Behaviour

Question 1

What is animal behaviour?

Answer 1

Animal behaviour is an observable action taken by an animal, this may involve whole body movements e.g. run, feed, mate. Or specific movements e.g. pupil dilation, cell pigmentation

Question 2

What is animals aim of life?

Answer 2

To survive long enough to reproduce and pass on their genes to offspring

Question 3

What are some examples of hyperactivity?

Answer 3

High energy
Constantly needing to move
Impulsive and easily distracted 
Can become aggressive 
On high alert at all times

Question 4

Where is hyperactivity commonly seen?

Answer 4

Commonly seen in captive and domestic animals , very unusual to see in wild animals

Question 5

What can cause hyperactivity?

Answer 5

Breed
Environment
Diet
Disease

Question 6

What are examples of excessive inactivity?

Answer 6

Very lethargic
No energy to move
Slow movements
Can be obese

Question 7

Where is excessive inactivity usually seen?

Answer 7

Usually seen in captive and domestic animals, very unusual to see in wild animals

Question 8

What can excessive inactivity be caused by?

Answer 8

Diet
Disease
Environment

Question 9

What are stereotypical behaviours?

Answer 9

Repetitive behaviours that seem to serve no purpose

Question 10

What are some examples of stereotypical behaviours?

Answer 10

Wind sucking, crib biting , weaving, box walking- horses
Scratching, tail chasing, paw biting, over grooming- dogs
Over grooming, pacing, scratching- cats
Feather plucking , bobbing, self mutilation- parrots

Question 11

Where are stereotypical behaviours usually seen?

Answer 11

Captive and domesticated animals

Question 12

What are some causes of stereotypical behaviours?

Answer 12

Environment
Breed
Diet
Disease

Question 13

What are displacement behaviours?

Answer 13

Re-directed behaviours which are performed when the animal is anxious. They are to provide self comfort or to deter other animals. Not all displacement behaviours are abnormal, most are normal and are good indicators of mild stress or anxiety

Question 14

Examples of displacement behaviours

Answer 14

For dogs-
Sneezing, yawning,shaking head, sniffing ground, scratching, eyes wide
For cats-
Yawning, looking away, scratching, licking, grooming

Question 15

What is the common cause of displacement behaviours?

Answer 15

Environment

Question 16

What are the 3 main causes if atypical/abnormal behaviour?

Answer 16

Confinement
Unsuitable environment
Inappropriate social group

Question 17

What are the behaviours that may differ between wild and captive animals?

Answer 17

Social behaviour
Reproductive behaviour 
Feeding behaviour
Predator avoidance 
Sleeping patterns and hibernation 
Activity levels 
Migration

Question 18

Social behaviour to consider

Answer 18

Solitary or social
Group structure e.g. Alpha, matriarch
Territorial or resource guarding
Complex groups or communication

Question 19

Reproductive behaviour to consider

Answer 19

Courtship behaviour 
Competition for mates 
Pair bonding, for life or not 
Specific conditions needed
Number required to help rear young

Question 20

Feeding behaviours to consider?

Answer 20

Type of diet

Method of hunting and or foraging

Question 21

Predation avoidance behaviour to consider

Answer 21

Different methods of avoidance e.g. fight or flight

Need to avoid predators in captivity

Question 22

Sleeping behaviours to consider

Answer 22

Whether they are nocturnal, diurnal or crepuscular
How many hours they sleep
Hibernation patterns

Question 23

Activity level and migration behaviour to consider

Answer 23

How active the animals are
How far they travel
When are where they migrate

Question 24

What is the definition of duration of behaviour?

Answer 24

How long a behaviour lasts for

Question 25

Is a state a behaviour pattern of long or short durations?

Answer 25

Long

Question 26

What is scan sampling?

Answer 26

Where a whole group of animals are quickly scanned at regular intervals and the behaviour of each individual is recorded

Question 27

What does frequency mean?

Answer 27

How often/amount of times an animal displays a certain behaviour

Question 28

What is a state?

Answer 28

Behavioural pattern of long durations

Question 29

What is an event?

Answer 29

Behavioural patterns of relatively short duration which can be seen as points in time

Question 30

What is an instantaneous recording?

Answer 30

Measuring the behaviour on the instant e.g. noting behaviour every 30 minutes

Question 31

What is a continuous recording?

Answer 31

Recording each occurrence of the behaviour with information about the time of the behaviour e.g. walking 1.33-1.43

Question 32

What is focal sampling?

Answer 32

All behaviours of one individual are recorded in a specific time frame

Question 33

What is behaviour sampling?

Answer 33

When you are recording the group of animals doing one behaviour at the same time

Question 34

What is an ethogram?

Answer 34

A catalogue of the different behaviours observed in an animal

Question 35

How do you write an ethogram?

Answer 35

Choose your animal 
Make a list of behaviours you see
Observe animals using notes videos and photos 
Put all info into the table 
Write codes for each behaviour if needed

Question 36

What is nature

Answer 36

Provides animals with instinctive/ innate behaviours

For example the animal is genetically predisposed to behave a certain way

This behaviour is mainly fixed despite environment and parental influence

Question 37

What is Nurture

Answer 37

Environment will shape this in the form of learning

Behaviour which is learnt either from parents sibling family or their environment

Question 38

What is instinctive/innate behaviour?

Answer 38

An inborn pattern of behaviour this is characteristic of a species and is often a response to a specific environmental stimuli

Question 39

What is learned behaviour?

Answer 39

Is a behaviour that must be directly taught or learnt fro, experience. It will not be there when first exposed to stimuli

Question 40

What is trial and error?

Answer 40

Is leaning in which an animal comes to associate particular behaviours with the consequences they produce
This tens to reinforce the behaviour, ie the behaviour is likely to be repeated if the consequences are pleasant and positive but not if they are negative and unpleasant

Question 41

What is observational learning?

Answer 41

When one animal can watch the actions of another and learn from those actions. This may be as simple as learning a location of a food source or learning a sequence of actions that needs to be taken in order to earn a reward. For example blue tits learnt to rob cream from the top of milk bottles during the early part of the 20th century

Question 42

What is cultural behaviour?

Answer 42

Animal culture describes the current theory of cultural learning in animals through socially transmitted behaviours. Culture is a process rather than an end produce. It involves the social transmittance of a novel behaviour both among peers and between generations. This behaviour is shared by a group of animals but not necessarily between separate groups of the same species

Question 43

What is parental/ social teaching

Answer 43

Social learning involves the transfer of information from a more experienced individual to a naive one. Social learning is fundamentally different from individual learning or asocial learning. Social learning is most beneficial in stable environments in which predators, food and other stimuli are not likely to change rapidly