Innate & Learned Behaviors in Response to the Environment
Innate & Learned Objectives
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Explain what an innate behavior is and provide specific examples of genetically determined behaviors.
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Explain what a learned behavior is and provide specific examples of behaviors altered by experiences.
A behavior is what an animal does in response to its external environment or internal body cues. These behaviors can be genetically programmed innate behaviors, or learned behaviors acquired through experiences.
This video introduces what a “behavior” actually is and provides examples of innate behaviors.
These mystery snails have an innate response to move towards food, in this case the green algae pellets. The smaller snails are also traveling on the shells of the larger shells, it is not clear whether this behavior is innate or learned.
Wild cats scratch for a number of reasons: stretching and flexing bodies and feet, removing dead layers off of their claws, and marking their territories with scent glands located in their paws. Domesticated cats retain these innate behaviors.
Chameleons balancing with their tails and subtly changing colors as they move through their environment are examples of innate behaviors.
Learned Behaviors
For centuries, learning was considered to be primarily a set of human behaviors that were poorly developed in other animal species. Now research is revealing a range of learned behaviors in invertebrate and vertebrate species.
If you have a dog, you may know this learned behavior: “begging” for food at the table. Wild animals often depend on learned behaviors for survival.
This video introduces examples of different types of learned behaviors.
It can be difficult to determine whether a behavior is innate or learned. Our single triops comes to the front of its tank right before we add the food. We don’t know whether it is reflexively responding to a signal we are sending, or whether it has learned its time to eat. Possibly its both.
If you are caring for animals, it may be important to train them to quickly eat provided foods, particularly if you have to administer supplements or medications. Our peacock day geckos are not domesticated, but need to learn to be handled for routine care and medical check-ups.
We’re using associative learning: this gecko is quickly learning to associate an approaching hand with food.
The key with associative learning is repetition; the connection between stimulus and response needs to be clear and consistent.
Latent learning may explain changes in bird activity at feeders and bird baths. Birds generally utilize varied food resources over an area and learn the location of feeders and fresh water. On cold days when bushes are covered in snow and water is frozen, birds temporarily relocate to their learned locations.
The next section explores the impact of sexual reproduction on fitness.
Check your knowledge. Can you:
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explain what an innate behavior is and provide specific examples of genetically determined behaviors?
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explain what a learned behavior is and provide specific examples of behaviors altered by experiences?
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Fitness Lecture Guide Contents
The material from this guide and corresponding lecture is assessed on the weekly quiz.
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Module 9
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