Animal
Behaviors
Innate and Learned
What is Behavior?
 Behavior
is anything an animal does in
response to a stimulus.
• A stimulus is an environmental change that
directly influences the activity of an organism.
Animals have different behaviors for different
reasons, like..
– Some they learn.
– Some they are born knowing how to do.
Behaviors
 Animals
behave in certain ways for four
basic reasons:
– to find food and water
– to interact in social groups
– to avoid predators
– to reproduce
Types of Behaviors
 An
instinct behavior is any behavior that
occurs naturally in all animals of a given
species.
Examples of instinct Behaviors
 Cats
- Hunting
 Spiders – Spinning Webs
 Birds – Building Nests
 Baby Birds – Opening their mouth to be
fed
Learned Behaviors
 Learned
behavior is behavior that occurs
only after experience or practice.



Learned behavior can be changed if
conditions change.
Humans depend on learned behaviors
more than any other species.
Learned = Aquired
Ways to learn
 Habituation
is learning to get used to
something after being exposed to it for a
while.
 Observational learning is learning by
watching and copying the behavior of
someone else.
 Conditioning is a way of learning that
involves a reward or punishment.