Animal Behavior Exam 2

Attunement Play

establishes a connection (such as between mother and offspring)

Body Play

A young animal explores how its body works and interacts with the world

Object Play

Young animal plays w items in its environment

Social Play

Involves playing with others, which allows the building of connections

Describe the advantages of play

Cognitive - such as skill learning and perceptual ability

Physical - such as strength, endurance, and reaction time

Social - such as social skills involving sexual behaviors, grooming, food acquisition, communication, and building social bonds

Describe the differences between a critical period and a sensitive period

Sensitive: starts and ends gradually; period of maximal sensitivity; the skill learned can be picked up after the period (although poorly) (ex., language learning)

Critical: starts and ends abruptly, heightened sensitivity; the area involved in skill development will perform a different function after the period (ex., full development of visual capability [8 months - 3 years])

Imprinting

Any type of rapid learning that occurs in a particular life stage and occurs independently of the outcome of behavior

Filial Imprinting

When a young animal acquires several of its behavioral characteristics from its parents

Sexual Imprinting

The process by which a young animal learns the characteristics of a desirable mate

Maternal Attachment

A type of imprinting-like behavior in which a lasting bond is established between a mother and her young

Maternal Responsiveness

A narrow sensitive period where a mother displays maternal behavior in the presence of its young

Maternal Selectivity

A narrow sensitive period that occurs typically in overlap with Maternal Responsiveness, where the mother learns to direct her maternal behavior to her offspring only

T or F: All eukaryotic organisms possess an internal clock

True

Biological clocks must be able to ___

Control metabolic cycles even in the absence of environmental cues

Circa means ___

About

The duration of a biological rhythm in the absence of environmental cues is said to be ___

Free Running

What does “Free Running” mean?

The internal cycle is no longer being manipulated by the environment

Entrainment

When rhythmic physiological or behavioral events match their period and phase to that of an environmental oscillation (think circadian rhythm, which is controlled by a dark-light cycle)

Temperature Compensation

The ability to maintain a relatively stable internal body temperature despite fluctuating external temperatures

Circadian Rhythm

24-hr cycles

Ultradian Rhythms

Periods less than 24 hrs (ex., eye blinks, respiration, etc)

Infradian Rhythm

Periods greater than 24 hrs (ex., menstruation, breeding, etc)

Circalunal Rhythms

Rhythms synchronized to the waxing and waning of the moon (a lunar month lasts 29.5 days)

Circatidal Rhythms

Cycles synchronized by the tides

T or F: Circatidal rhythms, which are 12.4 hours in length, are ultradian rhythms

F. They are controlled by the moon phases, which are part of the circalunar rhythm, and infradian rhythms by proxy

Circannual Rhythms

Synchronized with a 365-day year cycle (ex., body weight, gonadal size, antler shedding, etc.)

What part of the brain is considered the “master biological clock” in rats?

Hypothalamus

Suprachiasmatic Nuclei

Cell bodies that control the biological clock in the hypothalamus

Piloting

The ability of an animal to find its way using landmarks

Compass Orientation

The ability of an animal to find its way without using landmarks

Vector Navigation

An inherited program telling an animal the compass navigation to head in and how far to travel

Path Integration

The process by which an animal integrates information on the sequence of direction and duration of each leg of an outward journey and uses that info to return (also called Dead Reckoning)

True Navigation

An animal’s ability to maintain or establish a reference goal, regardless of its location, without the use of landmarks (also called Homing)

What did Karl von Frisch do?

He established that bees can accurately identify the direction and range from their hive to a food source using the sun and polarized light

What 2 ways can polarized light be used?

As an axis for orientation and to determine the sun’s position, even when hidden from view

Angle of Inclination

The angle that the line of force makes in the horizon

What is found in the beaks of pigeons that helps with magnetoreception?

Magnetite

Magnetic Map

Allows an animal to obtain positional information from thee earth’s magnetic field

Magnetic Signposts

A magnetic landmark that triggers a directional change

Magnetoception

A sense that allows an animal to detect a magnetic field to allow it to perceive direction, altitude, or location

what chemical allows for detection of magnetic fields in light-dependent magnetoception?

Cryptochrome

Papi’s “Mosaic” Model

Advocates that animals construct a map from the distribution of environmental odors, with a limited area of affect

Wallraff’s “Gradient” Model

Proposes the existence of long-range, stable atmospheric odor gradients

Natal Philopatry

When offspring remain within their birth area throughout their lives

Natal Dispersal

When offspring leave their birth area after some time

What are the 4 factors of natal dispersal?

Inbreeding avoidance, local resource competition, local mate competition, and kin cooperation

What are the 3 processes of habitat selection?

Search, settlement, and residency

Public Information

Information gathered by an animal about its conspecifics to determine their fitness in a given habitat

The Comparison Tactic

Involves visiting several areas, with the best ones being visited multiple times until the highest-quality location is chosen

The Sequential Search Tactic

Involves visiting an area, determining if it is suitable, and only moving on to search if it isn’t

Natal Habitat Preference Induction (NHPI)

Habitat selection is heavily based on natal environments

What factors must be met for a movement to be considered a migration?

It should be seasonal/annual or result in a major habitat change

Obligate Migration

A migration where individuals must participate in the migration

Facultative Migration

Migration where individuals can choose if they migrate or not

Differential Migration

When the difference between migrants and non-migrants is based on factors such as age or sex

Irruptions

Irregular migration due to the presence of a pressure such as famine or overpopulation

Suspension Feeding

Removal of small food particles suspended in water (think baleen whales)

Frugivores

Eat fruit

Folivores

Eat leaves

Granivores

Eat seeds

Graminivores

Eat grasses

Palynivores

Eat pollen

Mucivores

Eat plant fluids

Xylophages

Eat wood

Aggressive Mimicry

Mimics harmless signals that will attract prey or cause them to be ignored

Caudal Luring

The use of tail movements to lure prey

What is the name for the touch receptors on the nose of a Star Nosed Mole?

Eimer’s organs

Foraging Theory

A branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavior of animals in response to the environment where it lives

Optimal Foraging Theory

An idea that states organisms forage in a way that maximizes net energy intake per unit of time

Explain E/h

E is the amount of energy from a prey item, while h is the handling time, which includes capture, dispatch, consumption, and digestion. E/h represents profitability of the prey item (high calorie/low handling time is ideal)

Optimal Diet Model

Analyzes the behavior of a forager that encounters different types of prey and must choose which to attack

Patch Selection Model

Describes the behavior of a forager whose food is concentrated in small areas with a significant travel time between them; it seeks to determine how long an individual will spend on one patch before moving on to another

Central Place Foraging Theory

Describes the behavior of an animal that must return to a particular location to eat, hoard, or feed a conspecific, such as a mate or offspring

Describe the different honeybee loci and their genetic functions

Pln-1 and Pln-4: onset of foraging age

Pln1- and Pln-2: size of pollen loads collected

Pln-2 and Pln-3: influence on the sugar concentration in the collected nectar

Foraging Inovation

The consumption of a new food or use of a new foraging technique

Crypsis

Blending in with the background

Masquerade

The entire animal looks like another object

Mullerian Mimicry

2 or more species, which may or may not be related, share similar warning signals to express toxicity (think bees/wasps)

Batesian Mimicry

When a harmless species evolves the warning signals of a harmful species (think of the flickering tail of a black racer)

Autonomy

The ability for an animal to lose a body part, typically as a predator distraction tactic

What is the term for a false eye spot?

Ocellus