W4: Animal Behaviour (The Development Of Behaviour) [Dr. Madikiza]

Question 1

Factors that influence the development of behaviour? (5)

Answer 1

• Development of the nervous system.
• Hormone environment.
• Morphological changes.
• Experiential causes.
• Physical environment.

Question 2

Development of the nervous system?

Answer 2

= patterns of behaviour emerge in parallel with the neural structures necessary for their performance.

Question 3

Egs of Development of the nervous system? (3)

Answer 3

• Behavioural development in Atlantic salmon.
• Metamorphosis.
• Hatching behaviour in chicks.

Question 4

Explain Behavioural development in Atlantic salmon? (2)

Answer 4

• Development of the nervous system is important to trigger the development of the behaviour.
• Shows that behaviour starts to develop while the animal is in embryonic stages (before hatching) & continues after hatching.

Question 5

Explain Metamorphosis? (2)

Answer 5

• Behaviour changes that form throughout the cycle & are restricted to a particular stage are all influenced by the echinosteroid.
• Echinosteroid erases certain behaviours/morphologies for one stage to accommodate a behaviour for another stage (neural pathway has modified the behaviour for another stage).

Question 6

Explain Hatching behaviour in chicks? (2)

Answer 6

• During certain stages of the hatching process, the chick exhibits particular behaviours (stereotype behaviours) due to the neural pathways established, however after hatching, the stereotypical behaviours are no longer exhibited even though the neural pathways are still there.
• After hatching, the neural pathways are not there to perform the same behaviour but are now present to modify it for another purpose (eg, walking after it has hatched).

Question 7

Hormone environment?

Answer 7

= exposure to certain hormones affect the neural pathways that are established.

Question 8

Eg of Hormone environment?

Answer 8

Effects of hormones in mice.

Question 9

Explain Effects of hormones in mice? (3)

Answer 9

• Female mouse showing position of reproductive system.
• Female embryo surrounded by 2 males will be influenced in terms of their hormone profile as the androgen seeps into their embryonic sac. This will result in the female exhibiting male behaviour such as aggression & being more masculine.
• Exposure to estrogen for males positioned between 2 females has less of an effect on males as estrogen is secreted in smaller concentrations than androgen. Therefore, it will have less of an effect than that of when a female is between 2 males.

Question 10

Morphological changes?

Answer 10

= involves the different morphological changes required for the development of behaviour.

Question 11

Egs of Morphological changes? (2)

Answer 11

• To fly an organism needs wings.
• To walk an organism needs legs.

Question 12

Experiential causes?

Answer 12

= involves how an organism’s behaviour changes or develops with experience/as they gain experience.

Question 13

Eg of Experiential causes?

Answer 13

Mice being exposed to cinnamon & cocoa.

Question 14

Explain Mice being exposed to cinnamon & cocoa? (2)

Answer 14

Mice showed preference due to experience with different foods as if the food was good, it would show a preference towards it, but if it was not good, it would not show a preference towards that food.

• Therefore, illustrating that as an organism gains experience with different foods during its development, it will development its behaviour through its preferences.

Question 15

Physical environment?

Answer 15

= illustrates how the type of physical environment that organism is exposed to will influence the kinds of behaviours they will development in their life.

Question 16

Egs of Physical environment? (2)

Answer 16

• Standard laboratory environment.
• Enriched laboratory environment.

Question 17

Standard laboratory environment attributes? (3)

Answer 17

• Animal is in a cage on its own.
• Environment is not conducive.
• Stereotypical behaviours are shown such as knocking of head on cage.

Question 18

Enriched laboratory environment attributes? (3)

Answer 18

• Animal is surrounded by other animals of its kind.
• Environment is conducive for the animal.
• Neural pathways expand, the brain mass increases & new non-stereotypical behaviours develop.

Question 19

Critical periods?

Answer 19

= times in early development that are characterised by rapid changes in organisation.

Question 20

Critical period is AKA? (3)

Answer 20

• Sensitive period.
• Susceptible phase.
• Sensitive phase.

Question 21

Why are critical periods important?

Answer 21

It’s because they are times when an animal has the opportunity to gain knowledge from its parents, which is important for species recognition.

Question 22

Egs of Critical periods & why they are important? (2)

Answer 22

• Salmon migration.
• Song learning in white-crowned sparrows.

Question 23

Explain Salmon migration? (3)

Answer 23

• Young salmon learn odour of the natal water during the critical period.
• Young salmon learn the characteristics of their environment during the critical period.
• HSOB (Home Stream Olfactory Bouquet) is used to identify their natal water after coming back from migration from other waters.

Question 24

Explain Song learning in white-crowned sparrows? (3)

Answer 24

• Sonograms of songs that were produced by different white-crowned sparrows, i.e., (a) reared under natural conditions (wild), (b) reared in social isolation & (c) deafened at an early age.
• Upon comparison of sonograms, the wild ‘s one matched the original song, the isolated bird’s differed from the original song & the deaf bird’s one differed from the original song.
• Shows how important the critical period is for species recognition.

Question 25

What is the critical period linked to?

Answer 25

Imprinting.

Question 26

Types of imprinting? (2)

Answer 26

• Filial imprinting.
• Sexual imprinting.

Question 27

Filial imprinting?

Answer 27

= process by which animals develop a preference for following their mother.

Question 28

Sexual imprinting?

Answer 28

= process whereby experiences with parents or siblings early in life influence sexual preferences in adulthood.

Question 29

Sexual imprinting attribute?

Answer 29

Occurs after filial imprinting.

Question 30

Egs of filial imprinting? (2)

Answer 30

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Question 31

Egs of sexual imprinting? (2)

Answer 31

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