animal behavior part 2

who pioneer spatial learning

Tinbergen

Study for comparing spatial learning abilities

Task- peck a computer screen to receive a reward

Task requires memory of the location of a circle on the screen

• have to watch someone else do that task first

• spatial learning you do not watch someone else to task first

Clarks nutcracker

stashes small pine seeds in small holes in the ground (food storing specialist)

Scrub jay

 stashes small amounts of food

Spatial learning abilities differ among members of the crow family, which member does the best?

Nutcracker is doing the best out of the crow family

what region of brain is most associated with spatial learning

Hippocampus

memory of definition

storage and recall of previous experiences

Which species has a larger hippocampus: Clark's nutcrackers or the scrub jay?

• Clarks nutcrackers

spatial learning between sexes for poygynous species

• In case of polygynous species males are ranging farther than females in order to seek out more mates so they explore more area and learn about it

spatial learning between sexes for monogamous species

• Monogamous species males and females have similar home ranges, so as a result similar learning

definition poygnous vs. monogamous

polygynous (males mate with more than one female) monogamous (strong pair bond between a male and female)

Social or observational learning

• Animal learns a task by observing or otherwise sensing what another animal is doing 

Insight learning

An animal makes new associations between previously learned tasks in order to solve a new problem

• Example: chimp used a stick to pull in a piece of food it couldn’t get by hand, then researchers put food out of reach from pole, the chimp then put two poles together to reach food; that's insight learning

Costs of learning

• Possibility of learning incorrectly

• Cost of neural machinery- E to create and maintain machinery, brain takes a lot of energy to create and maintain brain

• Takes time to learn a response

news and views jane goodall

-chimps engaged in organize warfare

- Primates made tools to eat meat

- used tools

-held rain dances

Three foundations

1. Natural selection

2. Individual learn

3. Cultural transmission- transfer of information from one individual to another through teaching or social learning that can spread through a population

Cultural transmission in chimpanzees

• Chimps have culture 

• Culture is not strictly human

• Stone play: stack stones on top of each other and knock them down, spread through population

  • Started with females and then spread to males

  • Stone play decreases with age

Social learning vs. cultural transmission

Social learning: Learn by watching others

Cultural transmission: spreads through a population either within or between generations

• Local enhancement

• Observer is not learning from other individual who is exploring and moving around in area but it is exploring the area because the other individual is there

• 
  

• active

• Social facilitation

• Do not have to be active but individuals are drawn to the social group by mere presence

• Not active

Social learning- as observational learning, humans

• The bobo doll experiment

  • Adult plays with doll in a nice way, then punches it , then starts hitting the doll, then kicks it

  • While kids were watching and copied how the adult played with the doll

Social learning- as observational learning, Chimps

Licked a stick to pull termites out of there hive and other chimps would watch the adult do this and then copy them later

what are the two types of social learning

Imitation

Copying behavior

imitation

acquisition of a topographically (new

spatial manipulation, new sequence of spatial actions)

novel response through observation of a demonstrator

making that response and leading to achievement of a goal

example

• Bird has been trained to press lever and get food

• Observer watches and may learn through imitation, sometimes it does learn sometimes it doesn’t

Copying behavior

behavior that occurs when an

observer repeats the action of the demonstrator (a behavior

that is already in the individual’s natural behavioral

repertoire)

mate copying

• Avoid sampling costs (time,energy,risks of predation), presence of a predator decreases choosiness

• More vulnerable or inexperienced more likely to copy: younger females more likely to copy choices of older females

• Copying more likely to occur when choices are more closely matched

teaching

• Provide a benefit to the students but not an immediate benefit to him or herself

• Change behavior when teaching that could facilitate learning

• Impart information to students faster than they would receive it

Modes of cultural transmission

1. Vertical cultural transmission

2. oblique cultural transmission

3. Horizontal cultural transmission

Vertical cultural transmission

example: Sponging behavior in bottlenose dolphins

1. Transferred across generation between parents/offspring

 Oblique cultural transmission

transmitted across generations, but you learn from individuals other than their parents

Example, orangutans being taught to fear snakes

Horizontal cultural transmission

transmitted between peers (adults or young generation)
example : trained guppies different learning paths to obtain food

Cultural transmission: brain size

Executive brain ratio

• Part of brain used for innovation

• As this increases so does occurrence of new innovations

Maternal behavior

• Increase protectiveness of offspring

• Helping young

Parental behavior definition

any behavior toward a reproductively immature organism that increase the likelihood that the immature individual will survive to maturity

-Evidence suggests that early life environment (parental care) is important for development

• Sensitive mother-securely-attached infant

• Securely-attached infant relationally secure adult

Why are animals parental?

• Passing on genes 

• Protection

• Nutrition

• Temperature regulation

• Shelter

• Learning 

Alloparenting

• parenting given by individuals that are not the biological mother or father

Biparental

both parents

Paternal behavior

Reversed roles: highly advanced paternal car

Males take on roles of females, such as making next and taking care of young

Bi- parental care

• Both parents contribute to raising the offspring

Two different types of maternal care

Artificial

Precocial

artificial

• Born at an early stage of development

• Helpless, require substantial parental care to survive

Precocial

• Born at an advanced stage of development 

• Little or no help is required for survival

description of rat maternal behavior

• Next building 

• Pup retrieval 

• Pup licking

• Nursing postures

• Normally these behaviors are evident soon after parturition

• Rats that have never given birth (virgins) do not show these behaviors

News and view: cat grooming is it affectionate or aggressive 

Parabiotic preparation

• preparation where blood is exchanged between a rat that was maternal and a rat that was not maternal

•  Soon after virgin rat will show maternal behavior

•  Conclusion: blood-borne factor is important in the induction of maternal behavior in rats

ratio between progesterone and estradiol in pregnancy

• Estrogen rises in pregnancy and progesterone drops

Maternal behavior- hormones

prolactin, oxytocin, opioids

prolactin

 milk production, infusion into the brain can induce maternal behavior rapidly, medial preoptic region

Oxytocin

uterine contractions and milk letdown- infusion into the brain induces maternal behavior rapidly, medial preoptic region

Opioids

• reduction of pain associated with parturition

Postpartum (after birth) experience

• Soon after the parturition the hormones that initiated the onset of maternal behavior decrease

• Latency to respond to pups decreases when time increases, half hour is the time that most rats need to learn to be maternal 

Maternal experience effect

• a brief interactive experience with pups post partum sustains maternal responsiveness throughout lactation and beyond at least 30 min

• Mother has to be interacting with pups in order to acquire this experience

• Seeing, smelling and hearing the pups is essential

Pups are rewarding to new mothers

• Mother will bare press for pups whereas virgin rats will not 

• Rewarding properties of pups can be blocked with dopamine antagonists

Bar press

• Bar press: more someone wants something the more they will press the bar

Medial preoptic area

• In hypothalamus is the most important nucleus for maternal behavior

• Lesions of mpoa (medical preoptic area, its in the hypothalamus) will abolish maternal behavior

Ontogeny

• Early life experiences with one's own mother

• There is a positive correlation between the maternal style of mother rats and the maternal style of their daughters

humans

• Mothers who received continuous care by at least one caregiver prior to age 12 show more affectionate touching but less instrumental touching 

how do Mothers effect stress

• Direct effect on offspring stress later in life, more licking and grooming of mouse pups less stress response when adults

Sensory changes in new mother

• Compared to non mothers new mother find odors associated with infants more pleasing, body odor, urine and feces

• New mothers are good at identifying the odor cries and tactile feature of their infant 

what are the maternal behavior in humans- hormones:

• estradiol and progesterone

• Mothers with a positive shift in the ratio of estradiol (ratio increases) to progesterone show more positive attachment to their infant than mothers whose pregnancy endocrine profile shows a negative shift (no change)

Instrumental behaviors

• changing diapers. Changing the clothing and burping the infant etc.

Affectionate behaviors

 patting, cuddling and kissing etc

What happens to an animal's fitness if all individuals choose the same spot?

• Animals must distribute themselves between patches that vary in resources 

Ideal free distribution theory

• Explains why individuals distribute themselves partially such that individuals are free to distribute themselves in a manner that will maximize their fitness gains

Dispersal

• Moving to a new home area

• In many species males move farther away from home than females

  • Sometimes males move away to avoid inbreeding 

Migration

• Regular movement of animals from one lactation to another 

• Animal migration is the relatively long distance movement of individuals usually on a seasonal basis 

• It is found in all major animals groups

• It can be also defined as a movement leading to the redistribution of individuals within a population

migration benefits

 Food supplies

• Favorable climate changes

• Reproductive advantages

• Reduction in competition

• Reduction on predatio

migration costs

• high energy expenditure

• Predation

• Complex navigational skills

• Difficulties finding food, water, shelter while migrating

Genetics: variation in migratory patterns

• At least some migratory behavior is regulated by genetics

Some birds can adjust their migratory strategy: based on fat reserves 

• News and views, Can environmental impact change space use and cooperation

• Yes, monkeys started to cooperate more because they had less habitat so they had to 

Methods of Navigation

• Visual cues/ landmarks- wasp (Tinbergen)

• Magnetic fields- whales, monarch butterflies

  • Use for directional orientation

• Solar navigation

• Star navigation- black cap bird example 

• chemical navigation

Magnetoreception

• Sense which allows an organism to detect a magnetic field to perceive direction, altitude or location

magnetite

• Most magnetic of all the naturally occurring minerals on earth

• Animal has this substance in their body so that they can use the magnetic field to direct them 

• Animals Develop regional maps

Salmon will use magnetic field to get to their home and then use oder to find there way when there closer to home 

Effects of global warming on migration

• Butterfly studies have shifted their ranges northward 

Evolution has selected with migration time that shifts with food sources, but with climate change it is offsetting these food sources

• They are migrating earlier than normal

  • Not enough food when they reach destination

• They are laying their eggs earlier than normal

  • Might be from lack of resources or temperature selection

• Habitats shift usually toward poles or to higher altitude

• The young are being born earlier than normal

  • New hatchlings don't have enough food
    
    

Territoriality

• Defense and or maintenance of an area resulting in the exclusion of other typically conspecifics (members of the same species)

• Territoriality can become a stable strategy when the benefits for reproductive success outweighs the costs of displaying territorial behaviors

territoriality beneffits

• Exclusive access to food and mates

• Safe Haven from predator

Territriality costs

• Time

• Energy

• Injury(death)

• Costs of testosterone

Animals adjust territory size in relation to resource abundance

• No point in defending larger area if you can get enough food from smaller areas

unsaid rules in territorial disputes

• territory owner often wins even if they match in size and fighting capability

news and views bandwidth of song

• Changed bandwidth so it was shorter and higher in frequency because they wanted to avoid noise that was in response to human noise, bandwidth become greater during covid because human noise was less

news and views , why do the gorillas in Virunga leave the mountains to forage in other areas and feed on eucalyptus 

• They need to get more salt and they get it from eucalyptus 

Proximate and ultimate causes of bird song

• Different species of bird and other organisms sing different songs

Gene and environment interactions

• Singing mechanism has complex development process genes are heavily involved 

• Type of song sung also affected by environment i.e. songs heard

Song dialects

• Similar but different in crucial area which allows different animals to identity diff songs

All birds in one area will be singing similar dialects

how do birds recognize their same species song?

• Birds have neural template that helps them recognize their same species song

when does neural template develop

days 10-50

what happens on days 50-150

does not matter what birds hear

what happens days 150-200

• trying to match what they are producing to their template, practicing 

day 200?

develop full song

what happens when a bird is only exposed to song before 10 days or after only after 50 days

they will not learn full songs because the neural template is not open

what happens if birds hear multiple songs

If they hear multiple songs neural template stage they will choose the one they can replicate even if they hear other

what happens is bird only hears song it can’t learn

they will learn the song incorrectly

When developing, song sparrow must be able to hear itself sing so it can compare its song to what it heard when young

learning songs in general

White crowned sparrows learn own species song better than other species

If exposed only to songs of another species when young- does not develop proper song

If exposed to songs of many species as well as its own it will chooses its own song

what happens when birds are exposed to living birds and not tapes

wc = white crowned

• Hand reared wc sparrow exposed to song sparrows and strawberry finches they could hear and see

  • Result: learned the other species song even if they could hear tapes of wc song 

• Social experience thus can have a strong effect on wc sparrow singing behavior 

• Song will not be abnormal

is there a difference in male and female brain structure when concerning song?

• Brain obviously plays a major role in sign and song learning

• Most species only males sing so we would expect there to be differences in brain structure between males and females 

• Differences could be genetic or environmental or both

explain estrogen in zebra mechanisms of song

• only males sing

• Cells in male embryo produce estrogen 

• Estrogen travels to nerve cells in brain and binds to receptors 

• Neural system (song system ) are then stimulated to develop 

How avian song control system works ( biology)

• Song control systems in birds includes several clusters of neurons called nuclei

• Nuclei are connected together by long extensions of neurons axons

• Some components involved in song learning others in sign production