Animal Behaviour

Everything that an animal does, and the way in which behaviour. All animals respond to their surroundings. A cat, for example, will arch its back when threatening a rival, but lower its body when stalking a mouse. An animal’s behaviour enables it to increase its chances of survival and find a mate so that it can pass on its genes to the next generation. Some behaviours are inbuilt, or instinctive; others are learned during the animal’s lifetime.

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Instinctive Behavior

Instinct is a term used to describe behaviours that an animal performs automatically without having to learn them. Instinctive behavior is programmed by an animal’s genes. It consists of unchanging components called fixed-action patterns. The fixed-action pattern often begins when an animal responds to a feature in its surroundings or on another animal, called a sign stimulus.

Web spinning: Many species of spider, including the black widow spider, spin webs in order to trap their insect food. Web spinning is purely instinctive. A spider would not have time in its limited life to learn how to construct such a complex structure.

Sign Stimulus: In the spring, when these freshwater fish breed, the male’s throat and belly turn. If one male intrudes into the territory of another male, its red color acts as a sign stimulous that produces a fixed-action pattern: the occupying fish drives out the intruder.

Egg rolling: Greylag geese nest on the ground. If an egg rolls out of the nest, the female goose automatically reaches out with her neck and pulls the egg back in. By being in the wrong place, he egg acts as a sign stimulus that causes the female to carry out the fixed action pattern of egg rolling.

 

Learned Behaviour

Learning occurs when an animal adapts to its surroundings by changing its behavior. By responding to experiences and adapting to changing conditions, an animal increases its chances of survival. Learning takes time, and animals that are dependent on learned behavior have long lives and large brains.

Trial and Error learning: An animal will associate an action it carries out with a successful result, such as getting food or defeating a rival. This “reward” motivates the animal to alter its behavior to improve the result of future actions.

Learning tool use: Some animals learn to use simple “tools” in order to feed. Sea otters, found off the coast of California, USA, swim on their backs with a stone on their chests on which they smash the shells of clams and mussels to get at the juicy contents. Young otters learn tool use from their parents.

Insight learning: This involves a form of reasoning. Some animals can solve new problems by drawing on past experiences. Chimpanzees, having learned to extract termites or ants from a nest with a stick, can exploit any shape or size of nest.

Imprinting: This is shown by some young animals that make a strong bond with their parent soon after hatching or birth. Young ducklings, for example, stay close to their mother and improve their chances of survival under her protection.