Web Quest: How stuff works…. - Animal Personality

1.- Why did you select the article?

• Because I love animals, specially dogs. When I was a kid, I was afraid to dogs; I couldn't be near to one, no matter size or look. Then, around 8 years ago, some people left a box in front of my garden, and inside of it, there was a little dog. My family didn't know what to do with it, but finally we decided to keep it with us: he was our first pet. Since then, I was able to get near to it and finally loose all the fear. Now I feel very close to any dog, friend's pets or stray dogs and I can't stand anyone who tries to hurt them. Besides, I study psychology, and "personality" it's one of the mayor topics in the discipline. There are plenty of theories who adds to the idea that personality it's related to the evolution of species. In short, the reasons to select the article are two: intelectual curiosity and personal attached to the animals.

2.- Did you find enough information in the article? Did you find the info you were looking for?

• Yes, the article had a lot of information and fundaments in science.
• Yes, because I wanted to know about if it's posible that animals studies shed light on human behavior

3. What was the most interesting thing you learnt about it?

• That personality seems to be present in all animals, at least in lots of species. This it's very important because, of being true, could be posible to say that personality it's a product of natural selection. Besides, in the moment we affirm that animals have personality, we have the responsability to treat them according to the same one.

4. Make a list of 15 words from the article that you found difficult to understand. Find their meaning.

1. Pack = a group of hunting animals
2. Attach = be attached; be in contact with
3. Traits = a distinguishing feature of your personal nature
4. Weed = remove, take away
5. Skeptic = someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs
6. Ferret = domesticated albino variety of the European polecat bred for hunting rats and rabbits
7. [for] Instance = example, illustration
8. Reliable = worthy of reliance or trust
9. Assess = place a value on; judge the worth of something
10. [to] Shed [light of] = to clarify
11. Harsh = sharply disagreeable, rigorous
12. Scarce = deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
13. Gadget = a device that is very useful for a particular job
14. Whimper = cry weakly or softly
15. Growl = the sound of growling (as made by animals)