Innate, Learned and Complex Behaviors

My AP Biology ThoughtsUnit 8 Episode #18

Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, my name is Jacky and I am your host for episode 18 called Unit 8 Ecology: Innate, Learned, and Complex Behaviors. Today we will be discussing the different behaviors animals engage in in response to stimuli.

Segment 1: Introduction to Innate, Learned, and Complex Behaviors

• Animal behavior is how animals interact with one another and to the environment. The behaviors are specifically triggered by stimuli, which can be internal or external.
• EX internal: Need to maintain homeostasis. If an animal eats some bad food, they’re body will often react in a manner to try to throw up that food
• EX external: Changes in weather will often lead to migration, where an animal leaves their habitat to go to a whole new region
• Three main types of behaviors: Innate, Learned, and Complex
• Innate and Learned are two distinctive categories of behaviors, Complex is a mixture of both

Segment 2: Example of Innate, Learned, and Complex Behaviors

• Innate behaviors are behaviors animals are genetically programmed to engage in. They are instinctive, and are automatically performed by an animal in response to a stimulus.
• Three types: Reflexes, taxis and kinesis. For these 3, I will be using an example of shining light.
• Reflexes: A natural response to a stimulus. It was with you the day you were born; an automated reaction by your body. When you go to the doctor, they shine light in your eye. Automatic reaction, or reflex, is to blink or squint; you don’t even think about it.
• Taxis: Movement away from or toward a stimulus. It is not random; it is a purposeful response of the animal. If you shine a light in the air at night, you will notice bugs gravitate towards it. This is a natural behavior of theirs; they are attracted to sources of light and will move to it, especially during night time.
• Kinesis: Random movement. There is no defined purpose in the behavior, it is simply stray movement that occurs when a stimulus is introduced. The animal is not moving toward or away from anything. If you are in a dark cave and then shine a light on a cluster of rats, they will scatter and move around erratically, not going anywhere in particular. They are not trying to move toward or away from the light, they are just trying to move.
• Learned behavior: Behavior that is acquired through experience. It is not a reaction one will have from birth. Some common examples of learned behavior are habituation, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning, observational learning, and insight learning. Will be using example of fire alarm
• Habituation: When the natural response to a stimulus decreases overtime as the animal is repeatedly subjected to the stimulus, causing them to become almost...