Animal behavior and social relationships

Animal Behavior And

Social relationships

Kinds of Behavior

• How do animals know when a situation is dangerous? How do they know where to find

food? • Sometimes, animals instinctively know how to

behave, but sometimes they learn how.

Innate Behavior

• Innate behavior: behavior that doesn’t depend on learning or experience

• Inherited through genes• Examples: puppies inherit the

tendency to chew, bees inherit the tendency to fly– Other innate behaviors develop months

or years after birth walking is innate humans, but we don’t do it for at least a year after birth

• The male bowerbird inherits the tendency to collect colorful objects for its nest. These

colorful additions attract the female bowerbird to be his mate!

Learned Behavior

• Innate behaviors can be modified• Animals can use learning to change a

behavior• Learned behavior: behavior that has been

learned from experience or from observing other animals

• Humans inherit the tendency to speak, but the language we use is not inherited

• All animals can learn

Survival Behavior

• Finding Food

Many animals hunt for their food, like this owl hunting mice

This chimpanzee uses tools to get to the insect for food

– Animals that eat other animals are known as predators

– The animal being eaten is the prey

– Example A frog eats insects, so the frog is a predator. But a frog may be eaten by a snake. In this case, the frog is the prey.

• Marking Territory– Members of the same species must compete

for food and mates– Some animals claim territories to save energy

by avoiding this competition– Territory an area that is occupied by one

animal or a group of animals that do not allow other members of the same species to enter

– Animals use their territories for mating, raising young, and finding food

• Defensive Action– Defensive behavior allows animals to protect

resources, including territories, from other animals

– Animals defend food, mates, and offspring– Also helps animals protect themselves from

predators, such as making themselves hard to see• Example: This rabbit “freezes” so that its color blends into the background

Pet dogs sometimes growl when a person

approaches while its eating

When a predator is near, a mother killdeer may

pretend to have a broken wing and move

away from her young as a distraction

• Courtship– Animals need to find mates to reproduce– Animals have special behaviors that help them

find a mate; these behaviors are referred to as “courtship”

– Example: two cranes perform a courtship display dance

• Parenting– Some animals, like

caterpillars, start life being able to take care of themselves

– Many young depend on their parents for survival

– Some adult birds bring food to their young because they cannot feed themselves

– Other animals, like the killer whale, spend years teaching their young how to hunt for food

Seasonal Behavior

• Migration– Many animals avoid

cold weather by traveling to warmer places

– For short trips, animals use landmarks to find their way (landmarks are fixed, like mountain ranges, rivers, and coast lines)

Each winter, monarch

butterflies migrate from

North America to central Mexico. There can be as

many as 4 million

butterflies per acre!

• Slowing Down– Some animals deal with

food and water shortages by hibernating

– Hibernation: period of inactivity and decreased body temperature that some animals experience in winter

– Winter is not the only time for hibernation many desert squirrels and mice experience a similar internal slowdown in the hottest parts of summer, when food and water are scarce.

• This is called “estivation”

• A Biological Clock– Animals need to keep track of time so that

they know when to store food and when to migrate

– The internal control of an animal’s natural cycles is called a biological clock

– Animals use clues such as the length of the day and the temperature

– Circadian rhythms: daily cycles, such as an animal waking up and getting sleepy at about the same time each day and night

Social Relationships• Social behavior: the interaction among

animals of the same species; animals depend on communication for their social interactions

– Animals also communicate to find food, to warn others of danger, to identify family members, to frighten predators, and to find mates

• Ways to Communicate– Sound

• Sound is a signal that can reach many animals over a large area

• Elephants use low frequency rumbles to communicate with other elephants that are kilometers away

– Touch• Chimpanzees

often groom each other

• This activity is an important way for primates to communicate, calm and comfort each other, and communicate friendship or support

– Chemicals• Pheromones: chemicals that

animals use to communicate• Ants and other insects

secrete a variety of pheromones alarm chemicals warn other ants of danger and recognition chemicals announce which colony an ant is from to both friends and enemies

• Many animals use pheromones to find a mate

– Sight

• When we smile at a friend, we are sending a visual message with body language

• Bees use body language to spread news about food (the “waggle dance”)

• An animal that wants to scare another animal may ruffle feathers or show its teeth

Living Together• The Benefits of Living in

Groups– Safer than living alone– One animal can warn many

others of danger– Helps animals find food

– Predators that hunt in groups can kill larger prey

The ground squirrel whistles a loud alarm if there’s danger

• The Downside of Living in Groups– Must compete with each

other for food and mates– An area that has enough

food for one animal may not have enough food for a group of animals

– In these cases, groups must move around in search of food

– Animals in groups attract predators

– Living as a group can also help diseases spread