Sustainability and Interdependence - Social Behaviour Flashcards
appeasement
behaviour
submissive positions and gestures used to diffuse hostile situations e.g. lowering body parts, covering teeth, avert gaze
subordinate individual
alliances
relationships between members of a group which help to increase the social status of an individual
altruism
behaviour which harms the donor but benefits the recipient
cooprative hunting
- group of oraganisms working together to find and catch prey
- energy used per individual is decreased
- increases hunting success
- allows larger prey to be hunted
- more food gained (than hunting alone)
e.g. wolves, lions, chimps
dominant
social hierarchy
individual which displays ritualistic threat behaviour to intimidate other members of the group
kin selection
behaviour that appears to be altruistic between a donor and recipient that are related and indirectly benefits the donor by increasing the chances of survival of shared genes in future generations
parental care
definition
social behaviour where adults provide their offspring with food, protection and transport
social hierarchy
what is it? what are the benefits?
- rank order within a group of animals consisting of a dominant and subordinate individuals
- increases chance of species survival
- increases chance of dominant favourable genes being passed to offspring
- reduced aggression between group members
- garunteed experienced leadership
social defence
- some individuals watch for predators whilst others can forage for food
- many individuals can better fend of predators
- more likely to detect predators
- more difficult for predators to pick off an individual in large groups
increases chance of survival
reciprocal altruism
idea that the roles of the donor and recipient will later reverse
requires members of group to be intelligent e.g. vampire bats
social insects
what are they? what behaviours do they have?
live in large groups with complex social behaviours such as:
- cooprative care of young
- parents and offspring live together
- development of caste system
caste system
social insects
- queen - one female produces all the eggs
- workers - many sterile females build the nest, collest food, and rear young
- soldiers - sterile females protect the colony
- drones - many males mate with the queen
e.g. ants and bees (do not have soldiers)
benefits of insect social behaviour
- all share the same mother so have lots of genes in common
- display kin selection to help the colony survive
parental care
primates - how does this aid survival?
long period of parental care allows young primates to learn complex social behaviours such as hunting, foraging, and recognising danger
