The present paper is a survey of the 15 years of research performed by
the team of the Department of Ethology of the Mexican institute of Ps
ychiatry. Our main purpose has been to understand the underlying of so
me of the physiological and cognitive mechanisms of spontaneous animal
communication, social and non-social behavior. An ethological approac
h has been favoured, as the conceptual and methodological backgrounds
of this discipline allow us to understand behavior from an evolutionar
y as well as an adaptative view.