BEHAVIOUR AS A DISCIPLINE OF SCIENCE

Behavioural biology is a very fascinating discipline of science. It has emerged as

one of the important disciplines of science.
Behaviour is the scientific study of the totality of visible movements, body position,
and its orientation in space, motions, expressions( gestures), vocalization,
production of odorous substances, colour change and pilo erection brought about
by coordinated activities of nervous, endocrine and muscular systems of an
organism.
Researchers spread across the world have acquired a wealth of knowledge about
behaviour of animals. It has helped a lot in understanding behaviour of animals.
Behavioural information can contribute to the care and management of wild &
domestic animals.
Due to inquisitive human mind, dedication & elaborate research it has been possible
to define several areas of animal behaviour.
Today animal behaviour has many specialised branches and there is much overlap
with other branches of science like ecology, physiology, genetics & anthropology.

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PROXIMATE AND ULTIMATE BEHAVIOUR
Niko Tinbergen in 1963 suggested that there are four ways in which we
can explain animal behaviour:
Mechanism, ontogeny,phylogeny & function.
Present day scientists place mechanism and ontogeny under proximate
causes and phylogeny & function under ultimate cause.

Proximate behaviour - refers to the immediate physiological,

neurological, and genetic mechanisms that underlie an animal's
actions. It answers the "how" questions of behavior.
[Link](mechanism) – it explains the mechanism behind
behaviour. Provides information about activities at physiological,
neurological & muscular level for execution of the behaviour.
[Link] ( ontogeny) – it explains how behaviour changes with
age and whether previous experience is needed to produce a
behaviour.

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Ultimate behaviour -explains behavior by examining its function and
evolutionary history—how it contributes to an animal’s fitness, survival, or
reproduction. It’s about why a behavior evolved, not how it works.

[Link] ( phylogeny) – it describes how a behaviour compares with similar

behaviour in related species and how it might have evolved .

[Link] (adaptation) – it describes how a behaviour contributes to an

animal’s chances of survival & reproduction.

Automeris ( sphinx moth ) bears large circular patches on its hind wings. The
patches look like eyes. The moth keeps its fore wings over its hind wings and
abdomen so that the patches are not visible during normal position. In case of
danger , it abruptly opens its wings to expose the eye like spots which startle
the predator, allowing the moth to escape.

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( a) sphinx moth in resting position (b) on sensing danger
the Fore wings are pulled forward to suddenly expose
the eye spots to scare the predator.

(ii) Proximate & ultimate causes of behaviour displayed

by the moth, wing-flipping. At the proximate level
numerous mechanisms internal to the moth enable it to
execute the Behaviour. At the ultimate level, the moth’s
response to Potential predators helps in survival &
contributes to reproductive success as measured buy the
no. of copies of Genes that are passed on to the next
generation. Ultimately this has effect on evolution of 4
species.
Ultimate cause contrasted with Proximate cause

Aspect Proximate Cause Ultimate Cause

Focus Immediate mechanisms Evolutionary rationale

Timescale Individual lifespan Across generations

Question How does it work? Why does it exist?

Classic Example: Mate Choice in Peacocks

• Proximate: Females respond to visual cues like tail feather patterns.
• Ultimate: Preference for elaborate tails leads to offspring with better genes,
enhancing fitness.

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Another classic example: egg-rolling in greylag geese.

• Proximate (Causation): Visual stimulus of an egg outside the nest

triggers a fixed action pattern.

• Proximate (Development): The behavior is innate but may be refined

with experience.

• Ultimate (Function): Ensures eggs are safely incubated, increasing

reproductive success.

• Ultimate (Evolution): Similar behaviors are seen in related species,

suggesting a shared evolutionary origin.

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Evolutionary basis of behaviour

We rely on indirect evidences to visualise the way behaviour has evolved. New behavioural
development did not occur suddenly but through small changes and stages of
adaptations.
The combinations of structural adaptations and behavioural patterns seen in present day
animals have developed through many generations.

For example screech owl & sphinx moth have developed behavioural traits that provide
each of these with two distinct lines of defence against predators. Both the species are
nocturnal & rely mainly on camouflage to protect them while roosting during the day.
They stay motion less and if at all detected by predator, the screech owl bluffs by swelling,
snapping and flapping , to scare away the predator. The sphinx month suddenly displays
Its eye spots to scare away the predator. This is an example of behaviour developing in step
With the evolution of body marking.
Many animals get protection by imitating physical structure and behaviour similar to the
Objects regarded as inedible or harmful by predators.

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 Candid fish in Amazon basin , resembles dead, dry leaves and can float
motionless for hours to escape the notice of bigger fishes and predatory birds.

Karl von Frisch has suggested a likely course of evolution of social life in
honey bees from solitary ancestor.. Through various intermediates.
There is one species of bee whose individuals live solitary, each bee makes
a burrow, constructs a few cell in a tree trunk , lays eggs singly, puts honey in
each cell, seals all the cells and leaves.

In another species , the young ones hatch while their mother is still laying
eggs, some help the mother before she leaves.

In bumble bee, the young ones which hatch to help mother remain small &
less fertile .

Finally comes a species where the mother lays eggs, young come out that
remain sterile and all of them live together to form a complex social group.
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 It is assumed that all behaviour patterns that are learned or preprogramed
are beneficial to the individual. In terms of evolution all individuals behave to
increase their own genetic fitness.

Genetic fitness is a measure of the no. of copies of genes an animal

contributes towards the hereditary composition of the generation.

individuals behave to maximize reproductive successes. Why would

behaviour like altruism and cooperation evolve in social animals?

Altruism is a behaviour where an animal facilitates the reproductive chance

of a conspecific for its own. E.g. some bees for protecting sister bees give up their
life.
Squirrels, deer and some monkeys risk their lives by drawing attention of the
predators while giving alarm calls to others.

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 Altruistic behaviour could be explained on the basis of “kin selection” in which any
individual would sacrifice its own individual reproductive successes for the sake of kins
or relatives who share some proportion of its genes.

The help is not rendered to related animals only. For example, in the troops of
official olive baboon, quite unrelated males may come together for helping each other
when predators attack. This kind of cooperation is based on the principle that “you help
me this time & I will help you when you need me”.

Animal without social tendencies are very rare. Even those animals which remain
without social contact at other times, must come together for the purpose of breeding.
It is believed that non-social behaviour may have paved the way for the growth of
higher social life.

Fossils of dinosaur nest have provided information about parental care. The fossil
records suggest that some dinosaurs incubated their eggs like present day birds.

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 Darwin’s finches provide the evidence how adaptive radiation can lead to
evolution of behaviour. The ancestral bird had a heavy beak that fed on seeds.
Finches with different beak type & feeding behaviour evolved from the ancestral
finch.

Ethologists have shown homologies in behaviour i.e. behaviour pattern shared

by species through descent from common ancestor.

Van Tets (1965) from his observation of behavioural traits in birds has
concluded that behavioural data could be used to make accurate assessment of
phylogeny.

Paterson et. Al.,(1995) used 72 behavioural and life history characters to

construct phylogenetic trees for 18 species of albatrosses, petrels and penguins
and found that these trees were similar to those based on molecular data.

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Innate behaviour

Inborn or inherited behaviour.

Independent of the experience of the individual.

Determined by the heredity & is part of the animal’s original genetic make up.

young spider without any previous experience weaves a web as good as those constructed
by older spiders.
Fish, duck. turtle & crocodile etc. do not learn swimming, they can swim as soon as they
hatch from the egg.

Innate behaviour is a stereo typed behaviour as the animal repeats the same pattern of
behaviour.

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Innate behaviour is of the following major types:

1. Irritability
2. Tropism
3. Kinesis
4. Taxes
5. Reflexes
6. Instincts
7. Motivation

IRRITABILITY ( sensitivity)
Ability of an organism to respond to stimulus.
All organisms with or without nervous system have this ability.
By virtue of irritability organisms maximize their chances of survival.

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TROPISM
Induced orientation of plants in response to external stimulation.
Example- orientation of plant in response to light.

KINESIS
Undirected orientation of animals in response to external stimulation.

Example- When a drop of carbon dioxide dissolved water is added to the culture
of paramecia on the glass side, paramecia move away from carbon dioxide
dissolved water in any direction.

TAXIS
Orientation of animals in response to external stimulation in a definite direction
Example – when light is thrown on maggot ( fly larva) from different angles, it
moves against the light.

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REFLEX
An action that is made by an animal in response to a stimulation.
Example – blinking of eyes when bright light shines on eyes.

INSTINCT
Complex and fixed innate behaviour pattern characteristic of a species.
Example – parental care behaviour of vertebrates & migration of birds.

MOTIVATION
The same stimulus given to the same animal at different times will not evoke
the same response. The reason is motivation. At different times something
inside the animal must be different to respond differently to the same
stimulus.
presenting food to a hungry dog will produce an immediate response
from that shown by a dog that is not hungry.

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