Animal Behavior Ch. 36

Activities that animals perform during lifetime to survive and reproduce- (THE MAIN GOAL OF LIVING THINGS)

Some behaviors 2. Feeding 3. Capturing Prey 4. Avoidance of predators 1. locomotion 2. Feeding 3. Capturing Prey 4. Avoidance of predators 5. Social Behaviors

Different Approaches to studying animal behavior 1. Comparative psychology- study of how animals receive information through the study of genetics, neurology, and hormones. 2. Ethology- study of the evolution of animal behavior. (studies closely related species to discover origin of behaviors.)

3. study of ecological aspects Studying predator-prey interactions, habitat selection, competition and how they relate to ecology. 4. Sociobiology- studies evolution of social behaviors within a species/ natural selection

Factors that affect behavior 1. Genes- must code for normal development 2. Environment – proper nourishment, water, etc. 3. maturation – development of nervous system, etc. 4. instinct-predictable- genetically programmed behavior/ learning interactions 5. imprinting- young develop attachment toward another animal.

Examples #4, and #5 4. Squirrels- if not taught, they are not efficient Lions- if not taught, may attack prey but not kill effectively 5.Canada Geese will follow a human like their mother Condor- caretakers use puppet to feed babies so they remain wild.

Instincts #4. ex Cats using litter box. (well, except for my cat ) Mothers finding a safe place to have babies.

Learning Change sometimes takes place after a positive or negative experience EX: 1. Birds ignoring people in city (habituation) 2. Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov) 3. Trial and Error – Great white sharks returning to certain areas because they have learned that seals are plentiful during certain times of the year.

Internal Control of Behavior 1. Nervous system: acts as a stimulus filter to ensure appropriate responses.  Example: sugar receptors on the feet tell the blowfly to eat; swell receptors in the foregut tell the blowfly to stop eating.   2. Endocrine system: external stimuli can trigger the release of hormones Example: when threatened, male fish change color which preludes aggressive behavior.

3. Communication via the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.   4. Chemical communication: chemicals called pheromones affect the behavior of other members of the same species. Examples: males mark their territory to keep other males away; females in heat signal to the males