Transcript Behave Yourself!

Behave Yourself!
A Summary of Animal
Behaviors
Innate Behaviors
• Also known as instinct
• Born with it, not learned
• Generally essential to organism’s
survival.
– Example: a spider building its first web.
• “Hard-wiring” of the nervous system,
usually inflexible (a given stimulus
triggering a given response)
Suckling
• A mammal is born knowing how to nurse
– Example: Pigs suckling at birth
Imprinting
Fly Away
Home Trailer
• Some baby bird species will follow the first
moving object they see, usually the mother.
– Example: ducks
Migration
• Organisms move from one place to
another periodically, generally in
response to temperature or food
availability.
– Wildebeast, geese, monarch butterflies
Hibernation
Hibernation
& Homing
• An organism goes dormant for a long period of
time to escape cold temperatures.
– Bears, chipmunks, frogs
Estivation
• An organism goes dormant for a long period of
time to escape hot temperatures.
– Example: African bullfrog, fringe toed lizard, turtle
Positive Chemotaxis
• An organism responds to a chemical by
moving towards it.
– Example: Male cockroach pheromones attract
females
Negative Chemotaxis
• An organism responds to a chemical by moving
away from it.
– Example: the smell of a skunk repels other animals
Positive Phototaxis
• An organism responds to light by moving
towards it.
– Example: Moths to a light
Negative Phototaxis
• An organism responds to light by
moving away from it.
– Example: Moles live underground
Circadian Rhythms
• Periods of sleep and waking in a 24 hour
period.
– Example: Human alertness during the day
Learned Behaviors
• A behavior that is altered as a result of
experience
Mother bear teachers
her cubs what to eat.
: Nest building
Classical Conditioning
• Any time an
animal learns to
make a
connection
between a
certain behavior
and a given
reward or
punishment.
– Example:
Training a dog
Trial and Error
(Operant Conditioning)
• When faced with
two choices, an
organism can learn
to choose the option
with the best
reward.
– Ex: Learning to
press a lever for
food.
Trial and Error
(Operant Conditioning)
• When faced with
two choices, an
organism can learn
to choose the option
with the best
reward.
– Ex: Students who
study to improve
their grades.
Habituation
• An organism learns to ignore a stimulus
because it is repetitive and is not providing
any valuable information.
– Example: Dog ignores all cars driving by until your
car pulls up.
Social Behaviors
• The various ways in which an organism
interacts with members of its own species.
• Can vary greatly, depending on whether the
organisms live together or lead solitary lives
(interacting only to reproduce).
Courtship
Flamingo
courtship
• An individual performs a ritual – e.g., sounds,
visual display, pheromones – to attract a mate
or strengthen an existing bond
– Example: Necking, dancing for mates in condors
– Courtship grooming and feeding among birds and
mammals
Scorpion
courtship
Territoriality
• An organism defending or marking a
defined living space
– Example: Wolves mark their territory; male
bettas fight other males in their territory
Parental care
• Care of young, e.g., feeding,
grooming, defense of young
– Example: primates nursing
young, elephant mother
defending baby elephant, gull
regurgitation
Communication
• Occurs when one organism passes along a
signal to another, generating a response;
signals include:
–
–
–
–
Visual
Sound
Touch
Chemical/electrical
Visual Signals
Killdeer
broken wing
• An organism displays defined movements,
coloration, or other behavior that can be seen
– Cuttlefish changes colors to indicate mood.
– White tail deer flash underside of tail for warning
– Killdeer perform “broken wing” display to distract
predators
Sounds
• Birds – singing
• Dolphins – signature
‘whistle’ and
echolocation
• Primates & Humans language
Chemical Signals (Pheromones)
• Bees use
pheromones (and
visual “dance”) to
help indicate to
other bees where to
find food, nectar,
and the hive.
• Lions use
pheromones to
indicate readiness
to mate and to
identify their cubs.