Biology_Unit 11_Quiz 1: Animal Behaviors – Flashcards

THE STUDY OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

short-term hormonal influences on animal behavior usually occurring late in life

a technique that associates a natural response to a stimulus to an unrelated stimulus; also called Pavlovian conditioning

the study of animal behavior in its natural environment

when an animal learns not to respond to a stimulus

finding a solution to a once unsolvable problem

learning that has taken place but is dormant until a situation requires it

a technique that uses rewards to increase a learned behavior

a theory that behavior evolves to promote the greatest fitness for the animal

long-term hormonal influences on animal behavior usually occurring early in life

learning a behavior by observing and watching others

ethology. Ethology is a branch of zoology—the study of animals' structures, behaviors, functions, and evolution. Like biology, animal behavior is a study of observation, measurement, and conclusion. It, too, reflects biological aspects of evolution, physiology, and genetics in animal behavior. The following general questions are often asked when studying animal behavior: 1.What mechanisms are causing the behavior? 2.How does the behavior develop? 3. What is its survival value? 4.How did it evolve? One thing to remember about animal behavior is that unlike humans, morals don't apply. Animals behave without any sense of good or evil. This isn't to say that animals don't have emotions, but the foundation of their emotions isn't based on morality.

Along with the study of humanity, the study of animal behavior started in Ancient Greece. Greek scholars believed that the complexity of behavior and emotion follows the complexity of the animal itself. Because humans were the most complex, they, of course, were at the top of mental capability. Charles Darwin, who proposed the theory of natural selection, also suggested that natural selection was a mechanism for animal behavior. Animals could be influenced, and their behavior patterns changed, based on their environment and survival needs. One of Darwin's students, George Romanes agreed with hypotheses of the ancient Greeks. He proposed that as animals evolved, so did their emotions. The image below shows the evolution of emotions in animals according to Romanes. https://media.glynlyon.com/o_bio_2013/11/img_animalemotion_scale.jpg As ethology became more popular in the early 1900s, the field branched off into two groups. There were the ethologists, based mostly in Europe, who generally believed that behaviors of animals are fixed and innate. And there were the comparative behaviorists, based mostly in North America, who believed that the behaviors of animals were mostly learned and could be modified or changed. The basis between these two different beliefs is a fundamental controversy you might already be familiar with: nature versus nurture. Which is the driving force behind behavior?

Ethologists claim that the major driving force behind animal behavior is their instincts—behaviors the animal is born with. Depending on the species, the animal is born with its own characteristics or ways of doing things. Since the animal is born with these traits, the behavior is unchangeable and fixed. These are the beliefs of ethologists. For example, when a kitten and puppy are introduced to the same stimulus, like a ball of yarn, the kitten bats the yarn with its claws and is fairly silent in its play. The puppy pounces, bites, and barks at the ball of yarn. Two distinct differences in behavior for these two different species. What about birds? Don't they always seem to fly south during the winter? The migration of birds during a certain time of year is fairly precise and fixed. Moths travel toward light sources and dogs bark at strangers. All of these behaviors are innate. All animal behavior can be observed in an unchanging series of stimulus-response reactions.

The comparative behaviorists focused on the evolutionary origin of a behavior and how it was controlled by the nervous system—and, thus, how it could be modified. Behaviorists based their studies of animal behavior only on those elements that could be observed or measured. This disregarded the study of emotion or motivation because these can't be directly studied. Thus, behaviorists did most of their animal behavior study in a lab with controlled experiments, as opposed to the natural conditions ethologists worked in. In the lab, simple stimulus-response studies were made but with rewards for enforcement and modification of animal behavior. Behaviorists concluded that if an animal is "nurtured" properly, their instinctive behaviors are modifiable. Learning and rewards are the major driving forces behind animal behavior. As more studies were made by both groups, they began to recognize the importance of both nature and nurture in animal behavior. Instinctive behavior is just as important as learned behavior. Some of the most recognized experiments that represented both nature and nurture in the behavior of animals were Ivan Pavlov's dog experiments in the 1920s. Pavlov recognized that when a bowl of food was presented to a dog, it would start to salivate. This is the instinctive behavior of the dog. Every time food was presented to the dog thereafter, Pavlov rang a bell. After a while, when Pavlov rang a bell, the dog would start to salivate regardless of whether a bowl of food was present.Thus, Pavlov's experiment helped to prove that both natural and environmental factors work to shape animal behavior.

Genetics. Genetics involves genes or the chemical make-up of cells. Can genes have an effect on behavior? Well, think about it. What causes color blindness or diseases like sickle-cell anemia? These things are caused by a mutation of some sort in the genetic make-up of a person. This mutation was passed down from generation to generation. A mutated paramecium can't move in reverse because of a lack of calcium proteins in its cell membranes. Fruit flies, like the drosophila, can associate odors with unpleasant events. In other words, they can be conditioned to learn to stay away from a certain odor because of a negative reinforcement associated with it. A mutant fly, called a "dunce," can't make this association because it lacks the gene that communicates this association to its neurons, affecting its memory. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean that because a child's parents are shy, there is a shy gene passed down to make the child shy as well. The child could learn the shy behavior by simply observing and emulating this behavior. There always seems to be a combination of both nature and nurture in influencing behavior. Evolution. Evolution is based on genetic inheritance. A change in the genotype of an organism is passed down from parent to offspring again and again. Over time, the genes in a population change and the phenotype of an organism is altered. Animals seem to evolve in a way that best helps them to survive or adapt to their environment. Imagine a population of jaguars. Some are fast runners, which allows them to easily catch prey. The rest of the jaguars are slow runners, which makes it more difficult to catch prey. Since they do not catch prey as easily, the slow jaguars die more often than the fast jaguars because they cannot eat. The slow jaguars also reproduce less often than the fast jaguars. Since more fast jaguars reproduce than slow jaguars, most offspring inherit the gene for fast running. This favorable gene is continually passed down from parent to offspring. This example is similar to the passing on of behaviors, and how behaviors evolve due to the greatest fitness for the species. This is called the optimality theory. If a behavior benefits a species more than it costs the species, it will be repeated and passed on for generations. Thus, each species has its own unique evolutionary history in behavior as well as in its evolutionary history of anatomy and physiology. Physiology. What are our physiological needs? In order to function properly, we need to eat, sleep, drink, breathe, etc. How does your behavior change if you don't meet a physiological need? If you don't eat, you might become grumpy. Some people may even steal in order to feed themselves. Animals are similar. Their basic needs must be met as well, and their behavior coincides with getting these needs met. Although all organ systems are involved in producing a behavior, the nervous and endocrine systems have the most influence. The nervous system is the communicator of the body. It receives a stimulus and directs a response. The endocrine system produces hormones that also communicate with different parts of the body. The relationship of the endocrine system is commonly seen when it's time for animals to mate or breed. For example, male sheep get along well with other males until mating season. At this time, their reproductive organs drop, sperm are produced, and male hormones are activated. This, in turn, affects the animal's physiology and behavior. The male sheep are now territorial and fight other males to attract females. The endocrine system has organizational effects and activational effects on behavior. Organizational effects are those that begin during early stages of life, like in embryonic development. They are permanent and long-term—for example, influencing certain male or female physiology and behavioral characteristics of a mammal. Activational effects are short-term, and usually appear later in life. They influence an animal's physique and behavior only during certain times, as in the example of mating seasons of animals.

It's one thing to be born with instincts and behaviors, but it's another thing to learn different behaviors. Learned behaviors are based on experiences. There are many different ways animals learn or even un-learn a behavior. Habituation. Tube worms instinctively cringe into their tube when a shadow passes over them. This is because the shadow often belongs to a predator. However, place this worm in a controlled environment where a shadow is cast over it without any consequence, and the worm will learn that there is no threat and stop hiding. Habituation is learning not to continue a behavior due to a lack of reinforcement for that behavior. Classical conditioning. Pavlov's experiment is a typical case of classical conditioning in which an instinctive response or behavior to a stimulus is learned for a different stimulus. The dog's instinctive behavior is to salivate to food. The dog was conditioned to associate a bell with food because every time a bell rang, food was presented. So the dog began to salivate not just to food, but to a different stimulus—a bell. Operant conditioning. If you give a dog a treat every time you tell it to sit, it will continue to sit when asked. This is the basis of operant conditioning in which a learned behavior becomes more frequent or infrequent due to rewards or consequences. An experiment was conducted in which a hungry rat was placed in a box. The rat crawled and sniffed all over the box, exploring it. During this exploration, it discovered a button in the box that distributed food if it was pressed. The rat began to push the button more frequently and then more exclusively anytime it wanted a piece of food. It was conditioned to learn that if it pushed the button, it would receive a reward—food. Latent learning. Animals can learn without reward or reinforcement. Latent learning is when an animal learns a new behavior without receiving an immediate reward. In fact, the discovery or information learned may not be expressed until a situation calls for it. It's like watching your dad tighten a screw. Later in life, you may find a loose screw, grab a screwdriver and tighten it, just like your dad did, without any additional instruction needed. Simple exploration by the animal is often the example used with latent learning. For example, a hollow piece of wood was placed in a chipmunk's habitat. The chipmunk sniffed and explored the wood and then went on its way. A cat was then placed in the chipmunk's area. The chipmunk ran directly to the wood and hid beneath it. Insightful learning. Insightful learning seems to be a more complex learning ability. It involves problem solving, insight, and planning. An experiment was done with monkeys. The monkeys were placed in a cage full of different toys like crates and sticks. Bananas were hung near the cage but out of the monkeys' reach. After many attempts to reach the bananas, the monkeys became frustrated and finally gave up. Then the monkeys noticed the toys available to them. They explored the different toys, and some attempted to stack the crates to reach the bananas; others tried to reach the bananas with a stick. One found a way to attach two sticks together so it was long enough to reach the bananas. Insightful learning is a sudden appearance of different behaviors that solve a once unsolvable problem. Social learning. We have all picked up habits or learned a behavior by watching and doing as others do. That is the basis of social learning. Social learning occurs automatically with many offspring. Newborn animals spend a lot of time with their parents, following them around and watching how to hunt and where to find food and water, etc. If you set a bird feeder out in your backyard, birds won't come and start feeding right away. But once one or two discover the bird feeder and start to feed, more birds then come. This is because other birds are watching and learning from the others. Playing. Go back to the example discussed in the introduction of this lesson, with kittens and puppies wrestling with one another. Are these animals just being silly and having "fun" like most kids do when they wrestle? Or could it be a combination of fun and learning other skills? Play can occur between young animals and adults. It is part of developing skills like physical strength and endurance, social bonding, and cognitive or strategic abilities. Think about it; even though you have fun when you're wrestling someone, you are developing these same skills as well.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND INTERDEPENDENCIES

unselfish behavior of an individual that looks after the group before itself

mimicry in which the mimic and model resemble each other, but the mimic is a harmless organism and the model possesses a defense mechanism.

a flesh-eating animal

a symbiotic relationship between two organisms in which one species benefits and no effect is apparent to the other species

an animal that feeds on plants

random movement by animals due to environmental conditions

having one mate for a whole life span

mimicry in which the mimic resembles the model and shares the same defense mechanism as the model.

a symbiotic relationship between two organisms in which both species receive some type of benefit

a relationship between two or more organisms of different species in which one benefits and the other is harmed

a commensalistic relationship in which one organism is transported by another

when females mate with multiple males

when males mate with multiple females

having one mate at a time but many mates over a life span

two organisms living in a close relationship with each other

movement toward or away from a stimulus

One thing to remember about animal behavior is that unlike humans, morals don't apply. Animals behave without any sense of good or evil. They behave to satisfy their physiological needs. They must be secure in their environment, find food, avoid predators, and reproduce. It boils down to surviving and continuing the species. Behavior in movement. A major difference between plants and animals is that animals move from place to place. They move to satisfy physiological needs. Roly-poly bugs, for instance, thrive in moist conditions. They'll move around in no particular direction till they find a wet spot and then stay there. This simple movement is called kineses and is mainly due to environmental conditions. Some animals, like moths or earthworms, move toward or away from light sources. Movement based on a stimulus is called taxis. It is similar to tropisms in plants. Like phototropism, phototaxis is when an animal's movement is toward or away from a light source. A type of movement by animals you may be more familiar with is migration. Periodically, animals will move or migrate to a different area to seek food, mates, or shelter. Birds flying south for the winter is an example of a migration. Salmon migrate upstream during a certain season to mate. Many animals migrate for various reasons. Food search. Animals behave in a certain way to find food. Some are very particular with what they eat; others are not. Each has its own way to get food. Filter feeding is done by most aquatic invertebrates, like sponges, and some vertebrates, like the Baleen whale, which swallows huge amounts of water to be filtered for food and nutrients like plankton. Some animals, like herbivores, take advantage of their immobile and plentiful food source—plants. Herbivores can save the energy to hunt or chase after their food source. Carnivores are those animals that eat other animals. Thus, these animals must find and capture prey and avoid being captured themselves unless they're on top of the food chain. The optimality theory of animal behavior suggests that the behaviors which evolve are those that benefit the animal the most. Many predators have the ability to strategize. They need this ability to obtain food. And most predators can assess the environment, choose a prey that is abundant and easy to obtain, and cooperate with others in a capture. Avoiding capture. Unless an animal is at the top of the food chain, it's at risk for becoming lunch! Thus, most animals must always be on the defense. One way to do this is to avoid being detected. Many animals will freeze up if they hear an unfamiliar sound or feel or smell an approaching predator. Some animals can blend into their settings by the color of their fur or skin, which may change with the seasons. They can resemble other objects, like leaves or twigs of a tree, as well. Animals may have chemical or physical defenses, like the spray from a skunk or the stinger of a wasp. Some animals employ the use of mimicry to escape predation. In biology, mimicry is the imitating of an organism (the mimic) from another organism (the model). The mimicry of a trait or traits helps the mimic to survive. There are two major types of mimicry, Batesian and Müllerian. In both types of mimicry, one species copies another to escape predation. A harmless moth that resembles a wasp would be an example of Batesian mimicry. The moth is the mimic and the wasp is the model. The nontoxic moth is unable to sting another animal, but mimics the yellow jacket wasp that is able to sting another animal. Müllerian mimicry is one in which both the mimic and the model are both dangerous to the potential predator and there is no distinction between the mimic and the model. An example of this would be the yellow jacket wasp and the bumblebee. Both of the species possess bright yellow and black colors and are able to use their sting as a defense method. In attempts to capture or avoid capture, both animals can study each other. The prey is assessing how serious the predator is and if, in fact, it needs to run. Some animals will behave to try and scare off its predator. Cats, for example, will hiss, growl, show their teeth, arch their backs, and puff out their fur if a dog approaches. And, as a result, the dog may back off.

Almost all animals must interact at some point, if only to mate. Some animals, like dolphins, are very social and are never alone. There are benefits and costs to animals that socialize and live in groups. Depending on available resources, there may be fierce competition. Predators may be more attracted to a group of prey rather than an individual. Parasites and disease can spread more easily among groups. So why do many animals flock together? Like the optimality theory suggests, the benefits outweigh the costs, so many animals tend to cooperate with one another to reach the common goal of survival. Cooperation can be within the same species or between organisms of different species. A pack of hyenas, for example, can attack and kill larger prey if they work together than if they try to hunt individually. Similarly, a flock of geese can save energy during migration by flying together. Have you ever run behind someone on a windy day? The person in front of you creates a shield that protects you from the wind, making your run easier. The lead goose in the classic V formation does the same thing. He shields the other geese from the wind, making their flight easier. When the lead goose gets tired, he moves to the back of the formation and another goose takes his place. Communication. Like in any family, organization, or group, communication is key. Animals communicate in many different ways, with similarities to how humans communicate. While we speak in different human languages, animals have their own language in the noises they may make, like barking, whistling, chirping, or croaking. Noises can attract mates or send out distress or alarm signals to others in the group. While we can communicate nonverbally in our facial expressions, tone, or gestures, animals also make nonverbal physical gestures—for example, a cat warning a dog not to come near it by arching its back, hissing, and showing its teeth. A deer will raise its tail to warn others of a predator. As we can express affection or dislike by physical contact, some animals also communicate by touch, like the social grooming practices of monkeys. In sporting events, we compete against other teams to see who's dominant in the sport. Animals also establish dominance hierarchies by exhibiting physical strength against others. They have leaders, those second in line, those third in line, etc. Some animals use scent or odor to communicate—like a dog marking its territory. Group identity is also exhibited by scent. For instance, an ant that smells different from the other members of a group will be attacked. Altruism. There are many groups of animals that work together to do what's best for the group. They exhibit unselfish acts, like sacrificing their lives or safety for the betterment of the group. This is called altruism. For example, male turkeys work to attract female turkeys, but only the dominant turkeys of the group breed. How is it beneficial to the nonbreeders? Worker bees of a honeybee colony work to protect and take care of the colony. Only the queen reproduces while the worker bees have little chance of doing so. How does this benefit the worker bees? In both situations, the survival of the species is first priority to each participant. And both groups behave to ensure their species survives.

There are many relationships that exist in the biosphere. Without these relationships, the world would probably look a lot different. A close ecological relationship between two or more organisms of different species is called symbiosis. Some symbiotic relationships benefit both organisms. Others only benefit one organism. Symbiotic relationships can also create neutral results for both organisms. In this scenario, neither organism benefits. There are three main types of symbiotic relationships. They are mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. Mutualism. In mutualism, both species benefit. The benefits can occur with a resource traded for another resource, like in the example of fungi and orchids. The fungi feed on the roots of the plants, pulling out carbohydrates, while at the same time making nitrogen and phosphates for the plant to use. There is also a resource traded for a service relationship in mutualism. For example, insects and birds receive nectar from flowers, and, as a result, they help conduct pollination for the flower. In some cases, a service-for-service relationship can be seen—like with ants that nest in acacia trees. These ants help protect the tree by attacking herbivores while the nesting grounds in the tree's thorns protect the ants from predators. Mutualism has significantly contributed to the biodiversity of organisms you see today. Many organisms depend on mutualistic relationships to continue their species. Commensalism. In commensalism, only one organism benefits, but the other is not harmed. There are many ways in which organisms benefit from commensalism. Some organisms have a special type of commensalism called phoresy. In phoresy, one organism attaches itself to another organism for the purpose of transportation. Barnacles, for example, are marine organisms that cannot move on their own. Instead of remaining in one place, barnacles attach themselves to the shells and skin of other animals. The barnacles gain a mode of transportation, but the other organism gains nothing. Another example of phoresy is the remora fish that attaches itself to sharks. The remora gains transportation and protection from the shark. The shark is not harmed by the relationship, but it is not helped either. Other organisms benefit from commensalism by gaining access to food. Cattle Egrets are a bird species that live among livestock, such as cattle and horses. The birds feed on insects stirred up by the movement of the grazing animals. The egrets benefit from the relationship, but the livestock do not. Commensalism also helps some plant species spread their seeds. Burdocks are common weeds found in fields and along roadsides. The seed heads of burdocks have long, curved spines, like a fishhook. The hooks catch onto the fur of passing animals and are carried away from the parent plant. When the seed heads fall off, they are able to grow in a new environment. Do you know anyone who has a hermit crab? Hermit crabs have soft bodies, but they cannot grow their own shells. Instead, they use the shells of dead organisms, such as snails, for protection. Anemonefish, commonly called clownfish, also benefit from the protection of another organism. Clownfish live inside sea anemones. The long, poisonous tentacles of the sea anemone protect the fish from predators. In both situations, one organism benefits, but the other does not. Biologists argue that true commensalism is rare, if not nonexistent. Most commensal relationships have at least a small effect on the second organism. The organism may appear to be unaffected, but it may be helped or harmed in a subtle way. For example, when barnacles attach to another organism, they add weight. It is not yet known if the extra weight harms the second organism. On the other hand, an organism with barnacles attached to it may be less of a target for a predator. It may actually benefit the organism to have barnacles. Parasitism. Parasitism is a relationship between two organisms which hurts one and helps the other. The organism that is helped is called the parasite. The organism that is harmed is called the host. In many cases of parasitism, the host is not only hurt, it is killed. A common example of a parasitic relationship is athlete's foot. The athlete's foot fungus grows on a person's skin and may cause serious infection if not treated properly. Other parasitic relationships include lice, ticks, and fleas. Parasites can live on or in the body of a host. Those that live on the outer body of a host are called ectoparasites and those living inside a host are called endoparasites. A tapeworm is an example of an endoparasite that lives in the intestines of a larger animal. A tick is an example of an ecotoparasite which attaches to the skin of an animal and feeds off the animal's blood. Most parasites harm their hosts by eating tissue or releasing poisonous chemicals. Have you ever accidentally cut your skin with rusty metal? If so, you probably went to the doctor for a tetanus shot. Bacteria that often live on old metal items secrete chemicals that interfere with nerve impulses in the body. There are two main types of parasitic relationships. The first is like a hit and run. The parasite lives on the host for a short period of time and then moves on to another organism without killing the first. Ticks are an example of short-term parasitism. The second type of relationship is long-term. The parasite stays with the host until it dies, or until both organisms die. Blood flukes are a type of flatworm that live in the veins of their hosts. The flukes remain with the host until the host dies. Many biologists believe that parasitism is one of the most powerful forces of evolution. In a parasitic relationship, it is beneficial for both the parasite and the host to evolve and adapt. As adaptations give the host greater protection against the parasite, the parasite also adapts by attacking in new or stronger ways. Have you heard of "super germs"? The term refers to a new strain of antibacterial-resistant bacteria. As humans developed new ways to kill bacteria, the bacteria evolved and are now able to withstand most medications. Natural selection also favors parasites that can feed on and infect hosts but not kill them. In 1859, the European rabbit was brought to Australia. The rabbits had no natural predators and their population exploded to destructive levels. A few years later, a virus was released to kill the rabbits. The virus killed millions of the rabbits, but some survived. The surviving rabbits had an increased immunity to the virus. The surviving virus was less powerful and caused less damage to a host. Both organisms adapted and evolved.