Animal Behaviour Flashcards
Describe what occurs with crows and toads.
Stun toads by dropping them from a height allows crows to kill toads without getting beak full of toxin. Crows grab toads by legs where toxin isn’t present
Describe the parental behaviour of black headed gulls with eggshells.
After eggs hatch, the broken empty egg shells are removed. Therefore remove a cue that signals to predators that eggs are present.
What three systems enable animals to behave the way they do?
- sensory systems: detect signals in environment
- motor system: perform movement and behaviour
- integrating system: links sensory and motor systems, behave appropriately to specific stimuli
How do worker ants distinguish between nest mates and other ants?
Use chemical odours
How do spiders locate their ant prey?
Use olfactory foraging cues. Attracted to alarm pheromone from ants
How do bats detect objects in space?
Objects in space located by echolocation. Direct sounds at object and detect echo.
How do moths detect bats?
Moth has ear with auditory receptors that reveal location of bat. Frequency of pulses tell them how close bat is. Moths therefore detect ultrasound
What is innate behaviour?
Behaviour that is performed the first time that an animal encounters the apppropriate cue for that behaviour
What is learned behaviour?
Behaviour modified as a result of animals experience of environment
What is an example of innate behaviour?
- stickleback male fish react aggressively toward red objects
- cuckoo chick rejects eggs of foster parent
What is an example of learned behaviour?
- digger wasps use location around nest to determine where it is
What is an example of both innate and learned behaviour?
Bird song
Why do female lions come into oestrus as the same time?
Cubs born synchronously more likely to survive because of communal sucking. Pheromones can influence other female lions
Why does new male when taking over a pride kill the cubs?
Killing cubs brings female into reproductive condition more quickly. Females will mate earlier. Therefore infanticidal males father more offspring.
Unfamiliar smell of cubs causes male to kill them
