Ch 51 - Animal Behavior

Question 1

Describe proximate vs. ultimate causes

Answer 1

Proximate: “How” a behavior occurs.

Ultimate: “Why” a behavior occurs.

Question 2

Describe instinctive behavior

Answer 2

• a.k.a. innate behavior
• a “fixed action pattern” triggered by environmental stimulus resulting in the same response for given stimulus

Question 3

Describe learned behavior.

Answer 3

A modification of behavior based on experience.

Question 4

Describe non-associative learning.

Answer 4

The change in responsiveness to repetitive stimuli:

• Habituation is the diminishing of a response
• Sensitization is the amplification of a response

Question 5

Describe associative learning

Answer 5

A connection between stimulus and response:

• Classical conditioning - Connection between unrelated stimuli (ex: Pavlov’s dog)
• Operant conditioning - Reward or punishment for response
• Imprinting - attachment based on encounter during sensitive period

Question 6

Describe cognitive behavior.

Answer 6

The process of “knowing” that involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgement.

Question 7

Describe foraging behavior.

Answer 7

• “Food-obtaining behavior” - including eating, but also activities an animal uses to search for, recognize, and capture food items.
• “Optimal foraging model” describes a favor by natural selection for foraging behavior that minimizes the energetic costs and maximizes the benefits.

Question 8

Describe territoriality.

Answer 8

The pattern of behavior associated with the defense of some part of home range.

Question 9

Describe taxis vs. kinesis.

Answer 9

• Taxis is the motion or orientation in response to an external stimulus.
• Kinesis is the undirected movement in reseponse to an external stimulus.

Question 10

Describe migratory behavior.

Answer 10

The seasonal movement of animals from one region to another.

• Compass sense uses the magnetic field, sun, stars
• Map sense uses recognizable landscape

Question 11

Describe sexual selection and mate choice.

Answer 11

• Sexual selection is the natural selection arising through preference by one sex for certain characteristics in individuals of the other sex.
• Mate choice is the process of inter or intrasexual selection.

Question 12

Describe 4 different mating systems.

Answer 12

• Promiscuity - circumstance in which mating occurs with no strong pairbonds
• Monogamy - the sustained sexual partnership of two individuals (relatively rare among mammals)
• Polygyny - circumstance of one male mating with multiple females
• Polyandry - circumstance of one female mating with multiple males

Question 13

Describe the effects of parental care.

Answer 13

Is the parental expenditure (time, energy etc.) that benefits offspring at a cost to parents’ ability to invest in other components of fitness.