Animal Behaviour

Principles of Animal Behavior
Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

Genes and Environmental Clues
Biological Rhythms
From Reflexes to Problem Solving
Birds and Apes Have (Some) Culture
Foraging Optimizes Energy Costs and Benefits
Mating, Parenting, and Reproductive Success
Behavior Can Drive Evolution Fast
Proximate
and Ultimate
Causes

Biological Rhythms
Young geese
imprinted on ethologist
Konrad Lorenz, who
happened to be
nearby when the
geese were hatching.
Since then, they
followed him around
as they normally
would do with a
parent.
Konrad Lorenz as mother goose
Monozygotic Twins Reared Apart (MZA)

Biological Rhythms
Activity Pattern of a Nocturnal Animal
(1)
(2)
Flying squirrel exposed to 12 hours of darkness per day in laboratory.

Animal kept in constant darkness. Activity period shifts by ~21 min/day.
Human
Circadian
Rhythm
Courtesy
F. Bronson
Activity rhythm of a human male in a laboratory where he had no access to

natural light and could turn his room lights off, sleep, turn them on, etc day after
day. The result is an autonomous 25 to 26 hour rhythm in his sleep pattern.

Biological Rhythms
Reflex Arc
From Starr C. (2003)
Touch-sensitive receptors in the skin generate an action potential in a sensory

neuron, which synapses with an interneuron in the spinal cord. This synapses
with a motor neuron, which activates certain skeletal muscles to contract.
Fixed Action
Pattern (Instinct)
Any female greylag goose
who discovers an egg
outside her nest, will
reach just beyond the egg
with her bill and roll it
back into the nest. Once
initiated, the action
pattern is always carried
out to completion.
Instincts Are
Triggered by
Releasers
The underside of a male
stickleback turns red
during the breeding
season. Males are then
territorial and warn
other males away by a
specific threat posture.
Strong postures are
triggered even by crude
clay models as long as
their ventral surfaces are
painted red.
From Krogh (2005)
Operant Conditioning is learning from the consequences of

choices. This coyote has learned the hard way to avoid porcupines.
Problem
Solving
Wolfgang Koehler (1887-1967) studied cognitive abilities of chimpanzees. To

reach a banana, they had to insert a narrow stick into a wider one. Koehlers
star student, Sultan, worked on the sticks for over an hour. When they were
fitted together, Sultan immediately used the new tool to angle for the banana.

Biological Rhythms
Monkey Culture. Macaques on the Japanese island of Koshima wash

potatoes before eating them, a cultural trait started by one female in 1950.
Chimp Culture.
Chimpanzees fish for
termites. A stick is poked
into the nest of termites or
other social insects.
Termites attacking the
stick are pulled out and
licked (or stripped) off.
Young chimpanzees learn
from older ones how to
fish. Some communities
have more effective fishing
techniques than others.

Biological Rhythms
Smart
Birds
The Northwestern crow (Corvus caurinus) and other birds

of the same taxonomic family (Corvidae) are known for
their abilities to learn and solve problems.
Optimal Foraging: Crows break the shells of

snails (whelks) by dropping them onto rocks. The birds use
precisely the drop height that minimizes their overall effort.
Drop height (m) Average number Total flight height

of drops required
(column 1 X
to break shell
column 2)
2
3
5
7
15
55
13
6
5
4
110
39
30
35
60

Biological Rhythms
Stickleback
Courtship
A move of one sex triggers
the next move of the other
sex in an elaborate
sequence that ends in
fertilization.
Campbell & Reece (2002)

Biological Rhythms
Single Gene
Driving
Behavior
and
Evolution
a, b: Prairie voles (a) are social and monogamous, liking to 'huddle' with their mate, whereas meadow voles (b) are
solitary and polygamous.
c, d: Partner preference test. After mating with a female, a male prairie vole (c) tended to spend significantly more
time in contact with his mate (filled columns) than with a stranger (open columns) (P < 0.05), whereas meadow
voles (d) did not form partner preferences and spent little time huddling with either female.
e, f: Autoradiograms of the forebrain showing expression of the gene for the vasopressin 1a receptor (V1aR) in the
ventral pallidum (VP). V1aR expression is stronger in prairie vole VP.
Experiment: Injection of cloned V1aR gene into VP made meadow vole males more social and monogamous.

Biological Rhythms
The What, Why, and How of Animal Behavior

According to Nico Tinbergen,
ethologists (scientist who
study animal behavior) seek to
answer three kinds of question.
What is the animal doing?
E.g. digger wasps circle their
nest before they go on a
hunting trip.
Why are they doing what they
are doing? To find their nests
when they return.
How are they doing it? By
memorizing the arrangement
of surrounding landmarks (see
results shown to the left).
Learning whom to mob. Many

birds chase away predators by
sounding alarm calls and mobbing.
A. Blackbird on left tries to mob a
stuffed owl seen through the
screening of its cage. The blackbird
on right hears the ruckus but stays
calm because he sees only a
harmless honeycreeper.
B,C. Blackbird on right starts
mobbing the honeycreeper as if he
were a bird of prey.
C,D. Blackbird on left, hearing the
noise from the blackbird on the right,
learns to mob a honeycreeper as
well.
Received from Bronson

8/28/07
Slide number 1 shows the activity rhythm of a human male in a
laboratory where he had no access to outside sun time and could
turn the lights off, sleep, turn them on, etc day after day. The
result is an autonomous 25 to 26 hour rhythm in his activity.
Slide number 2 shows an experimental manipulation of a man in a
sun-time free environment where the lights were turned on and off
by the experimenter for two periods and the subject was left on his
own to do this for two periods. The result is a classic entrained vs.
free-running rhythm just as one sees in rodents.
Slide number 3 simply shows that serum levels of cortisol are also
under circadian clock control in humans.
Slide number 4 shows an expeimental manipulation of a man
maintained in a controlled environment. The experimenter added
four hours of dark to a controlled light dark cycle showing that the
circadian rhythm follows the light/dark cycle, not the sleep cycle.
Human
Circadian
Rhythm
Courtesy
F. Bronson
Human male in a sun-time free environment where the lights were turned on
and off by the experimenter for certain periods and the subject was left on his
own to do this for the intervening periods. The result is a classic entrained
vs. free-running rhythm just as one sees in rodents.
Kanzi the Stone Knapper

Kanzi, a bonobo, has been
shown the hammer percussion
technique for making stone
flakes and is now trying for
himself.
He also invented by himself an
alternative way of making
stone flakes: by throwing a
rock against a hard object.

Animal Behaviour

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Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

Konrad Lorenz as mother goose

Monozygotic Twins Reared Apart (MZA)

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

Activity Pattern of a Nocturnal Animal

Flying squirrel exposed to 12 hours of darkness per day in laboratory.

Activity rhythm of a human male in a laboratory where he had no access to

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

From Starr C. (2003)

Touch-sensitive receptors in the skin generate an action potential in a sensory

Operant Conditioning is learning from the consequences of

Wolfgang Koehler (1887-1967) studied cognitive abilities of chimpanzees. To

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

Monkey Culture. Macaques on the Japanese island of Koshima wash

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

The Northwestern crow (Corvus caurinus) and other birds

Optimal Foraging: Crows break the shells of

Drop height (m) Average number Total flight height

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

Campbell & Reece (2002)

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

Principles of Animal Behavior

Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Behavior

The What, Why, and How of Animal Behavior

Learning whom to mob. Many

Received from Bronson

Kanzi the Stone Knapper

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