LEARNED & INNATE

BEHAVIORS

BEHAVIOR

• STIMULUS- Something in the environment to which an organism will respond.

BEHAVIOR

• BEHAVIOR- the way an organism responds to its environment.

BEHAVIOR

This is one aspect of adaptation that improves an organism’s chances to survive and reproduce.

2 TYPES OF 2 TYPES OF BEHAVIORBEHAVIOR

• LEARNED BEHAVIOR

• INNATE BEHAVIOR

INNATE BEHAVIOR

o Behavior that is present and complete without the need for experience.

o behaviors present at birth.

o the instinctive, fixed, unchanging behavior that is inherited.

INNATE BEHAVIORS

• Reflex- a simple, immediate, involuntary response by a part of the body to a particular stimulus.

INNATE BEHAVIORS

• Fight-or Flight- mobilizes your body for greater activity. Heart rate increase, blood supply to muscle. Controlled by internal chemical mechanisms.

INNATE BEHAVIORS

• Instinct- A complex behavior. Takes more time than a reflex.

• Courtship Behavior• Territorial• Aggressive Behavior• Dominance Hierarchy• Migration, Hibernation, Estivation• Circadian rhythm

Courtship Behaviors

• A specific behavior or series of behaviors that take place prior to mating.

• Could involve sound, smell, visual display…

•

Territorial Behavior

• A territory is a physical space an animal defends against other members of its species.

• May contain breeding area, feeding area, and potential mates, or all three

• Although it may not appear so, setting up territories actually reduces conflicts, controls population growth, and provides for efficient use of animal resources.

Aggressive Behavior

• Aggressive behavior is used to intimidate another animal of the same species.

• Animals fight or threaten one another in order to defend their young, their territory, or a resource such as food.

• Includes behaviors such as bird calling, teeth baring, or growling.

• Using symbolic and not fighting till death

Dominance Hierarchy

• Dominance Hierarchy is a from of social ranking within a group in which some individuals are more subordinate than others. ….The ability to form a dominance hierarchy is innate, but the position each animals assumes may be learned.

• Pecking order• Alpha Male

Circadian Rhythm

• Circadian Rhythm. Is an instinctive behavior that is exhibited in animals in response to internal, biological rhythms.

• Can be based on 24 hours or seasonal

Migration, Hibernation, and Estivation

• We all know what migration and hibernation is…

Migration, Hibernation, and Estivation

• What is estivation?

• Estivation is an innate instinctive behavior that some animals that live in extreme heat have developed.

Estivation

• Estivation is another form of torpor, dormancy, or "sleep".  Animals that estivate are trying to escape things happening in their environment. 

• This happens in hot, desert climates where heat and water are so important to the animals that live there. 

• Estivation protects these animals from high temperatures and drought.

Estivation

• Breathing and heartbeat get very slow.  • The animal doesn't need as much food

and water to live since food is fuel for energy and they aren't using much. 

• Reptiles use 90-95% less energy when they are estivating. 

• Animals don't move, grow or eat during this time.   

LEARNED BEHAVIOR

-not inherited, but flexible and can be changed.

–take place through experience or practice.

EXAMPLES OF LEARNED BEHAVIORS

• Mimicry• Habituation• Imprinting• Trial & Error• Classical Conditioning• Operant Conditioning• Insight Learning

EXAMPLES OF LEARNED BEHAVIORS

• MIMICRY – when one organism makes a resemblance to another species.

MIMICRY

– Hawk Moth Mimicry

• This moth caterpillar defends itself by mimicking a snake.

MIMICRY

• This butterfly has adapted to mimic a dead leaf, a shape so inedible and common a predator would not notice it.

MIMICRY

• This Katydid has adapted to mimic a leaf in both color and shape.

MIMICRY

• Many prey animals have found ways to startle a predator and reduce their chances of being eaten. Some butterflies and moths flash eye spots on their wings, false eyes which suggest a much larger animal. Some caterpillars play the same trick.

MIMICRY

MIMICRY

MIMICRY

• From left to right are the Common Wasp, Vespula vulgaris, and some of its mimics - the Hornet Moth, Sesia apiformis, the Wasp Beetle, Clytus arietis, and the Hoverfly, Syrphus ribesii.

                                                                                    

IMPRINTING• The quick early learning of a

behavior that becomes a permanent response to a particular stimulus.

• A significant innate component during a limited critical period

Who’s your momma?

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• A pioneer in the study of Learned Behavior

• Ivan Pavlov

• Classical Conditioning

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• An animals reflexes are trained to respond to a new stimulus.

• Learning by association

• Experiment- Dog and Bell.

                                                                                                                    

              

OPERANT CONDITIONING

• BF Skinner

• Did his work in the

1940-1950’s

                                           

OPERANT CONDITIONING

• Takes place when an animals learns to behave in a certain way through repeated practice, in order to receive a reward or avoid punishment.

• Trial and Error

• “Skinner Box”

Trial and Error

• A type of learning in which an animal receives a reward for making a particular response

HABITUATION

• Loss of responsiveness due to an unimportant stimulus.

• OR to stimuli that do not provide appropriate feedback.

HABITUATION

• Horse to sounds

• Snail to touch

• Gray squirrels to respond to “attack”

Insight

• The most complicated form of learning is insight learning.

• When an animal applies something it has already learned to a new situation with a period of trial and error.

• You working a “new” math problem you have never worked…but apply principles you have already learned in class to solve it correctly.

• Common among humans and other primates.

BEHAVIORS

• Keep in mind that there is NOT always a clear cut line between behaviors that are learned v/s those that are innate.

• Many behaviors involve a little of both.

• Nature v/s Nurture Theory.

• Social, Sexual, parental skills, etc

COMMUNICATION

• Many behaviors that animals do involve interactions with other animals---Communication

• Humans-Language

• Sound

• Body Language

• Smell…Pheromones

PHEROMONES

• Chemicals released by many different animals as a form of communication

• Mating

• Warning

• Protection