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Lecture notes, cheat sheets
Zoopsychology. Behavior. Basic forms of animal behavior (lecture notes)
Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets Table of contents (expand) Topic 3. Behavior 3.1. Basic forms of animal behavior When studying unconditioned reflexes and instincts, it became necessary to create a classification of the main forms of animal behavior. The first attempts at such a classification were made back in the pre-Darwinian period, but they reached their greatest development at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. So, I.P. Pavlov divided the innate elements of behavior into indicative, defensive, nutritional, sexual, parental and childish. With the appearance of new data on the conditioned reflex activity of animals, it became possible to create more detailed classifications. For example, orienting reflexes began to be subdivided into actual orienting and exploratory reflexes, an orienting reflex aimed at searching for food was called an orienting reflex, etc. Another classification of forms of behavior was proposed by A.D. Slonim in 1949 in the article "On the relationship of unconditioned and conditioned reflexes in mammals in phylogenesis". In his scheme, three main groups of reflexes were distinguished: 1) reflexes aimed at preserving the internal environment of the body and the constancy of matter. This group includes eating behavior, which ensures the constancy of the substance, and homeostatic reflexes, which ensure the constancy of the internal environment; 2) reflexes aimed at changing the external environment of the body. These include defensive behavior and environmental, or situational, reflexes; 3) reflexes associated with the preservation of the species. These include sexual and parental behavior. Later, scientists of the Pavlov school developed other classifications of unconditioned reflexes and the conditioned reflexes formed on their basis. For example, the classifications of D.A. Biryukov, created in 1948 by N.A. Rozhansky (1957). These classifications were quite complex, they included both the actual reflexes of behavior and the reflexes of the regulation of individual physiological processes, and therefore did not find wide application. R. Hynd gave several classifications of types of behavior based on certain criteria. The scientist believed that there are a lot of such criteria, and in practice, criteria are most often chosen that are suitable for the particular problem that is being considered. He mentioned three main types of criteria by which classification is carried out. 1. Classification for immediate reasons. According to this classification, the types of activity determined by the same causal factors are combined into one group. For example, all types of activity are combined, the intensity of which depends on the action of the male sex hormone (sexual behavior of the male), types of activity associated with stimuli "male-rival" (agonistic behavior), etc. This type of classification is necessary to study the behavior of the animal, it is convenient to apply it in practice. 2. The functional classification is based on the evolutionary classification of activities. Here, the categories are smaller, for example, such types of behavior as courtship, migration, hunting, and threat are distinguished. Such a classification is justified as long as the categories are used to study functions, but it is rather controversial, since identical elements of behavior in different species can have different functions. 3. Classification by origin. In this group, a classification according to common ancestral forms, based on a comparative study of closely related species, and a classification according to the method of acquisition, which is based on the nature of the change in a behavioral act in the process of evolution, are distinguished. As examples of categories in these classifications, we can distinguish the behavior acquired as a result of learning and ritualized behavior. Hynd stressed that any classification systems based on different types of criteria should be considered independent. For a long time, among ethologists, a classification has been popular, which is based on the classification of Pavlov's reflexes. Its formulation was given by G. Tembrok (1964), who divided all forms of behavior into the following groups: 1) behavior determined by metabolism (foraging and eating, urination and defecation, food storage, rest and sleep, stretching); 2) comfortable behavior; 3) defensive behavior; 4) behavior associated with reproduction (territorial behavior, copulation and mating, care for offspring); 5) social (group) behavior; 6) construction of nests, burrows and shelters. Let's take a closer look at some forms of behavior. Behavior determined by metabolism. Eating behavior. Eating behavior is inherent in all representatives of the animal world. Its forms are very diverse and species-specific. Eating behavior is based on the interaction of central mechanisms of excitation and inhibition. The constituent elements of these processes are responsible both for the reaction to various food stimuli and for the nature of movements when eating. The individual experience of the animal plays a certain role in the formation of eating behavior, in particular the experience that determines the rhythms of behavior. The initial phase of eating behavior is a search behavior caused by arousal. Search behavior is determined by depriving the animal of food and is the result of an increase in reactivity to external stimuli. The ultimate goal of search behavior is finding food. In this phase, the animal is especially sensitive to stimuli that indirectly indicate the presence of food. The types of irritants depend on the availability and palatability of different types of food. Signs that serve as irritants are common to different types of food or characterize its specific type, which is most often observed in invertebrates. For example, for bees, the color of the corollas of a flower can serve as such an irritant, and for termites, the smell of rotting wood. All these stimuli cause different types of activity. Depending on the circumstances and the type of animal, this may be the capture of prey, its preliminary preparation and absorption. For example, wolves have a certain way of hunting for different types of ungulates, while a lynx hunts all types of prey in the same way (jumping from an ambush on the victim's scruff). Predatory mammals have certain "rituals" when eating prey. Weasel eats mouse-like rodents from the head, and when there is a lot of prey, it is content only with the brain of the victim. Large predators also prefer to eat the prey, starting with the muscles of the neck and entrails. When the animal begins to satiate, feedbacks caused by irritation of the receptors of the mouth, pharynx and stomach shift the balance towards inhibition. This is also facilitated by a change in the composition of the blood. Usually, the processes of inhibition are ahead of the compensatory abilities of tissues and proceed at different rates. In some animals, the processes of inhibition affect only the final act of feeding behavior and do not affect the search behavior. Therefore, many well-fed mammals continue to hunt, which is typical, for example, mustelids, some large cats. There are many different factors that determine the attractiveness of different types of food, as well as the amount of food consumed. These factors are best studied in rats. In these rodents, which are characterized by complex behavior, the novelty of food can serve as a factor contributing to both an increase in the amount of food eaten and a decrease in its amount. Monkeys often eat new foods in small doses, but if a monkey notices that his relatives eat this food, the amount eaten increases markedly. In most mammals, young animals are the first to try a new food. In some flocking mammals and birds, individual individuals more often try unfamiliar food, being surrounded by relatives, and are very cautious about it, being in isolation. The amount of food absorbed may also depend on the amount of food available. For example, in the autumn period, bears eat pears in gardens in much larger quantities than from isolated trees. Such widespread behavior as food storage can be attributed to food. To provide food for insect larvae, it is reduced to the activity of laying eggs on living objects (gadflies), the manifestation of parasitism, and the activity of gravedigger beetles. Food storage is also widespread among mammals. For example, food is stored by many species of predators, and their forms of storage are extremely diverse. A domestic dog can simply bury a piece of meat left over from lunch, and an ermine, a marten arrange entire warehouses consisting of the corpses of small rodents. Many species of rodents also store food, some of them (hamsters, saccular rats) have special cheek pouches in which they carry food. For most rodents, food storage periods are strictly limited; in most cases, they are timed to fall, when seeds, nuts, and acorns ripen. Indirectly, urination and defecation can be correlated with eating behavior, or rather, with behavior determined by metabolism. In most animals, urination and defecation are associated with specific postures. The mode of these acts and characteristic postures are observed both in animals and in humans. The latter has been proven by numerous experiments carried out during wintering in the Arctic. The states of rest and sleep, according to Tembroke, are related to metabolic behavior, but many scientists associate them with comfortable behavior. It was found that the postures of rest and the postures taken by the animal during sleep are species-specific, as well as individual types of movement. Comfortable Behavior. These are diverse behavioral acts aimed at caring for the animal’s body, as well as various movements that do not have a specific spatial direction and location. Comfortable behavior, namely that part of it that is associated with the animal’s care for its body, can be considered as one of the options for manipulation (for more details, see 5.1, 6.3), and in this case the animal’s body acts as the object of manipulation. Comfortable behavior is widespread among different representatives of the animal world, from the most underdeveloped (insects that clean their wings with the help of their limbs) to quite highly organized ones, in which it sometimes acquires a group character (grooming, or mutual search in great apes). Sometimes an animal has special organs to perform comfortable actions, for example, the toilet claw in some animals serves for special hair care. In comfortable behavior, several forms can be distinguished: cleansing the hair and skin of the body, scratching a certain part of the body on the substrate, scratching the body with the limbs, rolling on the substrate, bathing in water, sand, shaking the wool, etc. Comfortable behavior is species-typical, the sequence of actions to cleanse the body, the dependence of a certain method on the situation are innate and manifest in all individuals. Close to comfortable behavior are postures of rest and sleep, the whole range of actions associated with these processes. These postures are also hereditary and species-specific. Studies on the study of the postures of rest and sleep in bison and bison, conducted by the Soviet biologist M.A. Deryagina, made it possible to identify 107 species-typical postures and body movements in these animals, belonging to eight different spheres of behavior. Of these, two-thirds of the movements belong to the category of comfortable behavior, rest and sleep. Scientists noted an interesting feature: differences in behavior in these areas in young bison, bison and their hybrids are formed gradually, at a later age (two to three months). sexual behavior describes all the diverse behavioral acts associated with the process of reproduction. This form is one of the most important forms of behavior, as it is associated with procreation. According to most scientists, key stimuli (releasers) play an important role in sexual behavior, especially in lower animals. There are a great many releasers, which, depending on the situation, can cause either the rapprochement of sexual partners, or a fight. The action of the releaser directly depends on the balance of the totality of its constituent stimuli. This was shown in Tinbergen's experiments with a three-spined stickleback, where the red color of the fish's abdomen acted as an irritant. When using various models, it was found that male sticklebacks react most aggressively not to models that are completely red, but to objects that are closest to the natural color of the fish. Sticklebacks reacted just as aggressively to models of any other shape, the lower part of which was painted red, imitating the color of the abdomen. Thus, the response to the releaser depends on a combination of features, some of which can compensate for the lack of others. When studying releasers, Tinbergen used the method of comparison, trying to find out the origins of mating rituals. For example, in ducks, the courtship ritual comes from movements that serve to care for plumage. Most of the releasers paraded during mating games resemble unfinished moves, which in ordinary life are used for completely different purposes. Many birds in mating dances can be recognized as threat postures, for example, in the behavior of gulls during mating games, there is a conflict between the desire to attack a partner and hide from him. Most often, behavior is a series of individual elements that correspond to opposing tendencies. Sometimes in behavior you can notice the manifestation of heterogeneous elements at the same time. In any case, in the process of evolution, any movements have undergone strong changes, ritualized and turned into releasers. Most often, the changes went in the direction of enhancing the effect, which may consist in their repeated repetition, as well as an increase in the speed of their execution. According to Tinbergen, evolution was aimed at making the signal more visible and recognizable. The boundaries of expediency are reached when the hypertrophied signal begins to attract the attention of predators. To synchronize sexual behavior, it is necessary that the male and female be ready for breeding at the same time. Such synchronization is achieved with the help of hormones and depends on the time of year and the length of daylight hours, but the final "adjustment" occurs only when the male and female meet, which has been proven in a number of laboratory experiments. In many species of animals, the synchronization of sexual behavior is developed at a very high level, for example, in sticklebacks during the mating dance of the male, each of his movements corresponds to a certain movement of the female. In most animals, separate behavioral blocks are distinguished in sexual behavior, which are performed in a strictly defined sequence. The first of these blocks is most often the appeasement ritual. This ritual is evolutionarily aimed at removing obstacles to the convergence of marriage partners. For example, in birds, females usually cannot stand being touched by other members of their species, and males are prone to fighting. During sexual behavior, the male is kept from attacking the female by differences in plumage. Often the female assumes the position of a chick begging for food. In some insects, appeasement takes on peculiar forms, for example, in cockroaches, glands under the elytra secrete a kind of secret that attracts a female. The male raises his wings and, while the female licks the secretions of the odorous glands, proceeds to mate. In some birds, as well as in spiders, the male brings the female a kind of gift. Such appeasement is essential for spiders, since without a gift, the male runs the risk of being eaten during courtship. The next phase in sexual behavior is the discovery of a marriage partner. There are a huge number of different ways to do this. In birds and insects, singing most often serves this purpose. Usually the songs are sung by the male, his repertoire contains a wide variety of sound signals, from which male rivals and females receive comprehensive information about his social and physiological status. In birds, bachelor males sing most intensively. The singing stops when a sexual partner is found. Moths often use scent to attract and locate a mate. For example, in hawk moths, females attract males with the secret of an odorous gland. Males perceive this smell even in very small doses and can fly to the female at a distance of up to 11 km. The next stage of sexual behavior is the recognition of a marriage partner. It is most developed in higher vertebrates, in particular birds and mammals. The stimuli on which recognition is based are weaker than the release stimuli, and, as a rule, they are individual. It is believed that birds that form permanent pairs distinguish partners by appearance and voice. Some ducks (pintails) are able to recognize a partner at a distance of 300 m, while in most birds the recognition threshold is reduced to 20-50 m. In some birds, a rather complex recognition ritual is formed, for example, in pigeons, the greeting ritual is accompanied by turns and bows, and the slightest change partner is anxious. In white storks, the greeting ceremony is accompanied by a clicking of the beak, and the voice of the bird's partner is recognized at a considerable distance. As a rule, the mating rituals of mammals are less diverse than those of fish and birds. Males are most often attracted to the smell of females, in addition, the main role in finding a partner belongs to the vision and skin sensitivity of the head and paws. In almost all animals, intimacy with a sexual partner stimulates numerous neurohumoral mechanisms. Most ethologists believe that the point of complex mating rituals in birds lies in the general stimulation of the mating mechanism. In almost all amphibians, in which mating rituals are rather poor, an important role in the stimulation of neurohumoral mechanisms belongs to tactile stimuli. In mammals, ovulation can occur both after mating and before it. For example, in rats, copulation does not affect the mechanisms associated with the maturation of eggs, while in rabbits, ovulation occurs only after mating. In some mammals, such as pigs, the presence of a male is enough for the female to puberty. Defensive behavior in animals was first described by Ch. Darwin. Usually it is characterized by a certain position of the ears, hair in mammals, skin folds in reptiles, feathers on the head of birds, i.e., the characteristic facial expressions of animals. Defensive behavior is a reaction to a change in the external environment. Defensive reflexes can occur in response to any factors of the external or internal environment: sound, taste, pain, thermal and other stimuli. The defensive reaction can be either local in nature or take on the character of a general behavioral reaction of the animal. Behavioral reaction can be expressed both in active defense or attack, and in passive fading in place. Motor and defensive reactions in animals are diverse and depend on the lifestyle of the individual. Solitary animals, such as a hare, running away from the enemy, diligently confuse the trail. Animals that live in groups, such as starlings, at the sight of a predator, rearrange their flock, trying to occupy the smallest area and avoid attack. The manifestation of a defensive reaction depends both on the strength and nature of the acting stimulus, and on the characteristics of the nervous system. Any stimulus reaching a known strength can cause a defensive reaction. In nature, defensive behavior is most often associated with conditioned (signal) stimuli that have developed in different species in the course of evolution. Another form of defensive behavior is represented by physiological changes during a passive-defensive reaction. In this case, inhibition dominates, the movements of the animal are sharply slowed down, and most often it hides. In some animals, special muscles are involved in the passive-defensive reflex. For example, a hedgehog curls up into a ball during danger, his breathing is sharply limited, and the tone of his skeletal muscles decreases. A special form of defensive behavior includes avoidance reactions, due to which animals minimize getting into dangerous situations. In some animals, fear-inducing signaling stimuli generate such a response without prior experience. For example, for small birds, the silhouette of a hawk serves as a signal stimulus, and for some mammals, the characteristic color and smell of poisonous plants. Avoidance also applies to highly specific reflexes. Aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior is most often called behavior addressed to other individuals, which leads to damage and is often associated with the establishment of hierarchical status, gaining access to an object or the right to a certain territory. There are intraspecific collisions and conflicts that arise in a “predator-prey” situation. Most often, these forms of behavior are caused by various external stimuli, consist of different organized complexes of movements and are determined by different neural mechanisms. Aggressive behavior is directed at another individual; stimuli can be visual, auditory and olfactory. Aggression occurs primarily due to the proximity of another individual. According to many researchers, aggression can manifest itself as a result of conflict between other types of activity. This has been proven in numerous laboratory experiments. For example, in domestic pigeons, aggressive behavior directly depended on food reinforcement: the hungrier the birds were, the more aggressiveness increased. Under natural conditions, aggression is most often a reaction to the proximity of another animal, which occurs either when the individual distance is violated, or when approaching objects important for the animal (nest, individual territory). In this case, the approach of another animal can cause both a defensive reaction, followed by flight, and an aggressive one, depending on the hierarchical position of the individual. Aggression also depends on the internal state of the animal. For example, in many passerines, short-term skirmishes are observed in winter flocks, where birds, depending on their internal state, maintain an individual distance from several meters to several tens of meters. In most animal species, aggressive conflicts occur in the spring, when the gonads are active. The intensity of conflicts directly depends on the stage of the marriage cycle. At the peak of mating activity in almost all birds, aggression is caused by a rival that has appeared in the immediate vicinity of the site. Similar phenomena are also observed in some territorial fish species. As a result of numerous studies, it was found that external stimuli play a more important role than the internal state in causing aggression. The latter most often affects the selectivity of the perception of stimuli, and not the intensity of aggressive behavior. Most of these data were obtained in the study of the behavior of passerine birds, but a similar phenomenon was observed in hermit crabs, as well as in some territorial fish species. Extensive studies of aggressive activity were carried out by K. Lorenz, who devoted a number of scientific works to this phenomenon. He conducted a large number of experiments to study the aggressive behavior of rats, which helped to derive the basic patterns of aggressive behavior in humans as a biological species. Territorial behavior first appears in annelids and lower mollusks, in which all vital processes are confined to the area where the shelter is located. However, such behavior cannot yet be considered full-fledged territorial, because the animal does not mark the territory in any way, does not let other individuals know about its presence on it, and does not protect it from invasion. In order to be able to talk about fully developed territorial behavior, the development of a perceptual psyche in an animal is necessary, it must be able to give other individuals information about their rights to this territory. In this process, the marking of the territory becomes extremely important. The territory can be marked by applying odorous marks to objects along the periphery of the site, by sound and optical signals, and trampled grass patches, gnawed tree bark, excrement on shrub branches, and others can act as optical signals. Animals with true territorial behavior tend to actively defend their territory from other individuals. This reaction is especially manifested in animals in relation to individuals of their own species and the same sex. As a rule, such behavior is timed or manifests itself in a particularly striking form during the breeding season. In a fairly developed form, territorial behavior is manifested in dragonflies. And Hamer conducted observations of the males of the beauty dragonflies. It was noted that the males of these insects occupy individual areas in which functional zones of rest and reproduction are distinguished. Egg laying takes place in the breeding zone, the male attracts the female to this zone with the help of a special ritualized flight. Males perform all their functions within their territory, except for evening rest, which takes place outside it. The male marks his territory, actively defends it from other males. It is interesting to note that the battles between them take place in the form of rituals, and as a rule, they do not come to a real collision. Of great complexity, as shown by the studies of the Russian ethologist A.A. Zakharov, reaches the territorial behavior of ants. In these insects, there are two different types of use of feeding areas: shared use of land by several families and use of a site by the population of one nest. If the density of the species is low, the sites are not protected, but if the density is high enough, the feeding sites are divided into protected areas, between which there are small unprotected areas. The most difficult behavior is in red forest ants. Their territories, which are strictly protected, are very large, and an extensive network of trails runs through them. At the same time, each group of ants uses a certain sector of the anthill and certain paths that are adjacent to it. Thus, the total territory of the anthill in these insects is divided into the territories of separate groups, between which there are neutral spaces. The boundaries of such territories are marked with odorous marks. Many higher vertebrates, in particular mammals, birds and fish, stay in the center of a well-known area, the boundaries of which they jealously guard and carefully mark. In higher mammals, the owner of the site, even being at a lower rung of the hierarchical ladder, easily drives away a relative who has violated the boundary. It is enough for the owner of the territory to take a threatening posture, and the opponent retreats. True territoriality is found in rodents, carnivores, and some monkeys. In species that are characterized by disorderly sexual relations, it is impossible to single out an individual territory. Territoriality is also expressed in many fish. Usually their territorial behavior is closely related to the process of reproduction, which is typical for many cichlids, as well as sticklebacks. The desire to choose a territory in fish is innate, in addition, it is due to the system of landmarks used by the fish. Protection of the territory in fish is most pronounced during the sexual period. In birds, territorial behavior has reached a high level of development. Some scientists have developed a classification of territories in different bird species according to the types of use. Such birds may have separate territories for nesting, mating dances, as well as separate territories for wintering or overnight. To protect the territory of birds, singing is most often used. Territorial behavior is based on intraspecific competition. As a rule, the more aggressive male chooses the site and attracts the female. The size of the territory of birds is species-specific. Territoriality in birds does not always preclude gregarious behavior, although most often these behaviors are not observed simultaneously. Parental behavior. All animals can be divided into two groups. The first group includes animals whose females demonstrate parental behavior already at the first birth. The second group includes animals whose females improve their parental behavior throughout their lives. This classification was first developed in mammals, although various forms of parental behavior are observed in other groups of animals. Mice and rats are typical representatives of animals of the first group; they take care of their offspring from the very first days, and many researchers have not noted significant differences in this between young and experienced females. Animals of the second group include apes, corvids. More experienced relatives help a young female chimpanzee to care for her cubs, otherwise the newborn may die due to improper care. Parental behavior is one of the most complex types of behavior. As a rule, it consists of a number of interrelated phases. In lower vertebrates, the main thing in parental behavior is the recognition by the cubs of the parents, and by the parents - of the cubs. Imprinting in the early stages of caring for offspring plays an important role here. Fish fry instinctively flock and follow the adults. Adults try to swim slowly and keep the cubs within sight. In case of danger, adults protect the juveniles. The parental behavior of birds is much more complicated. As a rule, it begins with the laying of eggs, since the nest-building phase is more related to sexual behavior and often coincides with the courtship ritual. The stimulating effect on oviposition is the presence of a nest, and in some birds, its construction. In some birds, a nest with a full clutch can stop further egg laying for a while, and vice versa, an incomplete clutch stimulates this process. In the latter case, birds can lay several times more eggs than under normal conditions. The next phase of parental behavior in birds is egg recognition. A number of birds lack selectivity; they can incubate eggs with any color and even dummies that have only a distant resemblance to eggs. But many birds, in particular passerines, well distinguish their eggs from the eggs of relatives. For example, some warblers reject eggs of relatives that are similar in color but slightly different in shape. The next phase of parental behavior in birds is incubation. It is distinguished by an exceptional variety of forms of behavior. Both the male and the female or both parents can incubate the eggs. Incubation can take place from the first, second egg or after the completion of the laying. An incubating bird may sit tightly on the nest or abandon the nest at the first sign of danger. The highest skill has been achieved in incubation by weed chickens, when the male monitors thermoregulation in a kind of incubator made of rotting vegetation, and its construction can take several months. In species in which the male incubates, his desire for this action is synchronous with the timing of egg laying. In females, it is determined by physiological processes. The next phase of parental behavior occurs after the chicks hatch. Parents begin to feed them semi-digested food. The reaction of the chicks is innate: they reach for the tip of the parent's beak for food. The releaser in this case is most often the color of the beak of an adult bird, in some birds it changes at this time. Adult birds most often react to the voice of the chick, as well as to the color of the throat of a chick begging for food. As a rule, it is the presence of chicks that makes parents take care of them. Under experimental conditions, hens can be maintained in parental behavior for many months by constantly laying chicks in her. Mammals also differ in complex parental behavior. The initial phase of their parental behavior is the construction of a nest, which is largely species-typical. In females, a certain phase of pregnancy serves as an incentive to build a nest. Rats may start building a nest as early as the early stages of pregnancy, but usually it is not completed to the end and is just a pile of building material. Real construction begins three days before birth, when the nest takes on a certain shape, and the female rat becomes less and less mobile. Immediately before childbirth, female mammals change the order of licking individual parts of the body. For example, in the last week of pregnancy, they lick the perineum more often and less often - the sides and front paws. Female mammals give birth in a wide variety of positions. Their behavior during childbirth can change quite a lot. As a rule, females carefully lick newborns, bite their umbilical cord. Most mammals, especially herbivores, greedily eat the placenta. The behavior of mammals when feeding their young is very complex. The female collects the cubs, exposes them to nipples, to which they suck. The lactation period varies among species, ranging from two weeks in rodents to one year in some marine mammals. Even before the end of lactation, the young make short forays out of the nest and begin to try additional food. At the end of lactation, the cubs switch to independent feeding, but continue to pursue the mother, trying to suckle her, but the female is increasingly less likely to allow them to do this. She presses her belly to the ground or tries to run sharply to the side. Another characteristic manifestation of parental behavior is the dragging of cubs. If conditions become unsuitable, animals can build a new nest and drag their offspring there. The drag instinct is especially strong in the first few days after giving birth, when the female drags not only her own, but also other people's cubs, as well as foreign objects into the nest. However, this instinct quickly fades away, and after a few days, females well distinguish their cubs from strangers. Methods of transferring cubs in different species are different. The dragging itself can be triggered by various stimuli. Most often, this reaction is caused by the calls of cubs, as well as their characteristic smell and body temperature. Special forms of parental behavior include punishment, which is expressed in some predatory mammals, in particular dogs. Domestic dogs may punish puppies for various misdeeds. The female growls at the cubs, shakes them, holding them by the collar, or presses them down with her paw. With the help of punishment, the mother can quickly wean the puppies from looking for her nipples. In addition, dogs punish puppies when they move away from them, they can separate those who are fighting. Social (group) behavior. This type of behavior is represented in lower invertebrates only in rudimentary form, since they do not have special signaling actions to carry out contacts between individuals. Group behavior in this case is limited by the colonial lifestyle of some animals, for example coral polyps. In higher invertebrates, on the contrary, group behavior is already fully manifested. First of all, this applies to insects whose lifestyle is associated with complex communities that are highly differentiated in structure and function - bees, ants and other social animals. All individuals that make up the community differ in the functions they perform; food-procuring, sexual and defensive forms of behavior are distributed among them. Specialization of individual animals according to functions is observed. With this form of behavior, the nature of the signal is of great importance, with the help of which individuals communicate with each other and coordinate their actions. In ants, for example, these signals are of a chemical nature, while other types of receptors are much less significant. It is by smell that ants distinguish individuals of their community from strangers, living individuals from the dead. Ant larvae release chemicals to attract adults who can feed them. With a group way of life, great importance is attached to the coordination of the behavior of individuals when the community is threatened. Ants, as well as bees and wasps, are guided by chemical signals. For example, in case of danger, "alarm substances" are released, which spread through the air over a short distance. Such a small radius helps to accurately determine the place where the threat comes from. The number of individuals emitting a signal, and hence its strength, increase in proportion to the increase in danger. The transfer of information can be carried out in other ways. As an example, we can consider the “dances” of bees, which carry information about food objects. The dance pattern indicates the proximity of the food location. This is how the famous Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch (1886-1983), who spent many years studying the social behavior of these insects, characterized the dancing of bees: “... if it (the food object - Author) is located next to the hive (at a distance of 2-5 meters from it), then a “push dance” is performed: the bee runs randomly through the honeycombs, wagging its belly from time to time; if food is found at a distance of up to 100 meters from the hive, then a “circular” is performed, which consists of running in a circle alternately clockwise and counterclockwise. If nectar is found at a greater distance, then a “wagging” dance is performed. These are runs in a straight line, accompanied by wagging movements of the abdomen, returning to the starting point, either on the left or on the right. The intensity of the wagging movements indicates the distance of the find: The closer the food object is, the more intense the dance is performed.” [eleven] In all the examples given, it is clearly noted that information is always transmitted in a transformed, conditional form, while the spatial parameters are translated into signals. The instinctive components of communication have reached the greatest development in such a complex phenomenon as the ritualization of behavior, especially sexual, which has already been mentioned above. Social behavior in higher vertebrates is very diverse. There are many classifications of different types of animal associations, as well as features of animal behavior within different groups. In birds and mammals, there are various transitional forms of organization from a single family group to a true community. Within these groups, relationships are built mainly on various forms of sexual, parental and territorial behavior, but some forms are characteristic only of animals living in communities. One of them is the exchange of food - trophallaxis. It is most developed in social insects, but is also found in mammals, such as wild dogs, which exchange food by burping it. Social behavior also includes group care for offspring. It is observed in penguins: young cubs gather in separate groups, which are looked after by adults, while the parents get their own food. In ungulate mammals, such as moose, the male owns a harem of several females who can jointly care for offspring. Social behavior also includes the joint performance of work, which is controlled by a system of sensory regulation and coordination. Such joint activity consists mainly in construction that is impossible for an individual, for example, the construction of an anthill or the construction of dams by beavers on small forest rivers. In ants, as well as colonial birds (rooks, sand martins), the joint defense of colonies from predator attacks is observed. It is believed that for social animals the mere presence and activity of a conspecific serves as a stimulus for the initiation of social activity. Such stimulation causes in them a set of reactions that are impossible in single animals. Exploratory behavior determines the desire of animals to move around and inspect the environment, even in cases where they experience neither hunger nor sexual arousal. This form of behavior is innate and necessarily precedes learning. All higher animals react to a source of irritation in case of an unexpected external influence, try to explore an unfamiliar object, using all available sense organs. Once in an unfamiliar environment, the animal moves randomly, examining everything that surrounds it. In this case, various types of behavior are used, which can be not only species-typical, but also individual. One should not identify exploratory behavior with play behavior, which it outwardly resembles. Some scientists, such as R. Hind, draw a clear line between the orienting reaction when the animal is motionless, and active research, when it moves relative to the object being examined. These two types of exploratory behavior mutually suppress each other. It is also possible to distinguish between superficial and deep exploratory behavior, and to draw distinctions based on the sensory systems involved in it. Exploratory behavior, especially at first, depends on the reaction of fear and on the experience of the animal. The likelihood that a given situation will elicit either a fear response or exploratory behavior depends on the animal's internal state. For example, if a stuffed owl is placed in a cage with small birds of the passerine order, at first they rarely approach it, experiencing a reaction of fear, but gradually reduce this distance and subsequently show only exploratory behavior towards the stuffed animal. At the initial stages of the study of the object, the animal may also show other forms of activity, for example, feeding behavior, brushing wool. Exploratory behavior largely depends on the degree of hunger experienced by the animal. Usually, hunger reduces exploratory activity, but hungry mammals (rats) noticeably more often than well-fed ones leave their familiar environment and go to explore new territories. Exploratory behavior is closely related to the internal state of the animal. The effectiveness of exploratory responses depends on what the animal, based on its experience, considers familiar. It also depends on the internal state whether the same stimulus will cause fear or an exploratory reaction. Sometimes other types of motivations come into conflict with exploratory behavior. Exploratory behavior can be very persistent, especially in higher mammals. For example, rats can explore an unfamiliar object for several hours and, even when in a familiar environment, exhibit exploratory behavior that may give them the opportunity to explore something. Some scientists believe that exploratory behavior differs from other forms of behavior in that the animal actively seeks increased stimulation, but this is not entirely true, because both feeding and sexual behavior include the search for final stimuli, which brings these behaviors closer to exploratory ones. Exploratory behavior is aimed at eliminating the discrepancy between the model of a familiar situation and the central consequences of perceiving a new one. This brings it closer, for example, to nest building, which is also aimed at eliminating the discrepancy between stimuli in the form of a finished and unfinished nest. But in exploratory behavior, the discrepancy is eliminated not due to a change in stimuli, but due to the restructuring of the nervous model, after which it begins to correspond to the new situation. In this case, stimuli lose their novelty, and exploratory behavior will be directed to the search for new stimuli. The exploratory behavior inherent in highly developed animals is an important step before learning and developing the intellect. Authors: Stupina S.B., Filipechev A.O. << Back: Instinct (The concept of instinct. Modern ideas about instinct. Instinct as the basis for the formation of animal behavior. Internal and external factors. The structure of instinctive behavior) >> Forward: Learning (The learning process. The role of cognitive processes in the formation of skills. Learning and communication. Imitation in animals)
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