Animal Behavior Flashcards
Behavior
actions in response to a stimulus
Behavior Ecology
study of animal activity with regard to fitness (reproductivity –> surviving in order to passing on genes)
Innate Behavior
inborn behavior (not develped/gained over time)
What are some examples of innate Behavior
fixed action pattern, migration, behavioral rhythms, animal signals and communication
Fixed action pattern
behaviors that begin and go through to completion when there is a stimuli (innate) so not learned
sign stimulus
the stimulus (cue for a behavior to happen)
Migration
move in usually large groups during a season from one location to another
how do animals know to migrate
based of the location of the sun or the stars, temp, magnitude of the earth, length of the day
behavorial rhythms
behaviors that are innate + done due to environmental cues
behavioral rhythms are due to what
length of the day
Animal signals and communication
1- signal: making stimulus for another organism to receive; this is not necessarily heard/interpreted/responded to
2- communication: when stimulus is made and other organism responds to it
Learned behavior
gained through observation/practce + gained through lifetime
examples of learned behavior
imprinting, spatial learning, cognitive maps, associataive learning, social learning, cognitive and problem solving
Imprinting
there’s a period of time in which animals will learn a behavior and keep it for the rest of its life
example of imprinting
duck sees mom and learns to follow that duck for the rest of its life
spatial learning
behavior that Is learned based on where things/objects in your environment
cognitive maps
Mental images animals recall where objects are
example of use of cognitive maps
how to get home from objects
Associate Learning
associating something in the environment with something else that you should do
example of associative learning
when the owner rings the bell, the dog comes and eats
Classical conditioning
making there be a connection between 2 environmental things that normally aren’t related
types of associative learning
classical conditioning and operant conditioning
operant conditioning aka
trial and error learning
trial and error learning
where an animal learns to do something based on getting reads for doing something good and a consequence for doing something bad
cognition
advanced form of learning because the organism is aware and is able to have judgement and remember something
problem solving
being able to solve a problem with information (using a method/process)
Social learning
learning by observationc
culture
system for passing on info through social learning –> done through teaching between organisms
foraging
looking for good
optimal foraging model
there’s a cost/benefit relationship between getting food (eating) and something bad such as wasting energy –> this model questions whether the cost is worth the risk
different types of mating systens
promiscuous, monogamous, polygamous
promiscuous
individuals of both sexes will typically mate with multiple individuals of the opposite sex
monogamous
one partner
how can you tell if an animal is monogamous
if you can’t really distinguish between the males and females
polygamous
one gender got ALLOTTTAAA hoes but not the other one
how can you tell if an organism is polygamous
if one of them is bigger and the other is smaller (male vs. female)
polygyny
only da male got a lotta hoes
polyandry
only da female got a lotta hoess
Sexual dimorphism
difference in shape and design between the genders of a particular species
mating systems
describes how and why males and females pair up when they wanna mate
Prenatal Care
care given to organisms (usually more focused on the padre) if the parent organism KNOWS FOO SHOUREE that the baby has their genes and they’d be taking care of their genes
intrasexual
males fight or size up to get a female
intersexual
male ask female if they wanna mate
what is better to determine if its ur kid external or internal fertilization and why is this relevant
external –> know its your kid so dad would stay bc they know it’s they’re genes they’re protecting and not someone elses
Altruism
friendly behavior towards other animals (even sometimes, when it causes harm to self)
purpose of altruism (why do animals bother doing it)
USUALLY to protect the young bc u alr passed down ur genes so now u js need to protect them
types of genetic bases of behavrio
altruism and inclusive fitness
inclusive fitness
organisms with similar genes [IN THE SAME SPECIES] will protect each other (put themselves at risk) bc they know that the other organisms can produce more fertile offspring than the singular organism themselves (protector)
hamiltons rule
altruists will sacrifice themselves if the related offspring has similar enough genes to it
reciprocal altruism
doing something and expecting something in return
what does the R represent in the Hamilton’s rule formula
relatedness
relatedness
proportion of shared genes
what does the B represent in the Hamilton’s rule formula
benefit of the recipient –> like how many offspring (copies of genes) were produced
what does the C represent in the Hamilton’s rule formula
cost to the altruist
play
organisms play fight and look like thye low-key hunting each other
