直到20世纪中叶,动物行为学才被认可为一个生物学的分支。当时,有3位动物学家开始使用系统化的观察和实验等科学方法来研究动物行为,他们是康拉德·洛伦兹、卡尔·冯·弗里希和尼古拉斯·廷伯格。凭借发现动物个体及群体的行为模式,他们分享了1973年的诺贝尔生理学或医学奖,这是动物行为学研究领域斩获的第一个诺贝尔奖。 Until the mid-20th century, animal behavior was recognized as a biological branch. At that time, three zoologists began to study animal behavior using scientific methods such as systematic observation and experimentation. They were Conrad Lorentz, Carl von Frisch, and Nicholas Timberg. By discovering the behavior patterns of individual and group animals, they shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first Nobel Prize won in the field of animal behavior research.