Animal Behaviour

R+

A dog always pulls/strains at the end of his leash while on a walk. The owner holds the leash tight and the dog gasps and makes choking sounds the whole walk. What is this?

R+

A dog jumps up on the table and steals a steak. She runs off and eats it. Some time later, the owner comes back from another room, sees the steak gone, yells, "No" and throws a rolled-up towel at the dog. The dog steals off counters from then on (and avoids towels). What is this?

P-

A dolphin jumps up in response to a known cue and instead of touching her trainer's hands with her fins, she bites the trainer's hand. The trainer immediately gives an established conditioned hand signal (delta) and removes herself and the bucket of fish. The dolphin doesn't bite again. What is this?

P-

A puppy jumps on its returning owner. The owner says nothing, folds his arms over his chest, and faces the door. The puppy stops jumping. What is this?

R+

A puppy jumps on its returning owner. The owner yells, "No!" and pushes the puppy away with her hands. The puppy jumps up again. What is this?

P+

A puppy jumps on its returning owner. The owner yells, "No!", the puppy stops jumping. What is this?

R-

A trainer pulls up on a dog's collar and commands the dog to "sit". The dog sits, and the trainer releases the tension on the collar. What is this?

1. Something good can start or be presented 2. Something good can end or be removed 3. Something bad can start or be presented 4. Something bad can end or be removed

In OC, what are the 4 possible consequences to any behaviour?

- How closely related the species are - Whether communication modes are similar / overlap - How an individual perceives the communication signal

The ability to interpret a signal in the intended manner depends on?

P+

While the family is out, the dog jumps up on the table and eats an entire box of chocolates. A few hours later, the dog is violently sick all over the owner's bed. The dog sniffs at, but doesn't take chocolate from a table after. What is this?

- visually, vocally, by olfaction (smell) and by physical contact - Use body movements, sounds and smells (urine/ faeces / glandular) to send signals to other dogs and animals - Communication encompasses movements of the ears, eyes and eyebrows, mouth, head, tail and entire body, as well as barks, growls, whines / whimpers, and howls

how do dogs communicate?

Reactions - Reflex - Learned - Learn, remember, predict, conscious decision making Stimulus-response chain 1. Stimulus 2. Receptor 3. Co-ordinating process - Types of learning 4. Effector 5. Response

how does a stimulus result in a behaviour?

Persistent, dysfunctional / pathological activities - usually undesirable

how is abnormal behaviour recognised?

the response to a stimulus - observable activity

how is behaviour defined?

a relatively enduring change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience

how is learning defined?

- Determined by observing animals in 'natural' environment and comparing range of behaviours with wild counterparts

how is normal behaviour recognised?

Effects of behaviour on animal, other animal/s or environment e.g. 'groom'

in relation to behaviour, what does the term consequences mean?

- Event - short duration e.g. 'removing fluff from whisker' - State - long duration e.g. 'full facial'

in relation to behaviour, what does the term pattern mean?

Appearance or the physical manifestation of a behaviour e.g. 'lick paw and swipe over face'

in relation to behaviour, what does the term structure mean?

- Defensive aggression: Protective or fearful. May hold position or move away - Offensive aggression: Expressed by lunging, chasing, and moving toward the opponent

offensive vs aggressive

true

true or false? Knowledge of normal behaviour is essential to recognise abnormal behaviour

- habituation - desensitisation - counter-conditioning

what are 3 behavioural factors that alter behaviour?

- The puppy is ignored for attention seeking - The child's crayons are removed for squabbling with his sister - The dog is put on a leash and removed from the park for coming when called - The teenager is grounded for misbehaving - Xena cuts off her opponent's air supply who refuses to give her the information she wants

what are examples of negative punishment (P-)?

- The choke collar is loosened when the dog moves closer to its owner - The car buzzer goes off when you put on your seatbelt - The horse gets freedom when it slips its restraints - You hit your head on the wall because it feels so good when you stop

what are examples of negative reinforcement (R-)?

- The rug-peeing puppy is swatted with a rolled up newspaper - The barking dog is squirted with citronella - The fast driver gets a speeding ticket - The child burns her hand when touching a hot stove

what are examples of positive punishment (P+)?

- The dolphin gets a fish for doing a trick - The cat gets comfort (heat) from sleeping on your lap - The toddler gets attention for screaming - The dog gets to play for pulling her owner to the park - The attention-seeking dog gets attention

what are examples of positive reinforcement (R+)?

- Pheromones are chemicals secreted by animals through their skin and glands to communicate with con-specifics (members of the same species) - In mammals, the vomeronasal organ, a structure close to the nasal passage, receives these pheromone signals, which elicit an involuntary behavioural effect (social, sexual)

what are pheromones?

- Stimuli that animals react to naturally, without training i.e. instinctive or hardwired - Biologically reinforcing: food, water, sex, attention, pain

what are primary reinforcers (unconditioned stimuli)?

- A (previously neutral) stimuli that animals react to only after learning about them i.e. are associated with a primary stimulus - Something an animal must learn to like or dislike - Exam grades - Money

what are secondary reinforcers (conditioned stimuli)?

1. Sexual motivation - motivation to copulate / mate (sometimes referred to as libido or sexual drive) 2. Mating competency - ability to copulate i.e. mount, gain an erection, achievement of intromission and ejaculation

what are the 2 components of sexual behaviour that affect the likelihood of the male achieving copulation?

1. Attractivity: extent to which female evokes sexual response in male 2. Proceptivity: invitation or soliciting behaviour. Consists of affiliative behaviours (male seeking) and physical appetitive behaviours (signaling) 3. Receptivity: responses sufficient to enable copulation - immobility or standing response (consummatory response)

what are the 3 components of female sexual behaviour that affect the likelihood of successful mating?

- genetics - current environment - early or previous experience

what are the 3 factors influencing behaviour?

- The prereceptive phase - The receptive phase - The postreceptive phase

what are the 3 phases of the oestrus period?

1. Something good can start or be presented, which increases behaviour = Positive Reinforcement (R+) 2. Something bad can end or be removed, which increases behaviour = Negative Reinforcement (R-) 3. Something good can end or be removed, which decreases behaviour = Negative Punishment (P-) 4. Something bad can start or be presented, which decreases behaviour = Positive Punishment (P+)

what are the 4 different types of relativity in relation to operant conditioning?

1. Positive 2. Negative 3. Reinforcer 4. Punisher

what are the 4 technical terms used in OC?

1. UCS = unconditioned stimulus 2. CS = conditioned stimulus 3. CR = conditioned response 4. UCR = unconditioned response

what are the 4 types stimulus/response in classical conditioning (pavlov's experiment)

- More quickly detect and repulse predators - Better defend resources against outsiders - Increased efficiency in acquiring food - Thermal benefits - Presence of con-specifics helps reduce stress response in adverse conditions

what are the advantages of living in a group?

- Animals that live in groups have to be able to communicate in order to cooperate and avoid disputes - Communicating involves postural and facial signals that indicate mood and intent - Many gestures and actions have common meanings, and the same gesture or action can have multiple, distinct meanings depending on context:

what are the behavioural principles of communication in animals?

- Competition for resources - Increased risk of infection - Risk of being exploited or having offspring killed by group mates - Large groups are conspicuous

what are the disadvantages of living in a group?

Social behaviours, like other behaviours, are influenced by both genes and environment Many behaviours are affected by artificial selection, but behavioural patterns of most domestic animals are very similar to those of their wild relations: That is, they are still motivated to perform the same behaviours that their ancestors did

what are the effects of domestication on social behaviour?

- Season - Sexual stimulation - Social and sexual experience - Presence of a boar or ram * Olfaction, auditory, visual, tactile - Group living * Synchronise oestrus - Visual cues - Ornaments

what are the factors affecting female sexual behaviour?

- Genetics - Experience - Seasonal effects - Social and sexual effects - Psychological factors - Dominance rank, fear (human presence), environmental stimuli / cues

what are the factors affecting male sexual behaviour?

- Courtship and mating - Parental care - Defensive - Feeding - Territorial - Periodic or cyclic - Migration

what are the patterns of behaviour?

- space - stimuli (visual / olfactory / auditory) - other animals - devices / objects

what are the physical factors that alter behaviour?

- reduced space - group size - mixing unfamiliar animals - isolation - homogenous groupings

what are the possible social factors contributing to production losses?

- behaviouristic - naturalistic

what are the two different approaches to assessing behaviour?

defensive or avoidance behaviour

what are the two leading behaviours after fear?

dominant and submissive

what are two common behaviours shown between dogs?

- The causation and development of abnormal behaviours - The impact of human behaviour on animal health and welfare - What animals, themselves, view as necessary / desirable in their environment

what does knowledge in animal behaviour provide insight to?

Something that is subtracted (-) from the environment - An event ended - An item is removed

what does negative mean in relation to OC?

Something that is added (+) to the environment - An event started - An item presented

what does positive mean in relation to OC?

Something that decreases a behaviour - Makes it occur less frequently, weaker or less likely

what does punishment in relation to OC?

Something that increases a behaviour - Makes it occur more frequently, stronger or more likely

what does reinforcer mean in relation to OC?

Decreases the social distance between participants in an interaction

what is affiliated behaviour?

Choices made when in social conflict 1. Flee (avoidance): run away, back up, escape 2. Submissive behaviours: to turn off or inhibit a threat 3. Threaten: 'stop what you are doing or I'll bit you!" 4. Aggression: intent to do harm to another - Offensive - Defensive

what is agonistic behaviour?

migration

what is an example of a complex response to stimuli?

E.g. consistently ignoring a puppy that barks (CR) at the doorbell (CS), which had previously been reinforced (UCS = attention) for this behaviour

what is an example of a method to eliminate a behavior by not reinforcing it any longer?

reflex

what is an example of a simple response to stimuli?

lip curling

what is an example of an indication a male has picked up pheromones from a female?

Often happens when extinction procedure has just begun - Sudden and temporary increase in the frequency of the response - Followed by decline and extinction of the behaviour targeted for elimination

what is an extinction burst?

- Conditioning - a step further - Animals may learn to associate specific stimuli or behaviours with good or bad consequences

what is associative learning?

A device that makes a click-click sound (cricket-like) when you press it -E.g. you can CC a dog by pressing the clicker and delivering a treat, many times in a row - Variation: click - pause - treat - Eventually, the dog startles, looks at the treat/you - This association is called 'charging up the clicker' or 'creating a conditioned (secondary) reinforcer' - The click sound becomes a signal for an upcoming reinforcement i.e. the click = treat Use the clicker when the dog performs a desired behaviour - Capturing: spontaneous - Luring: with a treat - Shaping: reinforce (click) only the responses that are in the direction of the desired response - Add a cue word (learned association) - Finally, only the cue word is necessary

what is clicker training and how is it implemented?

during desensitisation, engage a dog in a fun behaviour that inhibits the undesirable behaviour

what is counter-conditioning?

a decrease in response produced by gradual exposure to the stimulus that elicited the response

what is desensitisation?

females do not engage in sexual activities

what is dioestrus?

The process whereby a population of animals (or plants), through a process of selection, is changed at the genetic level, accentuating traits that benefit humans - Food, wool / cotton / silk, work, research, companionship / ornamental Differs from taming in that a change in the phenotypical (observable characteristics) expression and genotype (inherited characteristics) of the animal occurs - Taming is simply the process by which animals become accustomed to human presence

what is domestication?

- describes a learned, predictable relationship between two (or more) animals, where one animal is consistently deferred to by the other - The formation of social hierarchies is an important mechanism that functions to control aggression in situations of limited resources (e.g. space, feed) - High-ranking (dominant) individuals may achieve higher fitness payoffs from group living (e.g. access to food, mates) - Group dynamics are often transient and so dominance rankings can alter frequently

what is dominance?

ability to stop responding to repeated, inconsequential events

what is habituation?

- does not require learning - fully functional first time performed - E.g. nest building, suckling, web building

what is innate behaviour?

- modification of a behaviour as a result of experience - associative; non-associative; insight (reasoning); imprinting

what is learned behaviour?

Discipline of psychology that attempts to explain how an animal learns - Instincts (not learning per se) - Imprinting - Social facilitation - Observation - Play - Memory - Mimicry - Insight (reasoning) - Non-associative learning - Habituation - Sensitisation - Associative learning (conditioning) - Classical conditioning - Operant conditioning

what is learning theory?

- Habituation - a simple form of learning - Faced with a repeated stimulus, an animal may waste time or energy responding each time the stimulus is encountered - Habituation is the ability to discard repeated stimuli that are not associated with consequences (irrelevant) and to ignore them - Sensitisation - opposite of habituation - The increasing of a response to a repeated stimuli

what is non-associative learning?

The period associated with ovulation, when the female is sexually receptive and accepts mating by the male

what is oestrus?

- Whereas CC forms an association between two (or more) stimuli, operant conditioning (OC) forms an association between a behaviour and a consequence - OC aka response-stimulus conditioning, as it forms an association between the response (behaviour) and the stimulus that follows (consequence) - Trainers use OC techniques to obtain desired behaviours (teaching / communication)

what is operant conditioning?

Social behaviour is comprised of patterns of behaviour that involve 2 or more members of a group and includes: - Aggression and spacing - Reproduction - Parental care or aid-related behaviour - Social organisation In almost all cases social interactions involve communication

what is social behaviour?

- structure - consequences - patterns

behaviour can be described in terms of?

Group dynamics are largely determined by size, structure / hierarchy and demographics - Group structure can vary with season and age of members

characteristics of group dynamics

Social behaviours serve many purposes including ecological adaptation and species cohesion. - Ensures the group works together towards the ultimate goal - survival of the species

characteristics of social behaviours

- Communicate and socialise - Rear young - Avoid predators - Find food and mates - Create shelters

cognitive ethology is the study of the mental experiences of animals as they?

- Sensory experience (pleasure / pain) - Mental imagery - Intention (wanting / trusting)

conscious awareness in animals

- Oestrogens (oestradiol) are required to ensure oestrus - These hormones act on the CNS to elicit sexual behaviour as well as stimulating the pre- ovulatory LH surge and in turn ovulation - Controlled mainly by the ventromedial nucleus in the hypothalamus, which contains oestrogen and progesterone receptors - Destruction of this region abolishes copulatory behaviour and stimulation facilitates the behaviour - Implantation of oestrogen and progesterone in this area can reinstate proceptive and receptive behaviour in ovariectomised females

what is the hormonal and neural control of female sexual behaviour?

Food animal species are polygynous - A few males inseminate large numbers of females -often assisted or AI Decreased selection for correct sexual behaviours

what is the importance of male sexual behaviour in farm animals?

flehmen response

what is the name given to an animal who has detected pheromones and is lip curling to facilitate the transfer of those pheromones?

ethology

what is the study of animal behaviour called?

Trainers will associate something that is easy to deliver (bridge) with something the animal wants i.e. the time between the desirable behaviour and when the animal receives its reward is 'bridged' - Whistle - marine mammals, herding dogs - Clicker

why is classical conditioning important to trainers?

Effective management, handling and training - Occupational health and safety - preventing injury to self and others - Diagnosing disease - Animal husbandry and optimising production - Understand the bond between people and their pets - Behavioural disorders - Welfare assessment

why is knowledge of animal behaviour important?