Animal Behavior Flashcards
Ethology
Study of behavior and it’s relationship to its evolutionary origins
Karl Von Frisch
Known for honeybee communication and the waggle dance description.
Niko Tinbergen
Known for elucidation of the fixed action pattern.
Konrad Lorenz
Famous for work with imprinting.
Fixed Action Pattern
highly stereotypic behavior that once begun is continue to completion no matter how useless; initiated by sign stimuli
Releasers
sign stimuli exchanged between members of the same species
Tinbergen and Stickleback Fish
FAP study that identified the red belly of intruder fish as the releaser for the stickleback fish. The stickleback will not attack an intruder without a red belly even if they’re competitor but will attack another fish with a red belly even if they are not a competitor.
Learning
Sophisticated process in which the responses of the organisms are modified as a result of experience. The capacity to learn can be tied to length of life span and complexity of the brain. If the animal has a short life span there is no time to learn so they will follow FAPs.
Habituation
an animal comes to ignore a persistent stimulus so it can go about its business; ex. if you tap the glass containing a hydra it will shrink away but if you continue to do it the hydra will begin to ignore it
Associative Learning
one type of learning in which one stimulus becomes linked to another through experience; classical and operant conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov; dogs began salivating to the sound of a bell because in the past the bell would be rung with the food
Operan Conditioning
Trial-and-Error; B.F.Skinner; an animal learns to associate one of tis own behavior with a reward or punishment and them repeats or avoids that behavior
Imprinting
Konrad Lorenz & Geese; Learning that occurs during a sensitive or critical period in the early life of an individual that is irreversible for the length of that period. Mother-offspring bonding are critical to safety and development of offspring.
Social Behavior
Any kind of interaction among two or more animals, usually of the same species. Include cooperation, agnostic, dominance hierarchies, territoriality, and altruism.
Cooperation
Enables individuals to carry out a behavior such as hunting they can do more effectively as a group.
Agnostic Behavior
Aggressive behavior; It involves a variety of threat or actual combat to settle disputes among individuals. These disputes involve both real aggressive behavior as well as ritualistic or symbolic behavior.
Dominance Hierarchies
Pecking order behaviors that dictate the social position an animal has in a culture. This is commonly seen in hens where the alpha animal controls the behaviors of all the others.
Territoriality
An area an organisms defends from which other members of the community are excluded. They are established using agnostic behavior.
Altruism
A behavior that reduces and individual’s reproductive fitness while increasing the fitness of the group or family. Ex. when a worker bee kills an intruder for the good of the queen bee.
