ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
CHAPTERS 5-7
LEARNED BEHAVIOR
• Learning
• Process that causes long-lasting changes in behavior as a
result of an experience the animal has
• Occurs in the nervous system so we cannot directly observe
learning occur
• If we cannot see learning occur how do we know it
happened?
• Overt changes in the animals behavior or performance of
tasks
• These are changes we might label as “improvements” to the
animal’s behavior
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Habituation
• Decrease or disappearance of a built-in, natural response
to a stimulus that occurs when the animal repeatedly
encounters the stimulus
• Adaptive value:
• This type of learning removes attention from nonessential information
so that the animal can respond to important events it is confronted
with. (It does not waste time and it conserves energy)
• Simplest form of learning
• Examples
• House pets response to cars and TVs
• A variety of species grazing together on the African plains
• Emperor penguins congregating in the thousands on the coast of
Antarctica
HABITUATION: HOUSE PETS
House pets often learn to
ignore the sounds of cars or
TVs in their environment
HABITUATION: PLAINS ANIMALS
HABITUATION: EMPEROR
PENGUINS
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Classical Conditioning
• Learning by association (positive and negative rewards)
• Takes advantage of an animal’s built-in response, or unconditioned
response (UCR) when a certain stimulus, called the unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) is presented
• Example:
• Pavlov’s dog with the ringing bell
• A dog will salivate (UCR) when food is put on its tongue (UCS)
• When this is coupled with ANOTHER stimulus, ringing of the bell (CS)
the dog will salivate when the bell is rung because it associates it with
food
• Stimulus  Stimulus  Response
• Adaptive value:
• Avoiding an area due to past predation
• An association is made between being attacked and the location
of the attack is made
• Which is our CS?
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Instrumental Conditioning
• Trial and error phase of learning
• Another type of learning by association
• Animal learns to associate a particular stimulus with a certain
response
• Example:
• My cat meowing in the morning to wake me up
• My cat hitting me with her paw
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Operant Conditioning
• Process of strengthening an associate response once it is
learned
•
•
•
•
Principle behind how animals acquire and perfect skills
Practice makes perfect
Stimulus  Response
Example:
• Skinner box
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Shaping
• Rewarding a behavior that is the most desired behavior
• Positive rewards are given to shape behavior
• Animal performs a task and is rewarded based on the success of the
task or behavior
• Continuing to reward the desired behavior reinforces it
• Example:
• Training circus animals
• Sheldon training Penny
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWyZHSZf3TM
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Aversive conditioning
• Negative stimuli is used to rid an animal of a specific behavior
• Punishment of an undesired behavior is a common type of aversion
training
• Important factors for using punishment
1. Intensity
• The stronger the better
2. Consistency
• Each time the behavior is exhibited
3. Immediacy
• Immediately after the behavior is exhibited
4. Suddenness
• Must be intense from the beginning
5. Brevity
• Brief punishment instead of long and drawn out
• Examples:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhI5h5JZi-U
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Insightful learning
• Combines previous learning from an unrelated situation to solve
a problem in a new situation
• Can result from a combination of trial and error with previously
learned behaviors
• Needs to be practiced or reinforced
• Examples:
• Chimps and boxes
INSIGHTFUL LEARNING
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-YWrPzsmEE
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Spatial learning
• Learning the layout of the environment and remembering
where activities took place or where objects were left
• Examples:
• Food caching
• Mental mapping
• Cognitive map
• Mental image of the area
• Birds are excellent at remembering where nuts are buried
• Mice are excellent at learning mazes
• Spiders remember where pray became stuck in their webs
SPATIAL LEARNING
TYPES OF LEARNING
• Observational learning
• Social learning
• Imitation of an observed behavior
• Bypasses the trial and error phase and allows animals to avoid the
hazards associate with trial and error type of learning
• Examples:
• Chimps who grow up around humans
• Birds learning songs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y
ADAPTIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS
• Instinctive drift
• Instinctive responses interfere with the conditioning process
• Examples:
• Pig pushing coin on floor
• Chicken scratching during unrelated task
• Raccoon and coins
ADAPTIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS
• Preparedness
• Each species has genetic predispositions to learn in certain
ways
• Genetics helps the process of learning
• Supported by
1. Avoidance behavior
2. Taste aversion
3. Parent-offspring recognition
ADAPTIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS
• Preparedness
1. Avoidance behavior
• Animals learn through classical and instrumental conditioning to
avoid situations that are painful or unpleasant
• Therefore animals will avoid situations that have caused pain in the past
• Many avoidance behaviors are instinctive (innate)
• Hawk silhouette
• snake
ADAPTIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS
• Preparedness
2. Taste aversion
• Making an association between illness and a certain food
• Example:
• If you eat macaroni and cheese and get violently sick shortly afterwards,
you may avoid this food in the future. Even the thought or smell of this
food may make you sick again.
• Occurs frequently in pregnant women
• Shellfish
• Eggs
ADAPTIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS
• Preparedness
3. Parent-offspring recognition
• The ability for animals to recognize their parent or offspring
• Example:
• Two species of swallows
• One species who build nests independently of others don’t learn to
recognize their young/parents
• Species who nest in large colonies together learn to recognize their
young/parent so that they are caring for the correct animals
CHAPTER 6
Foraging and Migration
FORAGING
• Refers to all behaviors that an animal uses to find and
capture the food it needs to survive
• Foraging can be studied using the method of cost-benefit
analysis
• In order for an animal to survive it must spend less energy
obtaining the food than the food itself provides to them
• Unlike reproductive outcomes, foraging events are short term
and scientists can measure calories taken in minus calories
spent during a given time period for the animal
LOCATING FOOD
• For many species, the primary problem in obtaining
food is finding it.
• Most food sources are not scattered evenly throughout the
environment, but are found in certain areas.
• Animals have evolved sophisticated sensory systems for
locating their food
• Sight
• Smell
• Sound
LOCATING FOOD
• Example: Honeybees
• Use vision to locate their food source, nectar
• Flowers have evolved to reflect a lot of UV light, which
attracts bees
• This is also a benefit for the flower because it relies on the bees
to transfer its pollen from flower to flower for reproduction.
• Coevolution
• When the evolution of one species depends on the
evolution of another species
• Flowering plants and insects have evolved together in
mutual dependence. The bee needs the flower’s nectar for
food, AND the flower needs the bees to transfer its pollen to
other flowers.
LOCATING FOOD
• Example : pika
• Will feed exclusively on mediocre to poor food sites near
their nests even though a meadow rich in roots and plants
may be nearby
• Why might this be? (Hint: look at this from a cost-benefit analysis
perspective)
LOCATING FOOD
• Search image
• When an animal gains experience finding one kind of food
they form a clearer image (or picture) of what it is looking
for, making it easier for the animal to spot its food
• Example:
• Predators get better at finding their prey with greater exposure to it
FOOD SELECTION
• In general, most animals have a diet consisting of a
wide range of food sources; however, they prefer
some kinds of food over others.
• Example: Howler monkeys
• Eat primarily leaves, but they don’t like all leaves
• While it might seem wasteful to avoid any leaves, some leaves are
toxic and low in nutrition
• Howler monkeys avoid the leaves that are toxic and have little
nutrition and seek out leaves that are non-toxic, even if it takes more
time
FOOD SELECTION: GENERALISTS VS.
SPECIALISTS
Generalists
Specialists
• Omnivores
• Eat many different
types of foods
• Oftentimes herbivores
• Eat only one of a few
types of foods
• Examples:
• Examples:
• Rats
• Wolves
• Bears
• Koala
• Giant panda
• Anteater
GENERALISTS
Advantages
Disadvantages
• Can easily switch from
one type of food to
another based on
availability
• Not highly efficient at
obtaining any 1 type of
food
• Find food in a short
period of time
• Take more time
capturing and
consuming their food
SPECIALISTS
Advantages
• Very efficient at
handling their food
Disadvantages
• Cannot switch to an
alternate food source,
even when theirs
becomes scarce
SPECIALISTS CONT.
Specialization of diet tends to evolve changes in the
species’ physical characteristics so that the body
may accommodate dietary changes
Examples:
• Koalas
• Eat and digest leaves that are poisonous to other animals
• Giant panda
• Thumb-like 6th digit to strip leaves from bamboo shoots
• Anteaters
• Sticky tongues and powerful claws to break open termite
mounds
FOOD SELECTION
Optimality modes
• Example: Starlings
• Starlings can make up to 400 trips per day looking for worms
• Would you want to take only 1 trip at a time? What is most
optimal?
• Load size increased with an increased distance between the
source of food and the nest.
• As distance away from the food source increases, it pays to get a
larger load of food each trip you make
ANIMAL CULTIVATORS
• Cultivators = farmers
• Example: leaf cutter ants
• Cut fresh leaves and take them to an underground nest. They do not
eat the leaves, instead they put them near a fungus. The leaves act
as a food source for the fungus and the ants then eat the fungus
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxnmh4IDYaU
STORING AND CACHING
• Storing
• Many animals store food by turning it into fat
• Examples:
• Penguins
• Seals
• Do you think this would beneficial for ALL animals to do?
• Caching
• Special chambers used for storing food
• Done by animals whose food source is not available year round
• Examples:
• Squirrels
• Chipmunks
MIGRATION
• Periodic journey to a specific location that alternates
with a return journey to the place of origin
• Typically occurs in the spring and fall seasons
MIGRATORY SPECIES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fish
Birds
Sharks
Whales
Butterflies
Cheetah
Seal
Eagle
…..
**Many of these species are endangered and are
protected by a migratory act**
MIGRATION: COSTS AND BENEFITS
• Benefits
• More mating opportunities
• Greater food supply
• Avoidance of predators
• Costs
•
•
•
•
Extra energy is required to make the long journey
Dangers in the terrain or from predators
Unstable weather patterns making travel hazardous
Competing for brand new territory every year
**Migrations are almost always related to food or “energy profit”
in some way**
MIGRATION: HOW DID IT EVOLVE?
• Evolved to enable an animal to breed in an area good
for breeding, but not good for year round survival
• Typical migratory pattern
• Move back and forth between a summer breeding area and a
winter denning area
• Most animals migrate north in the summer and south in the
winter
• Why not just stay south in the warmer climate?
• Reproductive benefits
• North= longer days, meaning more daylight available to find a mate
MIGRATION IN BIRDS
How do birds know when to migrate?
• Migrating birds are sensitive to light and can sense when
seasons change
• Amount of light decreases in fall and increases in spring
• The change in the amount of light causes the bird’s body to
release hormones that prepare it for migration
Why do birds fly in the “V”
pattern?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iGcYizc5yo
NAVIGATION IN BIRDS
Navigation
• Process that allows an animal to find its way from one specific
location to another
• All migratory birds have
1. Map sense
• Knowledge an animal has about its current location relative to the goal
of its migratory journey
2. Compass sense
• Knowledge about the direction it should travel in
• All birds use:
• Piloting
• Use of familiar landmarks or visual features in the environment
• Mountains, rivers, oceans etc.
NAVIGATION IN BIRDS
Birds have a variety of techniques that allow them to
navigate during migration
1. Sun compass
• Most common direction indicator for birds is the sun and its path
in the sky
2. Star position
• Use stars whose positions are fixed in the night sky, such as the
north star, in order to navigate
3. Geomagnetic cues
• Use of Earth’s magnetic field
• Birds have an “inner compass”(an organ in their head) that
helps direct them where to go
MIGRATION IN MAMMALS
Most mammals that migrate tend to do so in order to
obtain food, NOT to mate
• Examples of migratory mammals:
• Wildebeests
• Scattered over the eastern Serengeti Plain during the rainy season. When
this ends, they migrate west in search of new food and water sources
• Caribou
• When winter comes food on the Arctic tundra is frozen, so they must
migrate south in order to find more
• California gray whales
• Migrate north to the Bering Straits to obtain food and then back south to
reproduce
**Notice that only LARGE mammals are migratory. Small mammals very
rarely migrate**
CHAPTER 7
Predators and Prey
PREDATORS VS. PREY
• Predators
• Organisms that survive by eating other living animals
• Animals with eyes at front of head
• Includes large mammals to microscopic organisms including some
plants
• Prey
• Organisms that are eaten by other organisms
• Animals with eyes on side of head
• Includes animals and plants
• Coevolution (review)
• Predator and prey evolving together due to a mutual dependence
upon one another
• Examples:
• Flowers and bees
• Wolves and moose
PREDATOR BEHAVIORS—PREY
SELECTION
• Experience
• Learning what is dangerous and safe
• Generalist vs. Specialist
• Generalists—even thought they have lots of options
available, they may still have a preference
• Predators usually have a choice of prey
• Tend to pick old, young, sick, injured animals if available
• Example:
• Isle Royale
• 2% of the moose population has a lung disease. Of this 2%, half were
preyed upon
PREDATOR BEHAVIORS—LOCATING
PREY
• How do they do it?
• Vision, hearing, and smelling mostly
• Vibrations, sound waves, heat, pheromones, electricity, water
movement
• Can usually tell which one is used most by examining the
animal’s physical features
• Big ears, big eyes, heat sensors, large claws or nose etc.
• Usually have a deficiency in another sense
• Echolocation
• Use sound waves to hunt, navigate, and communicate
• Humans cannot hear this, but we can hear the clicks
• Examples:
• Bats, dolphins and whales
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoNDW0zSRNo
PREDATOR BEHAVIORS—CAPTURING
PREY
• Stalk and ambush
• Capable of large bursts of speed over short distances
• Cannot usually outrun their prey
• Examples
• Wolves, tigers, leopards, lions, owls
• Consistent pursuit
• Capable of long distance runs to outlast the prey
• Not good at surprising their prey
• Examples:
• African wild hogs, hyenas
• Some do both
• Examples: Cheetahs
• Can run up to 70 mph but not for very long, so they need to get
close and try to ambush prey 1st, then rest between kills
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIeXEiJuJUY
PREDATOR BEHAVIORS—CAPTURING
PREY
• Luring prey
• Make prey come to them
• Examples
• Angler fish, snapping turtle- use of tongue wiggles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6m-HMfQy-g
• Trap prey
• Examples:
• Spiders
PREDATOR BEHAVIORS—HUNTING IN
GROUPS
• Social carnivores
• Not every animal in that species hunt in groups
• Example: in a group of lions only the females hunt together
• Get less food per individual when hunting in a group
• So why do it?
• Territorial purposes
• Group predation in other species
• Work together to get more food
• Some live together, some are temporarily together—
offspring and/or mates
• Examples
• Some spiders, humpback whales, army ants
GROUP SPIDER BEHAVIOR
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQchOsAMj1c
PREDATOR BEHAVIORS– HANDLING
PREY
• Immobilization/ methods of killing prey
• Toxin, electricity, sever spinal cord, shake, suffocation etc.
• Many animals utilize the “head first rule”
• Example: Snakes will always swallow their prey head first after
immobilizing it
• Storing prey for later consumption
• In a tree, bottom of lake, wrap in silk, underground, etc.
PREDATOR BEHAVIORS– HANDLING
PREY
• Killer cone snail
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjHMGSI_h0Q
• Shrike
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq8MAEBP8Ac
• Catfish eating pigeon
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZwPG_x6QEk
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATION–
PRIMARY DEFENSES
• Primary defenses– something built into the structure
and behavior of the animal
• Always there, impossible to ignore or not use
• Example: Turtle shell, exoskeleton, tusks etc.
• Camouglage/crypsis– to have a color or visual pattern that
blends in with the environment
• Industrial melanism—moths
• Counter shading– marine mammals etc,
• Warning displays/aposematism
• Coloration designed to stand out as a warning
• Examples: skunks and monarch butterflies
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATIONPRIMARY DEFENSES
• Mimicry
• Imitating the body of a dangerous animal to gain that
advantage
• Mertensian mimicry– when the prey resembles something
dangerous to the predator
• Example: caterpillar resembling a snake, coral snake vs a scarlet king
snake
• Batesian mimicry– when the prey resembles an unpalatable
animal
• Example: Viceroy butterfly resembles the monarch butterfly
• Mullerian mimicry– when two unpalatable insects come to
resemble each other, each taking advantage of the shared
effect
• Example: Monarch and Queen butterflies
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATIONPRIMARY DEFENSES
Mertensian mimicry
Batesian mimicry
Mullerian mimicry
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATIONPRIMARY DEFENSES
• Disruptive coloration
• Breaks up outline
• Example:
• Tigers, zebras etc.
• Lifestyle
• Hide out of sight, come out during the opposite time of day as
predators, live I groups etc.
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATION:
SECONDARY DEFENSES
• Secondary defenses– occur when the animal is
faced with a predator
• Animal CAN choose to use them or not
• Flight
• Run, fly, swim or jump away to flee the predator
• For some animals it is the exclusive mode of secondary defense
• Developed highly proficient sensory organs and lightning reflexes, as
well as high running speed
• Stotting
• To jump high into the air with all four legs at once
• Example
• Thomson’s gazelles do this with cheetahs and African wild dogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr5Sru8gGSk
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATION:
SECONDARY DEFENSES
• Flagging behavior
• Parent birds acting injured to deter predators away from nest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaODt7SCsGk&feature=fvsr
• Tail falling off
• Often if an animal is caught by its predator it will allow part of its
body to fall off and then regrow it later
• Example: Lizards
• Toxins
• Use their own– skunks, bombardier beetles
• Borrow from food– dart frogs, hedgehogs
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATION:
SECONDARY DEFENSES
• Fight
• Some use when flight is no longer a possibility
• Protect young
• http://www.arkive.org/thomsons-gazelle/eudorcas-thomsonii/video11b.html
• Mobbing
• When a group of prey work together to save their young
• Example: nesting birds, meekcats to cobra
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFVvaptpFr0
DEFENSE AGAINST PREDATION:
SECONDARY DEFENSES
• Freeze
• Passivity and stillness to a high degree as a way to avoid being
eaten
• Example: baby deer and mammal young
• Tonic immobility
• Fake their own death
• Can last a few minutes
• Works when predators only attack and eat moving or resistant
animals
• Example: Opossum and hognose snake
EVOLUTION ARMS RACE
• Improvements in prey tactics to avoid being eaten
result in predators improving their method of
catching prey, which in turn cause the prey to
improve etc. etc. etc.
• Improves fitness of both species
• Coevolution all over again! 