1 animal behavior: why (and how) do animals do what they do? picture: animal cognition.net
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Animal Behavior: Why (and how) do animals do what they do?
Picture: Animal cognition.net
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Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): Observational work in zoology
Embryology
Anatomy
Characteristics: Vivipary
Behavior: Social organization
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5/13/08: Natural Selection and History of Animal Behavior
Lecture objectives:
1. Understand Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection
2. Identify the major people and questions that guided the development of the modern study of animal behavior
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The views on relationships between species have progressed over time
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Darwin set the stage for the study of animal behavior through his theory of natural selection
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Evolution by natural selection is inevitable if 3 conditions are met:
1. Variation:
2. Heredity:
3. Differences in reproductive success:xxSurvival of the “fittest”
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Evolution by natural selection acts at the genetic level
Peppered moth:Gene for color
has two alleles (forms): R, r
RR, Rr
rr
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Example of natural selection in action: moths in England during the Industrial Revolution
I tawt I taw a peppered
moth!
Brown trunks increase
Proportion of light moths
0
1
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What would a population look like over timeif one of Darwin’s 3 conditions is not met?
1. No Variation?
2. No Heredity?
3. No Differences in reproductive success?
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Biologists often seek to understand behavior through the lens of natural selection
“How does this trait promote reproductive success?”Logic:
Conditions of n.s. apply to
So species have been
So the traits we observe today are a
So these traits probably exist because
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Example of Darwinian approach: How does infanticide by male langurs increase the male’s reproductive success?
x x
Tendency for infanticide
No tendency for infanticide
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Example of Darwinian approach: Why might a (former) mother langur be willing to mate with this new male?
x
Tendency to mate
No tendency to mate
x
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How might building an elaborate bower enhance the reproductive success of male bowerbirds?
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The history of the study of animal behavior
Aristotle Darwin
PavlovThorndike
Skinner
Lorenzvon FrischTinbergen
Behaviorism
Ethology
ModernAnimal
Behavior
1900
1973
Nobel Prize
350 B.C. 1859
ComparativePsychology
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Pavlov: Classical Conditioning
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Thorndike and Skinner: Operant Conditioning
(Trial-and-error learning)
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The history of the study of animal behavior
Aristotle Darwin
PavlovThorndike
Skinner
Lorenzvon FrischTinbergen
Behaviorism
Ethology
ModernAnimal
Behavior
1900
1973
Nobel Prize
350 B.C. 1859
ComparativePsychology
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Karl von Frisch: Communication & Sensory abilities in Honeybees
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Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989): Instinct, Imprinting & Motivation
Form of imprinting:“Westermarck effect”
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Niko Tinbergen (1907-1988): What features of the environment do animals respond to?
Sign stimuliAggression in 3-spined sticklebacks
Fixed action patternsEgg-rolling behavior in
graylag geese
Experiments!
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Behaviorist or Ethologist? You decide!
“Give me a dozen healthy infants…and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”
?
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Behaviorist or Ethologist? You decide!
His view: Each animal has its own subjective universe, or way of sensing the world around it. And as a consequence, different animals, even ones that share the same physical environment, might have unique sensory experiences.
?
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The history of the study of animal behavior
Aristotle Darwin
PavlovThorndike
Skinner
Lorenzvon FrischTinbergen
Behaviorism
Ethology
ModernAnimal
Behavior
1900
1973
Nobel Prize
350 B.C. 1859
ComparativePsychology
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The modern study of animal behavior is a synthesis of behaviorism and ethology
Behaviorists came to recognize that
Ethologists came to recognize that
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The history of the study of animal behavior
Aristotle Darwin
PavlovThorndike
Skinner
Lorenzvon FrischTinbergen
Behaviorism
Ethology
ModernAnimal
Behavior
1900
1973
Nobel Prize
350 B.C. 1859
ComparativePsychology
Context: Biology - Evolution “Nature”
Fieldwork: Insects, bird, fish
Context: Psychology - Learning “Nurture”
Labwork: Mammals, Pigeons
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Darwin discussion
1. Variation: What might maintain this?
2. Heredity: Are all traits hereditary?
3. Differences in reproductive success:
What might make some animals be less successful at producing offspring?
xx