CAUSE, FUNCTION, EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NORMAL BEHAVIOUR Flashcards
Do domestic animals have variable behaviours
Yes when comparing them to other species
What are the functional attributes to domesticated animal behaviour
Nutrient capture
Body maintenance
Reproction
What are the functional groups of animal behaviour associated as
Survival behaviours
What does variation in behaviour reflect??
Ecological niche and domestic selection
What are tin Bergens 4 questions
Function
Evolution
Causation or mechanism
Development or otogeny
What is causation
Eliciting external stimuli
Neural mechanism causes the behaviour such as aggression
What are the two aspects of causation
What triggers the behaviour - internal or external eiornmnet
Bejhaviour is always the output of the tigger
Between the trigger and behaviour something occurs in the central nervous system to produce the behaviour
What is the key structure that activates aggressive responses
Peri Aquila grey regions
The MEA is also linked to PAG it is a critical part that produces the aggressive behaviour sequences
Evolution of behaviour is based on 3 underlying processes
Behaviour affects the survival and or reproduction of the individual
Behaviour is variable and affects/determined by genes
Behaviour genes are heritable
Is behaviour subject to natural selection creating evolution
Evolutionary behaviour - occured due to natural selection
There has to be a range of behaviours which is advantageous
Genes of behaviour that are advantageous are passed down to offpsring
What are genes specific to do?
Control behaviour
What is behaviour determined by?
Behaviour is determined by the physical body of the animal performing behaviour
What does it mean if there is physical limitations of an animal
The behaviours they show are limited - so sheep wont perform behaviours of a cat because their body doesnt allow them to
Can animals gain the same outcome of performing a behaviour?
Yes, as animals have to access food but it is done in so many ways. Some animals have to use tools to get food
What is embodiment
As anatomy evolves so does behaviour. Inextricably linked
Where do we infer the evolution for behaviour?
Palaeontology - morphological possibilities/limitations and ecological niceties
You can document morphology but not the behaviour
What is domestication
Is that processes by which a population of animals becomes adopted to man and the captive environment by some combination of genetics changes occurring over generations and environmentally induced developemental events recurring during each generation
What does Price et al 2002 statement say about animal domestication and behaviour
- does not assume that the genes and envrionement operate independently
- assumes that the captive environment is different from the wild ancestral environment - these differences are consistent over generations and allow evolutionary forces to change the gene pool
- however the humans can accelerate changes in the phenotype that might no occur in nature - by artificial selection of gene transfer
What is the species depended effect of domestication on behaviour
Loss of traits and /or exaggeration of traits
Why does loss of traits and/or exaggeration of traits occur with animals during domestication
Behaviour between domesticated on wild are a lot of different because of there environment so the changes the environment has a huge impact on. Behaviour
Why did we domesticate the pig?
Production rate more docile for human use and pigs
Don’t want the animals to be aggressive in the small area
Size of pig needs to be larger so thee is more meat
Does linked genes between wild phenotype and domestication animals have a fact of domestication?
Yes
Does the developmental experience of animals impact behaviours?
Yes when animals develop the experience of animals is different in domestication which impact what behaviours the offspring will produce in adulthood
What are the preadaptation for domestic behaviour
1 large gregarious social groups with dominance hierarchy
2. Non aggressive
3. Promiscuous matings
4. Ready to leave nest at once - precocial
5. Temperament - tameable
6. Limited agility
7. Generalist Eder or omnivorous - no special diets
8 - species who lend themselves to domestication
9 - solitary species that can be kept in a farm way
What are the reasons for domestication
Human need:
- control of food reduction
- clothing, labour transport
- religion
- protection against rodents
What is hybridisation in terms of domestication
Verifies the existence of differences - no information about the process or rate of development during domestication all problems of the comparative approach re choice of stock and possibility hetorsisis in cross breeds
What is the test of the comparison of leghorn and jungle fowl in a framing social maze test
- test areas in the form of a cross with each arm being 0.8 long X 0.5 wide
- two arms contained sunflower seeds mixed with wood ravings - needed t wor to obtain food
Other two arms is commercial layer food - normal diet
Results of leghorn and jungle fowl in foraging social maze
Initial tests with single birds failed due to isolation - 13 pairs of jungle fowl and 12 pairs of leghorn tested for 30 minutes
Before the horn model test leghorns pecked the ground more than jungle fowl
After the test jungle fowl walked and vocalised more than leghorns who stood alert for a greater length
What where the conclusion of the experiment on the ;egg horns and jungle fowls
Jungle fowl were more active in the maze and hawk test
Easier to induce tonic mobility
Leghorn less active in restraint tests - tying rope to leg
Reduced activity i leg horn interpreted as a correlated response to selection for productivity
Animal prefer to work for food - more reward
What is the maternal reactivity in domestic and wild (hybridisation) by spinal et al 2000
- 14 sows sired by either a Yorkshire or wild boar
- observed nursing behaviour
- play back of calls by trapped piglets
Humans in the nest test
-sows only differed in the genetics of the sire
What are other examples of behavioural loss during domestication
Etches 1996 - copulatory in male turkeys
Non broody behaviour in hens
There isn’t always a behavioural loss - there is an absence of key stimuli - name examples
Norway vs domestic rayt - burrow without stone - voice 1977
- broodiness in turkeys induced egg number - hale and scheming 1962
Is behaviour an additive effect of genotype and the environment
Yes domestic and wild Norwayrats dig burrows that are similar but domestic rats need a stone to dig under
How had domestication enhanced behaviours
Dogs back 2.3% times more than wolves
Linked genes tameness = barking
Human selection for guarding ability cause this?
Wolves rarely bark unless they are alert
Dogs bark for social attention in humans
Is selection for tameability related to neoteny?
Behavioural neoteny is prerequisite for rention for placid temperament into adulthood management systems provide many of the animal needs without the need for aggressive behaviours or attainment of social dominance
Is behaviour neoteny a prerequisite for retention of a placid temperament into adulthood?
Young animals may be conditioned to retain juvenile behaviours in positive rewards retard development of adult behaviours or mark their expression.
Do dogs show behavioural neoteny
Yes they do but it is not clear that this principle is even in other domesticated animals. Intense submissed and conciatory behaviours in the dogs towards humans = important adaptation to living with them
What happened in belayev - selection for tame behaviour in silver foxes
Recent work has lined an era t specific gene sorCS1 gene variant- kukekova 2018
Changes their colour
Primary effect of domestication on dogs
Docility
Fetching
Herding
Aggression
Primary effect of domestication on pigs, sheep, cows
Reduced reactivity docility but also production traits
Primary effect of domestication on behaviour on horses
Speed and reactivity performance
What has domestication done to developmental rates
Accelerated the the maturation
How does sexual maturation accelaerate with domestication
Selection under domestic environment
Absence of social competition from older, dominant
Relegated to better nutrients
Accelerated growth and maturation rates
Behaviour development
How does domestication work for development for post-natal
Domestication supposedly seeks precocial versu altricial spaces
One of the fundamental characteristics of the horse like so many ungulates is that is developmentally precocious in that it can be strong and moving after a short period of time
How do you test an animal is precocious by its internal mapping system - frig et al 1997
Accurately look. An object
Accurately reach for an object
In humans much of early development is centered around mapping systems nd in particular fine using mapping transforms that facilitate accurate
How do you test saccade and reach for development
Get animal to look or move body towards objects located in the area it can see
