Animal Behavior Notes
When you think of animal behavior, what do you think of? Draw a picture or write what you think in the box below.
How do animals respond to their environment?
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_______________________________________ – anything an animal does in response to its environment.
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The way an organism reacts to changes in its internal conditions or external environment.
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Behaviors can have an adaptive value and are shaped by _______________________________________.
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Offspring will inherit the genetic basis for the successful behavior.
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Those without the behavior will die or fail to reproduce.
___________________________: any kind of signal that carries information and can be detected.
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Light, Sound, Odors, Heat. Received by senses: Sight, smell, touch, sound, taste
___________________________: a specific reaction to a stimulus.
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Reactions include nervous system, sense organs, and muscles.
Innate behavior is inherited from _______________________.
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Fully functional the first time, even without previous experience.
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Sometimes called “_______________________ behavior”
Include Automatic responses. Types of Automatic responses:
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__________________________: contains no conscious control
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Newborn babies and their grasp reflex. Getting hit on the knee causes it to “kick.” Someone
snaps in your eyes and you blink. You touch/pick up a hot object and release it.
__________________________: mobilizes the body for greater activity.
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Increased heart activity, Adrenaline secreted (tingly feeling), Respiration increases (heavy
breathing), Skin gets cold and clammy.
An ___________________________ is a complex pattern of innate behaviors.
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Therefore, take a longer time. Several parts and take weeks to complete. Begins when an animal
recognizes a stimulus and continues until all parts of the behavior have been performed.
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Include: Suckling, Taxis (Movement away from stimuli), Aggressive behavior, Hibernation (in winter), Estivation
(in summer), Migration and Circadian rhythm
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______________________________: the instinctive, seasonal movement of animals to take advantage of more
favorable environmental climates.
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__________________________________________: a 24-hour cycle of behavior, plants also follow this pattern.
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__________________________: in mammals, it is the drawing of milk into the mouth from the nipple or teat of
a mammary gland (i.e., breast or udder). In human beings suckling is also referred to as nursing, or breastfeeding. The method by which newborn mammals are nourished.
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__________________________ – allows animals to conserve energy during the winter when food is short.
During hibernation, animals drastically lower their metabolism so as to use energy reserves stored as body fat at
a slower rate. They exhibit the following: lower body temperature, slower breathing and lower metabolic rate
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__________________________ – rare state of dormancy similar to hibernation, but during the months of the
summer. They exhibit the following: against heat to avoid the potentially harmful effects of the season.
conserve water and food, avoid predators and avoid competition with other species.
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__________________________ - an innate behavioral response by an organism to a directional stimulus.
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A taxis differs from a tropism (turning response, often growth towards or away from a stimulus) in that
the organism can move easily and demonstrates guided movement towards or away from the stimulus.
A very primitive form of stimulus and response. Example: Worms move away from the sunlight and
towards the dark.
Learned Behavior
Behavior changes through ____________________________ and/or ________________________. They are acquired
behaviors, develop over ___________________________. These behaviors were seen as advantageous to prevent an
organism from responding to repeat stimuli and/or getting killed/harmed.
Includes: Habituation, Conditioning, Trial and Error (operant), Insight, Imprinting (mix of instinct and Learning)
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__________________________: an animal decreases or stops its response to a harmless repetitive signal.
Why? Allows the animal more time to be efficient and not waste energy worrying about a non-harmful stimuli.
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_______________________________: forming a mental connection between a stimulus and a
reward/punishment. Example: Pavlov’s dogs
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Trial and Error, also called _______________________________: an animal learns to behave in a certain way
through repeated practice. Example: a rat learning its way in a maze.
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_____________________________: learning in which an animal uses previous experience to respond to a new
situation, common in primates. Humans excel at this. Example: Solving math problems
Social Behavior
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__________________ behavior: Helping close relatives survive (with shared genes) helps to ensure to pass
those genes onto successful (living) offspring. Example: Herds of zebras, prides of lions, pack of hyenas.
Types of Social Behavior: Communication
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_____________________ : vocalizations to communicate with others in the social group. (calls,
vibrations, words, etc) Example: Meer cats, Rabbits, Humans
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_______________________________: a chemical that triggers a natural behavioral response in another
member of the same species.
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There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many others that
affect specific behavior. Example: Bees and Ants
Types of Social Behavior: Mating Behavior
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____________________________: behavior that males and females of a species carry out before mating.
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Helps identify ___________ or healthy mates of the same ___________________ to ensure healthy offspring.
• Examples: Dances, Gifts, Songs/Calls, Displays
Types of Social Behavior: Maintaining the Social Hierarchy
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_______________________________: a geographical area defended by an animal against others of the same
species. Often to defend a harem (or supply of mating females.)
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_______________________________: behavior used to intimidate another animal of the same species in order
to defend young, territory, (possibly a female(s)), or food supply.
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Example: Male cats urinate on or scent their territorial boundaries.
Marked by growling, bearing teeth, fronting or other vicious displays.
_______________________________: social ranking within a group where some individuals rank lower than
others; usually has one alpha or top-ranking individual.
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The Alpha has exclusive breeding rights and privilege whereas the Omega has little to none.
Example: Pecking Order, Pack Behavior, dominant male
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_______________________________: Best explained by a “kin” theory, animals try to maintain the survival of
others who share their genes. Proposed by William Hamilton. Altruists pass on genes indirectly, by helping
relatives who have copies of those genes to survive and reproduce.
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_______________________________: Some animals behave altruistically toward others who are not relatives.
Example: A wolf may offer food to another wolf even though they share no kinship. Such behavior can be
adaptive if the aided individual returns the favor in the future. Commonly used to human behavior.
Reflect: What type of behavior did your animal display? _________________________________________________