Animal Behavior Notes!

ETHOLOGYthe study of animal behavior with emphasis on the behavioral

patterns that occur in natural environments.

Pioneers in the Study of Animal BehaviorKarl von Frisch Niko Tinbergen Konrad Lorenz

Behavior• What an animal does

& How an animal does it!

• Think of all of the behaviors of your pet...or a friends’ pet. List them and classify them as either being genetically “innate” or learned.

Behavioral Ecology

• Behavioral Ecology emphasizes evolutionary hypothesis.

• Based on the fact that animals will act in a way that will increase their Darwinian fitness. What does “fitness” refer to in Darwinian terms?

What is evolutionary fitness?

• Evolutionary fitness measures how many viable, fertile offspring an individual (or an allele) leaves in the next and subsequent generations, relative to others in the population.

Adaptive behavior• An adaptive behavior increases an

individual’s evolutionary fitness relative to other individuals in the population.

When we observe behavior we may ask

both proximate & ultimate questions

Proximate questions about behavior

• Proximate questions address the mechanisms that produce a behavior: the environmental stimuli that trigger a behavior and the genetic and physiological mechanisms that make it possible.

• For example,– How does an animal carry out a

particular behavior?

Ultimate questions about behavior

• Ultimate questions address the evolutionary significance of a behavior: how a behavior increases the evolutionary fitness of the animal demonstrating it, helping it to survive and reproduce in its environment.

• For example,– Why does the animal show this

behavior?

Niko Tinbergen

Suggested 4 questions that must be answered to fully understand any behavior.

These questions are either ultimate questions or proximate questions.

Proximate vs Ultimate

• What is the mechanistic basis of the behavior, including chemical, anatomical, & physiological mechanisms?

• What is the evolutionary history of the behavior?

• How does development of the animal, from zygote to mature individual, influence the behavior?

• How does the behavior contribute to survival & reproduction (fitness)?

PROXIMATE

ULTIMATE

PROXIMATE

ULTIMATE

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Q#1: Red-crowned cranes breed in spring and early summer. Choose a proximate explanation:

A. Breeding is most likely to be successful in spring and early summer.

B. Increasing day length triggers the release of breeding hormones.

C. Ample food is available for chicks at this time.

Increasing day length triggers the release of breeding hormones.

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A. Breeding is most likely to be successful in spring and early summer.

B. Hormonal changes in the spring trigger breeding behaviors.

C. Breeding is triggered by the effect of increased day length on the birds’ photoreceptors.

Q#2: Red-crowned cranes breed in spring and early summer. Choose an ultimate explanation:

Breeding is most likely to be successful in spring and early summer.

Two Classifications of Behavior –

• ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE1. innate behaviors

• automatic, fixed, “built-in”, no “learning curve”

• despite different environments, all individuals exhibit the behavior

• ex. early survival, reproduction, kinesis, taxis

2. learned behaviors• modified by experience• variable, changeable • flexible with a complex & changing

environment

Innate behaviors

• Fixed action patterns (FAP)– sequence of behaviors

essentially unchangeable & usually conducted to completion once started

– sign stimulus• the releaser that triggers a

FAP

Innate: Fixed Action Patterns (aka: sight stimulus)

Digger wasp egg rolling in geese

What about other objects?

Sphex wasps drop paralyzed insect near the opening of the nest. Before bringing the prey into the next the wasp goes in to inspect. If the prey gets moved the wasp will get it again & do the same thing over.

Innate: Directed & Undirected Movements

Kinesis: change in speed of an animal’s movement in response to a stimulus. -speeds up in unfavorable environment -slows down in favorable environment

Taxis: movement towards or away from the stimulus

Innate: Migration

Long-distance, seasonal movement of animals. -usually a response to seasonal availability of food or environmental changes

Konrad Lorentz

He examined animals in their natural environments and concluded that instinct plays a key role in animal behavior

From his observations Lorenz established the concept of imprinting, the process by which an animal follows an object, normally its biological mother. He found that for a short time after hatching, chicks are genetically inclined to identify their mother’s sound and appearance and thereby form a permanent bond with her.

Imprinting-occurs with visual and chemical stimuli

Who???

ImprintingCRITICAL PERIOD-short window of time

for imprinting to take hold

Learned Behavior

• Associative learning– learning to associate

a stimulus with a consequence

Operant Conditioning – Trial and Error Learning

Big Bang Theory video clip

B.F. Skinner

Classical Conditioning

Attack of the Quack

Ivan Pavlov

Spatial Learning• Associative learning:

– Animals associate attributes of a location (landmarks) with the reward it gains by being able to identify and return to that location.

Nikolass Tinbergen- observed wasps used pine cones as markers to locate their nest.

When Tinbergen removed the pine cones the wasps were unable to locate their nest.

Learning: Habituation

Puppy Habituation

Observational Learning

• Animals copy the behavior of another animal without having experienced any prior positive reinforcement with the behavior.

Learning: Insight- Problem-solving• Do other animals reason?

crow

Survival Responses

• Fight or flight response– Triggered by stress

• Adrenaline is produced which dilates the blood vessels, increases heart rate, increases the release of sugar from the liver…

• Avoidance response– Avoid stressful situations

• EX: areas where predators can hide or areas with little camouflage, unknown organisms, or things in their environment that appear inappropriate.

Survival Responses• Alarm Response

– Triggered when presence of a predator or other animal that’s a threat is detected.

– Warning is given for other in their group.

Foraging Behaviors

• Herds, flocks, & schools– Most in a group are hidden– Individuals in the group can trade off jobs

(foraging and watching for predators)– Can mob their predator and protect their young

• Packs– Corner and attack prey with much success

Social Behavior

• Agonistic Behaviors• Dominance Hierarchy• Cooperation• Altruistic Behavior

Altruistic Behavior

kin selection• increasing survival of close relatives

passes these genes on to the next generation

How can this be of adaptive value? Warning Calls

Agonistic behaviors

Lizard Behavior

Competition for food, mates, or territory

Dominance hierarchy

Indicate power and status relationships among individuals in a group.

-minimizes fighting for food and mates

Communication/Language

Two major discoveries about honey bees.

First, he demonstrated that honey bees have color vision.

Karl von Frisch

He trained bees to feed on a dish of sugar water set on a colored card. He then set the colored card in the middle of an array of gray-toned cards

State a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis

Watch Bee Dance video

Second, he showed that honey bees use a dance language to communicate food locations to other bees.

Communication by song

Communication by scent

Female mosquito use CO2 concentrations to locate victims

Spider using moth sex pheromones, as allomones, to lure its prey