1.4

 Behavior: any way that an animal interacts with its environment  Includes finding food, ways that animals protect themselves, make homes, find mates, and raise their young  Behaviors can be instinctive or learned ▪ Instinct: a behavior that an animal can do without ever learning how to do it ▪ Inherited characteristics that don’t need to be learned and are always performed the same way ▪ Dragonflies hunt by instinct ▪ Learning: a change in behavior that comes about through experience ▪ A dog learns to go to the back door when it wants to go outside ▪ Young animals learn behaviors mainly from their parents

 Many behaviors help protect animals from predators  Opossums avoid predators by “playing dead”  Moths scare away predators by opening their wings (they look like the eyes of a fierce bird)  Squids release a dark inky substance into the water that blocks the predators view  Chipmunks protect themselves by running away  Cats raise their fur and arch their back to look bigger and more dangerous  Habit: a behavior that is learned through practice

 Most animals do not take care of their young  However, birds and mammals do  Animals that live in groups work together for the good for the group is called cooperation  Ex: insects that live in colonies

 Migration is an instinctive behavior that means that animals move to a different place when the season change  In summer, many birds nest and raise their young in the north and fly south for the winter ▪ This is how they find enough food to survive

 Communication: any behavior that lets animals share information  Many animals communicate to protect themselves from predators and to attract mates  Animals can communicate with sounds, movements, smells, or by other means  Examples: ▪ Frilled lizards flare their frill when they feel threatened ▪ Male birds sing to attract a mate ▪ Meerkats and monkeys use different warning calls for different predators