The document discusses various aspects of animal behavior, defining it as actions driven by muscles or glands in response to environmental cues. It categorizes behaviors into innate and learned, explores the influence of genetics and environment, and outlines different learning types, including habituation, imprinting, and social learning. Additionally, it touches on survival mechanisms, communication methods, social interactions, and emotional aspects of animals.

1. Animal Behavior
2012-13

2. Behavior- an action carried out by muscles or glands under
the control of the nervous system in response to an
environmental cue or a stimulus
Example behaviors: courtship dance, aggressive posture,
chemical communication (marking a territory) & learning
Behavioral Ecology: study of behavior in an evolutionary
context
● Proximate questions concern the immediate reason for
a behavior ie how it is triggered by the stimuli
● Ultimate questions why a particular behavior occurs ie
evolutionary explanations

3. Innate behaviors are behaviors that are
inherited same for all individuals of a species
●Fixed Action Patterns (FAPs) unchangeable
series of actions triggered by a specific stimulus
where once they are initiated the sequenced is
preformed in its entirety regardless of any
changes
● Graylag goose tucks eggs
● http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUNZv-ByPkU
● Baby birds stretch out necks
● Male Stickle back fish

4. Sign stimulus
experiment: figure out
what is causing one
male fish to attack
another male “fish”
(fakes) video
male stickleback fish
attack other male
stickleback fish-- in
response to the red
sign stimulus (they
don’t attack females,
which do not have
red bellies, and they
do not attack “fake”
fish with no red on
the belly)

5. Response to
question about
the behavior
(cause/effect,
how, etc.)
Response to
evolutionary
significance of
the behavior

6. Nature vs Nurture
genetic vs environmental
●Cross fostering
experiment with
rats
● Conclusion:
evidence that
behavior is the
product of both
genetic &
environmental
factors

7. Learning: modification of behavior
as a result of specific experiences
●7 types
● Habituation
● Imprinting
● Spatial learning
● Cognitive mapping
● Associate learning
● Social learning
● Problem solving

8. 1. Habituation is a loss of response to a stimulus
after repeated exposure
●Scare crow
●Deer stand

9. 2. Imprinting is learning that is irreversible and
limited to a sensitive time period in an animals life
●Geese (1.5 min)
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIU9XH-mUI
●Salmon (1.5 min)
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NcJ_63z-mA
●Song
●Some innate & some learned components

10. 3. Spatial learning is use of landmarks
to learn the spatial structure of the
environment
●Classic example
nest locating
behavior of the
digger wasp

11. 4. Cognative mapping is an internal
representation of the spatial relationships
among objects in the environment
●Migration
patterns
●Crow food
caches

12. 5. Associate Learning is behavioral change based
on linking a stimulus or behavior with a reward or
punishment; includes trial and error
● Classical conditioning:
associating an arbitrary
stimulus with a reward
or punishment
(generally involuntary
responses)
● Pavlov’s dog
● Operant conditioning:
trial-and-error learning,
or repeating or avoiding a
behavior depending on if
it resulted in reward or
punishment (generally
voluntary actions)
● Skinner Rats
● Porcupine Quills

13. 7. Problem solving is
inventive behavior that
arises in response to a
new situation
●Raven string food
●Chimp crush food
tools
●Otter
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=sc99_FarC
NM (2 min)

14. 6. Social learning is learning by
observing and mimicking others
●Vervet monkeys
alarm calls
●http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=3lsF83rHKFc&feature=r
elated 3.5 min
●http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=BM7IoMcNj2k&feature
=related 1.5 min
● Different sounds for
the following images
young learn by
copying and then
perfecting the sounds
● Eagle
● Leopard
● Snake

15. Survival & Reproductive Success
●Animal movements
● Kinesis random animal
movement in response to
a stimulus (ie stopping,
starting, changing speed,
and or direction)
● Taxis movement towards
or away from a stimulus

16. Survival & Reproductive Success
●Animal foraging (food obtaining behavior) Includes
not only eating, but searching for, recognizing and
capturing food items
● Generalists eat just about anything
● Specialists picky eaters
● http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMIRwCNvI94&NR=1&featur
e=endscreen (4 min new babies)
● http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMjalAElFXw (foraging &
babysitting)
●Optimal foraging theory an animals feeding
behavior should provide maximal energy gain with
minimal energy expense and minimal risk of being
eaten while foraging

17. Communication
●Signal is a stimulus
transmitted by one
animal to another
animal
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4NtegAOQpSs (3 min)
●Communication is
the sending of,
reception of, and
response to signals

18. Types of Signals
●Animals use visual, tactile, electrical and
chemical signals to communicate and produce a
change in behavior of other organisms
●Ex bee dances, bird songs, territorial marking,
pack behavior, herd/flock/school behavior,
predator warning, colony and swarming
behavior, and coloration

19. Social behavior as any kind of
communication interaction between 2 or
more animals, usually of the same
species
●Courtship
●Aggression
●Cooperation
●Migration
●Feeding/foraging

20. Courtship rituals are a special, sometimes
ritualized, set of behaviors which some animals
perform as part of courtship. Courtship behaviors
can include special calls, postures, and
movements, and may involve special plumage,
bright colors or other ornamentation.
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3PKm1Z2
9g grebes
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NAKg46s1D
A&feature=related 1.5 min blue
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54bxmZy_N
E 2 min bird para

21. Mating systems & Parental Care
●Promiscuous: no strong pair bonds or
lasting relationships
● Female raises young alone
●Monogamous: a bond between one
male and one female
● Both Parents investment time & energy
●Polygamous: an individual of one sex
mating with several of the other
● Cheating…..hummmm….

22. Communication Behavior
●Agnostic Behavior: conflicts that arise
over limited resources …sometimes fights
to the death
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE92_
PE9ZjQ Elk fighting for mates
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSPKY
AIMm_k Lions fight over meal

23. Communication Behavior
●Dominance hierarchy: ranking of
individuals
● Alpha’s
● food 1st
● mates
● nesting

24. Communication Behavior
●Altruism: a behavior that reduces an individual’s
fitness (survival & ability to reproduce) while
increasing the fitness (survival) of others
●ALARM CALLS
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6dTU7KVpsg (8
min)
● Inclusive Fitness: describes an individuals success at
perpetuating its genes by producing its own offspring and
helping close relatives who likely share many of those
genes to produce
● Kin selection: natural selection that favors altuistic
behavior that benefits relatives

25. Territory is an area usually fixed in location, that
individuals defend and from which other
members of the same species are usually
excluded
●Provides resources
●Used for feeding,
mating, rearing
young
●Marked
●http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=NvoyMq
84GO0&feature=relat
ed Lions fight for
territory

26. Response
●Animals respond or some animal
behaviors are triggered by
environmental cues and are vital
reproduction, natural selection and
survival
●Ex Hibernation, Estivation,
Migration & Courtship.

27. Response
●Animals response to information and
communication of information is critical to both
natural selection and evolution
●FITNESS: an organisms ability to survive and
reproduce

28. Uniqueness
●Variations in
behavioral traits such
as personality,
temperament, talents,
and intellectual
abilities make each
individual unique

29. In closing…
●Innate behaviors are behaviors that are
inherited.
●Learning occurs through interactions with the
environment and other organisms and memory
is key

30. Animal
Emotions
●When Elephants Weep
●by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
and Susan McCarthy (1995)
●This national bestseller exploring
the complex emotional lives of
animals.
●http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=kZuW7M4VbDs&feature=related

31. Pod cast reviews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hREwakXmAo
10 min Bozeman Animal Behavior