1. Animal Behavior
Chapter 51.

2. What is behavior & Why study it?
Behavior (ethology)
everything an animal does & how it does it
link between genetics & environment factors
innate = inherited or developmentally fixed
learned = develop during animal’s lifetime
Ethology is the study of how animals behave, particularly in their natural environments.

3. Types of behaviors Innate behaviors
- inherited or developmentally fixed
automatic, fixed, “built-in”
despite different environments, all individuals exhibit the behavior
triggered by a stimulus
Able to perform behavior without being taught ex. reflexes and instincts
Learned behaviors
modified by experience
variable
Ex. habits, reasoning

4. What questions do we ask?
Proximate causes
immediate stimulus & mechanism
“how” & “what” questions
How a behavior occurs or is
modified
Ultimate causes
evolutionary significance
how does behavior contribute to survival & reproduction
“why” questions
Proximate cause questions
The red–crowned cranes, like many animals, breed in spring and early summer. A proximate question about the timing of breeding by this species might be, How does day length influence breeding by red–crowned cranes? A reasonable hypothesis for the proximate cause of this behavior is that breeding is triggered by the effect of increased day length on an animal’s production of and responses to particular hormones. Indeed, experiments with various animals demonstrate that lengthening daily exposure to light produces neural and hormonal changes that induce behavior associated with reproduction, such as singing and nest building in birds.
Ultimate cause questions
In contrast to proximate questions, ultimate questions address the evolutionary significance of a behavior. Ultimate questions take such forms as, Why did natural selection favor this behavior and not a different one? Hypotheses addressing “why” questions propose that the behavior increases fitness in some particular way. A reasonable hypothesis for why the red–crowned crane reproduces in spring and early summer is that breeding is most productive at that time of year. For instance, at that time, parent birds can find ample food for rapidly growing offspring, providing an advantage in reproductive success compared to birds that breed in other seasons.

5. Innate behavior Fixed action patterns (FAP)
sequence of behaviors essentially unchangeable & usually conducted to completion once started
sign stimulus
releaser that triggers FAP
male sticklebacks exhibit aggressive territoriality
attack on red belly stimulus
court on swollen belly stimulus

6. Fixed Action Pattern
courtship display in sticklebacks

7. Konrad Lorenz -Imprinting
Learning at a specific critical time forming social attachments
both learning & innate components
But how do the young know on whom—or what—to imprint? How do young geese know that they should follow the mother goose? The tendency to respond is innate in the birds; the outside world provides the imprinting stimulus, something to which the response will be directed. Experiments with many species of waterfowl indicate that they have no innate recognition of “mother.” They respond to and identify with the first object they encounter that has certain key characteristics. In classic experiments done in the 1930s, Konrad Lorenz showed that the most important imprinting stimulus in graylag geese is movement of an object away from the young. When incubator–hatched goslings spent their first few hours with Lorenz rather than with a goose, they imprinted on him, and from then on, they steadfastly followed him and showed no recognition of their biological mother or other adults of their own species. Again, there are both proximate and ultimate explanations
Konrad Lorenz was “mother” to these imprinted graylag goslings

8. Imprinting Wattled crane conservation
Wattled crane conservation
Cranes also imprint as hatchlings, creating both problems and opportunities in captive rearing programs designed to save endangered crane species. For instance, a group of 77 endangered whooping cranes hatched and raised by sandhill cranes imprinted on the sandhill foster parents; none of these whooping cranes ever formed a mating pair–bond with another whooping crane. As a consequence, captive breeding programs now isolate young cranes and expose them to the sights and sounds of members of their own species. But imprinting can also be used to aid crane conservation
Young whooping cranes imprinted on humans in “crane suits” have been taught to follow these “parents” flying ultralight aircraft along new migration routes. And importantly, such cranes have formed mating pair–bonds with other whooping cranes.
Imprinting for conservation Conservation biologists have taken advantage of imprinting by young whooping cranes as a means to teach the birds a migration route. A pilot wearing a crane suit in an ultralight plane acts as a surrogate parent.
teaching cranes to migrate

9. Critical (or sensitive)period in some species- sensitive stage for optimal imprinting

10. Human- critical period?
Treatment: Three different experiences (preschool only, in-home help during the early elementary years, combination of the two)
Measurements: IQ, academic achievement, progress in school at different ages following “treatments”
Different experiences or treatments of different durations, starting and ending at different ages.
For a critical period: minimally, same experience at different ages, has differential effect.
Supports at best intensity hypothesis -- longer is better and all else being equal the earlier an intervention begins, the longer it can continue.
What did they find?
Correlation between age when musical training began and the size of the brain area activated by left-hand finger movements.
The younger you start, the larger the area of the brain devoted to playing the instrument.
Critical period? No.
In general the younger a child is when he/she begins, the longer he/she will have played age 24
Instance of a practice effect for critical period would need something like the effect of 10 years playing when that experience occurred at different stages of life.
Authors: Media zeal to look for critical periods, misinterpreted what was important about the study: Even late in life brain reorganizes based on experience, use, practice.

11. Directed movements Taxis (ex. dori towards light of angler fish)
change in direction
automatic movement toward (positive taxis) or away from (negative taxis) a stimulus
phototaxis
chemotaxis
Kinesis
change in rate of movement in response to a stimulus
The sow bugs become more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas. Though sow bugs do not move toward or away from specific conditions, their increased movement under dry conditions increases the chance that they will leave a dry area and encounter a moist area. And since they slow down in a moist area, they tend to stay there once they encounter it.
In contrast to a kinesis, a taxis is a more or less automatic, oriented movement toward (a positive taxis) or away from (a negative taxis) some stimulus. For example, many stream fish, such as trout, exhibit positive rheotaxis (from the Greek rheos, current); they automatically swim or orient themselves in an upstream direction (toward the current). This taxis keeps the fish from being swept away and keeps them facing the direction from which food will come.

12. Naming Movement

13. Migration Complex behavior, but still under genetic control
“migratory restlessness” seen in birds bred & raised in captivity
Following ancient fly-ways
navigate by sun, stars, magnetic fields
Monarch
migration
Figure 51.21a
(a) Blackcaps placed in a funnel cage left marks indicating the direction in which they were trying to migrate.
Bird migration, a behavior that is largely under genetic control. Each spring, migrating western sandpipers (Calidris mauri), such as those shown here, migrate from their wintering grounds, which may be as far south as Peru, to their breeding grounds in Alaska. In the autumn, they return to the wintering grounds.

14. Learned behavior Associative learning
Associative learning
learning to associate 1 feature of the environment (stimulus) with another
classical conditioning
stimulus & reward/punishment
operant conditioning
trial & error learning

15. Classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov’s dogs
connect reflex behavior to associated stimulus
Watson’s experiment
This experiment led to the following progression of results:
-Introduction of a loud sound (unconditioned stimulus) resulted in fear (unconditioned response), a natural response.
-Introduction of a rat (neutral stimulus) paired with the loud sound (unconditioned stimulus) resulted in fear (unconditioned response).
-Successive introductions of a rat (conditioned stimulus) resulted in fear (conditioned response). Here, learning is demonstrated.
The experiment showed that Little Albert seemed to generalize his response to furry objects so that when Watson sent a non-white rabbit into the room seventeen days after the original experiment, Albert also became distressed. He showed similar reactions when presented with a furry dog, a seal-skin coat, and even when Watson appeared in front of him wearing a Santa mask with white cotton balls as his beard, although Albert did not fear everything with hair.

16. Operant conditioning- trial and error
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A Skinner box is used to train animals and usually has a way to deliver food to an animal and a lever to press or disk to peck in order to get the food.  The food is called a reinforcer, and the process of giving the food is called reinforcement.  A reinforcer is anything likely to increase a behavior.  There are two types of reinforcement; positive and negative.
Positive Reinforcement: the addition of something pleasant to increase a behavior.  If I want to to study more and give you chocolate for studying, the chocolate is the positive reinforcement because it is pleasant and meant to increase your behavior.
Negative Reinforcement: the removal of something unpleasant to increase a behavior.  If you have a headache and I want you to study, I may give you a Advil.  The Advil is the negative reinforcement because it is removal something unpleasant (headache) and increasing your behavior (studying).
We can also change behaviors by using unpleasant consequences called punishments.  It is important to realize that punishment work better to stop behaviors rather than increase them.  There are two types of punishment.
Positive Punishment: the addition of something unpleasant to make a behavior less likely.  I want you to stop talking in class, so I flick you with a rubber band every time you open your mouth.
Omission Training (or negative punishment): the removal of something pleasant to decrease a behavior.  Your Mom does not let you watch Gray's Anatomy because you swore at the dinner table

19. Animal Signals and Communication
Signal- stimulus transmitted from one animal to another (auditory, chemical, visual)
Communication- transmission and reception of signals

20. Karl von Frisch Honey bee dance to communicate location of food source
Honey bee dance to communicate location of food source
Same direction of sun
Opposite direction of sun
Source is 30 degrees to the right of sun

21. Auditory communication
Bird song
species identification & mating ritual
mixed learned & innate
critical learning period
Insect song
mating ritual & song
innate, genetically controlled
Red-winged blackbird

22. Social interaction requires communication
Pheromones
chemical signal that stimulates a response from other individuals
alarm pheromones
sex pheromones

23. Pheromones Female mosquito use CO2 concentrations to locate victims
marking territory
Spider using moth sex pheromones, as allomones, to lure its prey
The female lion lures male by spreading sex pheromones, but also by posture & movements
The luring function of sex pheromones is a perfect way for predators to get their prey without having to work too hard. The spider Mastophora hutchinsoni spreads sex pheromones of moths, using them as allomones. This way he can lure about enough moths to sustain. When the moths fly in, convinced they are about to mate, the spider shoots a sticky ball on wire towards them. As they stick to the ball, he drags them in and eats them.

24. Social behaviors- Natural selection favors behaviors that increase survival and reproductive success
Contests for resources-develop as evolutionary adaptations
agonistic behaviors
threatening & submissive rituals
symbolic, usually no harm done

25. Sexual Selection Promiscuity-no bonds of lasting relationship
ex. Chimpanzees, dolphins
Polygyny -A male mates with many females
ex. vertebrates, insects, elk
Polyandry-A female mates with several males
ex. 1% animal population; some sharks
Monogamy-Mating with a single partner
ex. 90% of avian species, 3% mammals, 15% primates

27. Social behaviors Dominance hierarchy social ranking within a group
Dominance hierarchy
social ranking within a group
pecking order

28. Social behaviors
Territoriality
nesting in birds

29. Social behaviors Cooperation
Cooperation
Pack of African dogs hunting wildebeest cooperatively
White pelicans “herding” school of fish

30. Social behaviors Altruistic behavior
Altruism occurs when animals behave in ways that reduce their individual fitness, but increases fitness of other individuals in the population.
Inclusive fitness is the total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing offspring then aiding and protecting them and close relatives.
kin selection- this natural selection of increasing survival of close relatives and being able to now pass those genes on to the next generation
Belding ground squirrel