Animal Behaviour Flashcards
what are tinbergs four questions?
why the animal does the behaviour
how its changed over evolutionary timescales
how it differs with age/experience
what factors lead to the behaviour happening
what are proximate causes of animal behaviour?
hereditry
genetic-development
develop of sensory motor systems via gene environment interactions
what are ultimate causes of animal behaviour?
historical pathways
events occuring over evolution to now
selective process shaping history of behaviour
usefullness of behaviour in terms of reproductive success
what is the mechanism behind hummingbird foraging?
they have memory for flower colour, location, content, number and time since last visit
why have prairie voles become monoganmus?
function - proximity of male increases chances of fathering offspring, also low density so if left would struggle to find another female
evolution - ancestral shift towards monogamy
development - if increased V1aR then more likely to mate with female partner rather than stranger
mechanism - vasopressin released during copulation
high oxytocin receptors which helps inforce pair bond
why do honeybees go through a change of roles and suggest some roles?
pack pollen, clean, forage, feed
change in role in response to environmental change
what happens if you give young bees juvenile hormone?
they start foraging sooner
what happens if you put older foragers in with young foragers and what happens when you add young?
inhibits foraging in young bees
young bees go foraging without a change in hormone
what happens to ground squirrel siblings reared apart?
less aggressive to one another
How do we know some blackcap warblers migrate to UK
migratory restlessness seen in amlen funnel
jumped in a westernly direction
what is filial imprinting?
when young imprint on first thing they see in the first day or two after birth/hatching
why is imprinting easy to study?
clear when its happened, short term, one off, easy to manipulate
what is sexual imprinting?
when animal forms an association with the species it will direct sexual behaviour too as an adult
what are the types of cues for imprinting?
visual - birds
olfactory - salmon (chemicals)
auditory - sea birds
what happens when you place young wasps in anothers nest?
unlikely to be agressive towards the unrelated females in which they were in the nest
whats cross fostering?
experiment with blue and great tits, swapped chicks - great tits mated with blue tits later in life
features used for mating?
colours extravegent nests parallel walking clumping round female fighting
what is mate guarding?
when males guard female so she doesn’t mate with any other males
dominance correlates positively with…
reproductive success
what are satellite males?
smaller males who wait for the larger mate to release sperm and then release their sperm, move in when female spawn
examples of satellite males?
ocellated wrasse and bluegill sunfish
how can females control mating?
choose; what goes into egg which sperm fertilises which male provides sperm how much care goes into embryo/offspring
how can males control mating?
the resources they transfer to females
courtship displays
sexual coercion
infanticide
what is polyandry?
when female mates with mutiple males and the males mind the babies
how do northwestern crow feed?
drop whelks from 5m, if it doesn’t break it would waste energy trying to get a new one
will a large mussel be worth it if it can’t be opened?
no
what is the negative aspect to feeding?
means exposure to predators
what happened to red knot populations after overfishing?
lack of food and so the birds that survived were a greater weight than the initial population - energy associated directly with fitness
what is the correlation between hunter/thief and fitness
needs an equilibrium point
what is the best pack size for wolves?
10-12
what are osprey nests?
information centres
how do leafcutter ants forage?
not at day and night due to parasitic fly
large ants at night
small during the day
trade off between energy gain for longer lifespan of large valuable foragers
ways to avoid being eaten?
groups - dilution effect
speed
aposematism
spines, bristles etc
