Abstract: Ethology and behavioral ecology study the behavioral traits, behavior patterns and behavior mechanisms of animals, as well as the behavior strategies to adapt to environmental changes. Here, we briefly review some significant achievements of these two research fields over the past forty years in China by focusing specifically on mammalian taxa. The results indicate that more advanced technologies and methods have significantly improved the ways of data collection and experimental analysis over the past two decades. Chinese scholars have published many high-quality papers in international journals and books, which has narrowed the research gap between China and the developed nations. In particular, behavioral studies on the giant panda are playing a leading global role. Some other significant research achievements include those on interspecific interactions and behavioral adaptation mechanisms of rodents, primates' social behavior and adaptation mechanism of foraging strategy, and echolocation behaviors of bats. In contrast, behavioral studies on some groups, such as carnivores, ungulates, and marine mammals, are still lacking. The increasing national support on basic research, more high-level research bases and the growing number of scientists, as well as the application of interdisciplinary and advanced techniques, will facilitate the prosperous development of ethology and behavioral ecology in China.

Key words: Ethology, Behavioral ecology, Animal behavior, Mammals, China

摘要： 行为学与行为生态学通常研究动物的行为特征、行为方式和行为机制，以及适应环境变化而采取的行为策略。本文回顾了我国近40年来主要哺乳动物行为学和行为生态学的研究进展，发现随着近20年来新技术和新方法的广泛应用，野外数据收集和实验设计更加科学有效，产生出很多有代表性和创新性的成果，标志着我国在这一领域研究取得了长足的进步和发展。其中大熊猫的行为生态研究已处于国际领先水平，啮齿类的种间互作关系和行为适应机制研究、灵长类的社会行为和觅食行为生态研究以及蝙蝠的回声定位行为研究等已达到国际水平，然而关于食肉目、有蹄类和海兽类的行为生态学研究相对较少。随着国家对基础学科研究重视不断提升，更多高水平研究基地的建设和科研人才队伍的壮大，以及交叉学科和先进信息技术的应用，将助力我国行为学和行为生态学未来研究蓬勃发展。

关键词: 行为学, 行为生态学, 动物行为, 哺乳动物, 中国