Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Animal Behavior • Animal Behavior is defined as observable actions that an animal does when interacting with its environment. • Ethology – the study of animal behavior • Three scientists are well known for their studies in animal behavior: • Karl von Frisch - studied honey bee behavior in the early 1900’s. – He discovered that honey bees can see in color, they can identify plants by smell and that they communicate using a “waggle dance” Waggle Dance • Konrad Lorenz – showed that the same stimulus may elicit very different forms of behavior in different animal species. – He described imprinting behavior using geese • Niko Timbergen – researched innate behavior (instinct) and simple forms of learning. Behavior can be interpreted in terms of: Proximate causes - immediate interaction with the environment Ultimate causes - evolutionary differences and evolutionary consequences • A classic Tinbergen experiment deals with the nesting behavior of the digger wasp • The female wasp often excavates and cares for four or five separate nests • Tinbergen used this experiment to test his prediction that digger wasps use landmarks to keep track of the location of their nests In the experiment, Tinbergen placed a circle of pinecones around a nest opening Nest 1 After the female flew away, Tinbergen moved the pinecones a few feet to one side of the nest opening. When the female wasp returned, she flew to the middle of the circle of pinecones rather than to the actual nest opening. Nest 2 No Nest Tinbergen next arranged the pinecones in a triangle around the nest and made a circle of small stones off to one side of the nest opening This time the wasp flew to the stones Nest 3 No Nest • The wasp cued in on the arrangement of the landmarks rather than the landmarks themselves. • This experiment demonstrated that the wasp did use landmarks and that she could learn new ones to keep track of her nest. Behavioral ecologists are especially interested in the ultimate causes of behavior, which are evolutionary Natural selection preserves behaviors that enhance fitness Nature or Nurture • Animal behavior often involves a combination of genetic programming (innate behavior) and environmental experiences (learning) both genes and the environment influence the development of behavioral phenotypes- just like any other traits The gathering of nest materials by lovebirds has genetic and environmental components Single long strip carried in beak (Fischer’s lovebird) Several short strips tucked under feathers (peach-faced lovebird) Tucking failure Strip in beak Hybrid behavior Innate behavior often appears as Fixed Action Patterns • Sign stimuli (often a simple cue in an animal’s environment) trigger innate, essentially unchangeable fixed action patterns (FAPs) • The genetic programming underlying FAPs ensures that such activities are performed correctly without practice. • The graylag goose always retrieves an egg that has been bumped out of her nest in the same manner – This is a fixed action pattern – She carries this sequence to completion, even if the egg slips away during the process • An example of a FAP may be someone that has memorized a poem or piece of music but must start over at the beginning if interrupted. • Once an animal initiates a FAP it usually carries out the sequence to completion, even if it receives different stimuli before it finishes. Several key events in the life cycle of the European cuckoo are determined by fixed action patterns Egg-laying behavior 1 2 3 The behavior of the cuckoo hatchling ejecting the host eggs from the nest. Which is the sign stimulus and which is the fixed action pattern? The feeding behavior of a foster mother to the cuckoo chick Which is the sign stimulus and which is the fixed action pattern? Fixed Action Patterns make nest parasitism possible Brown-headed cowbird is a local nest parasite What evolutionary changes must happen to prevent nest parasitism? According to biologists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, coots have evolved a remarkable set of cognitive abilities to thwart other coots that lay eggs in their neighbors' nests. In 2003, the researchers showed that coots can count their own eggs and reject ones laid in their nests by other coots. Their latest findings, published this week in Nature, show that coot parents can tell the difference between their own chicks and any impostors that manage to hatch in their nest, and they will violently reject most impostor chicks. Learning • Learning ranges from simple behavioral changes to complex problem solving • Learning is a change in behavior resulting from experience Habituation • Habituation is one of the simplest forms of learning – An animal learns not to respond to a repeated stimulus that conveys little or no information – For example, birds eventually become habituated to scarecrows. We become habituated to background noises. Imprinting • Imprinting is irreversible learning limited to a sensitive period in an animal's life. It enhances fitness by enabling rapid learning • Example: Lorenz used the graylag goose to demonstrate imprinting. He took over the maternal role for a group of goslings • Not all examples of imprinting involve parent-offspring bonding Although newly hatched salmon do not receive any parental care, they imprint on the complex mixture of odors unique to the freshwater stream where they hatch This allows salmon to find their way back to the stream to spawn after spending a year or more at sea • Imprinting plays an important role in song development for many kinds of birds Association • In association an animal learns that a particular stimulus or response is linked to a reward or punishment. • “Skinner box” is that classic stimulus – response study in which a rat finds and manipulates a lever and is rewarded by food. The rat quickly learns to associate depressing the lever with a food reward. • These ducks have learned to associate humans with food handouts • They congregate rapidly whenever a person approaches the shoreline • In a natural setting associative learning is called trial – and – error learning. • I.E. Predators quickly learn to associate certain prey with painful experiences like the porcupine. Imitation • Imitation is learning by observing and mimicking the behavior of others. • Imitation is not limited to a sensitive period. • I.E. Predators seem to learn some of their basic hunting tactics by observing and imitating their mother Problem Solving Solving a problem involves using prior experience, observation, and insight to find the solution. An animal's behavior reflects its evolution • Behavior is an evolutionary adaptation that enhances survival and reproductive success • Behavior evolves as natural selection finetunes an animal to its environment – Nest location by digger wasps – Imprinting of goslings Biological rhythms synchronize behavior with the environment • Animals exhibit a great variety of rhythmic behavior patterns • Circadian rhythms are patterns that are repeated daily – Sleep/wake cycles in animals and plants • Circadian rhythms appear to be timed by an internal biological clock In the absence of environmental cues, these rhythms continue – But they become out of phase with the environment 12:12 (natural) Constant darkness Animal movement may be oriented to stimuli or landmarks • Movement in a directed way enables animals to – avoid predators – migrate to a more favorable environment – obtain food – find mates and nest sites TYPES of ANIMAL MOVEMENT 1. kinesis- simplest type of animal movement random movement in response to a stimulus 2. taxis- another simple type – – A more or less automatic movement directed toward or away from some stimulus Examples include rheotaxis (current) chemotaxis, and phototaxis 3. Some animals use landmarks to find their way within an area Movement from place to place often depends on internal maps • Many animals formulate cognitive maps or mental maps. These are internal representations of spatial relationships among objects in their surroundings (wasp example) – You giving someone directions to your house by picturing the route in your brain. • Some animals undertake long-range migrations – whales, sea turtles, birds, monarch butterflies How Do Animals Navigate?? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Landmarks – gray whale Stars – many birds Sun – monarch butterfly North Star – indigo bunting Earth’s magnetic field What about when it’s cloudy? Many animals have magnetite in their brains – a mineral which contains iron and allowing them to orient to the earth’s magnetic field Migrating gray whales use coastal landmarks to stay on course FEEDING GROUNDS Arctic Ocean Siberia Alaska Pacific Ocean Baja California NORTH AMERICA Atlantic Ocean BREEDING GROUNDS Gray whales have the longest migration for any mammal traveling 2000 Km yearly (1243 miles). The indigo bunting learns a star map and navigates by fixing on the North Star Paper Ink pad Funnelshaped cage