Animal Behavior

Question 1

Behavior

Answer 1

Change in the activity of an organism in response to a stimulus (an external or internal cue or combo of cues)

Question 2

Innate Behavior
examples?

Answer 2

Genetically hardwired, requires no learning
Instinctive (fixed action patterns) - determined by natural selection
ex. jump-back behavior of kangaroo rats when they hear the sound of a rattlesnake’s tail

Question 3

Learned Behavior
examples?

Answer 3

Developed through experience
ex. a rat can be trained to pull a lever if food is released as a reward

Question 4

Proximate (mechanistic) causation

Answer 4

Explains how actions occur, can be genetic, neurological, hormonal, immunological, and skeletal-muscular

Question 5

Ultimate (evolutionary) causation

Answer 5

Explains why actions occur
Looks at the effects of behavior on fitness, through an understanding of the ecology of the organism and its evolution

Question 6

Fixed Action Patterns
example?

Answer 6

Sequence of behaviors essentially unchangeable and conducted to completion once started (triggered by a specific stimulus)
-ex. graylag goose egg-retrieval behavior

Question 7

Imprinting

Answer 7

Results in newborn animals bonding with their parent(s)

Question 8

Spatial Learning

Answer 8

Entails memorizing the features or layout of an environment, such as a maze, tank, or section of forest

Question 9

Conditioning

Answer 9

Requires that an animal form an association between two events, such as a lever and food

Question 10

Cognition

Answer 10

Involves complex thought, which is evidenced in behaviors such as a tool manufacture and use, language acquisition, and problem-solving

Question 11

Habituation

Answer 11

A simple form of learning in which an animal stops responding to a stimulus after a period of repeated exposure
ex. prairie dogs

Question 12

Optimal Foraging

Answer 12

The hypothesis that animals maximize their feeding efficiency
Fitness is proportional to Feeding efficiency is proportional to Benefits/Costs
- animals maximize benefits and minimize costs they will have more time and energy for reproduction and higher fitness

Question 13

Differentiate between innate and learned behavior

Answer 13

Innate behavior - instinctive, not modified by individual, inherited, generally uniform, ex. suckling instinct in newborns, walking for humans, flying for birds and bees; migration; foraging; finding sex partners

Learned behavior - based on experience, modified by individual, not inherited, high variation within population, ex. acquisition of language and social skills, domesticated behavior in pets, training dolphins to perform

Question 14

Differentiate between proximate and ultimate causation

Answer 14

Proximate is How
Ultimate is Why

Question 15

What does it mean by fitness trade-offs with respect to animal behavior
example?

Answer 15

Inescapable compromises between two traits that cannot be optimized simultaneously
- ex. animal cannot maximize both the energy invested in finding food and in finding mates

Question 16

Two things to remember about Cost-Benefit Analysis

Answer 16

1. The choices made by non-human animals are not known to be conscious choices
2. The behavior of individuals varies within population

Question 17

What does it mean by cost-benefit analysis with respect to studies on animal behavior

Answer 17

measured in terms of their impact on fitness-the ability to produce viable and fertile offspring

Question 18

Behavior ecology

Answer 18

Study of the behavioral adaptations that evolved in response to ecological selection pressures

Question 19

Argentine Ant Behavior

Answer 19

• extremely invasive in many parts of the world
• live in colonies and defend territories by fighting with neighboring ants
• proximate: they identify each other via smelly waxy “tags” on their exoskeletons
• ultimate: they are not fighting to maintain their feeding territories, they have more time and energy to produce offspring, increasing their fitness

Question 20

Altruism

Answer 20

Behaviors that lower the fitness of the individual but increase the fitness of another individual