Animal Behaviour

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Animal Behaviour is the scientific study of the interaction of animals with each other, with other living beings, and with the environment. It explores how animals find and defend resources, avoid pre…

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Instinctual behaviours are behaviours that do not need to be learned. They are natural, automatic responses. Examples: (1) Spider spinning its web - spiders instinctively know how to create complex we…

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Imprinting is a type of behaviour where young animals become socially attached to the first moving object they see after birth and treat it as their mother. Ducklings follow the first moving object th…

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Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) was an Austrian scientist who studied animal behaviour. He discovered that geese became imprinted on him when he reared them from hatching. The geese followed him around and …

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Conditioning is a type of learned behaviour involving a response to a stimulus that is different from the natural one. Unlike natural responses (like salivating when seeing food), conditioned response…

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Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) discovered that dogs naturally salivated when offered food. He then rang a bell before feeding time. After repetitions, the dogs began to salivate just hearing the bell, even w…

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Imitation is a type of behaviour where one animal copies another animal. Humans often imitate each other unconsciously, like copying body language during conversation. Chimpanzees also show imitation …

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Human behaviour is more complex because we are more intelligent and self-aware. Unlike other animals, humans can overcome natural urges and control their behaviour. For example, a hungry person might …