Basic Animal Behavior Flashcards
(34 cards)
Basic reasons why animals
behave
- to find food
- to interact in social groups
- to avoid predators
- to reproduce
study of animal behavior
Ethology
The way an animal reacts to a certain stimulus with activity or inactivity
Behavior
something that elicits a response
Stimulus
Something outside the animal
Ex. sound, sight, smell, etc, presence of another animal
External stimulus
something inside the animal
Ex. hunger, fatigue, feeling cold, hormones
Internal Stimulus
attributing human emotions to animals
Anthropomorphism
A class of social behavior occurs in every culture, it is probably genetically determined.
Cultural universals
The systematic study of the biological bases of all social behavior in animals.
Sociobiology
Causes of Behavioral responses in Animals
- Heredity (internal factors)/innate
- Learning experiences (external factors)
- Intelligence
Types of learning
Habituation
Conditioning
Insight learning
Imprinting
- Animals learn not to respond to a stimulus
- response gets ignored despite stimulus
Ex. “cry wolf”
Habituation
- Associative learning
- occurs when an animal learns to respond to a neural stimuli in the same way.
Ex. Poman Pavloy : (dog salvation w/ringing bell)
classical conditioning
- most complex type of learning
- animal solves a probiem
- requires past experence
- Need ro mare astoudhon w/ objects
insight learning
The ability of animals to learn to adjust successfully to environmental situations
• abilities to learn from experiences
Intelligence
Animal learns to behave in a certain way through repeated practice
Trial & error learning
Ex. at presses lever, gets food
Operant conditioning
Learning at a specific critical time & forms social attachments
both learning with innate components
Ex. Goslings
Imprinting
one ls to one mating
more than one mate
Both female and malw have multiple mates
male mate with more than onefemale
Female mate with more than one malw
- monogamus
- Polygamy
- promiscuity
- polygyny
- polyandy
Behavior associated with recognizing, searching, capturing,
Foraging
ensuring survival of young
e.g. carrying, nursing, cuddling, holding young
Parental care
Attracting a mate
Courtship
work to create alliances, help the group
e.g. grooming, babysitting, defense of musk ox young,
• Social
A movement to a more suitable environment as seasons Change
Migratory
signaling between one animal & another
communication
