Importance of Animal Behavior Essay

wherefore do wildcats be realize the expression they do? The answer to this question depends on what the air is. A beep chases a mouse to catch it. A spider spins its sticky web to trap insects. A induce dog nurses her puppies to feed them. in all of these demeanors have the analogous purpose getting or providing food. All living organisms motive food for energy. They require energy to move around. In f tour, they need energy just to stay a start. kid animals in like manner need energy to grow and develop. Birds and wasps build go ups to have a safe place to stock their bombard and raise their young. galore(postnominal) separate animals build nests for the analogous reason. Animals protect their young in former(a) ways, as well. For compositors case, a contract dog non only nurses her puppies. She also washes them with her tongue and protects them from strange pack or other animals. All of these expressions help the young survive and grow up to be adults. R abbits ravel away from foxes and other p rosyators to stay alive. Their speed is their best defense.Lizards sun themselves on rocks to get warm because they weednot bring forth their own clay heat. When they argon warmer, they can move faster and be to a greater extent than alert. This helps them escape from predators, as well as find food. All of these animal doingss ar in-chief(postnominal). They help the animals get food for energy, deem sure their young survive, or ensure that they survive themselves. expressions that help animals or their young survive add the animals fitness. You read just rough fitness in the Evolution chapter. Animals with higher fitness have a repair chance of passing their genes to the next generation. If genes control behaviors that increase fitness, the behaviors flex more common in the species. This is called growing by natural selection. Innate BehaviorAll of the behaviors shown in the images above are ways that animals routine natural ly. They dont have to jibe how to behave in these ways. Cats are natural-born hunters. They dont need to attain how to hunt. Spiders spin their complex webs without knowledge how to do it from other spiders. Birds and wasps know how to build nests without be taught. These behaviors are called inhering. An internal behavior is any behavior that occurs naturally in all animals of a given species. An innate behavior is also called an instinct. The first clock era an animal make outs an innate behavior, the animal does it well. The animal does not have to practice the behavior in order toget it right or become let on at it. Innate behaviors are also predictable. All members of a species perform an innate behavior in the same(p) way. From the examples described above, you can believably verbalise that innate behaviors usually involve important actions, like eating and caring for the young. There are umpteen other examples of innate behaviors. For example, did you know that h aneybees dance? The honeybee in regard below has found a source of food. When the bee returns to its stack away, it testament do a dance, called the waggle dance. The way the bee moves during its dance tells other bees in the lay in where to find the food. Honeybees can do the waggle dance without acquire it from other bees, so it is an innate behavior. When this honeybee goes back to its hive, it will do a dance to tell the other bees in the hive where it found food. well-read BehaviorJust about all other human behaviors are knowing. Learned behavior is behavior that occurs only after experience or practice. Learned behavior has an advantage over innate behavior. It is more flexible. Learned behavior can be changed if conditions change. For example, you probably know the send mangle from your house to your school. Assume that you moved to a new house in a different place, so you had to take a different route to school. What if following the old route was an innate behavi or? You would not be able to adapt. Fortunately, it is a inti lad behavior. You can come upon the new route just as you developed the old one. Although most animals can learn, animals with greater intelligence are wagerer at information and have more learned behaviors. military mans are the most intelligent animals. They depend on learned behaviors more than any other species. Other extremely intelligent species include apes, our juxtaposed relatives in the animal kingdom. They include chimpanzees and gorillas.Both are also very good at skill behaviors. You may have heard of a gorilla named Koko. The psychologist Dr. Francine Patterson raised Koko. Dr. Patterson wanted to find out if gorillas could learn human language. Starting when Koko was just one year old, Dr. Patterson taught her to use sign language. Koko learned to use and conceive more than 1,000 signs. Koko showed how oft gorillas can learn. See A Conversation with Koko at http//www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/koko/ fo r additional information. intend about some of the behaviors you have learned. They might include riding a bicycle, using a computer, and performing a musicalinstrument or sport. You probably did not learn all of these behaviors in the same way. Perhaps you learned some behaviors on your own, just by practicing. Other behaviors you may have learned from other people. Humans and other animals can learn behaviors in several(prenominal) different ways. The following methods of education will be explored below1. Habituation (forming a habit).2. data-based training.3. Conditioning.4. Play.5. Insight learning.HabituationHabituation is learning to get use to something after being exposed to it for a while. Habituation usually involves getting utilize to something that is annoying or frightening, but not dangerous. Habituation is one of the simplest ways of learning. It occurs in just about every species of animal. You have probably learned by means of habituation many times. For examp le, maybe you were reading a book when someone turned on a television in the same room. At first, the well-informed of the television may have been annoying. After awhile, you may no longer have noticed it. If so, you had become habituated to the sound. Another example of habituation is shown in Figure below. Crows and most other biddys are usually horror-struck of people. They avoid approach shot close to people, or they fly away when people come near them. The crows arrive on this darn-s divvy upr have gotten employ to a human in this place. They have learned that the scarecrow poses no danger. They are no longer afraid to come close. They have become habituated to the scarecrow.This scarecrow is no longer scary to these crows. They have become used to its being in this spot and learned that it is not dangerous. This is an example of habituation. Can you see why habituation is useful? It lets animals ignore things that will not misemploy them. Without habituation, animals might waste time and energy trying to escape from things that are not really dangerous. Observational breedingObservational learning is learning by honoring and copying the behavior ofsomeone else. Human children learn many behaviors this way. When you were a young child, you may have learned how to tie your shoes by watching your dad tie his shoes. More recently, you may have learned how to dance by watching a pop star dancing on TV. Most potential you have learned how to do math puzzles by watching your teachers do problems on the board at school. Can you esteem of other behaviors you have learned by watching and copying other people? Other animals also learn through observational learning. For example, young wolves learn to be better hunters by watching and copying the skills of cured wolves in their pack. Another example of observational learning is how some monkeys have learned how to wash their food. They learned by watching and copying the behavior of other monkeys. Co nditioningConditioning is a way of learning that involves a reward or punishment. Did you ever train a dog to fetch a gawk or stick by rewarding it with treats? If you did, you were using conditioning. Another example of conditioning is shown in Figure below. This lab rat has been taught to adopt basketball by being rewarded with food pellets. Conditioning also occurs in wild animals. For example, bees learn to find nectar in authorized types of flowers because they have found nectar in those flowers before.This rat has been taught to put the ball through the hoop by being rewarded with food for the behavior. This is an example of conditioning. What do you think would happen if the rat was no longer rewarded for the behavior? Humans learn behaviors through conditioning, as well. A young child might learn to put away his toys by being rewarded with a bedtime story. An older child might learn to study for tests in school by being rewarded with better grades. Can you think of behavi ors you learned by being rewarded for them? Conditioning does not always involve a reward. It can involve a punishment instead. A toddler might be punished with a time-out each time he grabs a toy from his baby brother. After several time-outs, he may learn to stop taking his brothers toys. A dog might be scolded each time she heightens up on the sofa. After borrowed scolding, she may learn to stay off the sofa. A bird might become ill after eating a poisonous insect. The bird may learn from this punishment to avoid eating the same kind of insect in the future. Learning by PlayingMost young mammals, including humans, like to play. Play is one way they learn skills they will need as adults. Think about how kittens play. They pounce on toys and chase each other. This helps them learn how to be better predators when they are older. Big cats also play. The lion cubs in Figure below are compete and practicing their hunting skills at the same time. The dogs in Figure below are playing tug-of-war with a toy. What do you think they are learning by playing together this way? Other young animals play in different ways. For example, young deer play by running and kicking up their hooves. This helps them learn how to escape from predators. These two lion cubs are playing. They are not only having fun. They are also learning how to be better hunters. Insight LearningInsight learning is learning from past experiences and reasoning. It usually involves coming up with new ways to solve problems. Insight learning generally happens quickly. An animal has a jerky flash of insight. Insight learning requires relatively great intelligence. Human beings use insight learning more than any other species. They have used their intelligence to solve problems ranging from inventing the wheel to flying rockets into space. Think about problems you have solved. Maybe you figured out how to solve a new type of math problem or how to get to the next level of a video game. If you relied on your past experiences and reasoning to do it, then you were using insight learning. One type of insight learning is making tools to solve problems. Scientists used to think that humans were the only animals intelligent adequacy to make tools. In fact, tool-making was believed to set humans unconnected from all other animals. In 1960, primate expert Jane Goodall discovered that chimpanzees also make tools.She saw a chimpanzee strip leaves from a twig. Then he poked the twig into a hole in a termite mound. After termites climbed onto the twig, he pulled the twig out of the hole and ate the insects clinging to it. The chimpanzee had made a tool to fish for termites. He had used insight to solve a problem. Since then, chimpanzees have been seen making several different types of tools. For example, they sharpen sticks and use them as spears for hunting. They use stones as hammers to crack open nuts. Scientists have also observed other species of animals making tools to solve problems. A crow was seen bending apiece of fit into a hook. Then the crow used the hook to pull food out of a tube. An example of a gorilla using a walking stick is shown in Figure below. Behaviors such as these show that other species of animals can use their experience and reasoning to solve problems. They can learn through insight.This gorilla is using a branch as a tool. She is leaning on it to keep her commensurateness while she reaches down into swampy water to catch a fish.Social BehaviorWhy is animal communication important? Without it, animals would not be able to live together in convocations. Animals that live in groups with other members of their species are called social animals. Social animals include many species of insects, birds, and mammals. Specific examples of social animals are ants, bees, crows, wolves, and humans. To live together with one another, these animals must be able to share information. Highly Social AnimalsSome species of animals are very social. In these species, members of the group depend completely on one another. Different animals within the group have different reflects. Therefore, group members must pee together for the good of all. Most species of ants and bees are highly social animals. Ants, like those in Figure below, live together in large groups called colonies. A resolution may have millions of ants. All of the ants in the crushed town work together as a maven unit. Each ant has a specific job. Most of the ants are workers. Their job is to build and repair the dependences nest. Worker ants also leave the nest to find food for themselves and other colony members. The workers care for the young as well. Other ants in the colony are soldiers. They defend the colony against predators. Each colony also has a queen. Her only job is to lay eggs. She may lay millions of eggs each month. A few ants in the colony are called drones. They are the only male ants in the colony. Their job is to mate with the queen.The ants in this picture belong to the same colony. They have left the colony Honeybees and bumblebees also live in colonies. A colony of honeybees isshown in Figure dont purge me. Each bee in the colony has a particular job. Most of the bees are workers. Young worker bees clean the colonys hive and feed the young. Older worker bees build the waxy honeycomb or guard the hive. The oldest workers leave the hive to find food. Each colony usually has one queen that lays eggs. The colony also has a subtle number of male drones. They mate with the queen.All the honeybees in this colony work together. Each bee has a certain job to perform. The bees are gathered together to fly to a new home. How do you think they knew it was time to gather together? CooperationAnts, bees, and other social animals must cooperate. Cooperation means working together with others. Members of the group may cooperate by sharing food. They may also cooperate by defending each other. step at the ants in Figure below. They s how clearly why cooperation is important. A single ant would not be able to carry this large insect back to the nest to feed the other ants. With cooperation, the job is informal.These ants are cooperating. By working together, they are able to move this much larger insect work back to their nest. At the nest, they will share the insect with other ants that do not leave the nest. Animals in many other species cooperate. For example, lions live in groups called pridefulnesss. A lion pride is shown in Figure below. All the lions in the pride cooperate. Male lions work together to defend the other lions in the pride. Female lions work together to hunt. Then they share the meat with other pride members. Another example is meerkats. Meerkats are small mammals that live in Africa. They also live in groups and cooperate with one another. For example, young distaff meerkats act as babysitters. They take care of the baby meerkats while their parents are away looking for food.Members of t his lion pride work together. Males cooperate by defending the pride. Females cooperate by hunting and sharing the food. Mating BehaviorSome of the most important animal behaviors involve mating. Mating is the pairing of an adult male and female to produce young. Adults that are most successful at imbibeing a mate are most likely to have egress. Traitsthat help animals attract a mate and have manifestation increase their fitness. As the genes that convert these traits are passed to the next generation, the traits will become more common in the population. courting BehaviorsIn many species, females choose the male they will mate with. For their part, males try to be chosen as mates. They show females that they would be a better mate than the other males. To be chosen as a mate, males may perform courtship behaviors. These are special behaviors that help attract a mate. Male courtship behaviors get the concern of females and show off a males traits. Different species have differe nt courtship behaviors. look on the peacock raising his tail feathers in Figure above? This is an example of courtship behavior. The peacock is trying to impress females of his species with his beautiful feathers. Another example of courtship behavior in birds is shown in Figure below. This bird is called a blue-footed booby. He is doing a dance to attract a female for mating. During the dance, he spreads out his travel and stamps his feet on the ground. .This blue-footed booby is a species of sea bird. The male pictured here is doing a courtship Courtship behaviors occur in many other species. For example, males in some species of whales have special mating songs to attract females as mates. Frogs croak for the same reason. Male deer clash antlers to court females. Male jumping spiders jump from side to side to attract mates. Courtship behaviors are one type of pompousness behavior. A display behavior is a fixed set of actions that carries a specific message. Although many displ ay behaviors are used to attract mates, some display behaviors have other purposes. For example, display behaviors may be used to warn other animals to stay away, as you will read below. Caring for the YoungIn most species of birds and mammals, one or both parents care for their offspring. Caring for the young may include making a nest or other shelter. It may also include feeding the young and protecting them from predators. Caring for offspring increases their chances of surviving. Birds called killdeers have an interesting way to protect their chicks. When a predator gets too close to her nest, a mother killdeer pretends to have a broken wing. The mother walks away from the nest holding her wing as though it isinjured. This is what the killdeer in Figure below is doing. The predator thinks she is injured and will be easy prey. The mother leads the predator away from the nest and then flies away.This mother killdeer is pretending she has a broken wing. She is trying to attract a predator In most species of mammals, parents also teach their offspring important skills. For example, meerkat parents teach their pups how to eat scorpions without being stung. A scorpion sting can be deadly, so this is a very important skill. Teaching the young important skills makes it more likely that they will survive. argue TerritorySome species of animals are territorial. This means that they defend their area. The area they defend usually contains their nest and enough food for themselves and their offspring. A species is more likely to be territorial if there is not very much food in their area. Animals generally do not defend their grime by fighting. Instead, they are more likely to use display behavior. The behavior tells other animals to stay away. It gets the message across without the need for fighting. endanger behavior is generally safer and uses less energy than fighting. Male gorillas use display behavior to defend their territory. They nonplus on their chests and thump the ground with their hands to warn other male gorillas to keep away from their area. The redbreast in Figure below is also using display behavior to defend his territory. He is displaying his red breast to warn other robins to stay away.The red breast of this male robin is easy to see. The robin displays his bright red chest to defend his territory. It warns other robins to keep out of his area. Some animals deposit chemicals to check over the boundary of their territory. This is why dogs urinate on fire hydrants and other objects. Cats may also mark their territory by depositing chemicals. They have scent glands in their face. They deposit chemicals by rubbing their face against objects. Cycles of BehaviorMany animal behaviors change in a regular way. They go through cycles. Some cycles of behavior repeat each year. Other cycles of behavior repeat everyday. Yearly CyclesAn example of a behavior with a yearly cycle is hibernation. Hibernation is a state in which an anim als body processes are drawn-out than usual and its body temperature falls. An animal uses less energy than usual during hibernation. This helps the animal survive during a time of year when food is scarce. Hibernation may last for weeks or months. Animals that hibernate include species of bats, squirrels, and snakes. Most people think that bears hibernate. In fact, bears do not go into true hibernation. In the winter, they go into a deep sleep. However, their body processes do not slow down very much. Their body temperature also remains about the same as usual. Bears can be awakened easily from their winter sleep.Instinctual behaviorOne type of instinctual behavior is fixed action patterns, which are behaviors the animal is compelled to engage in. For instance, some birds will raise the chicks of other birds if the eggs are put in their nests during nesting season, because caring for an egg is a fixed action pattern. Another instinctual behavior is imprinting, wherein a baby anima l accepts a person, or even an item, as a surrogate mother. informal behavior is also instinctual, bolstered by play, which helps animals learn courtship and mating skills. Many of these behaviors are dictated by specific body systems, like the nervous system, which responds to stimuli in the environment. Learned behaviorLearned behavior is important both for wild animals, who must learn specific and new ways to survive, and for domestic animals that we seek to train. Animals can learn to anticipate that an action will have a predictable outcome through visitation and error, such as dog learning to sit for a treat. This is called operant conditioning. They can also learn that one event precedes another, such as the sound of a metal food bowl being moved signaling food being served, which is known as associative learning. Animals also learn a lot through watching others and mimicry. All of these behaviors allow an animal to adapt to new situations and problems. Abnormal behaviorIde ntifying behavior patterns enables people to determine when animals arebehaving abnormally. These abnormal behaviors might simply be annoying to animal owners however, in other instances they may also be dangerous for the animal and others or even jeopardise their very survival. For example, inappropriately aggressive dogs, which might be suffering from disease or trauma, are potentially dangerous to themselves and others. The behavior may be addressed if it is identified as abnormal and normal behavior is reestablished. More important to species survival are mating and raising offspring, and in these cases abnormal behavior that leads to disappointment to mate or care for offspring can present a threat to the animals long-term survival.