Animal behaviour
- 2. What is it? Definition Animal Behaviour: anything an animal does involving action and response from stimulus Definition Behaviour: Any evolved, adaptive action or activity of an organism that interacts with its environment; not simply a by product or side effect of an activity. Can be learnt or inherited
- 3. Ethology The study of how animals behave in their natural environment Sociobiology- Connects evolutionary theory to human culture.
- 4. When looking at animal behaviour we have to consider Why do behaviours evolve? Is it adaptive? Does it contribute to reproductive success? This is known as Ultimate causes
- 5. Nature vs Nurture Behaviors are: Behaviors are: • Innate • Learned • Hard-wired • Flexible • Instinctual • Not genetically determined • Genetically determined
- 6. Innate behaviours Fixed Action Kinesis Reflex Taxis Pattern • change the • movement of a • a directed • stereotyped speed of body part in movement and often random response to toward or complex series movement in stimulus". away from a of movements, response to stimulus; responses to a environmental positive and specific stimulus“ negative taxes stimulus
- 7. Characteristics of Innate Behaviors - especially FAPs: 1. The behavior is performed correctly the 1st time without prior experience (no opportunity to learn) 2. Triggered by some external stimulus 3. Once started, run to completion with no further input 4. Breeding crosses produce hybrid behaviors
- 8. • Ethology is the study of how animals behave in their natural habitat. – Karl von Frisch: bee communication – Niko Tinbergen: herring gull experiment; digger wasps – Konrad Lorenz: imprint in geese
- 9. Karl Von Frisch- communication in bees
- 10. Herring gull experiment by Niko Tinbergen Releaser Stimuli- stimuli that release FAP E.g., Chick and red dot on gull parents beak triggers feeding response- parent regurgitates food Laysan albatross feeding chick
- 11. Niko Tinbergen Hypothesis: digger wasps use visual landmarks Move pine cones to keep track of her nests Visual cue is arrangement pattern rather than objects themselves
- 12. Learned behaviours Imprinting: a strong association learned during a specific developmental period Habituation: decline in response to a harmless, repeated stimulus Trial and error: observed learning Insight reasoning: manipulating concepts in mind before arriving at behavior. Conditioning: where a behavior is performed either to avoid punishment or receive reward- lab based Baby Albert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FKZAYt77ZM Squirrel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMYuIK5YWVE&feature=relmfu Elephant click: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFQigZxsnO0&feature=related Crow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZSk7oCNaHg&feature=related
- 13. Cognition The ability of an animals nervous system to perceive, store , process and use information gathered by sensory receptors. Consciousness- Are animals aware of themselves?
- 14. Animals use various cognitive mechanisms during movement through space • Kinesis and taxis. ▫ These are the simplest mechanisms of movement. Kinesis is a change in activity rate in response to a stimulus. For example, sowbugs are more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas. Taxis is an automatic, oriented movement to or away from a stimulus. For example, phototaxis, chemotaxis, and geotaxis. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 15. • Use of landmarks within a familiar area. ▫ Some organisms move in response to a recognized object or environmental cue, the object is the landmark. • Cognitive maps. ▫ Some animals form cognitive maps (internal codes of spatial relationships of objects in the environment). Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 16. Whale Migration Routes • Migration Behavior ▫ Migration is the regular movement of animals over relatively long distances. ▫ Piloting: an animal moves from one familiar landmark to another until it reaches its destination.
- 17. • Orientation: animals can detect directions and travel in particular paths until reaching destination. ▫ Navigation is the most complex, and involves determining one’s present location relative to other locations in addition to detecting compass directions. ▫ Cues for these behaviors include the earth’s magnetic field, the sun, and the stars.
- 18. Social behavior: any kind of interaction between two or more animals, usually of the same species. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 19. Teams please
- 20. Social Behavior in Vertebrates Predator Avoidance Behavior -mimicry - schooling Reproductive Behavior -competition -territoriality -Displays Parental Behavior Communication Cooperative Behavior -warning alarms
- 21. Competitive social behaviors often represent contests for resources • Sometimes cooperation occurs. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 22. • Agonistic behavior is a contest involving threats. ▫ Submissive behavior. ▫ Ritual: the use of symbolic activity. ▫ Generally, no harm is done. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 23. Reconciliation behavior often happens between conflicting individuals. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 24. • Dominance hierarchies involve a ranking of individuals in a group (a “pecking order”). ▫ Alpha, beta rankings exist. The alpha organisms control the behavior of others. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 25. • Territoriality is behavior where an individual defends a particular area, called the territory. ▫ Territories are typically used for feeding, mating, and rearing young and are fixed in location.
- 26. ▫ Drawbacks are that territoriality uses a great deal of an individual’s energy. In addition, an individual might be defending a territory and die or miss a reproductive opportunity. ▫ Spraying behavior is where an individual marks its territory. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 27. Natural selection favors mating behavior that maximizes the quantity or quality of mating partners • Courtship behavior consists of patterns that lead to copulation and consists of a series of displays and movements by the male or female. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 28. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 29. • Parental investment refers to the time and resources expended for raising of offspring. ▫ It is generally lower in males ▫ Females usually invest more time into parenting (fecundity, egg size, care of offspring) ▫ Females are usually more discriminating in terms of the males with whom they choose to mate. Females look for more fit males (i.e., better genes), the ultimate cause of the choice. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 30. • Mating systems differ among species. ▫ Promiscuous: no strong bond pairs between males and females. ▫ Monogamous: one male mating with one female. ▫ Polygamous: an individual of one sex mating with several of the other sex. Polygyny is a specific example of polygamy, where a single male mates with many females. Polyandry occurs in some species where one female mates with several females. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 31. Social interactions depend on diverse modes of communication • Defining animal signals and communication. ▫ A signal is a behavior that causes a change in the behavior of another animal. ▫ The transmission of, reception of, and response to signals make up communication. ▫ Examples include the following: Displays such as singing, and howling. Information can be transmitted in other ways, such as chemical, tactile, electrical. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 32. ▫ Pheromones are chemicals released by an individual that bring about mating and other behaviors. Examples include bees and ants. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 33. The concept of inclusive fitness can account for most altruistic behavior • Most social behaviors are selfish, so how do we account for behaviors that help others? ▫ Altruism is defined as behavior that might decrease individual fitness, but increase the fitness of others. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
- 34. Homework- Ethogram • 10 minute observation of an animal- • Define behaviour • Give it a code • Note if social or solitary • Time duration of each behaviour
Editor's Notes
- #3: Any ideas or examples, on white board.
- #6: How have sociologists in the past gone about testing nature nuture?TwinsTransgender- sex changes
- #7: Fixed action pattern or FAP can be improved through learning eg courtship behaviourBalloon popping.Sitting close- personal space amygdala- region of the brain that recognises fear and therefore controls sense of personal space.
- #10: Observed that bee used dance to communicate where food was and that honey bees had colour vision.
- #13: Imprinting- think about potential issues in conservation biologyEthics involved.....??
- #14: These basic desires, which Denton terms the "primordial emotions", include thirst, hunger, pain, hunger for salt and other minerals, the hunger for air and sexual desire, among others. They are triggered by sensors in the brain that detect when the animal's internal state is out of balance, a potentially life-threatening situation.
- #19: Why is social behaviour important?- team game timePredatoravoidenceReproductionParental behaviourComminicationCoperative behaviour
- #31: See house sparrows.