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Animal Behavior
Male Jumping Spider (Habronattus icenoglei)
Definition
Behavior is the
response of an animal
to environmental
stimuli.
The study of behavior is
called ethology.
Ethologists are interested both in proximal and
ultimate reasons for behaviors.
Ethology
Evolution
Psychology
Ecology
Behavior
Genetics
Physiology
Behavior and genetics
Innate behavior:
Stereotyped behaviors
that are based on preset
neural pathways and are
evoked by a key
stimulus.
Learned behavior: a
behavior the animal has
developed based on its
experience with a
particular stimulus.
Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution
Behavioral ecology is the study of the adaptive
values of certain behaviors.
• Are all behaviors adaptive?
• How is a particular behavior adaptive?
Since behaviors affect fitness and often have a
genetic component, behaviors can evolve.
Types of behaviors
Migratory behavior
Territorial behavior
Animal cognition
Animal communication
Reproductive behavior
Social behavior
Foraging behavior
Migratory Behavior
Migration: long, two-way
movements of animals,
usually seasonal
Migration often involves
precise migration
patterns and highly
specific destinations.
In some animals, these behaviors are purely
innate; in others, there appears to be some
learning involved.
Territorial Behavior
Any behavior designed to maintain
an animal’s exclusive use of a an
area.
Territorial behavior is costly.
•Energy costs
•Increased visibility to predators
•Increased risk of injury in
encounters with competitors
So why be territorial?
• Increased food availability or foraging area
• Exclusive access to mates (increased reproductive
success)
• Access to refuges from predators
Animal Cognition
Question: Do animals think?
“thinking” includes problem-solving, planning,
deception, and specific vocabulary
Problem-solving is done by chimpanzees (and other
primates) and some birds (corvids and others)
Planning is also used by various
primates and corvids
Deception and predatorspecific vocabulary are thought
to occur in certain primate
species
Reproductive Behavior
Reproductive strategy: the set of behaviors an
animal uses to maximize its reproductive
success.
Social Systems
Some animals live in social
groups
Benefits of sociality
• Shared food sources
• Kin selection
• Protection from
predation
• Larger prey items
Social Systems
Eusociality
• Invertebrates:
hymenopterans,
isopterans
• Vertebrates: naked mole
rats
Other social systems are
highly variable in
composition and
seasonality.
Foraging Behavior
Foraging behaviors should
maximize efficiency.
Foraging behaviors are innate,
but may be altered by ecology,
by season, by predator
abundance, by abundance of
conspecifics, or by food
abundance.
Foraging behavior is necessary,
but can be dangerous. There
are tradeoffs.
Observational methods
• Ad Libitum – take notes on everything you see.
• Focal Sampling – One animal, observing a
defined set of behaviors.
• Instantaneous/Scan Sampling – At set time
points, note behaviors of one or more animals.
• All occurances – One behavior, note every time
it is performed.
• Each method has advantages
and disadvantages and can cause
different biases.
Experiment
• Today we will test habitat selection in
isopods, and foraging preferences in
crickets.
Treatment A
Phototaxis
Treatment B
Chemotaxis Hydrotaxis
Cricket Apparatus
You MUST have your lab printed
for next week!