Animal Behaviour Basics

Why do kittens chase a ball of string? Why do puppies stalk each other? Young animals often play with each other and we probably see this as cute! However, it is thought that behind these play behaviours there are some important reasons and life lessons. Play is a voluntary behaviour and often intrinsically motivated. Make a prediction. Why do you think kittens stalk pieces of string or each other? It may not be that difficult to work out. But is play advantageous in the wild when it distracts them from predators and expends energy? Some play even hurts animals. Young elephants end up stuck in the mud, young seals end up washed out to sea and when the play is too boisterous, injuries happen. So is play really about learning for the future? Or are there other reasons? Is it simply just fun? In fact, science hasn't been able to come up with much solid evidence on why animals play. The best guess is that it prepares them for later life, but concrete evidence is yet to b...

Wolfgang  Köhler  was a German psychologist and phenomenologist who contributed to Gestalt psychology ( an attempt to understand the laws behind the ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world). It is work on chimp's problem solving that we look at this week. Köhler was inspired to work with chimps for two main reasons. Firstly, because they are so closely related to humans in brain function and structure. Secondly, to gain knowledge of intelligent acts. He realised early on that chimps were individuals and had unique characteristics. His work focused around providing the chimps with problems that were difficult, but not impossible for the chimps to solve.  By observing these behaviours,  Köhler learned a great deal - including his hypothesis that chimps planned and learned from failures. Your task this week is to research more about  Köhler's chimps. This is a more open ended task so you can researc...

Back to instinctive responses for this week and a look at habituation. This is the process whereby an animal stops responding to a stimulus.  Imagine if you responded to every stimulus around you - you would be exhausted! Habituation means animal stop responding to stimuli that are not biologically relevant. For example, a turtle will draw it's head into the shell when it is tapped on the head. After a while, when it realises that it isn't in danger, it stops withdrawing into the shell. Abused animals will often cower when humans are near them if they have had a bad history. After time, when they realise that their new owners pose no threat, they stop doing this. Habituation is one of the concerns with captive animals and releasing them into the wild. If they are no longer scared of humans, they don't run when poachers are near. Your task this week is to research habituation and then design a study based around your research. Some things to include: What ...

One of the major drives of an animal's life is to find a mate and ensure the survival of the species through creating offspring. There are many different ways that animals find mates. Some sing, some dance, some decorate homes, some even change gender depending on what is needed! This week will look at courtship of mainly birds - displays that you will probably have seen before on Attenborough's shows. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Courtship_display Take a look at the link above. It contains videos of courtship behaviours, like the frigate bird's song and belly, designed to attract a mate. Most of these birds show evidence of sexual dimorphism - when the two genders of a bird look different. An example of this in the UK is the blackbird.  Typically, the gender that is less showy is the chooser and the more showy is designed to attract a mate. In most animal species, the males tend to be the more showy (think: peacock) and the females tend to be ch...

Burrhus Skinner (more commonly known as B.F Skinner) was an American scientist who held the post of Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard university from 1958-1974. Skinner considered free will an illusion and said that human action depended on consequences of previous actions, but it is the Skinner box that he created in the 30s that we will look at in depth.  Skinner designed his operant conditioning box to study behaviour training by teaching an animal to respond to stimuli. He tried to strengthen behaviour responses through both positive and negative reinforcements.  Your task this week is to really consider the ethics behind animal behaviour studies, focusing on Skinner's box. To do this, you need to research the Skinner box, how it works and the research outcomes it can generate. It may be easy here to list lots of negatives, but remember that you must include positives as well. Write the summary of your thoughts in the comments section below. ...

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov is one of the most famous animal behaviourists as a result of his conditioning work with dogs. He was the first Russian Nobel laureate, winning the Nobel Prize in 1904.  Pavlov's work on dogs focused on conditioning - 'a  behavioural process whereby a response becomes more frequent or more predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement.' Essentially, Pavlov was looking at learning behaviours, not instinctive behaviours like Konrad Lorenz and Tinbergen. There are two different forms of conditioning - classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Pav lov's dogs follow the classical conditioning model, whereas Burrhus Skinner's rats follow the operant conditioning model. This is next week's topic. Your task this week is to investigate Pavlov's dogs.  To do this, please answer the following questions in the comments section. What is classical conditioning? What was Pavlov's study (his method)? ...

Nikolaas (Niko) Tinbergen was a Dutch biologist and ornithologist who shared a Nobel Prize with Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch in 1973. He is also thought of as one of the founders of modern ethology.  The majority of Tinbergen's work focused on supernormal stimuli - an exaggerated version of a stimulus that a response is already known for. His two studies focused on eggs and stickleback fish. One of his first studies was also conducted on greylag geese. He found that mother geese would automatically scoop and roll back any egg that fell out of a nest less than 1m away. This retrieving movement with their neck would continue even if the egg was removed midway through the process. A movement like this that continues even without the original stimulus is called a fixed action pattern. However, as you can see in the below video - you can see that mother geese will gather anything that could be an egg! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PcteKRA3zs Your task is to look...

Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) is thought of as one of the founders of modern ethology. He shared the Nobel Prize in 1973 with Niko Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch.  Lorenz studied instinctive behaviours - ' the inherent inclination of a  living   organism  towards a particular complex  behaviour .' Two of his chosen animals were greylag geese and jackdaws. It is his work on geese imprinting that we will look at this week. Birds that leave the nest early often 'imprint' on the first moving thing they see (think Fly away home). Lorenz didn't discover this phenomenon, but he did become known for describing this as an instinctive behaviour. This imprinting does not happen in human babies as they are born immobile and therefore do not need to form the attachment straight away. You are going to look at his work and discuss his findings, potential implications and the ethical considerations. Please do this by answering the following questions in the comments...

Animal Behaviour Basics Studying animal behaviour looks at how anatomy and genetics link to an animal's behavioural responses. Both external and internal stimuli prompt behaviours in every species, from the weather and predation to hormones and hunger.  Scientists are drawn to studying this topic for many reasons, though it is only very briefly touched upon in A level. Many scientists study this area of Biology as it helps to describe some human responses, for example by studying primates. Studies of altruism and group dynamics in other species may not only fascinate but suggest reasons for our own tendencies. Humans have been documenting animal characteristics and behaviour since Homo sapiens started drawing on cave walls. There has always been a fascination with animals and a drive to understand them - often for our own use. However, more modern studies and research in genetics and physiology have improved our understanding further. This MOOC will look at some of the...