Animal Behavior
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.
– Example: Heat stimulates the lizard to seek shade.
Behavior Patterns
• Animals carry on many activities such as
getting food, avoiding predators, caring for
young, finding shelter, and attracting mates –
that enable them to survive.
– These behavior patterns, therefor have adaptive
value.
Inherited Behavior
• Inheritance plays an important role in the way
animals behave.
– An animal’s genetic make-up determines how that
animal reacts to certain stimuli.
• Example: Birds flying south for the winter.
Inherited Behaviors
• Natural selection favors certain behaviors.
– Individuals with behavior that makes them more
successful at surviving and reproducing tend to
produce more offspring than individuals without
the behavior.
• These offspring will inherit the genetic basis for
successful behavior.
Inherited Behavior
• Inherited behavior of animals is called innate
behavior. Two types of innate behavior:
automatic and instinctive behavior
– Example: As an insect moves across a toad’s line
of sight, the insect detector cells in the toads
retinas signal the brain, thus initiating an innate
response; the toads tongue flipping out to capture
the insect.
Automatic Response
• A fight-or-flight
response mobilizes the
• A reflex is a simple,
body for greater
automatic response to a
activity.
stimulus that involves
– Your body is being
no conscious control.
prepared to fight or run
(Simplest form of innate
from danger
behavior)
– Controlled by hormones
– Ex.: Touching something
hot and pulling your
hand back
and the nervous system
Instinctive Behavior
• An instinct is a complex pattern of innate
behavior.
– Instinctive behavior begins when the animal
recognizes a stimulus and continues until all parts
of the behavior have been performed.
Types of Instinctive Behavior
• Courtship behavior ensures reproduction
– Courtship behavior is the behavior that males and females
of a species carry out before mating.
• Territoriality reduces competition
– A territory is a physical space an animal defends against
other members of its species.
Types of Instinctive Behavior
• Aggressive behavior threatens other animals
– Aggressive behavior is used to intimidate another animal
of the same species.
• Submission leads to dominance hierarchies
– A dominance hierarchy is a form of social ranking within a
group in which some individuals are subordinate than
others. (pecking order)
Types of Instinctive Behavior
• Behavior resulting from internal and external cues
– Circadian rhythms are a 24 hour, light-regulated,
sleep/wake cycle of behavior. (keeps you alert during the
day and helps you relax at night)
– Migration is the instinctive, seasonal movement of
animals.
Types of Instinctive Behavior
• Behavior resulting from internal and external cues
continued
– Hibernation is a state in which body temperature drops,
oxygen consumption decreases, and breathing rates
decline.
– Estivation is a state of reduced metabolism that occurs in
animals living in conditions of intense heat.
Learned Behavior
• Learning, or learned behavior, takes place
when behavior changes through practice or
experience.
– Learning allows an animal to adapt to change, an
ability that is important for animals with long life
spans.
Kinds of Learned Behavior
• Habituation: A simple form of learning
– Habituation occurs when an animal is repeatedly given a
stimulus that is not associated with any type of
punishment or reward. Example: horses or cows
disregarding noisy cars.
• Imprinting: A permanent attachment
– Imprinting is a form of learning in which an animal, at a
specific critical time of its life, forms a social attachment to
another object. Example: duckling learning to recognize
their mother and follow her for food and protection
Kinds of Learned Behavior
• Learning by trial and error
– Trial and error learning is a type of learning in which an
animal receives a reward for making a particular response.
Examples: learning to ride a bike or birds using different
materials to build a nest until it is just right
– Motivation is an internal need that causes an animal to
act, and is necessary for learning to take place.
Kinds of Learned Behavior
• Classical Conditioning is learning by association
• Example: Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning
experiment
Kinds of Learned Behavior
• Insight: the most complex type of learning
– Insight is learning in which an animal uses previous
experience to respond to a new situation.