The Behavioural Ecology of Week 3

In the somewhat colorful words of a friend of mine, “This has been the week where everyone realizes, “Oh f***, oh f***, oh f***, we have finals in one week.’”

The Pembroke-King’s Programme offers both four-week and eight-week courses, so I have a final exam coming up in my four-week course, “The Behavioural Ecology of Animals and Humans.”  Accordingly, this week has been largely consumed with (1) an essay on the evolution of altruism and (2) some of the most amusing labs (aka “practicals” or “seminars”) I have ever done.

For instance, on Monday we went to the mill pond and fed the ducks in order to test optimal foraging theory.  On Friday, we looked at the personals ads on Craigslist to identify trends in human mating preferences.

The Mill Pond

As you can tell, my “Behavioural Ecology” instructors have gone out of their way to make the course interesting.  In case you’re curious, here is a podcast about meerkats with my instructor Alex Thornton, who has studied them, and the profile of the other instructor, Neeltje Boogert.

Aside from loads of behavioural ecology, this week has contained these highlights:

(1)  Brian Keaney, my creative writing supervisor, talked to our class about writing for children.  He gave us what he called the “Golden Rules of Children’s Fiction”: the story should be about a child or group of children, the plot should focus on the child or children, the story should present a world that is engaging to children, the central character should be the same age as the intended audience or a little older, and the language should be appropriate to the target age range.  All of this seems obvious, really, but according to his blog many people forget it.

(2)  I found out what a crumpet is—they’re like small, spongy pancakes.

(3)  I attended my second Formal Hall!  This time the meal was served in the King’s College dining hall, which is very grand: it boasts a high ceiling, stained glass windows, a tapestry, and paintings of solemn-looking men in wigs.  Yes, I could certainly get used to attending three-course candlelit dinners, drinking wine and pompously discussing literature with people in cocktail attire!  :)

(4)  I popped into Gonville and Caius College (famous alumni include Francis Crick; Stephen Hawking is a current Fellow) and had a look around the chapel, which dates from about 1390.

The chapel, with a view toward the organ

(5)  I went to the weekly craft fair!