1. Habituation and Sensitization

Separation anxiety

-a combination of genetic and environmental factors cause it -once separated, the young of social species show distress until reunited -most puppies adapt to periods of separation >but not always, and sometimes an event will trigger it: prolonged vacations, students off to college

What are the physiological components of habituation?

-a general activation of the brain -an increase in circulating adrenalin -cardiovascular changes (-repetition leads to habituation?)

The evolution of learning

-animals with longer lifespans have evolved to learn more -the behaviour of animals is sometimes fixed and unvarying (ex: simple animals with short lifespans often have a very strong genetic component to their behaviour - not much learning)

Sensitization

-approximately the opposite of habituation -an increase of response to a repeated stimulus ex: an animal becoming needle shy

How does learning aid survival?

-in the lives of many animals, circumstances change: certain food may not be available anymore and they need to find other food/a new spot, etc -if the animal is going to survive, it may have to change its behaviour -> learning

Examples of behaviours that are not learned?

-newborn animals finding the teat -some courtship behaviours

Learning

-practicing something over and over again -an animal modifies its behaviour because of experience it has

Cribbing (causes)

-stereotypic behaviour -management issues: insufficient roughage, stalls without bedding, severely limited social contact, insufficient environmental stimulation -type of use issues: racing, dressage, eventing -genetic issues: family predispositions exist

Desensitization

-the objective is to encourage habituation over sensitization -present a stimulus at such a low level that arousal is kept low and habituation predominates

Sensitizing wildlife to humans

-they are habituated to us -we need to link human presence with stimuli that they can't habituate to, which protects them

Nutrition and activity level in dogs

Based on Environment? Dogs evolved from wolves: wolves would catch a deer or moose, then gorge themselves. They then would not eat for a while. So it's very easy to overfeed dogs.

example of sensitizing predators (eagle and hens)

Chinese farmers are trapping eagles and other birds of prey and throwing them trussed up into chicken pens to make them so scared of poultry that they never return

Normal behaviour

Genetics: behaviour that the animal normally does, but bothers humans. Ex: urine marking by cats.

What are 2 simple types of learning?

Habituation and Sensitization

What is Ethology?

The scientific study of animal behaviour

Why is habituation important?

an animal cannot startle at every noise because that would be an unbearable energy drain. birds will eventually get used to scarecrows and won't be afraid of them anymore.

Habituation

an animal is presented with an unexpected stimulus, and it shows an alerting or orienting response. With repetition, the animal learns that this stimulus is not harmful.

Abnormal and self-destructive behaviour

ex: Lick granuloma - repetitive licking directed at one spot. Could be related to separation anxiety or other underlying issues.

Inadvertently reinforced behaviour

ex: begging, barking

Is behaviour part of the genotype or phenotype?

phenotype

The importance of habituation and sensitization

they reflect how animals sort out what to ignore and what to pay attention to in the world