Curious Naturalists

This American Museum of Natural History Special Members' Edition features cover design by Rolf Bruderer and includes 27 line cuts. Published in 1969, it represents one of the most accessible presentations of Tinbergen's groundbreaking ethological research.

Tinbergen, a Nobel Prize-winning ethologist, presents his pioneering studies of animal behavior through engaging personal narratives. The book covers his research on everything from stickleback fish mating rituals to bird navigation patterns, demonstrating how careful observation and experimentation reveal the complex world of animal behavior.

Tinbergen's work helped establish ethology as a scientific discipline, earning him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 alongside Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch. His approach to studying animals in their natural environments revolutionized understanding of instinct, learning, and evolution. The book made complex scientific concepts accessible to general readers while maintaining scientific rigor.

Tinbergen developed the famous "four questions" that guide ethological research: mechanism, development, evolution, and adaptive function. His fieldwork often involved ingenious experiments, such as using cardboard models to study bird responses. The book's line cuts illustrate both his experimental setups and the behaviors he observed, making complex concepts visually comprehensible.