ZOO Unit 7
What type of animals are more likely to rely on learned behavior. Explain your answer.
A prairie dog is more likely to rely on learned behavior. Prairie dogs are taught to run and hide when an adult dog makes an "alarm" that signal when there were predators around.
Briefly explain the difference between a working dog and a service dog.
A working dog is an animal that provides specific services to their community such as a search, bomb, and police dog while a service animal assists a person with disabilities.
How are learned behaviors impacted when an animal lives in captivity, like a zoo?
Animals in captivity are impacted negatively. With loss of habitat, animals can develop anxiety, stress, and depression as well lose their skills such as nesting and finding food.
Explain some of the ways chimps use tools in the wild.
Chimps use many tools in the wild. They make spears that they use to hunt with that they make out of long, bare branches and chew the end until it is sharp. Chimps have even used the tools around them for thousands of years when people discovered remnants of stone hammers that were found on the Ivory Coast.
C.S. Lewis once stated that animals be best understood by their relationships to man. Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Explain your answer and support it with facts or examples.
I agree with Lewis because I do believe that a connection with an animal can show many psychological relationships and many other things. Lewis proposed that animals are them truest self when they make and have bonds with humans.
Explain where instinctive behavior comes from and give 3 examples of instinctive behavior that animals display in the wild.
Instinctive behavior comes from the unlearned. It is natural. The first example is males dancing or calling to attract mates. The next example is pelicans hunting to swim in patterns in their groups which makes the fish react. The last example is butterflies migrate for winter and return to their homes during the spring and summer.
Describe at least 4 benefits that humans receive from bonding with animals.
One benefit that humans receive from service animals is a change in activity physically and mentally. Another benefit that we receive is love. When we treat service animals with love (or any other animal), it is most likely that we will receive love from them too. Another benefit is medical benefits. When we spend time with an animal, it can lower our blood pressure and release endorphins. The last benefit is a coping mechanism. With an animal, they can also help us relieve stress and also help us cope with daily challenges.
Explain the instinctive behaviors that pelicans do to get the food they need to survive.
They hunt in groups and swim in patterns to get the fish to come out of the water and lead them to be able to easily hunt them.
What are 3 types of service animals; in other words, what physical conditions of humans are they trained to assist?
Three types of service animals are dogs, ponies, and monkeys. Some physical conditions that they are trained to assist are the deaf, blind, people in wheelchairs, and seizures.
Explain how elephants react when a member of their herd, or even another elephant, dies.
When an elephant in a herd dies, the other elephants mourn like human beings. When they discover the remains, they touch them with their trunks and carry the bones and tusks to a graveyard that they have made.
Briefly explain the "ranking" of wolves in a pack. How does this affect the pack?
Wolves in a pack first start with an alpha and an alpha female. With them, there are roughly 6-10 animals in the pack. This affects the pack in a good way. It is good because there are enough animals so they won't be so threatened/intimidated by other predators. It is also good because only the alphas can mate which leaves them with 4-6 pups in a litter. This is good because it is a happy medium with under population and overpopulation. Omegas compare to alphas by a "rank system". Alphas are the "boss" of the pack while the omega is the lowest position that you could go. Sadly, alphas are far more important than omegas.
A scientist who studies humans, their culture, and societies past and present
anthropologist
List 3 jobs performed by working service animals.
bomb dog search and rescue police dog
The study of animal behavior:
ethology
Hierarchy in an elephant herd is structured on
experience and age
All social behavior is expressed through interactions we have with others except when talking about the animal kingdom.
false
Hunting is a good example of instinctive behavior in animals.
false
Instinctive behaviors happen because of an animal's experience.
false
Learned behaviors are inherited from birth and change over time.
false
Mating rituals in animals are learned behaviors.
false
Only dogs are used as service animals.
false
The alpha male wolf breeds with all females in the pack.
false
Identify at least 4 types of behaviors that have been observed in animal groups that function as a society.
grooming division of labor developing unique calls social behavior
An unlearned, inborn tendency to act in a way that is characteristic of a species:
instinctive behavior
Behaviors that come from experience and are not present in an animal at its birth:
learned behavior
These types of behaviors are taught by their mothers, herds, or pack members:
learned behaviors
Give 3 examples of instinctive behavior that animals display in the wild.
males dancing or calling to attract mates pelicans hunting to swim in patterns in their groups which makes the fish react butterflies migrate for winter and return to their homes during the spring and summer
The female leader of an elephant herd is called a
matriarch
The social structure of an elephant herd is
matriarchal
The lowest ranking wolf in a pack is called:
omega
A family group of wolves is called a
pack
This is an individual who hunts and kills animals illegally:
poacher
Identify three examples of learned behaviors that were shared in lesson 2.
prairie dogs sounding an alarm Playful behaviors in packs and large predator species of mammals Tools that they use around them such as dolphins using a rock to break clams
Actions that can't be controlled are:
reflexive
What are three examples of tool use by animals in the wild?
rocks Rocks are used as weapons and tools to open things tree limbs/twigs Twigs are used to make weapons such as a spear coconut shells Coconut shells are used when octopuses need a protective shield against predators
Interactions that occur between two or more individual animal, usually of the same species:
social behavior
Family groups of animals function as a
society
What are the four specific reasons for learned behaviors according to Zoologists?
to escape predators to capture and find food to interact as social groups such as flocks, packs, etc to attract a mate and reproduce
Animals can significantly improve the healing process for someone who is ill and in the hospital simply by their touch and interactions with those individuals.
true
Cave paintings thousands of years old, depict the interactions of humans and animals.
true
Elephant herds are made up of females and their young and juvenile males.
true
Ethology is the study of animal behavior
true
Every member of the elephant herd takes part in protecting and nurturing the calves.
true
Heredity, or genetic makeup, has a direct influence on instinctive behaviors in animals.
true
Hunting and stalking skills, as well as any strategies associated with them, are all learned behaviors.
true
Instinctive behaviors are unique to each species.
true
Instinctive social behaviors are those that have animals working together to accomplish a task, like ants gathering food.
true
Learned behaviors are also adaptable; in other words, they can be honed to respond to changing conditions or situations in the wild.
true
Learned behaviors are not something an animal is born "knowing".
true
Play is another way that animals learn behaviors they need to survive.
true
Researchers believe that human beings are "hardwired" to form bonds with animals.
true
The activity in the brain of a human being actually changes when they are interacting with animals.
true
The lowest ranking wolf in the pack eats last.
true
The major role of instinctive behavior is often to help a species survive.
true
There is a purposeful action to social behavior to the social interactions of animals; in other words they interact on purpose, not just because they are all together in one habitat.
true
Wolf packs are made up of an alpha male and female who lead the pack.
true
Wolves use sounds and body language to communicate with others in the pack.
true
Instinct is
unlearned behavior