1. ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

2. What is Behavior? Anything an animal does in response to a stimulus
Stimulus: environmental change that directly influences an organism
Example: change in day length, heat

3. Innate behavior: Inherited
Natural selection favors certain behaviors
Behavior that helps survival is passed on to offspring
Examples: fixed action responses: unchangeable behavior that once begun, won’t stop till it is finished (toad sees prey, flips out tongue)

4. Reflexes: Automatic Responses
Simplest form of behavior
Simple automatic response to a stimulus that involves no conscious control
Example: jerking hand from hot stove
Fight or flight response

5. Instinctive Behavior Complex pattern of innate behavior
Longer than a reflex
Example: greylag goose rolling eggs

6. Internal and external cues
A. Circadian rhythm: 24-hour wake-sleep cycle regulated by light (some nocturnal)
B. Migration: instinctive seasonal movement by animals (birds, whales)
C. Hibernation: inactivity during cold weather
D. Estivation: state of reduced metabolism during periods of extreme heat

7. E. Suckling: mammal babies instinctively know how to get nourishment from their mother

8. F. Taxis:
responsive movement of a free-moving organism or cell toward or away from an external stimulus, such as light.
Positive phototaxis: movement toward light
Negative phototaxis: movement away from light

9. Social Behavior: 1. Dominance Hierarchy
“Pecking order”
Social ranking within a group
Usually a dominant male (“alpha male”) may sire most of young

10. 2. Courtship behavior
Courtship behavior: actions males and females carry out before mating
Insures that members of the same species find each other and mate
May protect male from being eaten long enough to mate

11. 3. Territoriality Physical space an animal defends against own species
May include breeding, feeding, or mating areas or all three
Reduces competition so improves survival
Pheromones may mark boundaries

12. 4. Communication: ants and bees using pheromones
Bees “dance” to show hive members the way to food
Ants

13. 5. Aggressive Behavior Intimidates others of same species
Used to defend young, territory, food
Teeth baring, growling, bird calls
Rarely leads to death, just submission

14. Learned Behavior: behavior changes through practice or experience
Habituation: repeated stimulus not associated with a reward or punishment, so animal eventually ceases to respond

15. Learned behavior: Imprinting
At a critical time in its life, animal develops a social attachment to another object
Usually irreversible
Mostly in birds

16. Learned behavior: Trial and Error
Animal receives a reward for a certain response
Motivation speeds up this type of learning
Usually, satisfies a need such as hunger

17. Learned behavior: Classical conditioning (Pavlov’s dog)
“Learning by association”
One stimulus associated with another to receive reward
Eventually, first stimulus no longer needed

18. Learned behavior: Insight
Most complex type of learning
Animal uses previous experience to respond to a new situation
Much of human learning occurs by insight

19. Which is it?