Lesson 10: Lorenz

Question 1

Who was Lorenz and what did he want to do?

Answer 1

• He was an ethnologist

- Wanted to investigate imprinting (instinct to attach to the first moving thing after they are born)

Question 2

What was his procedure?

Answer 2

• He took a clutch of Gosling eggs and divided them into groups
• One group hatched with their natural mom, and the others were hatched in an incubator
• The eggs in the incubator saw Lorenz first
• He then put the groups back together after distinguishing them

Question 3

What were his findings?

Answer 3

• Goslings divide themselves up, one group following their mom and the other following Lorenz. The goslings in the incubator did not recognise their original mom.
• Lorenz found that imprinting is restricted to an animals critical period.
• If a young animal is not exposed to a moving object during their critical period, they will not imprint. Their period is 2 days

Question 4

What were long term effects?

Answer 4

• Imprinting is long lasting and irreversible
• One of the geese that imprinted on him slept in his bed every night
• Early imprinting had an effect on later mate preferences (sexual imprinting).
• Animals will mate with the same object they imprinted on

Question 5

Evaluation (+/-)

Answer 5

+ Other studies support imprinting, One study demonstrated that chickens exposed to yellow rubber gloves during feeding in their first few weeks imprinted in the gloves

• It is more reversible that previously thought. The same study found that he could reverse the imprinting in chickens that tried to mate with rubber gloves. After spending time with their own species, they engaged in normal sexual behaviour