Animal Behavior

1. Animal Behavior

2. What Is Behavior? • Behavior is anything an animal does in response to a stimulus. • A stimulusis an environmental change that directly influences the activity of an organism. • Example: Heat stimulates the lizard to seek shade.

3. Behavior Patterns • Animals carry on many activities such as getting food, avoiding predators, caring for young, finding shelter, and attracting mates –that enable them to survive. • These behavior patterns, therefor have adaptive value.

4. Inherited Behavior • Inheritance plays an important role in the way animals behave. • An animal’s genetic make-up determines how that animal reacts to certain stimuli. • Example: Birds flying south for the winter.

5. Inherited Behaviors • Natural selection favors certain behaviors. • Individuals with behavior that makes them more successful at surviving and reproducing tend to produce more offspring than individuals without the behavior. • These offspring will inherit the genetic basis for successful behavior.

6. Inherited Behavior • Inherited behavior of animals is called innate behavior. Two types of innate behavior: automatic and instinctive behavior • Example: As an insect moves across a toad’s line of sight, the insect detector cells in the toads retinas signal the brain, thus initiating an innate response; the toads tongue flipping out to capture the insect.

7. Automatic Response • A reflexis a simple, automatic response to a stimulus that involves no conscious control. (Simplest form of innate behavior) • Ex.: Touching something hot and pulling your hand back • A fight-or-flight responsemobilizes the body for greater activity. • Your body is being prepared to fight or run from danger • Controlled by hormones and the nervous system

8. Instinctive Behavior • An instinct is a complex pattern of innate behavior. • Instinctive behavior begins when the animal recognizes a stimulus and continues until all parts of the behavior have been performed.

9. Types of Instinctive Behavior • Courtship behavior ensures reproduction • Courtship behavior is the behavior that males and females of a species carry out before mating. • Territoriality reduces competition • A territory is a physical space an animal defends against other members of its species.

10. Types of Instinctive Behavior • Aggressive behavior threatens other animals • Aggressive behavioris used to intimidate another animal of the same species. • Submission leads to dominance hierarchies • A dominance hierarchyis a form of social ranking within a group in which some individuals are subordinate than others. (pecking order)

11. Types of Instinctive Behavior • Behavior resulting from internal and external cues • Circadian rhythms are a 24 hour, light-regulated, sleep/wake cycle of behavior. (keeps you alert during the day and helps you relax at night) • Migrationis the instinctive, seasonal movement of animals.

12. Types of Instinctive Behavior • Behavior resulting from internal and external cues continued • Hibernationis a state in which body temperature drops, oxygen consumption decreases, and breathing rates decline. • Estivation is a state of reduced metabolism that occurs in animals living in conditions of intense heat.

13. Learned Behavior • Learning, or learned behavior, takes place when behavior changes through practice or experience. • Learning allows an animal to adapt to change, an ability that is important for animals with long life spans.

14. Kinds of Learned Behavior • Habituation: A simple form of learning • Habituationoccurs when an animal is repeatedly given a stimulus that is not associated with any type of punishment or reward. Example: horses or cows disregarding noisy cars. • Imprinting: A permanent attachment • Imprinting is a form of learning in which an animal, at a specific critical time of its life, forms a social attachment to another object. Example: duckling learning to recognize their mother and follow her for food and protection

15. Kinds of Learned Behavior • Learning by trial and error • Trial and error learning is a type of learning in which an animal receives a reward for making a particular response. Examples: learning to ride a bike or birds using different materials to build a nest until it is just right • Motivation is an internal need that causes an animal to act, and is necessary for learning to take place.

16. Kinds of Learned Behavior • Classical Conditioning is learning by association • Example: Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiment

17. Kinds of Learned Behavior • Insight: the most complex type of learning • Insight is learning in which an animal uses previous experience to respond to a new situation.