W1 - Animal Behaviour (History, Analysis) [Dr. Madikiza]

Question 1

Explain the history of animal behaviour?

Answer 1

People wanted to understand animals for exploitation of prey through hunting, domestication & scientific study.

Question 2

Ways prey were & are exploited? (3)

Answer 2

• Hunting.
• Domestication.
• Scientific study.

Question 3

Hunting?

Answer 3

= understand animal behaviour to better capture prey (from prehistory till today).

Question 4

Domestication?

Answer 4

= understand animal behaviour to be able to train animals to do what they desire them to do (seen in horses, dogs, not cats).

Question 5

Scientific study?

Answer 5

= understand animal behaviour for the purposes of answering Tinbergen’s questions.

Question 6

People involved in scientific study to understand animal behaviour? (3)

Answer 6

• Lorenz.
• Tinbergen.
• von Frisch.

Question 7

The history of animal behaviour began with ethology, why ethology?

Answer 7

Ethologists believed that in order to fully understand animal behaviour, an animal has to be in its natural environment (no manipulation).

Question 8

Why the shift & diversification from ethology?

Answer 8

It’s because even though one could understand animal behaviour with the animal in its natural environment, a true scientist would want to quantify that/what they’re seeing & the only way one can do that is through laboratory settings & manipulation in a sense.

Question 9

Approaches to behavioural studies? (2)

Answer 9

• Mechanistic approach.
• Ethological approach.

Question 10

Mechanistic approach is AKA?

Answer 10

Comparative psychology.

Question 11

Mechanistic approach attributes? (5)

Answer 11

• Physiological.
• Developmental.
• Quantitative.
• Laboratory-orientated.
• Manipulate the animal.

Question 12

Ethological approach attributes? (4)

Answer 12

• Evolutionary.
• Comparative.
• Descriptive.
• Field-oriented.

Question 13

Mechanistic approach answers which questions of Tinbergen? (2)

Answer 13

• What does the behaviour? (Causation)
• How did the behaviour develop? (Ontogeny)

Question 14

Ethological approach answers which Tinbergen questions? (2)

Answer 14

• Function of behaviour? (Function/Survival value)

• How it evolved? (Phylogeny)

Question 15

Niko Tinbergen?

Answer 15

= founder of Experimental ethology.

Question 16

The 4 Questions of Tinbergen?

Answer 16

• Causation/Mechanism.
• Ontogeny/Development.
• Function/Survival value.
• Evolution/Phylogeny.

Question 17

Questions asked under Causation? (3)

Answer 17

• How does it work?
• Which stimuli illicit the behaviour patterns?
• What neurobiological, psychological or physiological mechanisms contribute or regulate this behaviour?

Question 18

Questions asked under Ontogeny? (4)

Answer 18

• How did it develop?
• How did the behaviour arise during the lifetime of the individual?
• How does the development process work?
• How does the environment influence the development of this behaviour?

Question 19

Questions asked under Function? (3)

Answer 19

• What is the behaviour’s survival value?
• Why does the behaviour exist?
• Why does behaving in a particular way help the individual to survive & reproduce?

Question 20

Questions asked under Phylogeny? (2)

Answer 20

• How did the behaviour evolve?
• What factors might have been involved in molding this behaviour over the course of evolution.

Question 21

Tinbergen’s HOW questions?

Answer 21

= deal with the immediate/proximate causation of a specific behaviour (immediate explanation).

Question 22

Tinbergen’s WHY questions?

Answer 22

= focus on ultimate causation, ie., the evolutionary origin & purpose of a behaviour (long-term explanation).

Question 23

Level of analysis in the study of animal behaviour?

Answer 23

= involves answering questions on animal behaviour through the lenses of Tinbergen’s questions.

Question 24

Example that we used to analyze animal behaviour with Tinbergen’s questions?

Answer 24

Singing in male zebra finches.

Question 25

Causation/Mechanism?

Answer 25

= neural pathways, muscular & endocrine explanation for behaviour.

Question 26

What causes male zebra finches to sing? (3)

Answer 26

• Elevated blood concentration of estrogen. • High rates of neural circuitry in certain brain areas (song areas). • Muscles in the vocal cord vibrate to enable song production.

Question 27

Ontogeny/Development?

Answer 27

= explanations of how genetic inheritance & experience influence behavioural development, neural pathways, muscular and endocrine explanations for behaviour.

Question 28

What causes zebra finches to sing? (2)

Answer 28

• They sing because they have undergone puberty. • They learnt their songs from their fathers.

Question 29

Evolution/Phylogeny?

Answer 29

= evolutionary (historical) explanations.

Question 30

Why do zebra finches sing?

Answer 30

Zebra finches might sing because they are finches & that all finches song because they have evolved from a common ancestral species that sings.

Question 31

Function/Survival value?

Answer 31

= explanations of how the behaviour increases survival and/or reproductive success.

Question 32

Why do male zebra finches sing/portray this particular behaviour?

Answer 32

It's because this behaviour increases the chance of attracting female zebra finches and reproducing.

Question 33

Why do young salmon migrate to the sea? (2)

Answer 33

• Proximate explanations. • Ultimate explanations.

Question 34

Things to note about genes? (3)

Answer 34

• Only expressed if the environment allows them to be expressed. • Tie in to innate behaviour. • Often used to explain Causative & Ontogenic explanations.

Question 35

Ethology?

Answer 35

= the scientific study of animal behaviour in natural conditions, which attempts to combine causal & functional explanations.

Question 36

Aims & Objectives of Ethology? (6)

Answer 36

- Understand why animals behave the way that they do. - Understand the causes of behaviour. - The physiological mechanism that generates the action. - Study evolutionary history of behaviour. - Understand how the behaviour develops. - Study the range of behaviours prevalent in the animal kingdom.

Question 37

Atlantic salmon migration: Causation?

Answer 37

Increasing day-length & temperature trigger a suite of physiological changes, which in turn change the ontogeny and behaviour of the young salmon.

Question 38

Atlantic salmon migration: Ontogeny?

Answer 38

The salmon needs to reach a certain size to be able to migrate successfully, so it will have to wait until it is large enough.

Question 39

Atlantic salmon migration: Function? (2)

Answer 39

- Enables salmon to exploit the richer food resources & large feeding areas in the sea. - Migrating salmon are larger, and therefore have a higher reproductive success through increased fecundity (in females) & superior ability to compete for females (in males).

Question 40

Atlantic salmon migration: Phylogeny? (2)

Answer 40

- Different strategies practiced by ancestors are retained in current-day species. - Atlantic salmon share the migratory behaviour with closely related species.