Animal Behavior
Animal Behavior
Animal Behavior
AP Biology meerkats
What is behavior?
Behavior
everything an animal does & how it does it
response to stimuli in its environment
innate
inherited, “instinctive”
automatic & consistent
learned
ability to learn is inherited, but
the behavior develops during
animal’s lifetime
variable & flexible
change with experience & environment
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Why study behavior?
Evolutionary perspective…
part of phenotype
acted upon by natural selection
lead to greater fitness?
lead to greater survival?
lead to greater reproductive success?
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What questions can we ask?
Proximate causes
immediate stimulus & mechanism
“how” & “what” questions
Ultimate causes male songbird
what triggers singing?
evolutionary significance how does he sing?
why does he sing?
how does behavior
contribute to survival
& reproduction
adaptive value
“why” questions
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male sticklebacks exhibit
aggressive territoriality
Innate behaviors
Fixed action patterns (FAP)
sequence of behaviors
essentially unchangeable
& usually conducted to
completion once started
sign stimulus
the releaser that triggers a FAP
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Supernormal Stimulus
Responding more to a larger sign stimulus
adaptation or experimental artifact?
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Innate: Directed movements
Taxis
change in direction
automatic movement toward (positive taxis) or
away from
(negative taxis) a
stimulus
phototaxis
chemotaxis
Kinesis
change in rate of
movement in
response to a stimulus
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Complex Innate behaviors
Migration
“migratory restlessness” seen in birds bred &
raised in captivity
navigate by sun, stars, Earth magnetic fields
Sandpiper
ancient
Monarch fly-ways
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migration Golden plover
Bobolink
Innate & Learning: Imprinting
Learning to form social attachments at a
specific critical period
both learning & innate components
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Konrad Lorenz
Conservation
Conservation biologists
have taken advantage of
imprinting by young
whooping cranes as a
means to teach the Wattled crane conservation
birds a migration
teaching cranes to migrate
route. A pilot wearing
a crane suit in an
Ultralight plane acts
as a surrogate parent.
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Critical period
Sensitive phase for optimal
imprinting
some behavior must be
learned during a receptive
time period
As a brood parasite,
the Cuckoo never
learn the song of their
species as a nestling.
Song development is
totally innate.
Pavlovian conditioning
associate a “neutral
QuickTime™
QuickTime™ and and aa
stimulus” with a
“significant stimulus”
TIFF
TIFF (Uncompressed)
(Uncompressed) decompressor
decompressor
are
are needed
needed to
to see
see this
this picture.
picture.
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Operant conditioning
Skinner box
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Learning: Habituation
Loss of response to
stimulus
“cry-wolf” effect
decrease in response to
repeated occurrences of
stimulus
enables animals to
disregard unimportant
stimuli
ex: falling leaves not
triggering fear response in
baby birds
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Learning: Problem-solving
Do other animals reason?
chimpanzee
problem-solving
sea
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Social behaviors
Interactions between individuals
develop as evolutionary adaptations
communication / language
agonistic behaviors
dominance hierarchy
cooperation
altruistic behavior
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Let’s go to
the videotape!
Language
Honey bee
communication
dance to
communicate
location of food
source
waggle dance
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Communication by song
Bird song
species identification & mating ritual
mixed learned & innate
controlled
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Social behaviors
Agonistic behaviors
threatening & submissive rituals
symbolic, usually no harm done
ex: territoriality, competitor aggression
Let’s go to
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the videotape!
Social behaviors
Dominance hierarchy
social ranking within
a group
pecking order
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Social behaviors
Cooperation
working together in coordination
I would lay
down my life for
2 brothers or
8 cousins!
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human sex pheromone?
Pheromones
Female mosquito use CO2
concentrations to locate victims
marking territory
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convergent evolution:
bees, ants, termites…
Colonial mammals mole rats
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Any
Questions??
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EXTRA SLIDES
AP Biology 2008-2009
Mating & parental behavior
Genetic influences
changes in behavior at different stages
of mating
pair bonding
competitor aggression
Environmental influences
modifies behavior
quality of diet
social interactions
learning opportunities
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Pheromones
Human pheromones?
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