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The Evolution of Behaviour Psychology 3106 Introduction We have looked at causal mechanisms up to this point Development Genetics Neurons Behaviour has an evolutionary history as well Introduction We can look at the origins of behaviour and changes over time We can look at fitness consequences These two points are, obviously, related Evolution of Behaviour So, if we want to reconstruct evolution we can Look at the fossil record Behaviour doesn’t fossilize all that well….. Explore some interesting behaviour using the comparative method Look at related species If a behaviour is widespread it may have evolved in a common ancestor of the species If a behaviour only eixists in one or a few species it may be relatively recent. An Example Empid fly courtship ritual Male presents a silk gift to the female In most related species the female is larger than the male The male ends up being dinner… Empid Flies, the saga continues… In some species the males present food to the females, distracts them Still others adorn the gift with silk strands Makes it take longer to eat More conspicuous too Still others cover it with silk Some eat the gift, and give the female the wrapper Finally, some just give the silk The History of Flight Archaeopteryx ‘ancient bird’ Did it fly from tree to tree? Did it run and take off? Its wings and feathers were modern The wings had claws! Scary flying Dinobirds Wings were powered by reduced muscle mass Suggests Archie just soared Used claws to grasp a tree at the end of a glide Perhaps it had reptilian muscle 2x the peak power…. Walking on two feet in people! Chimps are quadropeds We are Bipeds Hmmm. What’s up with that You can look at the pelvis of various species of hominid Standing up may have been the key in becoming who we are Evolution of generalist strategies in Cowbirds Would make sense that nest parasitism started out as a specialist strategy More recent the cowbird, the more of a generalist it should be DNA studies show it to be true Conclusion You can reconstruct the evolution of behaviour (or any trait) using the comparative method You can never be entirely sure Use of new techniques like molecular methods can really help, even with behaviour