BIOLOGY GRADE 11 STUDENT TEXTBOOK
Figure 2.25 Anopheles mosquitoes (left) Culex mosquitoes (middle) Tsetse fly (right)
2.5 Animal Behavior
After the successful completion of this
section, the student will be able to: Self-questioning
At the end of this section, the student will be able Before starting this section, ask
to: yourself this question: “What do I
Define animal behavior know about animal behavior and
Describe the differences between innate and what do I want to learn from this
learned animal behaviors. section?”
Identify patterns of behavior in animals
Animals have different behaviours and
behavioral patterns for survival and reproduction. Animal behavior means all
What is behaviour?
the ways in which animals interact with other organisms and the physical
environment. It includes the movements of animals, interaction of animals within and with the
environment and learning about their environment.
2.5.1 Types of Animal Behavior
Animals have different behaviors and behavioral patterns.
How can we differentiate
Animal behavior can be categorized into two main types:
between different types of
innate or inherent behavior and learned or acquired behavior.
animal behavior?
Innate or inherent behavior
Innate or inherent behavior is an inborn behavior that is determined by genes and independent of
experience and specific to a species. There are three types of innate or inherent behavior, and
these are instinctive, reflexive, and orientative.
The following examples are instinctive behaviours in animals.
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BIOLOGY GRADE 11 UNIT 2: ANIMALS
Web making in spiders
Nest-building in birds
Swimming with dolphins and other aquatic species.
Opening of mouth in chicks of many bird species when their mother returns to the nest.
Honeybees dance when they return to the hive after finding a source of food.
The following examples are reflex behaviours in animals.
A simple reflex action is a sudden, involuntary response to stimuli. For example, when you
touch a sharp or hot object, you pull your hand away rapidly without even thinking about
the action. You blink when something gets too close to your eye and you close your eyes
when dust gets into them. These are simple reflex actions. During a reflex action, messages
about pain do not travel all the way to and from the brain. Instead, they travel only as far as
the spinal cord, and the spinal cord responds to the messages by giving orders to the
muscles. This allows you to respond to pain more quickly.
The following examples are orientation behaviours in animals.
Taxis is directed in relation to a given stimulus. It is the orientation of an animal
(directed either towards or away) in response to the source of
stimulus. If the orientation is towards the stimulus, it is called as a positive taxis, and
if it is away from the stimulus, it is known as a negative taxis.
Example: The movement of cockroaches away from the source of light.
What is the difference between phototaxis,
chemotaxis, thigmotaxis and geotaxis? Explain with
examples.
Kinesis is undirected, random movement. Kinesis is a type of locomotory behavior in
relation to the source of stimulus. The animal responds to the variation in the intensity
of the stimulus and not the source or direction of the stimulus.
Example: The movement of woodlice in relation to the temperature around them.
Learned or acquired behavior
Learned or acquired behavior is not inherited individual organism to adapt to changes in the
and not determined by genes. It is the type of environment that are modified by previous
animal behavior acquired during the lifetime experiences. Examples of simple learned
of an individual. Learned behavior allows an behaviors include habituation, classical
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BIOLOGY GRADE 11 STUDENT TEXTBOOK
conditioning, operant conditioning, Stage 2: During conditioning. During this
sensitization, latent and insight learning stage, a stimulus that produces no response is
(Figure 2.26). associated with the unconditioned stimulus,
due to what it is known as a conditioned
Habituation is a simple form of learning in
stimulus (CS). For learning to take place, the
which an animal stops responding to a
UCS must be associated with CS on a number
stimulus, or cue, after a period of repeated
of occasions, or trials at this stage. .
exposure. This is a form of non-associative
learning, in which the stimulus is not linked Stage 3: After conditioning. This conditioning
with any punishment or reward. For example, happens once the conditioned stimulus (CS)
you were reading a book when someone has been associated with the unconditioned
turned on the television in the same room. At stimulus (UCS) to create a new conditioned
first, the sound of the television might have response.
been annoying. After a while, you may no
Operant conditioning is a result of
longer have it noticed. Accordingly, it mean
associative learning in which a bit different
that you have become accustomed to the
from classical conditioning because it does not
sound.
rely on an existing stimulus-response pair.
Classical conditioning is a result of Instead, whenever an organism performs a
associative learning in which a response behavior or an intermediate step on the way
already associated with one stimulus is to the complete behavior, the organism is
associated with a second stimulus to which it given a reward or a punishment. It was
had no previous connection. Classical discovered by B.F. Skinner. Based on the
conditioning was discovered by Ivan P. theory of operant conditioning, behavior will
Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. There are likely be repeated when the organism is
three stages of classical conditioning. reinforced (rewarded), and behavior will occur
less frequently when it is punished.
Stage 1: Before conditioning. This stage
states that an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) Skinner identified three types of responses or
produces an unconditioned response (UCR) in operant behavior.
an individual, which means that a stimulus in
Neutral operants are responses
the environment has produced a behavior or
from the environment that neither
response which is unlearned (i.e.,
increase nor decrease the probability
unconditioned), and therefore it is a natural
of a behavior being repeated.
response which has not been taught. In this
case, no new behavior has been learned yet.
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Reinforcers are responses from the repeated are called punishers.
environment that increase the Punishment weakens behavior.
probability of a behavior being
Insight learning is learning which is based
repeated are called reinforcers.
on past experience and reasoning and is a
Reinforcers can be either positive or
hallmark of the human behavior. Humans
negative.
have used insight learning to solve problems
Punishers are responses from the
ranging from starting a fire to traveling to the
environment that decrease the
moon
likelihood of a behavior being
Sensitization, also referred to as reverse tolerance, is a non-associative learning process in which
repeated administration of a stimulus results in the progressive amplification of a response. It
occurs when a stimulus is presented above the tolerance threshold. For example, repetition of a
painful stimulus may make one more sensitive to a loud noise.
Inquiry activity 2.25 Examining animal behavior
Be in groups and find explanations of learned behaviors such as habituation,
classical conditioning, operant conditioning, insight learning, and sensitization with
examples of scientists who discovered the behavior and how. (hint: Pavlov
experiment, Skinner experiment, etc.) Look at the following figures (Figure 2.26) and
identify the type of learned behavior each figure shows and report to your teacher.
Figure 2.26 Different types of animal behevior
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