Name:__________________________________________________
AP Biology
Behavior Review
Directions: Write the answers to these on a separate sheet of paper. Be ready to share and discuss your
answers on Thursday.
1. Explain why it would be important for animals to have instinctual behaviors associated with
parenting. Give an example to support your thinking.
Instinctual learning gives animals an advantage over other animals as they do not have to spend
time to learn specific processes that would otherwise take sacrifices such as time, energy,
health, etc.
Habituation is a simple learned behavior in which an animal gradually
stops responding to a repeated stimulus.
Imprinting is a specialized form of learning that occurs during a brief
period in young animals—e.g., ducks imprinting on their mother.
In classical conditioning, a new stimulus is associated with a pre-
existing response through repeated pairing of new and previously known
stimuli.
In operant conditioning, an animal learns to perform a behavior more
or less frequently through a reward or punishment that follows the behavior.
the establishment of a memory of the spatial structure of the environment
2. For each of the examples below:
a. State what type of learning is illustrated (be specific) and
b. Explain your reasoning
A. Your dog stays in the yard due to your “invisible fence”
Operant learning because the dog may get shocked several times when attempting
to cross the fence, and it will eventually realize that it is not suppose to go past the
fence.
B. Ewes (female sheep) will adopt and nurse a lamb shortly after they give birth to
their own lamb, but will butt and reject a lamb introduced a day or two later.
This is imprinting because the ewes teach the young animals until ???
C. It has been shown that female digger wasps use landmarks to locate their hive.
Spatial learning since the wasps do not have to exactly remember where their nest
is, they just have to remember where the markers are.
D. Young chimpanzees learn to crack oil palm nuts with two rocks by observing others.
Observational learning since the monkeys would not otherwise know how to or
when to perform the behavior unless they would have observed another animal
performing it.
E. A dog whose early “accidents” were cleaned up with paper towels accompanied
with harsh discipline hides any time a paper towel is used in the household.
Classical conditioning because the paper towels were “paired” with the negative
action that was discipline everytime the dog would have “accidents”, meaning that
when the accidents weren’t there, the paper towels still reminded the dogs of the
consequences of the accidents, which were the discipline.
F. A baby kitten will knead its mother’s abdomen to “drop” milk shortly after birth.
Instinct learning, this is because the kitten was born with the knowledge that it
needs food and does not need to learn it.
3. Vampire bats live in the tropics. They live off of blood. When bats return to their roost after a
feeding activity, they will share their blood meal with other bats in the roost. What type of
behavior is this? Why is it beneficial?
4. What are the benefits and cost of migration? What abilities do animals have to be able to
migrate?
Animals must be able to be ready with methods that will allow them to adapt to newer
environments to provide for their basic needs, such as food, water, shelter, security, etc. They
must also be ready to dispense a lot of energy in moving,.,,,
5. What is the relationship between number of offspring, amount of parental care and energy
investment?
If the number of offspring is high, there is low parental care and energy investment in raising the
offspring. If there is a low number of offspring, there is generally high parental care and high
energy investment and better defense and offense against predators. Although living in a group
is beneficial in the sense that there are plenty of potential offspring, inbreeding causes a lot of
problems.
6. What are the benefits and costs of living in a group?
The needs of the group increase as more members are added, such as food, water, shelter,
disease spreads more rapidly, and groups are easier to spot. The benefits is that members who
are strong generally survive to provide the most fit genes for offspring, and that
7. Describe three ways animals communicate. Give an example of each and the benefits and costs
of this type of communication.
Pheromones—chemicals
A pheromone is a secreted chemical signal used to trigger a
response in another individual of the same species.
Pheromones are especially common among social insects,
such as ants and bees. Pheromones may attract the
opposite sex, raise an alarm, mark a food trail, or trigger
other, more complex behaviors. By peeing on a bush or
post, a dog leaves a mark of its identity that can be read by
other passing dogs and may stake its claim to nearby
territory
Auditory cues—sounds
Auditory communication is particularly important in birds,
who use sounds to convey warnings, attract mates, defend
territories, and coordinate group behaviors. Some birds also
produce birdsong, vocalizations that are relatively long and
melodic and tend to be similar among the members of a species.
Monkeys cry out a warning when a predator is near, giving the other
members of the troop a chance to escape. Vervet monkeys even have
different calls to indicate different predators.
Bullfrogs croak to attract female frogs as mates. In some frog species,
the sounds can be heard up to a mile away!
Visual cues
Visual communication involves signals that can be seen. Examples of these
signals include gestures, facial expressions, body postures, and coloration.
Gesture and posture are widely used visual signals. For instance,
chimpanzees communicate a threat by raising their arms, slapping the
ground, or staring directly at another chimpanzee. Gestures and postures are
commonly used in mating rituals and may place other signals—such as bright
coloring—on display. An organism's general coloration—rather than
a change in color—may also act as a visual signal^11start
superscript, 1, end superscript. For instance, the bright
coloration of some toxic species, such as the poison dart frog,
acts as a do-not-eat warning signal to predators.
Tactile cues—touch
Tactile signals are more limited in range than the other types of signals, as
two organisms must be right next to each other in order to touch^{10}10start
superscript, 10, end superscript. Still, these signals are an important part of
the communication repertoire of many species.
Tactile signals are fairly common in insects. For instance, a honeybee forager
that's found a food source will perform an intricate series of motions called a
waggle dance to indicate the location of the food. Since this dance is done in
darkness inside the nest, the other bees interpret it largely through
touch^{11,12}11,12start superscript, 11, comma, 12, end superscript.
Tactile signals also play an important role in social relationships. For
instance, in many primate species, members of a group will groom one
another—removing parasites and performing other hygiene tasks^{13}13start
superscript, 13, end superscript. This largely tactile behavior reinforces
cooperation and social bonds among group members^{14}14start superscript,
14, end superscript.
OVERALL purpose of these behaviors
Obtaining mates. Many animals have elaborate communication
behaviors surrounding mating, which may involve attracting a mate or
competing with other potential suitors for access to mates.
[See more information.]
Establishing dominance or defending territory. In many species,
communication behaviors are important in establishing dominance in a social
hierarchy or defending territory.
[See more information.]
Coordinating group behaviors. In social species, communication is
key in coordinating the activities of the group, such as food acquisition and
defense, and in maintaining group cohesion.
[See more information.]
Caring for young. Among species that provide parental care to
offspring, communication coordinates parent and offspring behaviors to help
ensure that the offspring will survive.
[See more information.]
