ABSTRACT
Detailed studies of animal behavior usually proceed through 3 phases: observing and describing behavior, quantifying behavior, and relating one's findings to already existing principles to substantiate or modify these principles or to discover new principles. This chapter examines feeding, grooming, defensive behavior, mating, and cannibalism. Many descriptive studies are concerned only with compiling such a behavioral catalog, and appear to make only minimal use of explicitly quantitative data. As one attempts to discover possible correlations that are more elaborate and/or remote from the original observations, quantitative methods play an increasingly larger role. Experimental work requires particularly accurate observation, description, and quantification. To insure that data are collected in the ways best suited for answering research questions, a well-designed experimental protocol with quantitative analysis should be planned before the relevant data are collected. In general terms, anti-predator or defensive behavior in mantids has been said to be comprised of primary and secondary patterns.
