A Photographic Method for recording Activity and Behaviour in a Group of Small Animals

Abstract

IT is often desirable to obtain a quantitative measure of the activity of insects or other small animals over a specific period of time. Recently, an attempt was made¹ to overcome some of the inherent difficulties found when using the familiar mechanical methods for recording the activity of smaller insects. Moreover, Nielsen² reported a photographic method, which does not depend upon the mass of the insect, for estimating the number of changed positions in a group of mosquitoes at regular intervals. His method is especially suitable for use in darkness with insects that are affected by ordinary light but which do not respond to an electronic flash.