ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

Chapter 34

Behavior

The way an organism reacts to changes in its internal condition or external environment.

Ex. Turning your head in the direction of a

noise.

Innate Behavior

An instinct or inborn behavior.

It is usually inflexible, a given stimulus triggering a given response.

Ex. Reflex, response

Learned (acquired) Behavior Flexible behavior to deal with

uncertainty and change.

3 types we will discuss: Habituation, classical condition, operant

conditioning

CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS:

A pattern of activity that occurs over twenty-four hours.

Circa- refers to the Latin word which means “Circle” or “around”

Diem/Dias means “day”

Literally the word means “one day”

Your circadian rhythm

Breakfast, school, lunch, school, homework, sleep

A. Migration

The periodic passage of groups of animals (especially birds or fish) from one region to another for feeding or breeding.

B. Hibernation

A state of inactivity and lowering of metabolism, characterized by lower body temperature and slower breathing.

Hibernating animals conserve food, especially during winter when food is short.

Lipids- long term energy storage.

C. Estivation

“Summer sleep", a state of animal dormancy similar to hiberation.

It takes place during times of heat and dryness (typically summer months).

Avoids damage from high temperatures and the risk of dehydration.

Snails commonly estivate

D. Nocturnal & Diurnal The behavior

of an animal that is active at nighttime.

Ex. Owls, Raccoons

The behavior of an animal that is active in the daytime.

Ex. Chipmunk, Squirrels

E. Taxis

The movement of an organism in response to a stimulus.

Ex. Phototaxis A plant moves towards light

A. Habituation

When an animal decreases or stops its response to a repetitive stimulus that neither rewards nor harms the animals.

Example: snail moving across a wooden surface and when the experimenter taps on the surface, the snail withdraws into its shell but after a few taps it learns that it isn't going to harm it and ignores the tapping.

Pg. 874

B. Classical Conditioning

Anytime an animal makes a mental connection between a stimulus and some kind of reward or punishment (more of an automatic response).

Ex. You have a meal at a fast food restaurant that causes food poisoning. The next time you see a sign for that restaurant, you feel nauseous.

Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the shower becomes very hot and causes the person to jump back. Over time, the person begins to jump back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes.

C. Operant Conditioning

When an animal learns to behave a certain way through repeated practice, in order to receive an award or avoid a punishment (voluntary behavior).

Ex. Teaching a dog a trick

Operant or classical?

A lion in a circus learns to stand up on a chair and jump through a hoop to receive a food treat.

Operant

Operant or classical?

You check the coin return slot on a pay telephone and find a quarter. You find yourself checking other telephones over the next few days.

operant

Operant or Classical?

John Watson conducted an experiment with a boy named Albert in which he paired a white rat with a loud, startling noise. Albert now becomes startled at the sight of the white rat.

Classical

1. Imprint

Learned very early in life; once it has occurred it cannot be changed.

Examples? Ducks, geese follow the first moving object

they see.

Courtship

Enables an animal to find, identify, and attract a mate using a “mate-selection ritual.”

May involve complicated dances or touching; vocalizations; or displays of beauty or fighting prowess.

Generally speaking, the male initiates the courtship and the female chooses to either mate or reject the male based on his "performance".

Bald Eagle courtship involves elaborate calls and flight displays. The flight includes swoops, chases, and cartwheels, in which they fly high, lock talons, and free fall, separating just before hitting the ground

3. Waggle DanceA particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee

By performing this dance, bees can share with their hive mates information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nectar and pollen, to water sources, or to new housing locations.

Territoriality Behavior of an animal that defines

and defends its territory.

Spraying: Marking Territory

Communication using:

Pheromones: A secreted or excreted chemical that

triggers a social response in members of the same species.

There are alarm, food trail, sex, signal pheromones and many others.

Fanning honeybee exposes gland releasing pheromone to entice swarm into an empty hive

Aggregation of bug nymphs

Sex pheromones

Indicate the availability of the female for breeding.

Male animals may also emit pheromones that convey information about their species and genotype.

Social Insects: Division of Labor

Insects which live in a family society, with parents and offspring sharing a common dwelling place and exhibiting some degree of mutual cooperation.

Ex. HoneybeesAnd ants: workers,soldiers

FYI: Different Orders of MammalsDKPCOFGS

Monotremes

Lay eggs, warm-blooded, have hair, produce milk through mammary glands to feed young.

Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: MammaliaOrder: MonotremataFamily: Tachyglossidae

Spiny Anteater (short beaked echidna)

Platypus-monotreme

Marsupial

Have a distinctive pouch in which females carry their young through early infancy.

Marsupials give birth to a live but relatively undeveloped fetus called a joey. When born, the fetus crawls from inside the mother to the pouch.

Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: MammaliaSubclass: TheriaInfraclass: Marsupialia

Placental

Mammals that have an organ that connects the developing fetus to the uterine wall to allow nutrient uptake, waste elimination and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply.

Ex. Horses, humans