BEHAVIOR OF

MAMMALS
ZAINAB BIBI
G1F17BSZL0037
ASSIGNMENT NO. 4
BEHAVIOR OF MAMMALS
What is Behavior?
Anything an animal does in response to
a stimulus
Stimulus: environmental change that
directly influences an organism
Example: change in day length, heat
Innate behavior: Inherited
Natural selection favors certain behaviors
Behavior that helps survival is passed on
to offspring
Examples: fixed action responses:
unchangeable behavior that once begun,
won’t stop till it is finished (toad sees
prey, flips out tongue)
Reflexes: Automatic Responses
Simplest form of behavior
Simple automatic response to a
stimulus that involves no conscious
control
Example: jerking hand from hot stove
Fight or flight response
Instinctive Behavior
Complex pattern
of innate behavior
Longer than a
reflex
Example: greylag
goose rolling eggs
 1. Territoriality
Physical space an
animal defends against
own species
May include breeding,
feeding, or mating
areas or all three
Reduces competition
so improves survival
Pheromones may mark
boundaries
 2. Home Range
The home range of an
animal is the area where it
spends its time; it is the
region that encompasses all
the resources the animal
requires to survive and
reproduce.
Competition for food and
other resources influences
how animals are distributed
in space.
 3. Predation Pressure
In predation, one organism
kills and consumes another.
A biological interaction
where one organism, the
predator, kills and eats
another organism, its prey.
The best-known examples of
predation involve
carnivorous interactions, in
which one animal consumes
another.
 4. Competition for resources
Competition is an
interaction between
organisms or species in
which both the organisms
or species are harmed.
Limited supply of at least
one resource (such as
food, water, and territory)
used by both can be a
factor.