Animal Behaviour

What is innate behaviour?

Behaviour caused by genetics, which occurs naturally in all members of a species without prior learning or experience.

What is ethology?

The study of animal behaviour.

What is comparative ethology?

The comparison of behaviour between animal species.

What is abnormal behaviour?

Behaviour that is not seen in feral animals in their natural environment.

Why should dogs not be left alone for too long?

Species that hunt large prey in groups have an innate fear of being alone as they are unable to hunt alone and will die.

What are appeasement behaviours?

Behaviours used to signal that an individual is not a threat, in order to de-escalate a situation and prevent conflict.

What are some common appeasment behaviours that dogs show?

Licking, yawning

Why should cats never be fed together?

This causes stress as they are solitary hunters so they have not developed social signals.

What happens if group-foraging species are not provided enough opportunities to search for food?

They develop abnormal, stereotypic behaviour.

What are some examples of social strategies?

• Pack hunting

• cooperative childcare

• dominance hierachies

How does social strategy benefit food aquisition?

More individuals searching = more likely to find food.

What is kin selection?

When it is less costly for an individual to help their sibling raise offspring than it is to produce their own offspring. Siblings have ½ their genes in common so helping a sibling raise 2 offspring is the equivalent of raising 1 of their own.

How does social strategy reduce the threat of predators (3Ds)?

Detection: More individuals looking for predators = more likely to detect them.

Dilution: More individuals = smaller chance of each individual being caught by a predator.

Defence: More individuals = greater ability to defend against the predator.

What is social learning?

Copying the successful behaviours of other individuals is less energy costly than learning by trial and error.

What are the disadvantages of social strategy?

• More likely to be detected by predators

• Greater risk of disease transmission

• Competition

What are dominance hierachies?

Within a group, when individuals are split into pairs, there is always one partner in the pair that has priority over the other.

What are dominance hierachies based on?

Familiarity and individual recognition - animals have fought enough that they can predict future fight outcomes. This relies on memory and works better in small groups - e.g hen pecking order.

Status badges - signals which indicate competitiveness.

How is group size regulated in dominance hiearchies?

If there is too much competition, dominants drive subordinates away. If group size is too small, dominants grants subordinated more access to resources - to encourage them to stay in the group.

What is epigenetics?

The study of heritable change in gene expression, which occurs when the genome is altered by environmental factors.

What is learning?

A relatively permanent change in response to an event due to experience.

What are sensitive periods?

Periods of life when an individual is sensitive to specific learning.

What are some examples of sensitive periods?

• Filial imprinting

• Recognition of young

• Sexual imprinting

• Socialisation period

What is the socialisation period of dogs?

3-17 weeks

What is the socialisation period of cats?

3-9 weeks

What is the socialisation period of rabbits?

10-21 days

What is the socialisation period of horses?

2-3 months old

What is motivation?

The process by which behaviour is driven.

What are some factors that contribute to behaviour?

• Evolutionary adaptation

• Genetics

• Development

• Learning and experience

• Present environment

What are the 2 types of innate behaviour?

Reflexes and modal action patterns

What is a reflex?

An automatic, rapid response caused by either the somatic or autonomic nervous system. Sensory inputs synapse in the spinal cord, and the brain receives sensory input while the response occurs.

What is a modal action pattern?

A sequence of movements shown be an individual that is repeated in largely invariant form, triggered by a stimulus.

What is non-associative learning?

Changes in behaviour in response to a single stimulus.

What is associative learning?

Forming connections between two stimuli or a stimulus and response.

What are 2 examples of non-associative learning?

• Habituation

• Sensitisation

What are 2 examples of associative learning?

• Classical conditioning

• Operant/instrumental conditioning

What is habituation?

When a natural response to a stimulus decreases with repeated exposure.

What is sensitisation?

When a natural response to a stimulus increases with repeated exposure.

What is classical conditioning?

When an animal forms an association between an event and a neutral clue. The animal learns to respond to this clue as if it were the event.

How did Pavlov use classical conditioning to get his dogs to salivate in response to a bell ringing?

1)        Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) led to a natural response (salivation). The new/conditioned stimulus (bell) led to no natural response.

2)        The bell was presented along with the food on repeated occasions.

3)        Conditioned response is established. The conditioned stimulus (bell) led to the conditioned response (salivation).

Why is the learning curve S-shaped?

It is initially shallow as the animal has not yet formed the association. The graph steepens as there is an increase in learned response and the graph eventually reaches a plateau.

What is operant/instrumental conditioning?

The animal forms an association between an event (stimulus/cue), a behavioural response (operant), and an outcome (reinforcer/punisher).

How would you teach a dog to beg using operant conditioning?

1)        Before conditioning, if you asked a dog to beg it would not know to do so. It may attempt a variety of behaviours, to see if any of them led to a positive outcome.

2)        Training: behaviours similar to the desired begging behaviour, given in response to the cue are rewarded at first, and this is refined until only the exact begging behaviour is rewarded.

3)        Conditioned response is established. The cue leads to the desired begging behaviour, which is rewarded.

What are reinforcers?

Actions that strengthen/increase the behaviour which they follow. They can be positive or negative.

What is positive reinforcement?

A good thing is added.

What is negative reinforcement?

A bad thing is removed.

What is escape conditioning?

A type of negative reinforcement where a bad thing is present, but is removed.

What is avoidance conditioning?

A type of negative reinforcement where a bad thing is not yet present and is not added.

What are punishers?

Actions that weaken the behaviour which they follow. They can be positive or negative.

What is positive punishment?

A bad thing is added.

What is negative punishment?

A good thing is removed

What can be done when highly motivated behaviour is resilient to punishment?

An alternative behavioural route can be used.

What is learned helplessness?

When the punishment is severe/inconsistent/inescapable so the animals learns to behave helplessly in a depression-like state.

What are aversive/coercive training methods?

Negative reinforcement and positive punishment. They impact the animal’s welfare and relationship with the owner so should be avoided.

What is rewards-based training?

Negative punishment and positive reinforcement.

What causes an animal to be satiated?

If the animal is given the same reward over a long time, causing it lose motivation.

Why is contiguity (close temporal association) important when training?

So the animal learns to associate events.

Why is contingency important when training?

So the animal learns to associate events.

What is salience?

How obvious the conditioning is to the animals.

What is latent inhibition?

When an animal is already familiar with a stimulus and learns that it doesnt predict anything - making it harder to get the animal to form an association between the stimulus and event.

What is blocking?

When the animal already has a good predictor of the outcome so it is hard to condition a new response.

What is generalisation?

When an animal transfers their learning from one context to another.

What is discrimination?

When an animal selectively responds to only a specific cue, when other similar cues are present.

What is extinction of a conditioned response?

When the conditioned response is gradually weakened as it is no longer reinforced/paired with the cue.