Chapter 19 Animal Behavior

Innate Behavior The first level of animal behavior is called innate behavior. Innate behaviors are actions and reactions that an animal has when it is born. Two types of innate behaviors = 1. Reflexes-simple, immediate response 2. Instincts =more complex such as mating rituals, migrations

Pheromones-Odors with a message Pheromones are chemicals released by animals that cause certain behaviors. This odor can not be smelled by humans. Queen bee produces this to keep the worker bees from producing eggs. Traps can be made with pheromones to lure Japanese beetles to them because they destroy vegetation in the US. Rabbits, deer, bears, foxes all mark territory with pheomones.

Evolutionists think instincts have evolved over time but that is impossible. If an animal did not have a complete instinct it would die. Exp. Spiders have an instinct to know how to make webs…if they did not know how to make the whole web and it took hundreds of years to get the instinct they would have died off.

Learned Behavior The second level of animal behavior is learned behavior. This is a behavior that the animal was taught by his parents or siblings, or peers, or owners. Example: dog is taught to shake hands Example: many birds crouch when ever something passes over their heads to protect themselves from hawks or other birds of prey. Sometimes behaviors are a combination of two levels…such as a squirrel eats nuts by instinct but learns to crack the nut.

Intelligent Behavior The third level of animal behavior is intelligent behavior. Animals have varying levels of intelligence. This includes being able to reason out a solution to a problem. Long ago people thought that only humans had intelligent behavior because they could reason and communicate. Research shows that indeed some animals can solve some types of problems and communicate. Exp.= Dolphins and porpoises are among the smartest animals. They communicate with whistles with high/low patterns.

Animals have different levels of behavior and God designed these behaviors to help animals survive in their natural environment. Remember that seemingly intelligent responses to natural challenges in an animal’s environment are not proof of intelligence. They could be instinctive or learned behaviors.