Animal Behavior

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Animal Behavior
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What Is Behavior?

• Anything an animal does in response to a stimulus
  in its environment.
• Change in daylength
• Temperature changes
• Mating Season

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Inherited Behavior

• Why does a mouse run from a cat?
• Why does a mallard duck fly south for the winter?
• These behaviors are genetically programmed!
• An animals genetic makeup determines how that
  animal react to certain stimuli.

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Inherited behaviors of animals is called

• Innate Behavior
• Frog captures prey by sticky tongue.
• Frogs have insect detectors in retinas of
  eye.
• Cells signal brain that prey moved releases an
  innate response frog flips tongue frog captures
  prey.

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Innate Behaviors Include

• Automatic Responses
• AND
• Instinctive Responses

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Automatic Responses

• Simpliest form of innate behavior
• Reflex automatic response that
• involves NO conscious
• control
• Example Jerk hand from a hot stove.

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Instinctive Respones

• More complex action
• Instinct complex pattern with
• several actions/parts
• weeks to complete
• Example Birds fly south for winter.

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Courtship Behavior

• Much of an animals courtship behavior is
  Instinctive.
• Courtship has evolved through Natural Selection.
• Courtship ensures members of the same species
  find each other and mate.
• Female fireflies of one species respond only to
  those males exhibiting the species-correct
  flashing pattern.

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Males BEWARE!

• Some courtship behaviors help prevent females
  from killing males.
• Spiders Males smaller than females and they
• risk being eaten if he approaches
  her.
• He will present her with a Nuptial Gift to avoid
  this threat.insect wrapped in silk web.
• While female eats insect, the male is able to
  mate with her.
• After mating, however, the male may still be
  eaten by the female!

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Nuptial Gifts?

• Allow the female to exercise choice when
  selecting a male as a mating partner.

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Learned Behavior

• Takes place when behavior changes through
  practice or experience.
• More common in VERTEBRATES

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Learned Behavior Examples

• Reading
• Writing
• Playing a Sport
• Playing an Instrument
• Dog picked up a poisonous frog will not do so
  again.

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5 Types of Learned Behavior

• Habituation
• Imprinting
• Trial and Error
• Conditioning
• Insight

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Learned Behavior Habituation

• When an animal is repeatedly given stimulus that
  is not associated with any punishment or reward.
• An animal has become habituated to a stimulus
  when it FINALLY ceases to respond to the
  stimulus.
• EXAMPLE Horse runs when hears a car go by
  field. After a while, it will disregard car
  noise no running.

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Learned Behavior Imprinting

• Form of learning at a critical time in an
  animals life forms a social attachment to
  another object.
• Many kinds of birds and mammals do not innately
  know to recognize members of their own species.
• EXAMPLE Birds do not recognize mom when hatch.
  Imprints in a few days.

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Learned Behavior Trial by Error

• An animal receives a reward for making a
  particular response.
• Animals try one solution after another until they
  find the best solution.
• Examples
• Learning to ride a bike
• Birds discover best nest building materials
• Human Babies learn by Trial and Error!

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Learned Behavior Conditioning

• An animal learns by association.
• EXAMPLE
• New kitten meows when it smells cat food in can.
• Few Weeks kitten learns sound of can
  openercausing it to meow.
• It has been CONDITIONED to respond to something
  other than smell.

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Learned Behavior Insight

• An animal learns by using previous experience to
  respond to a new situation.
• Much of Human Learning is by INSIGHT!
• EXAMPLES
• Math you learned s and then could problem
  solve.
• When you encounter a new problem in life you have
  never experience before, you solve by INSIGHT!

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