Behavior and Its Types

Introduction to Behavior
Definition:
Behavior refers to the actions or reactions of an organism in response to internal or external
stimuli. It can be innate (instinctive) or learned through experience.
Key Components of Behavior:
Stimulus (trigger for behavior, e.g., light, sound, hunger)
Response (the organism’s reaction)
Purpose (survival, reproduction, adaptation)
2. Types of Behavior
A. Innate (Instinctive) Behavior:
Def: Innate behavior is a type of behavior that an animal is born with. It is genetically programmed,
meaning the animal does not need to learn it or practice it; it happens automatically in response to
specific stimuli.
Key Characteristics of Innate Behavior
1. Genetically Programmed
Inherited through genes (passed from parents to offspring).
Does not depend on learning or environmental influence.
Example: Newborn sea turtles instinctively crawl toward the ocean.
2. Stereotyped (Fixed Pattern)
Performed in the same way every time by all members of a species.
Little to no variation among individuals.
Example: Web-spinning by spiders (same pattern across generations).
Suckling reflex in mammals (babies know how to nurse immediately after birth).
3. Present at Birth or Maturity
Some behaviors appear immediately after birth (e.g., crying in human babies).
Others develop later in life (e.g., courtship rituals at sexual maturity).
4. Unaffected by Experience
Occurs even in isolated animals (no prior exposure needed).
Example: Cuckoo chicks push host eggs out of the nest (never taught by parents).
5. Fast and Automatic Response
Requires minimal neural processing (often controlled by the brainstem or spinal cord).
Example: Knee-jerk reflex (no conscious thought involved).
Escape responses (e.g., squid releasing ink when threatened).
Types of Innate Behavior:
1. Reflex Actions
Rapid, automatic responses to stimuli (e.g., blinking when something approaches the eye).
Controlled by the spinal cord (bypasses the brain).
Example: Pulling your hand away from a hot object.
Purpose: Protects the body from harm.

2. Instincts (Fixed Action Patterns)

Def: Complex behaviors that follow a specific pattern.
Example: Birds building nests or spiders spinning webs.
Purpose: Ensures survival and reproduction.
3. Taxis and Kinesis
Taxis: Directed movement toward or away from a stimulus.
Positive taxis (toward stimulus, e.g., moths flying toward light).
Negative taxis (away from stimulus, e.g., earthworms avoiding light).
Kinesis: Random movement responding to a stimulus (e.g., woodlice move faster in dry areas).
5. Migration
Definition: Seasonal movement of animals over long distances.
Example: Birds flying south in winter.
Purpose: Avoids harsh weather and finds food.
Why Are Innate Behaviors Important?
Innate behaviors are important because they help animals survive by enabling quick and automatic
responses to vital situations, like finding food or avoiding danger. These behaviors are consistent
across individuals and don’t require learning or experience. They are especially crucial for young
animals that must function effectively from birth. Innate behaviors also support species-wide
survival by ensuring key instincts are passed on genetically.

B. Learned Behavior
Learned behavior is a type of behavior that an animal acquires through experience, observation, or
practice, rather than being inherited genetically. These behaviors develop as animals interact with
their environment and adapt based on outcomes, such as rewards or punishments.
Main characteristics of learned behavior:

1. Acquired through experience: It is not present at birth and develops over time through
interaction with the environment.
2. Modifiable: Learned behavior can be changed or refined with practice or training.
3. Dependent on memory: It often relies on past experiences and memory to shape future
responses.
4. Influenced by environment: The surrounding conditions, including rewards,
punishments, or observation, strongly affect it.
5. Variable among individuals: Unlike innate behaviors, learned behaviors can differ even
within the same species, depending on individual experiences.
Types of Learned Behavior:
1. Habituation
A decrease in response to a repeated stimulus that is not associated with a reward or punishment.
Experiment: Aplysia californica (Sea Slug) (Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize, 2000).
The researcher touched the siphon of the sea slug, causing it to retract its gill (A defensive
reflex).
After repeated harmless touches, the sea slug stopped responding, showing habituation.
1. First Touch: Scientist touches sea slug’s siphon → gill retracts (defense).
2. Repeated Touch: The Same harmless touch happens again and again.
3. Habituation: Slug learns it’s not in danger → stops retracting its gill.
4. Result: Brain ignores safe stimuli to save energy.

1. Why Aplysia?
Its nervous system has large, easily identifiable neurons (only ~20,000, compared to billions in
humans).
Simple gill-withdrawal reflex (a defensive response) makes it ideal for studying learning.
2. The Gill-Withdrawal Reflex & Habituation
Normal Response: When the siphon (a fleshy tube) is touched, the sea slug quickly retracts its
gill for protection.
After Repeated Touch: If the stimulus is harmless and repeated, the slug habituates it stops
retracting its gill.
3. Neural Mechanism Discovered
Kandel found that habituation occurs due to:
Decreased neurotransmitter release (serotonin) at synapses.
Reduced synaptic strength between sensory and motor neurons.
No structural changes, just short-term synaptic depression.
2. Classical Conditioning

Def: Classical conditioning is a type of learning by association. It happens when a neutral

stimulus (something that normally doesn’t cause a response) becomes associated with a
meaningful stimulus, causing a learned response.

It was first described by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scientist, while studying digestion in dogs.

Pavlov’s Famous Experiment (Pavlov’s Dogs)

What Pavlov Did:
Before Conditioning:
Food (stimulus) → caused the dog to salivate (natural response).
Bell alone → no salivation.
During Conditioning:
Pavlov rang a bell just before giving the dog food.
He repeated this many times.
After Conditioning:
The dog began to salivate just by hearing the bell, even when no food was given!
Summary of Stimuli and Responses:

Example in Pavlov’s
Term Explanation
Experiment
Unconditioned Stimulus
Naturally causes a response Food
(UCS)
Unconditioned Response
Natural response Salivation due to food
(UCR)
Doesn't cause a response
Neutral Stimulus (NS) Bell
initially
NS becomes associated with
Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Bell (after pairing with food)
UCS
Conditioned Response (CR) Learned response to CS Salivation to bell

3. Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is a type of learning where an animal or person learns from the
consequences of their behavior.

 If a behavior is followed by a reward, it's more likely to happen again.

 If it's followed by a punishment, it's less likely to be repeated.
 This learning happens through trial and error trying different actions and learning which one
works best.
Famous Experiment:

Setup: A rat is placed in a box with a lever and a food dispenser.

At first, the rat accidentally presses the lever → food comes out.
Over time, the rat learns: press lever = get food.
The rat now repeats the behavior to get the reward.
This is positive reinforcement behavior is strengthened by giving a reward.

Types of Consequences in Operant Conditioning:

Term Meaning Example

Positive Adding something good to increase
Giving food after pressing a lever
Reinforcement behavior
Negative Removing something bad to Turning off the loud noise when the
Reinforcement increase behavior button is pressed
Adding something unpleasant to
Positive Punishment Giving a shock after a wrong move
decrease behavior
Negative Taking away something good to Removing a toy when a child
Punishment decrease behavior misbehaves
IMPRINTING

Imprinting – Easy Explanation

 Imprinting is a special type of learning that happens very early in an animal’s life, during
a short, sensitive time called the critical period.
 It is a fast and usually permanent type of learning, where the animal becomes strongly
attached to something often its parent or the first moving object it sees.
 This happens because the animal’s brain is genetically ready to respond to certain things
during that short time.
 First described by O. Heinroth, and later famously shown by Konrad Lorenz, who made
baby ducks (goslings) follow him as if he were their mother this is called “following
behavior.

Lorenz investigated the phenomenon of imprinting

Lorenz's Goose Experiment:

 Lorenz divided goose eggs into two groups:

1. One group stayed with their mother goose they imprinted on her, followed her, and
grew up normally.
2. The second group hatched in an incubator they saw Lorenz first and imprinted on him.
 The goslings who imprinted on Lorenz:
o Followed him everywhere like he was their mother.
o Ignored other geese, including their real mother.
o As adults, they tried to bond and even court with humans instead of geese.
Characteristics of imprinting

Imprinting Happens Only During the Critical Period

 Imprinting takes place during a very short time after birth called the critical period.
 This period is different in each species:
o In ducks: Between 13–16 hours after hatching; no imprinting happens after 36 hours.
o In chicks: Between 5–25 hours after hatching.
o In human babies, A sensitive period occurs between 18 months to 3 years.
 If the mother or caregiver is absent during this time, the baby may have trouble forming bonds
later in life.

Imprinting Can Happen with Any Moving Object

 The animal will imprint on the first moving object it sees—whether it’s the mother, a human, or
even a machine.
 First observed in birds like ducks and geese, but also seen in fishes and mammals.

Imprinting Is Permanent

 Once imprinting happens, it usually stays for life and cannot be undone.

Latent learning
 Latent learning is a type of learning that happens without any reward or reinforcement.

 The animal (or person) learns something, but it doesn’t show the learning until there's a
reason or motivation to use it.

 It's like learning in the background the knowledge is there but not shown right away.

Tolman’s Famous Rat Experiment (Maze Test)

Three groups of rats were placed in a maze:

1. Group 1: Got food every time they reached the end → quickly learned the path.
2. Group 2: Never got food → wandered without learning the correct path.
3. Group 3: Got no food for 10 days, but on Day 11, they got food →
o At first, acted like Group 2.
o But when food appeared, they quickly remembered the path and ran straight to the
end.

This showed that the rats in Group 3 had already learned the maze, but only showed it once there was
a reward.
Insight
 Insight learning is when someone suddenly understands how to solve a problem without
trial-and-error.

 It happens when a person or animal uses thinking, reasoning, or experience to connect ideas
and solve new problems.

 It’s like a sudden “Aha!” or “light bulb” moment.

Key Features of Insight Learning:

Happens suddenly and clearly.

Involves mental processing, not just repeating actions.

Requires thinking, reasoning, or making new connections.

Common in humans and intelligent animals.

Famous Experiment by Wolfgang Köhler (Gestalt Psychologist)

Animal Used: A chimpanzee named Sultan

Goal: Get a banana placed outside his cage
Materials: Two sticks, each too short to reach the banana
🐵 What Happened?

 Sultan tried using each stick separately but failed.

 He even pushed one stick with the other but still couldn’t reach the banana.
 After stopping for a while, Sultan suddenly joined the sticks and realized it would reach the
banana.
 He quickly used the long stick to grab the banana.
 In later trials, he solved it immediately, showing he had learned through insight.
Various types of chemical signals in animals’ behavior and their importance in ecosystems.
Pheromones (Intraspecific Signals – within the same species)
Pheromones are special chemicals that animals release to send messages to other members of the
same species. These messages help animals communicate without using sounds or gestures.
Pheromones can affect how others behave or how their bodies respond.
Let’s look at some common types of pheromones with simple examples:
1. Sex Pheromones – For Attracting Mates
These pheromones are released to find or attract a mate.
🔸 Example: A female moth releases a scent into the air that male moths can smell from far away.
This helps the male find her for mating.
2. Alarm Pheromones For Warning Others
These are released when an animal feels danger. They warn others in the group.
🔸 Example: If an ant is attacked, it releases an alarm pheromone. This alerts nearby ants to come
and help or run away.
3. Trail Pheromones For Finding Food
These help others follow a path to food.
🔸 Example: When an ant finds food, it leaves a chemical trail on the ground. Other ants follow
the trail to reach the food source.
4. Territorial Pheromones – For Marking Boundaries
Animals use these to mark their area and keep others out.
🔸 Example: Dogs or cats may urinate in certain spots. The smell tells other animals, “This is my
territory!”
5. Aggregation Pheromones – For Grouping Together
These pheromones bring animals together in one place, often for feeding, protection, or staying
warm.
🔸 Example: Some insects, like bark beetles, release these pheromones to invite others to the same
tree for feeding or shelter.
In Simple Words:
Pheromones are like invisible chemical messages. Animals send them out, and others of the same
kind smell or sense them and respond in helpful ways—whether it’s finding a mate, staying safe,
finding food, or working together.
Chemical Signals Between Different Species (Interspecific Signals)
These are chemical signals that work between different species, not just within the same one.
Depending on who gets the benefit (the sender, the receiver, or both), they are divided into three
types:
1. Allomones – Benefit the Sender
Allomones are chemicals that help the animal that releases them, usually by scaring away predators
or stopping other animals from attacking or bothering them.
🔸 Example:
A skunk sprays a strong, bad-smelling chemical when it feels threatened. This smell makes
predators run away. The skunk stays safe – so the skunk (sender) benefits.
2. Kairomones – Benefit the Receiver
Kairomones are chemicals that help the animal that receives or detects them, often without the
sender meaning to send a signal.
🔸 Example:
A caterpillar gives off a certain smell (kairomone) just by living and moving around. A parasitic
wasp smells it and uses it to find and attack the caterpillar. So, the wasp (receiver) benefits, but the
caterpillar doesn’t.
3. Synomones – Benefit Both Sender and Receiver
Synomones are signals that help both the animal (or plant) that sends the chemical and the one that
receives it. These are often seen in helpful, cooperative relationships.
🔸 Example:
A flower releases a sweet smell to attract bees or butterflies. The insect comes to get nectar (food),
and while doing that, it helps the flower by spreading its pollen. So, both the flower and the insect
benefit.
In Simple Words:
Allomones = Help the one who sends the smell.
Kairomones = Help the one who smells it.
Synomones = Help both the sender and the receiver.
These signals help animals and even plants survive, find food, avoid danger, and work together in
nature.
Introduction to Social Organization in Animals
Social organization refers to the structured ways in which animals interact and live together. It
varies from solitary living (e.g., tigers) to highly complex societies (e.g., ants, wolves, dolphins).

Types of Social Organization in Animals (Expanded)

(A) Solitary Living
 Definition: Animals live alone, interacting only for mating or territorial disputes.
 Key Characteristics:
o Low competition for food and mates.
o No cooperative care for offspring (parents may separate after mating).
o High territoriality (e.g., marking scent to avoid others).
 Examples:
Tigers: Males and females meet only to mate; cubs stay with the mother until
independence.

 Orangutans: Mostly solitary, except for mothers with offspring.

 Polar bears: Males roam alone, only interacting during mating season.

 Exceptions: Some solitary animals temporarily gather at rich food sources (e.g., bears at
salmon runs).

(B) Pair Bonding (Monogamy)

 Definition: A male and female form a long-term or seasonal bond, often

cooperating in parenting.
 Key Characteristics:
oStrong mate fidelity (some species mate for life).
o Shared parental duties (both parents feed and protect young).
o Territory defense (couples may defend nesting sites together).
 Examples:
o Gibbons: Live in monogamous pairs, duet-singing to strengthen bonds.
o Swans: Form lifelong bonds, raising cygnets together.
o Wolves (Alpha Pair): Only the dominant pair breeds, but the whole pack
helps raise pups.

(C) Family Groups

 Definition: Parents and offspring remain together for extended periods,

sometimes forming small clans.
 Key Characteristics:
oExtended parental care (juveniles may stay for years).
o Cooperative hunting/foraging (e.g., lionesses hunting together).
o Teaching behaviors (adults train young in survival skills).
 Examples:
o African Elephants: Led by a matriarch, herds consist of related females
and calves.
o Meerkats: Live in clans where non-breeding members help raise pups.
o Orcas (Killer Whales): Pods are matrilineal, with offspring staying for life.
 Exceptions: In some species, males leave when mature (e.g., male lions expelled
from prides).

More Benefits of Group Living

Better Warning System More eyes and ears mean faster detection of danger (e.g., meerkats take
turns as lookouts).

Learning from Others Young animals learn skills by watching elders (e.g., monkeys teaching babies
what to eat).

Stronger Defense Groups can fight off predators together (e.g., buffaloes circling to protect calves
from lions).

Energy Saving Birds flying in a "V" shape take turns leading, reducing fatigue.

Helping the Sick/Weak Some groups care for injured members (e.g., elephants supporting a hurt
friend).

More Losses/Drawbacks of Group Living

Less Food per Individual – More mouths to feed means sometimes not enough for everyone.

Stress from Crowding Too many animals together can cause tension and fights.

Bullying by Dominant Members Stronger animals may take food or mates from weaker ones.

Harder to Hide Big groups leave more traces (smell, footprints) for predators to follow.

Wasting Time on Social Struggles Some animals spend too much energy on fights for rank instead
of survival.

Social Organization in Insects

1. Social Insects (Termites, Ants, Bees, and Wasps)

 Social insects live in large and well-structured colonies.

 Members of the colony work together and are usually genetically similar.
 Because of this unity, the colony can act like a single organism and is sometimes called a
superorganism.
 These insects have a way to communicate with each other. For example, honeybees use
dance movements to tell others about food sources.
 The angle of the dance tells the direction of the flowers, and the length of the dance
tells the distance from the hive.
2. Social Organization in Honeybee

 Honeybees live in large colonies that stay active throughout the year.
 A strong colony can have between 50,000 to 80,000 bees.
 The colony is divided into three types of bees:
o One Queen (the only fertile female who lays eggs),
o A few hundred Drones (male bees),
o Thousands of Workers (sterile female bees who do all the work).

a) The Queen Bee

 The queen is the most important bee in the hive because she lays all the eggs.
 She can lay around 1,000 to 2,000 eggs per day.
 The queen lives for several years and produces pheromones (chemical signals) to control
the behavior of worker bees.
 Although workers and queens are genetically the same, the queen is fed royal jelly
during her larval stage, which helps her develop into a fertile female.
 When the queen gets old or weak, worker bees raise a new queen to replace her.

b) The Drones

 Drones are the male bees in the hive.

 They develop from unfertilized eggs through a process called parthenogenesis, so they
have only one set of chromosomes (haploid).
 Drones have one main job: to mate with a queen.
 They do not collect food, defend the hive, or help in any work.
 After mating, the drone dies, and his body part remains inside the queen and is later
removed.

c) The Worker Bees

 Worker bees are the smallest members of the colony.

 They are sterile females and perform all the important duties of the hive.
 Their roles change as they grow older:
1. Days 1–3: They clean the hive and prepare cells for eggs.
2. Days 4–6: They start feeding the older larvae with a mix of honey and pollen.
3. Days 6–14: They feed young larvae and any potential queens with royal jelly.
4. After Day 10: Their wax glands become active, and they start building hive
cells.
5. Around Day 18: They become guard bees, watching the hive entrance.
6. From Day 21 onward: They become foragers and leave the hive to collect
nectar, pollen, and water.

3. Swarming in Honeybees

 Swarming happens in spring or summer when the colony becomes too crowded.
 A new queen is raised, and the old queen leaves the hive with some workers and drones
to start a new colony.
 The first new queen to hatch kills all the other new queens in their cells.
 She then flies out to mate with drones in an area called a drone cloud (a group of drones
from different hives).
 After mating, the sperm is stored in her spermatheca, and she returns to the hive to lay
eggs for the rest of her life.

4. Bee-Hive Structure

 A bee-hive is made up of hexagonal wax cells built by worker bees using wax from their
bodies.
 There are two main types of cells in the hive:
1. Storage cells: These are found at the top and are used to store honey and pollen.
2. Brood cells: Found in the lower and middle areas of the hive, these hold
developing bees.
 Worker cells are small.
 Drone cells are a bit larger.
 Queen cells are large and vase-shaped.
 The hive also has homeostatic systems:
o Temperature control: When it’s hot, workers fan their wings to cool the hive.
o Water regulation: Bees pass water from one to another until it reaches a bee who
leaves to bring more.
o Defense system: When danger enters, workers sacrifice themselves to protect the
colony.

Social Organization in Mammals

1. Eusocial Mammals (Naked Mole-Rat & Damaraland Mole-Rat)

 Only two mammals, the naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole-rat, show eusocial
behavior like insects.
 They live underground in harsh environments and form colonies led by one reproductive
queen.
 Most members help raise the queen’s babies, who are usually their siblings.
 The members are genetically similar and stay together unless conditions improve, in
which case they may leave to form new colonies.

2. Social Behavior in Other Mammals

 Some mammals like meerkats and dwarf mongooses show social cooperation.
 In these groups:
o A dominant pair reproduces and gets better access to food and safety.
o Subordinate members help in other tasks like guarding and grooming but rarely
feed the babies of others.