Animal Behaviour Flashcards
The study of behaviour is called…
Ethology
Define: behaviour
Behaviour refers to the coordinated activities carried out by animals in response to both internal and external stimuli.
What is innate behaviour? Eg?
Innate or inborn behaviour refer to those that are not learned.
Eg:
Spider building a web
Suckling behaviour in newborns
Escape reflex shown by yabbies
Reproductive behaviours in males sticklebacks (fish)
Rabbits build nests and pull out their fur
Define: instinct
Is the innate ability to complete a specific behaviour pattern; no conscious intention is involved.
Types of learned behaviour include….
- Imprinting
- Habituation
- Associative learning
- Trail and error learning
- Observational learning
What is learning?
It is the modification of a behavioural response to a particular stimulus on the basis of previous experience.
What is imprinting?
Tendency for animals to follow or associate with a moving object that it sees during a sensitive period early in life.
This is a type of rapid learning commonly found in ground-nesting birds and some mammals.
Imprinting on the first object they see and hear after hatch, which is usually their parent.
Imprinting can usually only occur in a critical period of the animal’s life.
What is habituation?
A decline in the tendency to respond to stimuli have become familiar and have proved harmless.
What is associative learning?
Also known as classical conditioning. It refers to the transfer of behaviour from one stimulus to a completely new stimulus.
Eg: Pavlov’s dog
What is trial and error?
A form of learning based on previous experience, resulting in a task becoming easier to perform.
What is observational learning?
This refers to learning gained by watching the behaviour of others.
Eg:
Baboons learning by watching the behaviour of other baboons.
Separated dirt from food by placing it in water.
What is insight learning?
A complex form of learning usually associated with a relatively high level of intelligence.
Eg: Problem solving in humans.
Why is learning important for organisms?
Because it increases the chance of survival as it allows them to adjust to the changing environment.
What is communication?
Transmission of information between organisms.
How can organisms commute?
Sound, chemical (pheromones) (smell), tactile (touch), visual (body language)
What is a circadian rhythm?
A daily change.
What is a lunar cycle?
Occurs with the waxing and waning of the moon.
What is a circannual cycle?
A yearly rhythm.
Nocturnal
Sleep during the day, alert at night.
Diurnal
Alert during the day, sleep at night.
In mammals, what controls circadian rhythms?
Pineal gland and melatonin controls these circadian rhythm patterns.
Increased melatonin = sleep.
Feeding behaviours of carnivores and herbivores.
Carnivores, because of their high energy diet do not eat everyday.
Herbivores on the other hand must eat constantly to maintenance.
Cold- Dog shivers, shares body heat, curls in a ball.
Hot- dog pants, drinks water, inactive during the day, spreads out.
Why does it do this when it is cold?
Because the SA:V ratio is smaller when curled up in a ball as it has more volume.
Behaviour patterns are usually…. And what do they help the animal to do?
Adaptive. They help the animal to survive and/or reproduce.
