1. Lesson 1: Biology Unit 2, Chapter 11 (Behavioural Adaptions)
Thursday, 23rd
August, 2012.
Class duration: 70 mins
Class setting: Science laboratory
Materials: None
Learning intention:
• To distinguish between innate and learned behaviours in animals.
• Recognise the importance of behaviours to the survival and reproduction of individuals and groups.
Time
(mins)
Teacher activity
15 Definitions
- Ethology: The study of animals.
- Behaviour: Some action that occurs in response to a particular stimulus (pl. stimuli).
Draw a table on the board: Innate (inborn) behaviour
Innate (inborn) behaviour. Learned behaviour.
Rhythmic behaviours
- Daily (feeding/sleeping)
- Seasonal (migration)
-
Communication behaviours
Reproductive behaviours
Competitive behaviours
Dominance hierarchies
Territoriality
Tell students to draw this in their books.
- What determines innate behaviour?
- What determines learned behaviour?
Innate (inborn) behaviour
- Genetically controlled
- Same for all members of species
Learned behaviour.
- Develop or change as result of experience
Forms of innate behaviour:
Rhythmic behaviours (eat/sleep): Animals repeat behaviours at regular intervals.
- Regulated by internal factors (biological clock) and external factors (light).
- Different species of animals may follow different patterns of rhythmic behaviour.
Communication behaviours
Reproductive behaviours
Competitive behaviours
Dominance hierarchies
Territoriality
Communication can be through touch, posture, sound, visual display, chemical signals.

2. 35
(1) Show bowerbird video, then go through worked example.
Communication between animals involves a number of components (page 349)
Aspect of communication Particular case with bowerbird
Stimulus Desire to mate
Sender Male bowerbird
Receiver to whom the signal is directed Female reading to mate
Kind of signal sent Appearance of carefully made and decorated
bower
How the signal is sent Visual image
Behaviour of the receiver Attracted to the bower
Setting in which the communication occurs Courtship behaviour
(2) Approx 10 minutes: Now show video of bees communicating (or use students’ example),
and get students to work with the person next to them to determine the aspects of
communication.
Aspect of communication Particular case with bowerbird
Stimulus (what makes them want to
communicate)
Desire to tell other bees about where the
pollen is
Sender A bee
Receiver to whom the signal is directed Other forager bees
Kind of signal sent Waggle dance
How the signal is sent Movement/posture
Behaviour of the receiver Flying to the flowers
Setting in which the communication occurs To work as a team to find the pollen
- If there is time… Approx 15 minutes: Have students split into 5 groups of 3-4, assign
each group with a type of innate behaviour of an animal (except communication), and do
a quick research on it, then present to the class (for ideas, see pages 344-356).
20 An innate behaviour is not necessarily fully developed at birth and may be modified by
learning. New information (from experience) can be used to modify or improve a previous
behaviour.
E.g. (page 356) Immediately after hatching, many of the chick’s pecks are inaccurate. Only about
a third of the pecks strike the parent’s beak. On the second day about 50 per cent of the pecks are
accurate, and by the third day a steady level of more than 75 per cent accuracy is achieved. A
chick becomes more accurate in aiming its pecks as a result of practice. The more accurately a
chick pecks, then the quicker a parent will respond to the request for food. This is important if a
chick is to receive sufficient food for it to survive and grow.
Learned Behaviour
Brainstorm a list of “learned behaviours” with the class.
Ask the class: How do we learn?
Shown how to do something
Copy someone else
Trial-and-error
EXERCISE:

3. - The behaviour of the young duck in following the mother shortly after hatching is
important in fixing behaviour later in life, because later in maturity, it will try to mate
only with a duck of the same species as the hatching mother. Also, the mother can protect
her young if they are close by.
A biologist wished to find out whether this ability for ducklings to follow their mother was innate
(instinctive) or learned. Think of an experiment to test whether the following behaviour is mostly
instinctive or learned,
i.e. how did they know to follow the mother? Did the mother teach the ducklings to follow her?
Answer: separate into 2 groups
(a) 1 group with mother at hatching
(b) 1 group without replacement mother at hatching (e.g. a flag)
Keep all the factors the same: i.e. temperature, environment.
Observe following behaviour.
What results would support the hypothesis that the behaviour was innate?
Group B would have the same following behaviour as group A.
How did this learning occur? Answer: Imprinting.
(3 & 4) Show videos of imprinting.