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Animal Behavior
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meerkats
What is behavior?
 Behavior

everything an animal does & how it does it
 response to stimuli in its 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


evolutionary significance
how does behavior
contribute to survival
& reproduction
male songbird
 what triggers singing?
 how does he sing?
 why does he sing?
 adaptive value

“why” questions
Courtship behavior in cranes
 how does daylength influence breeding?

what…how…
&
why
questions
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 why do cranes breed in spring?
Example
 If your arm touches a hot plate, your
arm automatically recoils…
 What might be the proximate and
ultimate causes of this behavior?
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What is the difference between
innate and learned behaviors?

innate behaviors
 automatic, fixed, “built-in”, no “learning curve”
 despite different environments,
all individuals exhibit the behavior
 ex. early survival, reproduction, kinesis, taxis

learned behaviors
 modified by experience
 variable, changeable
 flexible with a complex & changing
environment
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Innate behaviors
male sticklebacks exhibit
aggressive territoriality
 Fixed action patterns (FAP)



sequence of behaviors essentially unchangeable
& conducted to completion once started
Triggered by a specific stimulus!!
sign stimulus
 the releaser that triggers a FAP
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Geese
 Fixed Action Patterns in a goose
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Goose fixed action patter
 The goose will retrieve the egg in the
same manner, even if the egg is
removed
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 Proximate and ultimate causes for the FAP
attack behavior in male stickleback fish
BEHAVIOR: A male stickleback fish attacks other male sticklebacks that invade its nesting
territory.
PROXIMATE CAUSE: The red belly of the intruding male acts as a sign stimulus
that releases aggression in a male stickleback.
Figure 51.4
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ULTIMATE CAUSE: By chasing away other male sticklebacks, a male decreases
the chance that eggs laid in his nesting territory will be fertilized by another male.
What does it mean that both
“nature and nurture” can
determine an animal’s behavior?
 Animal behavior often involves a
combination of genetic programming
and environmental factors.
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Explain how researchers studying
the fruitless gene proved that
there genes are involved in
determining behavior
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What are some environmental
factors that can influence
phenotypes?
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Figure 35.3
High-interaction mother
Low-interaction mother
Pups become
relaxed adults
Pups become
fearful adults
Female pups become
high-interaction mothers
Female pups become
low-interaction mothers
Cross-fostering
experiment
become relaxed adults
APPups
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Pups become fearful adults
How does this study illustrate the
influence of the environment on
behavior?


behavioral changes can be passed to
future generations the social environment
Interactions with the mother changed gene
expression in the rats which affected its
development of its neuroendocrine system
(fight or flight response)
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What is habituation? (learning)
 An animal learns not to respond to a
repeated stimulus that conveys little or no
information.
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What are the ultimate causes of
habituation?

May increase reproductive fitness by
allowing an animal’s nervous system to
focus on stimuli that signal
 food,
 mates, or
 real danger.
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What is imprinting?
 Learning to form social attachments at a
critical (sensitive) period



generally irreversible learning and
limited to a specific phase in an animal’s life
called a sensitive period.
Examples include
 a young bird learning to identify its parents and
 song development in birds.
Video: Ducklings
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© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 35.5A
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Frequency
(kilocycles/second)
Figure 35.5B
5
4
3
2
1 Normal bird (imprinted)
5
4
3
2
1
Bird reared in isolation
0
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0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
Time (seconds)
2.5
Example of Imprinting
BEHAVIOR: Young geese follow and imprint on their mother.
PROXIMATE CAUSE: During an early, critical developmental stage, the young
geese observe their mother moving away from them and calling.
ULTIMATE CAUSE: On average, geese that follow and imprint on their mother
receive more care and learn necessary skills, and thus have a greater chance of
surviving than those that do not follow their mother.
Figure 51.5
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Conservation
Conservation biologists
have taken advantage of
imprinting by young
whooping cranes as a
means to teach the
birds a migration
route. A pilot wearing
a crane suit in an
Ultralight plane acts
as a surrogate parent.
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teaching cranes to migrate
Figure 35.6B
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Figure 35.6A
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What is the difference between
taxis and kinesis?
 Taxis


change in direction
automatic movement toward (positive taxis) or
away from (negative taxis) a stimulus
 Ex: phototaxis (towards light) hydrotaxis (towards
water)
 Kinesis

Random movement in response to a stimulus
 Ex: starting or stopping, changing speed, turning
more/less frequently
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 Sow bugs

Become more active in dry areas and less
active in humid areas
Moist site
under leaf
Dry open
area
(a) Kinesis increases the chance that a sow bug will encounter and
stay in a moist environment.
Figure 51.7a
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Learned behavior
 Associative learning

learning to associate
a stimulus with a
consequence
 operant conditioning
 classical conditioning
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Operant conditioning
 Skinner box
B. F. Skinner
Trial and error learning: mouse learns to
associate behavior (pressing lever) with
reward (food pellet)
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Classical conditioning
 Ivan Pavlov’s dogs

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connect reflex behavior (salivating at sight of
food) to associated (irrelevant stimulus (ringing
bell)
Animal Behavior Review Questions
 Match the description/example with the correct behavior
category




A.
B.
C.
D.
Classical conditioning
Fixed Action Pattern
Imprinting
Operant conditioning
1. Highly stereotyped sequence of behaviors that, once begun, is
usually carried to completion
2. Learning that occurs during a specific time period; generally
irreversible
3. Association with irrelevant stimulus with a fixed physiological
response
4. Trial and Error learning
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Social behaviors
 Interactions between individuals






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develop as evolutionary adaptations
communication / language
agonistic behaviors
dominance hierarchy
cooperation
altruistic behavior
What are the various ways in
which animals can communicate?
 Visual
 Audible
 Electrical
 Chemical
 Tactile

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Used to indicate dominance, find food,
establish territory, and ensure
reproductive success!
Examples:
 Honey bee
communication
dance to
communicate
location of food
source
 waggle dance

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Examples of communication
 Bird song
species identification & mating ritual
 Visual and auditory
 mixed learned & innate

 Nocturnal Animals

Odor, sound
 Fish
Chemical, auditory,
visual

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Red-winged blackbird
What are pheromones?
 Pheromones

chemical signal that stimulates a
response from other individuals
 alarm pheromones
 sex pheromones
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 When a minnow or catfish is injured

An alarm substance in the fish’s skin
disperses in the water, inducing a fright
response among fish in the area
(a) Minnows are widely dispersed in an aquarium
before an alarm substance is introduced.
Figure 51.9a, b
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(b) Within seconds of the alarm substance being
introduced, minnows aggregate near the
bottom of the aquarium and reduce their movement.
Agonistic Behavior
Threats, rituals, and sometimes combat
that determines which competitor gains
access to a resource
 Caused by conflicts over food, mates, or
territories

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Dominance hierarchy

social ranking within
a group
 pecking order
 Ex: females in a wolf
pack
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Dominance Hierarchies
 A higher ranking animal has greater
access to resources than a lower ranking
animal.
 Decided by confrontation during which
one animal gives way to another.
 Once established, little or no time is
wasted in fighting.
 Dominant male mates more often with the
females.
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Biology
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Social behaviors
 Cooperation

working together in coordination
Tends to increase
the fitness of the individual
and survival of the
population

Pack of African dogs
hunting wildebeest
cooperatively
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White pelicans “herding”
school of fish
Social behaviors
 Altruistic behavior


Reduces individual fitness but
increases fitness of others in a population
kin selection
 increasing survival of close relatives passes
these genes on to the next generation
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Biology
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How can this be of adaptive value?
Belding ground squirrel
 In naked mole rat populations

Nonreproductive individuals may sacrifice
their lives protecting the reproductive
individuals from predators
Figure 51.33
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Social Behavior & Reproduction
 Natural selection has favored mechanisms



that promote successful reproduction.
Behavior is thus adaptive—behavioral
traits can evolve.
Sexual competition among males has
contributed to the evolution of large size,
brilliant breeding colors, antlers, etc.
Known as sexual selection and the traits
are called secondary sexual
characteristics.
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Biology
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