Biology, Seventh Edition
Solomon • Berg • Martin
Chapter 50
Animal Behavior
Copyright © 2005 Brooks/Cole — Thomson Learning
Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Behavioral ecology
• Scientific study of behavior in
natural environments from an
evolutionary perspective
• Behavior
–What an animal does
–How it does it
–Usually in response to stimuli from the
environment
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Proximate causes of behavior
• Immediate causes that permit a
specific behavior
• Genetic, developmental, and
physiological processes
• Answer “how” questions
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Ultimate causes of behavior
• Evolutionary explanations for
behavior
• Answer “how” questions
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Cost-benefit analysis to
determine whether a behavior is
adaptive
• Contribute to direct fitness
• Animal’s reproductive success
measured by the number of viable
offspring
• When benefits outweigh costs,
behavior is adaptive
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Behavior
• Results from the interaction of
innate behavior and environmental
factors
• Learned behavior
–Behavior is modified in response to
environmental experience
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Motor programs
• Coordinated sequences of muscle
actions
–Walking is an example
• Fixed action pattern (FAP)
–Automatic behavior that, once
activated, continues to completion
regardless of feedback
–Can be triggered by sign stimulus
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Egg-rolling behavior in the European
graylag goose
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Habituation
• Type of learning in which an animal
ignores a repeated, irrelevant
stimulus
• Imprinting
• Establishes a parent-offspring bond
• Ensures that the offspring
recognizes the parent
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Imprinting
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Classical conditioning
• An association is formed between
some normal body function and a
new stimulus
• Operant conditioning
• Learns a behavior by positive
reinforcement or to avoid
punishment
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Classical conditioning
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Operant conditioning
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Insight learning
• Ability to adapt past experiences to
solve a new problem
• Play
• May give young animals a chance
to learn and practice adult
behaviors
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Insight learning
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Biological rhythms
• Circadian rhythms are daily cycles
–Diurnal animals active in the day
–Nocturnal animals active at night
–Crepuscular animals active at dawn
and/or dusk
• In mammals, the biological clock is
located in the hypothalamus
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Migration
• Periodic long-distance travel due to,
for example, seasonal weather
changes
• Directional orientation
–Travel in a specific direction, which
requires compass sense
• Navigation requires both compass
and map sense
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Navigation by light and magnetic field
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Optimal foraging
• The most efficient strategy for an
animal to get food
• Often enhances reproductive
success
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Social behavior
• Adaptive interaction, usually among
members of the same species
• Animal communication involves
exchange of recognizable signals
• Pheromones are chemical signals
that convey information between
members of a species
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Optimal foraging and group size in lions
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Dominance hierarchy
• Ranking of status within a group
• More dominant members are
accorded benefits, often without overt
aggressive behavior
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Communicating dominance
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Home range
• Geographic area they seldom leave
but do not necessarily defend
• Territory
• Defended area within a home range
–Costs include time, energy, and risk
–Benefits include rights to food and
reduction in conflict among members
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Home range
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Society
• Group of individuals within the same
species that may work together
–Insect societies tend to be rigid,
narrowly defined, and with the division
of labor determined by age
–Vertebrate societies are more flexible,
with some species developing culture
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
Maintaining a complex social structure
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Sexual selection
• Polygyny
–A male mates with many females
• Polyandry
–A female mates with several males
• Monogamy
–Mating with a single partner
• Pair bond is a stable relationship
between a male and a female
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Biology, Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 50 Animal Behavior
• Helping behavior
• Cooperative behavior includes
reciprocal altruism
• In altruistic behavior, an individual
behaves in a way that benefits others
• Inclusive fitness
–Number of offspring and offspring of kin
–Kin selection increases inclusive fitness
through reproduction of close relatives
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