animal behavior Flashcards
the way an organism reacts to stimuli in its environment
behavior
Behaviors that are controlled by genes do what if they help the organism survive?
they become more common and spread through a population
Behaviors that are controlled by genes do what if they harm an organism’s chance of survival?
they become less common through a population
behaviors that organisms are born with and are fully functional the first time they are displayed (3 terms)
innate
instinctive
inborn
behaviors acquired through an animal’s life, through experience
learned behaviors
Name the four major types of learning.
- habituation
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- insight learning
when an animal decreases its response to a stimulus when it is neither rewarded or punished
habituation
a stimulus produces a response through association with a positive or a negative experience
classical conditioning
an animal learns to behave a certain way through repeated practice with either a reward or punishment (trial and error learning)
operant learning
the highest form of learning, application of what has been learned in one situation to a totally new situation
insight learning
What is the most famous historical example of classical conditioning ?
Pavlov’s dogs salivating to a bell
What is the most famous historical example of operant conditioning?
Skinner’s box where animals got food for the right behavior and shocked for the incorrect behavior
when an animal recognizes the first thing it sees, smells, hears…
imprinting
when baby geese and ducks follow the first moving thing they see
imprinting
when salmon recognize the smell of the stream they hatched in and go back there to spawn
imprinting
when baby mice won’t mate with their litter mates because they recognize their smell
imprinting
a 24 hour cycle like the sleep and wake cycle
circadian rhythm
a seasonal behavior where an animal moves from one location to another usually following the food supply
migration
a behavior prior to mating to ensure that the organism is finding the correct mate (species)
courtship behavior
the area an animal travels over to find food
range
the area an animal defends
territory
a behavior to show dominance
aggression
a group of animals of the same species that live closely and interact cooperatively
society
the idea that helping relatives improves the chances of your genes surviving
kin selection
the passing of information from one organism to another
communication
Give examples of communication
visual signals
chemical signals
sound signals
language
chemicals used by animals to communicate with one another about territory or mating
pheromones
a complex system of sounds, symbols, and gestures that follows rules about sequence and meaning
language
