Responses

• Behavioral biology


  The study of the biological and evolutionary bases for behavior, drawing on ethology and comparative psychology
• Ethology


  Basic biology field focusing on the behaviors of diverese organisms in their natural environments
• Comparative psychology


  Extension of human psychology, but focusing largely on experiments done in a few species of lab animals
• 4 main questions to understand a behavior:

  • What causes the behavior (socially and biologically)
  • How does the behavior develop (when in life, what stage you have to reach)
  • How does the behavior affect fitness (up chances of survival and reproduction)
  • How did the behavior evolve (how does it compare to other species, what might have caused its evolution)
• Hibernation


  When an animal goes into a den or burrow, reduces metabolic rate, and stays in a state of inactivity over the winter
• Estivation


  Hibernation but during the summer, usually happens in desert species
• Migration


  Behavior when animals move from one location to another in a seasonal pattern
• Circadian rhythm


  Internal body clock of an animal that dictates their sleep schedule based on the day/night cycle
• Innate behaviors


  Behaviors that are hardwired and are inherited by on organism from its parents
• Learned behaviors


  Behaviors that are not inherited but developed throughout an organism's lifetime as a result of experience and environment
• Reflex actions


  Very simple innate behaviors that happen independently from the brain in response to stimuli, like pulling away your hand from a hot surface
• Kinesis


  Innate behaviors in which organisms change their movements in a non-directional way (so like slowing down or speeding up) in response to a cue or stimulus like temperature or smells
• Taxis


  Innate reflex movement towards or away from a stimulus like light, sound, or smells
• Fixed action pattern


  Predictable series of actions triggered by a cue (key stimulus) that is automatic and involuntary, even if it's more complicated, and will be completed even if the stimulus is removed (egg retrieval, spot pecking)
• Habituation


  Simple learned behavior where an animal gradually stops responding to a repeated stimulus
• Imprinting


  Highly specific learned behavior where newborn animals become extremely attached to the first animal they see, usually their mother (like where duckings follow their mothers)
• Classical conditioning


  Learned behavior where a reaction already associated with a stimulus is linked to another stimulus, like ringing a bell when you get food makes you eventually salivate when you hear the bell
• Unconditioned


  Adjective for the stimulus and reaction that occur together innately without classical conditioning, like when a dog salivates when presented with food
• Operant conditoning


  Rewarding or punishing an animal to get it to do a behavior more or less often
• Communication


  When one animal transmits information to another animal causing some sort of change in the animal receiving it
• Pheromone


  Secreted chemical signal used to trigger a response in another individual of the same species, especially common among social insects. Could attract a member of the opposite sex, mark a food trail, or raise an alarm
• Main uses for animal communication

  • Establishing dominance
  • Attracting a mate
  • Coordinating group activity
  • Raising an alarm