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Chapter 51 Reading Quiz
1. What an animal does and how it does
it is known as ____.
2. From what 2 main sources is
behavior derived?
3. The full set of food-obtaining
behaviors is known as _____.
4. The modification of behavior
resulting from specific experiences
is known as ____.
1. What is “behavioral biology”?
• Behavior  what an animal does and how it
does it
• Biology  the study of life
• Studying these two together gives
scientists ideas as to how behavior affects
a species’ survival 
2. What are the sources of behavior?
1.
Genes (nature)
2. Environment (nurture) 
3. What is innate behavior?
• Innate behavior  behaviors that are
present at birth
• These do not appear to be influenced by
environmental differences
• Cause may be for increasing the fitness of
the species 
4. Define ethology and describe the terms
associated with this.
• Ethology  descriptive science based on studies
of animals in the natural environment
• The “fixed-action pattern” which is a highly
stereotyped, innate behavior
• It is triggered by an external “sign stimulus”
• Ex: feeding behavior in birds
- FAP: begging behavior of chicks
- sign stimulus: parent landing at nest to feed 
5. Describe the examples of behavioral
ecology (songbirds, foraging behavior).
• Behavioral ecology  a field of study that
assumes animals increase fitness through
optimal behavior
• Optimal behavior  a behavior that
maximizes individual fitness (natural
selection)
• Learning songs – as a bird matures, it
learns more songs, and females prefer to
mate with mature males with more songs 
6. What is learning? How is this different
from maturation? What is habituation?
• Learning  the modification of behavior
by experience
• Maturation  development of
neuromuscular systems that allows
behavioral improvement
• Habituation  learning to ignore
irrelevant stimuli or stimuli that convey
little or no information
ex: the “cry-wolf” effect 
7. Describe the process of imprinting.
• Imprinting  a form of learning that is
limited to a specific time period in an
animal’s life and is generally irreversible
• Ex: geese
• Imprinting stimulus: an object in the
environment to which the response is
directed
• Critical period: a limited time during which
imprinting can occur 
8. Describe the variety of learning
techniques: associative, conditioning, and
play.
• Associative  the ability of many animals to
associate one stimulus with another
• Conditioning 
- classical: type of associative learning; ex:
Pavlov’s dog
- operant: trial and error learning
• Play  no apparent goal but uses movements
closely associated with goal-directed behaviors
- Ex: young lions 
9. What is cognition? How does this have to
do with migration?
• Cognition  the ability of an animal’s
nervous system to perceive, store, process,
and use information gathered by sensory
receptors
• Movement from place to place happens
using “cognitive maps”
• Migration is the regular movement of
animals over relatively long distances 
10. What do we know of consciousness?
• Consciousness is known only to the
individual that experiences it and it is not
associated with any observable behavioral
or physiological change
• It is difficult to determine the
consciousness of nonhuman animals 
11. Describe sociobiology and social behavior.
Describe the three competitive behaviors.
•
Sociobiology  study of social behavior that
has evolutionary theory as its conceptual
framework
•
Social behavior  any interaction between two
or more animals, usually of the same species
1. Agonistic  a contest of threatening and
submissive behavior that determines which
competitor gains access to a resource
2. Dominance hierarchies  top-ranked animals
are assured resources (wolf packs)
3. Territoriality  defense of areas used for
feeding, mating, or rearing young 
12. Describe mating behavior.
1.
2.
Courtship  complex rituals unique to each
species
- assures no threat, proper species, proper sex,
and good physiological condition
Mating systems  different for each species
- monogamous  one male, one female
- polygamous  one individual of one sex, many
of the other sex
- parental care 
13. Describe the diverse modes of
communication for the purpose of social
interaction.
• Communication  the intentional
transmission of information between
individuals
• Animals use visual, auditory, chemical,
tactile and electrical signals to
communicate with others of their own
species and other species 
14. What is altruism? How is this beneficial
to an individual?
• Altruism  a behavior that reduces an
individual’s fitness and increases the
fitness of the recipient of the behavior
• Ex: when parents sacrifice their well-being
to aid their offspring
• Ex: squirrels cry out when danger
approaches 
15. Describe how sociobiology connects to
the human culture.
• Behavioral characteristics are expressions of
genes favored by natural selection
• Connection between biological evolution and human
culture
• Ex: cultural taboos on incest
- inbreeding may increase genetic disorders
- many species avoid incest
- is there an innate aversion to incest or is this an
acquired behavior? Nature vs nurture again 