Heredity and Environment

Heredityand Environment By Elhalabi

Heredityand Environment What makes you

Heredityand Environment What makes you who you are?

Heredity explains how physical traits and instincts are passed from parents to offspring.

Heredity explains how physical traits and instincts are passed from parents to offspring. •Physical traits-- determine whether the offspring is a person, a bean plant , a pig or a cat (and what color cat)

Heredity explains how physical traits and instincts are passed from parents to offspring. •Physical traits-- determine whether the offspring is a person, a bean plant , a pig or a cat (and what color cat) •Instincts – determine behaviors that the offspring is born knowing. (a kitten meows, a puppy barks).

First let’s look at physical traits that are passed from parent to offspring.

The poodle mother and cocker spaniel father in the photos are the parents of the cookapoo puppies shown below. Notice that the puppies have physical traits of both parents—heredity at work. Free photos of the the dogs and puppies courtesy of http://www.freewebs.com/moonshinebabies/apps/photos/

First let’s look at physical traits that are passed from parent to offspring. Next we will look at instincts, the behaviors that are passed from parent to offspring.

Animals not only inherit physical traits from their parents, they also inherit behaviors. An inherited behavior is called an instinct. The animal is born knowing this, it does not have to learn.

Animals not only inherit physical traits from their parents, they also inherit behaviors. An inherited behavior is called an instinct. The animal is born knowing this, it does not have to learn. In the following video we see a giraffe within minutes of being born. The newborn demonstrates two instincts. First it stands after a few prods from its mother and then it steps to its mother’s milk and start nursing.

Select this URL to open a video of a female giraffe cleaning newborn before it stands and suckling for first time. Then select full screen. http://www.arkive.org/giraffe/giraffa-camelopardalis/video-09c.html#src=portletV3web" title="ARKive video - Female giraffe cleaning newborn, newborn standing and suckling for first time" ><img src="http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/16/162A26C4-6438-4835-A920-A86CD66B9EFB/Presentation.Portlet/Female-giraffe-cleaning-newborn-newborn-standing-and-suckling-for-first-time.jpg" alt="ARKive video - Female giraffe cleaning newborn, newborn standing and suckling for first time" title="ARKive video - Female giraffe cleaning newborn, newborn standing and suckling for first time" border="0"/></a> This somewhat cumbersome step is necessary because I am placing this slide show on SlideShare. For classroom use Arkive gives permission to download the video clip and place it directly in your slide show.

Those of you who may have a baby brother or sister probably know that this isn’t the way it works with newborns.

Those of you who may have a baby brother or sister probably know that this isn’t the way it works with newborn. For our babies to learn to stand and walk it takes months or years in an environment where they are encouraged.

Those of you who may have a baby brother or sister probably know that this isn’t the way it works with newborn. For our babies to learn to stand and walk it takes months or years in an environment where they are encouraged. It is our environment that determines what we learn.

Those of you who may have a baby brother or sister probably know that this isn’t the way it works with newborn people. For our babies to learn to stand and walk it takes months or years in a supportive environment. It is the environment that determines what we learn. What is this thing called the environment?

Environment includes all things, living and nonliving, that surround an organism.

Environment includes all things, living and nonliving, that surround an organism. •Inherited traits and the behaviors of living things are affected by the environment in which they live.

Environment includes all things, living and nonliving, that surround an organism. •Inherited traits and the behaviors of living things are affected by the environment in which they live. Now get that……it is really big…….really important

Environment includes all things, living and nonliving, that surround an organism. •Inherited traits and the behaviors of living things are affected by the environment in which they live. • For the puppies we saw earlier, their environment would include their parents, owners, kennel, other dogs in the kennel, the food they eat and so forth.

In the following few slides we will see how their environment affected the physical traits and behavior of different animals.

In the following few slides we will see how their environment affected the physical traits and behavior of different animals. When a physical trait is changed by the environment it is called an acquired trait.

For example, the zebra on the right has survived a lion attack which left its rump scarred. The scar is an acquired trait since the zebra received it through its interaction with its environment (the lion attack). Bocavermehlha-l.b. http://www.flickr.com/

In another example, we see two boxer dogs from the same litter; they are sisters yet their ears are very different. Both were born with rounded floppy ears. However, the seated boxer’s ears now point straight up. Her ears were trimmed when she was a puppy. Her sister’s ears were not. An inherited physical trait has been changed.

Notice the dogs’ ears. The standing boxer’s ears are rounded and floppy. The seated boxer’s ears are pointed. Both dogs inherited rounded ears, but their owners (the environment) changed the ears of the seated dog. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia commons Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License The pointed ears are called an acquired trait, a trait that was changed by the environment.

The environment also affects wild animal’s physical traits and behaviors. The picture on the left shows an elephant with only one tusk. He lost the other in a fight. He naturally had two tusks. Having only one tusk is an acquired trait—he got it from his environment. Photo courtesy of http://www.arkive.org/

In the next few slides we will see how their environment affected the the behavior of different animals.

In the next few slides we will see how their environment affected the the behavior of different animals. When behavior is changed by the environment it is called a learned behavior.

Working dogs provide a good example of behavior being changed by the environment. Dogs can be taught to do many things such as coming when called, rolling over on command or guiding people as a seeing eye dog. These are all learned behaviors—not instincts. The dogs’ environment caused these behaviors. http://english.cri.cn/ photo:Beijing Youth Daily

There are many examples of wild animals acquiring behaviors from their environment. These are learned behaviors.

There are many examples of wild animals acquiring behaviors from their environment. These are learned behaviors. • Elephants are not born knowing how to defend their territory by chasing animals away, they learn by imitating older elephants. .

There are many examples of wild animals acquiring behaviors from their environment. These are learned behaviors. • Elephants are not born knowing how to defend their territory by chasing animals away, they learn by imitating older elephants. • This video shows a very clear example.

Select this URL to open a video of a young elephant mimicking his mother as he chases the buffalo. Then select full screen. http://www.arkive.org/forest-elephant/loxodonta-cyclotis/video-11.html#src=portletV3web" title="ARKive video - Forest elephants chasing buffalo" ><img src="http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/40/40F28A32-A4DE-46EB-BB83-6BFA6E4EC0A6/Presentation.Portlet/Forest-elephants-chasing-buffalo.jpg" alt="ARKive video - Forest elephants chasing buffalo" title="ARKive video - Forest elephants chasing buffalo" border="0"/></a> This somewhat cumbersome step is necessary because I am placing this slide show on SlideShare. For classroom use Arkive gives permission to download the video clip and place it directly in your slide show.

Next we have an example of an animal’s natural behavior being used to encourage learning a new behavior.

PHOTO A chatallot http://www.flickr.com/ Scientists are not sure why dolphins in the wild jump. • Some think it is to save energy while traveling. •Some think it is to see and locate food. •Some think it is to communicate with other dolphins. •Some think it is for fun. PHOTO A is of dolphins jumping out in the open ocean.

PHOTO B http://arabic.wunderground.com/ PHOTO B is a dolphin in captivity jumping through a hoop.

•Which photo, photo A or photo B, shows an instinct--a behavior that the dolphin inherited? •Which photo shows a behavior that the dolphin learned from its environment? PHOTO A chatallot http://www.flickr.com/ PHOTO B http://arabic.wunderground.com/

http://arabic.wunderground.com/ Although dolphins jump naturally, they learn to jump through a hoop. An animal trainer teaches the dolphin to do this by rewarding it with a fish when it does the desired behavior.

A very interesting example of what a learning environment can produce with a wild animal is in this video of a chimpanzee. First the chimp learned to recognize the numbers 1 through 9 and then to put them in order. On the computer screen it sees the nine numbers. After less than a second the numbers are replaced by a white block. Amazingly the chimp remembers the position of each number and orders them from 1 to 9.

To better understand the ideas of acquired traits and learned behavior let’s think about humans.

To better understand the ideas of acquired traits and learned behavior let’s think about humans. •First, acquired traits and learned behavior are the result of the environment.

To better understand the ideas of acquired traits and learned behavior let’s think about humans. •First, acquired traits and learned behavior are the result of the environment. •A person’s environment includes all those people and things around them. Your environment includes the following things:

•your school—your teachers, your books, your computers, your art and music class, etc. http://www.school-clip-art.com/ Free clip art courtesy of:

•other children, in particular, your classmates and friends. A website of public domain clipart http://www.wpclipart.com/ Free clip art courtesy of:

•the things you do for fun A website of public domain cliparthttp://www.wpclipart.com/

•your parents and grandparents A website of public domain clipart http://www.wpclipart.com/

•your food A website of public domain cliparthttp://www.wpclipart.com/

•your pets . A website of public domain cliparthttp://www.wpclipart.com/

A person’s physical traits can be changed by his or her environment.

Heredity and Environment