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Animal Behavior

Animal Behavior. Chapter 51. Animal Behavior is…. what an animal does and how it does it in response to an external or internal stimulus carried out by muscles or glands (using hormones) under the control of the nervous system. a result of environmental AND genetic factors

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Animal Behavior

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  1. Animal Behavior Chapter 51

  2. Animal Behavior is… • what an animal does and how it does it in response to an external or internal stimulus • carried out by muscles or glands (using hormones) under the control of the nervous system. • a result of environmental AND genetic factors • essential for animal survival and reproduction • innate or learned

  3. Innate Animal Behavior • Unlearned behaviors that organisms are born with • Example: newly hatched cuckoos will instinctively try to push other eggs out of the nest (promote survival of self) • Example: human babies instinctively watch and smile at faces • Example: human babies kick their legs/move their arms in water and have the sucking reflex • Example: pill bugs are more active when it is dry (trying to find moisture) • Example: fish/whales can swim as soon as they are born • Reflexes and instincts are innate

  4. Fixed Action Patterns • A fixed action pattern is a sequence of unlearned, innate behaviors that is unchangeable • Once initiated, it is usually carried to completion • A fixed action pattern is triggered by an external cue known as a sign stimulus • Example: Egg retrieval by Greylag geese if the egg is moved outside the nest (sign stimulus is egg outside nest) • http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/fap.htm • Example: Mating dances often carried out by male birds (sign stimulus is the presence of a female bird)

  5. Fixed Action Patterns • Example: In male stickleback fish, the stimulus for attack behavior is the red underside of an intruder • When presented with unrealistic models, as long as some red is present, the attack behavior occurs

  6. Kinesis • A kinesis is a simple change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus • For example, sow bugs become more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas • Though sow bug behavior varies with humidity, sow bugs do not move toward or away from specific moisture levels

  7. Taxis • A taxis is a more or less automatic, oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus • Many stream fish exhibit a positive taxis and automatically swim in an upstream direction • This taxis prevents them from being swept away and keeps them facing the direction from which food will come

  8. Learned Animal Behavior • Animals process and integrate information gained from specific experiences to vary or change responses to stimuli • Types of learned behavior: • Imprinting • Habituation • Spatial Learning • Cognitive Mapping • Associative learning • Classical Conditioning • Operant Conditioning • Cognition

  9. Imprinting is … • a combination of learned and innate components and is generally irreversible • distinguished from other learning by a sensitive period = a limited developmental phase that is the only time when certain behaviors can be learned • Example: young geese following their real mother • Experiment : Konrad Lorenz showed that when baby geese spent the first few hours of their life with him, they imprinted on him as their parent • Also saved the whooping cranes!

  10. Habituation is… • a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information • the “cry wolf” effect • the nervous system doesn’t focus on stimuli that are irrelevant to survival and reproduction • Examples: • Birds stop responding to alarm calls from others if they are not followed by attacks • Sunglasses on your head • Not getting up when the bell rings a million times in the middle of the day

  11. Spatial Learning is… • behavior based on structure of the environment • Example: digger wasps use landmarks to find their nests • They used the bushes/trees to mark the nest, when these were moved, they still flew to the center even though the nest was not there…use VISUAL CUES

  12. Cognitive Maps … • help animals to develop spatial relationships between objects in their surroundings • are a representation made in the nervous system (brain) where the halfway point is even though the objects have moved • Example: nutcracker birds store pine seeds halfway between 2 landmarks to be used later in the winter

  13. Associative learning is… • when animals make associations between experiences • Example: a mouse eats a brightly colored monarch butterfly that has a foul taste so the mouse learns to associate bright colors with foul taste • Classical Conditioning - arbitrary stimulus becomes associated with a particular outcome • Example: Pavlov’s dogs, the ringing bell and FOOD • Operant Conditioning – animals learn to associate a behavior with a reward or punishment (trial and error learning) • Example: predator avoids prey that are associated with pain

  14. Cognition is… • the most complex learning • an animal’s nervous system perceives, stores and processes information from sensory receptors • ability to problem solve

  15. Communication • Animals can use signals (actions or cues) to communicate with one another • Signals can be: • Chemicals such as pheromones – chemicals that can attract mates • Visual such as male baboons “yawning” to expose teeth as a threat to others; courtship displays like the peacock feathers or strange dances/postures; honeybees doing the waggle vs. round dance to show location of food • Acoustical such as bird songs • Occasionally there are illegitimate receivers and signalers – the wrong organism sends or receives the signal

  16. Bees Waggle vs. Round Dance

  17. Sexual Selection • the evolutionary outcome of competition for mates and selectivity among potential mates • Example: Blue footed booby dance • Example: peacock feather display • Example: decorate the “lair” and hope the mate likes it • Example: coloration of male cardinals or mallard ducks • Example: song of the male • Example: male who wins the “battle”

  18. Behavior is influenced by natural selection…it can change over time • Reproductive Success – survival and reproduction of offspring • Adaptive Behavior – promotes the propagation of an individual’s genes (pass on the genes) • Social Behavior – interdependent interactions among organisms of the same species • Selfish Behavior – an individual increases its own chances of reproduction • Altruistic Behavior – self-sacrificing behavior that helps others in the species and decreases the individual’s own chance to reproduce • The individual is NOT aware it is doing this • Example: ravens call to attract others to share when they find a carcass, attracting other ravens and potentially predators

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