: Xxxxx, Xxxx and Yyyy, Yyyyyy Class:726

2. Introduction • Hello our names are Xxxxx Xxxxx and Yyyyy Yyyyy. We are in class 726. We choose this topic because we wanted to know what gerbils do with their time.

3. Hypothesis • The hypothesis that a male gerbil will sleep for 40% of its time. This estimation is based upon research found on www.gerbilbehavior.com

4. What We Decided to Do • We decided to do an ethogram because we wanted to observe an gerbil in its habitat. An ethogram is a paper divided into 15 second intervals within 20 minutes. During the process of an ethogram every single thing that the animal does is recorded into your observation.

5. Materials • 1) A gerbil • 2) Pen/Pencil • 3) Loose leaf Paper • 4) A stopwatch • 5) A calculator

6. Procedure • 1) A topic was chosen along with an animal. • 2) A pen was taken out. • 3) Paper was set up for an ethogram divided into 15 second interval. • 4) Stopwatch was set. • 5) Observation of animal was done. • 6) Bar graph’s and Pie charts were plotted based upon the data.

7. Results • The total observation number was 350 observations. The hypothesis was that the male gerbil would sleep 40% of its time. The results came out to be that the male gerbil slept for 45.5% of its time. So our hypothesis was incorrect.

8. Data Table

11. Analysis • As you can see in the graph sleeping was 159 out of 350. So the percent of this is 45.5%. Other high percentages were Standing with 11.5 % and eating with 10 %. So as you can see it slept 45.5% of the time and stood 11.5% which means that it slept almost 4 times more than it stood.

12. Conclusion • The results did not match the hypothesis for the project. The hypothesis was that the male gerbil would sleep 40% of its time. After the calculations were made the hypothesis was proven wrong. The results came out to be that the male slept for 45.5% of its time.