Tinbergen's four questions

Tinbergen’s four questions help us understand animal behavior by asking: 1) Causation — what biological or environmental triggers cause the behavior? 2) Development — how does the behavior develop over an animal’s lifetime? 3) Function — what is the behavior’s role or benefit in survival and reproduction? 4) Evolution — how did this behavior evolve over generations? Together, these questions provide a comprehensive view of why animals act the way they do, integrating immediate mechanisms, developmental processes, current purpose, and evolutionary history.