W1 - Animal Behaviour (History, Analysis) [Dr. Madikiza] Flashcards

1
Q

Explain the history of animal behaviour?

A

People wanted to understand animals for exploitation of prey through hunting, domestication & scientific study.

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2
Q

Ways prey were & are exploited? (3)

A

• Hunting.
• Domestication.
• Scientific study.

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3
Q

Hunting?

A

= understand animal behaviour to better capture prey (from prehistory till today).

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4
Q

Domestication?

A

= understand animal behaviour to be able to train animals to do what they desire them to do (seen in horses, dogs, not cats).

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5
Q

Scientific study?

A

= understand animal behaviour for the purposes of answering Tinbergen’s questions.

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6
Q

People involved in scientific study to understand animal behaviour? (3)

A

• Lorenz.
• Tinbergen.
• von Frisch.

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7
Q

The history of animal behaviour began with ethology, why ethology?

A

Ethologists believed that in order to fully understand animal behaviour, an animal has to be in its natural environment (no manipulation).

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8
Q

Why the shift & diversification from ethology?

A

It’s because even though one could understand animal behaviour with the animal in its natural environment, a true scientist would want to quantify that/what they’re seeing & the only way one can do that is through laboratory settings & manipulation in a sense.

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9
Q

Approaches to behavioural studies? (2)

A

• Mechanistic approach.
• Ethological approach.

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10
Q

Mechanistic approach is AKA?

A

Comparative psychology.

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11
Q

Mechanistic approach attributes? (5)

A

• Physiological.
• Developmental.
• Quantitative.
• Laboratory-orientated.
• Manipulate the animal.

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12
Q

Ethological approach attributes? (4)

A

• Evolutionary.
• Comparative.
• Descriptive.
• Field-oriented.

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13
Q

Mechanistic approach answers which questions of Tinbergen? (2)

A

• What does the behaviour? (Causation)
• How did the behaviour develop? (Ontogeny)

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14
Q

Ethological approach answers which Tinbergen questions? (2)

A

• Function of behaviour? (Function/Survival value)

• How it evolved? (Phylogeny)

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15
Q

Niko Tinbergen?

A

= founder of Experimental ethology.

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16
Q

The 4 Questions of Tinbergen?

A

• Causation/Mechanism.
• Ontogeny/Development.
• Function/Survival value.
• Evolution/Phylogeny.

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17
Q

Questions asked under Causation? (3)

A
  • How does it work?
  • Which stimuli illicit the behaviour patterns?
  • What neurobiological, psychological or physiological mechanisms contribute or regulate this behaviour?
18
Q

Questions asked under Ontogeny? (4)

A
  • How did it develop?
  • How did the behaviour arise during the lifetime of the individual?
  • How does the development process work?
  • How does the environment influence the development of this behaviour?
19
Q

Questions asked under Function? (3)

A
  • What is the behaviour’s survival value?
  • Why does the behaviour exist?
  • Why does behaving in a particular way help the individual to survive & reproduce?
20
Q

Questions asked under Phylogeny? (2)

A
  • How did the behaviour evolve?
  • What factors might have been involved in molding this behaviour over the course of evolution.
21
Q

Tinbergen’s HOW questions?

A

= deal with the immediate/proximate causation of a specific behaviour (immediate explanation).

22
Q

Tinbergen’s WHY questions?

A

= focus on ultimate causation, ie., the evolutionary origin & purpose of a behaviour (long-term explanation).

23
Q

Level of analysis in the study of animal behaviour?

A

= involves answering questions on animal behaviour through the lenses of Tinbergen’s questions.

24
Q

Example that we used to analyze animal behaviour with Tinbergen’s questions?

A

Singing in male zebra finches.

25
Q

Causation/Mechanism?

A

= neural pathways, muscular & endocrine explanation for behaviour.

26
Q

What causes male zebra finches to sing? (3)

A

• Elevated blood concentration of estrogen.

• High rates of neural circuitry in certain brain areas (song areas).

• Muscles in the vocal cord vibrate to enable song production.

27
Q

Ontogeny/Development?

A

= explanations of how genetic inheritance & experience influence behavioural development, neural pathways, muscular and endocrine explanations for behaviour.

28
Q

What causes zebra finches to sing? (2)

A

• They sing because they have undergone puberty.

• They learnt their songs from their fathers.

29
Q

Evolution/Phylogeny?

A

= evolutionary (historical) explanations.

30
Q

Why do zebra finches sing?

A

Zebra finches might sing because they are finches & that all finches song because they have evolved from a common ancestral species that sings.

31
Q

Function/Survival value?

A

= explanations of how the behaviour increases survival and/or reproductive success.

32
Q

Why do male zebra finches sing/portray this particular behaviour?

A

It’s because this behaviour increases the chance of attracting female zebra finches and reproducing.

33
Q

Why do young salmon migrate to the sea? (2)

A

• Proximate explanations.
• Ultimate explanations.

34
Q

Things to note about genes? (3)

A

• Only expressed if the environment allows them to be expressed.

• Tie in to innate behaviour.

• Often used to explain Causative & Ontogenic explanations.

35
Q

Ethology?

A

= the scientific study of animal behaviour in natural conditions, which attempts to combine causal & functional explanations.

36
Q

Aims & Objectives of Ethology? (6)

A
  • Understand why animals behave the way that they do.
  • Understand the causes of behaviour.
  • The physiological mechanism that generates the action.
  • Study evolutionary history of behaviour.
  • Understand how the behaviour develops.
  • Study the range of behaviours prevalent in the animal kingdom.
37
Q

Atlantic salmon migration: Causation?

A

Increasing day-length & temperature trigger a suite of physiological changes, which in turn change the ontogeny and behaviour of the young salmon.

38
Q

Atlantic salmon migration: Ontogeny?

A

The salmon needs to reach a certain size to be able to migrate successfully, so it will have to wait until it is large enough.

39
Q

Atlantic salmon migration: Function? (2)

A
  • Enables salmon to exploit the richer food resources & large feeding areas in the sea.
  • Migrating salmon are larger, and therefore have a higher reproductive success through increased fecundity (in females) & superior ability to compete for females (in males).
40
Q

Atlantic salmon migration: Phylogeny? (2)

A
  • Different strategies practiced by ancestors are retained in current-day species.
  • Atlantic salmon share the migratory behaviour with closely related species.