A lecturer on the basics of animal behaviour

1. Animal Behaviour
Alex
www.slipperlimpet.co.uk

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