Ethology

Question 1

definition of ethology

Answer 1

“Ethology is the scientific and objective study of animal behavior, its causation and function”

Question 2

who are considered the founding fathers of ethology

Answer 2

nikolaas tinbergen, konrad lorenz, karl von frisch

Question 3

what is animal behavior?

Answer 3

“Animal behavior includes all the ways animals interact with other organisms and the physical environment”

Question 4

what does animal behavior include?

Answer 4

• simple forms (muscle contraction)
• complex forms (birds migrating over the world)
• individual reaction to a stimulus

Question 5

reactivity to predators or social stimuli

Answer 5

• Fight, flight, or freeze
• Primary defense mechanisms (hiding in holes, mimicry of inedible objects, timing activities)
• Secondary mechanism (when predator is detected) (exaggerating primary defense, withdrawal to a safe place, feigning death)
• Reactive behavior (reflex, vocalization, agonistic, displays, defensive actions)

Question 6

feeding and drinking behavior

Answer 6

• foraging
• initiation (when behavior starts, depends on: rhythms, social factors, body state)
• rate of ingestion will limit intake (depends on: quality of food, availability of water, disturbance, physiological factors (gut size), meal size correlated with interval before following meal)

Question 7

body care behavior

Answer 7

o Grooming
o Defecation and urination in a disciplined and selective way
o Sheltering from wind and sunshine
o Bathing and wetting the body in heat

Question 8

locomotory behavior

Answer 8

o Essence of behavior is bodily movement because all functional systems incorporate movement

Question 9

exploratory behavior

Answer 9

o Strongly motivated to explore a new environment
 Water, food, other individuals
 Effective anti-predator behavior

Question 10

spacing behavior (territorial)

Answer 10

• individual space
• home range and territry (when area is defended it is called a territory)

Question 11

resting and sleep behavior

Answer 11

• energy conservation
• idling (stationary standing, waiting for milk)
• drowsing (stable state of wakefulness with signs of light sleep with head movement and eye closure)
• resting
• sleeping

Question 12

social behavior

Answer 12

• active way in which individuals associate with each other (basics for learning, breeding groups)

Question 13

stability of social relationships depends on

Answer 13

 Recognition between individuals
 Established social positions
 Memory of social encounters which establish social status
 Memory of observations of the behavior of social group members

Question 14

reproductive behavior

Answer 14

• induction requires processes of maturation and stimulation
• depends on hormonal state and sensory stimuli
• temperature, biological/inherent rhythm

Question 15

early and parental behavior

Answer 15

• Fetal behavior (related to fetus)
• Parturient behavior (related to birth)
• Maternal behavior (related to parenthood)
• Neonatal
• Juvenile
• Play behavior

Question 16

advantages of liviing in a herd

Answer 16

o Protection: predation avoidance, increased vigilance
o Safety in terms of numbers when they are fleeing

Question 17

anthropomorphism

Answer 17

• Attribution of human characteristics to other animal, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects, or abstract concepts
• Very popular in the film industry
• Does not happen a lot in farm animals because we do not train them as much

Question 18

what is learning?

Answer 18

“Learning is a change in the brain, which results in behavior being modified for longer than a few seconds, as a consequence of information from outside the brain”

Question 19

stimuli in animal behavior

Answer 19

• A stimulus is a change in the environment that produces a behavioral response
• Stimuli may include the sight of food, the sound of predator, smell of a mate
• Animals respond to stimuli

Question 20

classifications of learning

Answer 20

• non-associative learning (imprinting, habituation, sensitization)
• associative learning (classical conditioning, operant conditioning)

Question 21

non-associative learning

Answer 21

o Modification of response to existing stimulus or animals change their response to a stimulus without association with a positive (food) or negative (pressure) reinforcement

Question 22

imprinting

Answer 22

• first kind of scientific study into this kind of learning by konrad lorenz (with ducklings)
• refers to a ciritical period of time early in an animal’s life when it forms attachments and develops a concept of its own identity

Question 23

habituation

Answer 23

 Occurs when animals are exposed to the same stimuli repeatedly, and eventually stop responding to that stimulus (animal stops being scared of plasitc wrap)

Question 24

sensitization

Answer 24

• opposite of habituation
• animals learns to react more often or more strongly to a repeated stimulus
• electric wire

Question 25

classical conditioning

Answer 25

 Involves transferring learned signals to more subtle versions of the same signal or to entirely new cues (the animal is learning associations between events or stimuli)
 Two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal

Question 26

operant conditioning

Answer 26

 Describes training the animal to respond consistently to signals provided by the human, in hand or under saddle, through reinforcement (the animal is learning from the consequences of their behavior)
 An association is made between a behavior and a consequence

Question 27

operant conditioning - positive reinforcement

Answer 27

addition of a reinforcing stimulus following a behavior that makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again

Question 28

operant conditioning - negative reinforcement

Answer 28

something uncomfortable or otherwise unpleasant is taken away in response to a stimulus (removal of pressure)

Question 29

operant conditioning - punishment

Answer 29

• negative: food gone
• positive: beating
• an aversive event that decreases the behavior that it follows

Question 30

relevance of understanding animal behavior in daily management

Answer 30

• Be aware what training principles you may (subconsciously) apply
• Think about what and how you want the animal to learn
• Think from the animal’s perspective
• Optimize animal husbandry accordingly