Ethology

Question 1

Konrad Lorenz

Answer 1

Founder of ethology

Nobel Prize in 1979

Question 2

Imprinting

Answer 2

In certain species (usually birds), the young attach to the first moving object that they see after birth

• following response
• affected by a critical period of learning

Question 3

Animal aggression

Answer 3

Lorenz argued that certain kinds of aggression were NECESSARY for the survival of a species (innate, not learned)

Question 4

Releasing stimuli, releasers, or sign stimuli

Answer 4

A releasing stimuli (often from one individual) elicits an automatic, instinctual chain of behaviours from an individual within a specific species

Question 5

Fixed Action Patterns

Answer 5

Instinctual, complex chains of behaviour triggered by releasing stimuli (sign stimuli)

Question 6

4 characteristics of fixed action patterns

Answer 6

1) uniform patterns
2) performed by most members of the species
3) more complex than simple reflexes
4) cannot be interrupted or stopped once begun

Question 7

Nikolaas Tinbergen stickleback experiment

Answer 7

Found that red-bellies were a SIGN STIMULUS for fighting

• models of sticklebacks w/o red bellies did not elicit aggression in other males
• crude models with red bellies DID elicit aggression

Question 8

Tinbergen gull experiment

Answer 8

• herring gull chicks peck at their parents’ bills for food, which have a red spot on the tip
• gulls pecked more at model bills with red spots than with no spots
• the greater the red spot contrast, the more frequent the pecking behaviour (supernormal sign stimuli)

Question 9

Supernormal sign stimuli

Answer 9

artificial stimuli that exaggerate the naturally occurring sign stimulus or releaser and are MORE effective than the natural releaser

Question 10

Karl von Frisch

Answer 10

Discovered the honeybee communication dance (waggle dance)

-The direction of the straight stretch contains the information about the direction of the food source, the angle between the straight stretch and the vertical being precisely the angle which the direction of flight has to the position of the sun. The distance to the food source is relayed by the time taken to traverse the straight stretch, one second indicating a distance of approximately one kilometer (so the speed of the dance is inversely related to the actual distance)

Question 11

Walter Cannon

Answer 11

Coined “fight or flight” and developed the idea of homeostasis

Question 12

4 Types of Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms

Answer 12

Serve to prevent inter-breeding between two different but closely related and possibly genetically incompatible species

1) Behavioural isolation – courtship that will only attract a member of the same species
2) Geographic isolation – different species breed in different areas to prevent genetic mixing
3) mechanical isolation – different species have incompatible genital structures
4) isolation by season – species mate during different seasons