AP Bio – Animal Behavior Podcast 2 Learned Behaviors

1. Animal Behavior AP Bio – Animal Behavior Podcast 2 Learned Behaviors

2. Another Combination (besides migratory navigation) of Innate Behavior and Learning • Imprinting • learning to form social attachments at a specific critical period in the animal’s life. • Imprinting has both learning and innate components

3. Imprinting Experiment • Konrad Lorenz • Divided a goose’s clutch of eggs into two groups • ½ stayed with goose mom • ½ were incubated by researchers and spent first few hours of life with researchers instead of mom. • Results • From that point on, “researcher goslings” followed the researcher instead of the mother goose or any other geese. • As adults the birds continued to show preference for humans and sometimes initiated courtship behavior with humans. Click HERE to see video of Konrad Lorenz and his geese

4. Imprinting Experiment Conclusion • Geese (and many other birds) identify with the first object they encounter within a certain “critical period” – usually the first few hours of life • This critical period is the only time that the animal can form social attachments • The video shows a duck that has imprinted on a puppy

5. Imprinting = Learning + Innate • What’s the innate part of imprinting? • The ability to respond to the stimulus • The presence of the “critical period” • What’s the learned part of imprinting? • The social attachments the animal learns during this period from the “stimulus”

6. Why Would Natural Selection Favor Imprinting? • In normal conditions, mother will always be the first living thing a baby goose sees. • Imprinting is a sure-fire way for offspring to learn appropriate behaviors from an experienced source • Babies who receive more care and instruction from a parent are more likely to survive and pass on genes.

7. Imprinting and Conservation Biology • Conservation Biologists have learned to use imprinting to help teach young whooping cranes their migration route • A pilot wearing a crane suit in an Ultralight aircraft acts as a surrogate parent.

8. Imprinting and other Learned Behaviors • There is also a critical period involved in birds learning their songs. • Watch the really old, but really cool video on the next slide that shows a common European songbird that has imprinted on a human.

9. Watch This! From “The Mystery of Animal Behavior” – Nat. Geographic

10. Imprinting and other Learned Behaviors • There is also a critical period involved in birds learning their songs. • Exceptions: Brood parasites • Birds who lay eggs in other species’ nests • Babies are raised by birds of a different species • Birds cannot learn their proper song from these parents • Their song is INNATE – completely genetically programmed • Example – Cuckoo • Click here to see and hear a cuckoo singing its completely innate song.

11. Learned Behaviors • Habituation • simple type of learning • Decrease in response to repeated stimulii • “cry wolf” effect • Allows animal to disregard unimportant stimulii

12. Learned Behaviors - habituation • Examples of habituation • A hydra poked with a glass rod will at first recoil, but continued pokes eventually have no effect • Baby birds lose their fear response to falling leaves

13. Why does natural selection favor habituation? • How does how does habituation increase fitness? • Allows nervous system to focus on stimuli that signal food, mates or real danger instead of wasting time or energy on irrelevant stimuli.

14. More Types of Learning • Associative Learning • Learning to associate a stimulus with a consequence • Two types of Associative Learning • Operant Conditioning • Classical Conditioning

15. Associative Learning • Operant Conditioning • Trial and error learning • Associate behavior with reward or punishment • Examples • Learning what to eat • Learning what dangerous animals to avoid • Porcupine incident w/ wolf The photo shows a blue jay eating a monarch butterfly and then becoming sick. Monarch butterflies are toxic. The Blue Jay is experiencing operant conditioning and will learn to avoid the bright orange and black monarch butterflies in the future.

17. Operant Conditioning • Developed by B.F. Skinner • Invented “Skinner box” to use in his experiments • Mouse learns to associate stimulus (light) with reward (food) • Skinner himself worked mostly with pigeons • Video on BF Skinner’s work • Click here • Click here for a really old film…sort of interesting just because it’s straight out of the 50s..

18. Operant Conditioning… • We use operant conditioning all the time. • The 1st video shows operant conditioning in training a dog • Watch the 2nd videoto see if YOU were conditioned like this little kid.

20. Associative Learning • Classical Conditioning • Developed by Ivan Pavlov (and his dogs!) • Learning to associate some arbitrarystimulus (bell) with a reward (food) or punishment • Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the ringing of a bell with food. • They would begin salivating upon hearing the ringing of a bell even if no food was present. • See footage of Pavlov and a talk about his work here

22. Learning – Problem Solving • Can animals (other than humans) reason? • For years the answer was “No.” • For years one of the major criteria for separating humans from other animals was ability to use tools. • Jane Goodall was the first person to observe chimps in the wild making and using tools • A stick to dig termites from termite mounds • Additionally, chimps are able to communicate using sign language • Click here to see chimps using tools • Click here to hear Jane Goodall give a talk about where to draw the line between chimps and humans (it’s long, but worth it if you have time).

23. Learning – Problem Solving • Problem solving and tool use have been observed in other animals as well. • Crows and Ravens • Thought to be the most intelligent of birds… • Wow. Watch what this bird does with its stick to solve its problem!!

24. Learning – Problem Solving • Sea otters use rocks as tools to crack open shellfish.

25. Social Behaviors • Interactions between individuals – usually of the same species • Communication/language • Agonistic behaviors • Dominance hierarchy • Cooperation • Altruistic Behavior

26. Communication/Language • Honey Bee Communication • Dance to communicate location of food source • Watch the video to see a bee dance and hear an explanation

27. Communication/Language • Chimps have been taught sign language, though there is disagreement about how much they are truly communicating…

28. Communication/Language • Communication by song • Birds • Species identification and mating ritual • A mix of learned and innate behavior • Often involves a critical learning period • Insects • Attract mates • Completely innate

29. Communication/Language • Deceit in animal communication? • Male and female Photinus fireflies find each other and mate when female gives off a characteristic pattern of flashes in response to a male’s flashes. • Females of another firefly genus respond to these male Photinus flashes with the same flashing pattern • When male finds her, she eats him.

30. Communication/Language • Pheromones • Chemical signals that cause a response in an animal of the same species • Generally not detectable by a different species • Used by Mammals and insects • Ants use pheromones to mark their trails so all ants of the colony know where to go. • Sex pheromones • Mammals “marking territory” • Pheromones can be very powerful • Female silkworms emit a pheromone that can be detected by males several km away. • Do HUMANS emit pheromones? • Click HERE for an article. Click here for a video of leaf cutter ants.

31. More Social Behaviors • Agonistic Behavior • contest involving both threatening and submissive behaviors. • Usually symbolic; test of strength perhaps, but usually no real fighting • Advantage: A victor is determined, but no one gets hurt • Determines which competitor gains access to some resource • Food • Mate

32. Agonistic Behavior - Snakes

33. More Social Behaviors • Dominance Hierarchy • Social Ranking within a group • Usually determined using agonistic behaviors • Determines who has most access to resources • Food • Mates

34. Dominance Hierarchy • “pecking order” • Literally among chickens, the lead or “alpha chicken” controls (sometimes by pecking – usually threats) all the others. The 2nd or “beta chicken” is controlled only by the “alpha chicken” and pecks all others and so on. If you are at the “bottom of the pecking order”, you get pecked by everyone. • And very little access to resources • While actual “pecking” may not be involved, other animal groups do similar things to create social order

35. Dominance Hierarchy • Why have dominance? • Prevents dangerous fights over resources, etc. • Ensures that at least some of the group (those at the top of the pecking order) have adequate resources if there’s not enough for all.

36. More Social Behaviors • Courtship Behaviors • Why have them? What is accomplished by courtship? • Complex sequence of actions confirms that • Animals are of the same species, of opposite sex, appropriate physiological condition, etc. • Video shows albatross courtship display • Click below to see courtship in a familiar invertebrate group: • Drosophila display

37. Courtship Behaviors • In some species, courtship also allows a mate to be chosen from a number of candidates • Females nearly always show greater discrimination than males. • Females have more parental investment in offspring • USUALLY it is females who raise young. • Always females have more investment in egg. • Eggs much more demanding to produce than sperm • See next slide for an example of females selecting males

38. Courtship Behaviors • Sage Grouse Lek • A lek is a gathering of sage grouse in which males are “performing” in an effort to get a female to select them for mating. • In this video, females can clearly be seen remaining rather aloof as they assess the performance of the males • The next slide is just a really close up view of the male “doing his thing”.

39. Male Sage Grouse at Lek

40. Courtship Behaviors • Females choosing males is called assessment • Is due to greater female investment in offspring • Goal is quality partner in raising young, or at the very least good genetic material • Males generally tend to mate with as many females as possible • Goal is to get the most sperm (genetic material) into next generation • Males compete with other males, often by trying to impress females. • Leads to more intense courtship displays in males than females – often ONLY males court. • Secondary sex characteristics more pronounced in males • Bright plumage or antlers (sexual selection)

41. Courtship Behaviors: 3 Main Mating Systems • Promiscuous Mating • No lasting pair bonds • Hummingbirds use this method

42. Courtship Behaviors: 3 Main Mating Systems • Polygamous mating– an individual of one sex mating with several of the other. • Usually it is the case of asingle male mating with many females = polygyny • This can be explained in terms of parental investment • Male invests only sperm, so can have many partners • Female invests more in eggs and/or nutrition of embryo/offspring • SOMETIMES females mate with many males = polyandry Polygyny Polyandry

43. Courtship Behaviors: Mating Systems • Monogamous mating – one male mating with one female • Canada Geese mate for life

44. Cooperation • Working together in coordination • Pack hunting • “Herding” of fish • Click HERE and scroll through the video clips until you see Planet Earth: Deep Ocean: Dolphin Hunt

45. Altruistic Behavior • Selfish social behaviors are easy to understand • They benefit individual at expense of others • Result in “winning” a competition • How then, can we explain the evolution of altruism? • Altruistic behavior – behavior that reduces the fitness of the individual and increases the fitness of the recipient of the behavior. • Sacrificing your own success for the benefit of someone else • A mom puts herself between her child and an attacking dog • Holding the door open for a stranger

46. Altruistic Behavior • Examples • Ground squirrels – alarm calls alert the group, but increases the risk of the one giving the alarm. • Meerkats • Bees • Workers are sterile • Still work for the hive / queen • Will even sting intruders, thus dying for the hive

47. Altruism • What explains altruism? • When parents sacrifice their personal welfare for offspring, it is still increasing their own fitness because survival of offspring gets genes to next generation. • Does helping other close relatives have a similar result? • Inclusive fitness (also known as kin selection) • An animal increases its genetic representation in the next generation by helping close relatives – even beyond its own offspring

48. The Ultimate in Altruism = Colony Life • Living as part of a colony • Some animals in the colony have NO HOPE of ever reproducing and passing on genes...They are STERILE. • Their entire life is spent ensuring the success of the colony and, in particular, the queen. • Think bees, ants, etc., but also…MAMMALS? • The naked mole rat! • A colonial mammal! • Underground colony – tunnels, etc. • Queen, breeding males, nonbreeding workers…just like bees • Also hairless and blind… Bees and Naked mole Rats… Convergent Evolution

49. That’s All, Folks!