SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

• Animals belonging to the same species exhibit social behavior, which consists of both helpful and hostile interactions

• Helpful social behavior includes mating behavior, family interactions and activities by larger groups.

• Mating behavior bring a female and a male together, and results in the fertilization of eggs.

• Courtship is a form ofcommunication that signals a readiness to mate and prevents conflict.

HELPFUL BEHAVIOR

Cooperative Hunting

The courtship ritual of the albatross bird involves an elaborate dance between a male and female before they mate.

Puffin Courtship

• Family interactions involve helpful relationship between parent and young.

• The interactions between members of a family are the basis for the providing of food, shelter and defense for the young.

• The interactions usually require certain stimuli

HELPFUL BEHAVIOR

A gull incibates the eggs only when they are visible and when certain hormone are produced in the parent

Many birds will not feed their young unless the chicks “communicate” in a form of behavior called begging. Begging usually done by opening the mouth widely. This stimulates the parent to place food in the chick’s mouth. Initially, the young are stimulated to beg when the parent’s head appears over the edge of the nest or by the jolt of the adult landing on the nest.

Chicks begging, 8 wk.

Seagull chicks peck at a red spot on the parent’s beak when begging. The parent then regurgiates food, picks some up, and presents it to the chick.

HELPFUL BEHAVIOR

• Helpful behavior also occurs within larger groups such as herd of animals, school of fish, and flocks of birds.

• Individuals can cooperate in groups as long as they can comunicate with one another.

• Information is passed between members of a group by sound signals, visual signals, and chemical signals.

HELPFUL BEHAVIOR

Species that live in groups often depend on the group for survival. A group of animals is more alert than a single individual. When one member senses danger, it comunicates it to the whole group. The group then tries to escape the danger.Groups also offer various forms of protection against attack by predators.

What is the specific purpose of this social behavior (grouping together) in musk oxen?

DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR

mockingbird mobbing

A Mobbing: Patterns in the SkyStarlings and a Cooper's Hawk

CONFLICT AND DOMINANCE HIERARCHIES

• Close association among animals of the same species can result in conflict instead of cooperation.

• When resources are limited, individuals of a species must compete for food, water, space, and mates.

• Many animals resolve this competition by aggressive behavior.

• Aggression is threatening or fighting another animal to force it away from something it possesses or is trying to obtain.

• There are numerous forms of aggression.• Animals may bite, butt, kick, or claw one another.• However, aggressive behavior among members of a

species seldom causes serious injury or death.• More often, “symbolic” threatening behavior results in a

“winner”• Such displays are are instinctive and clearly understood

by other species members.• In threat displays, animals assume aggressive postures

and show the contrasting or brightly colored parts

CONFLICT AND DOMINANCE HIERARCHIES

Robins display their red breasts

Puffer fish have a special ability to "puff" themselves up with air or water, making them look like a bigger fish if they get angry or feel threatened.

Rival male bighorn sheep butt their heads together, resulting in spectacular fights. The sounds of their butting heads can be heard for a long distance.

wrestling

The animal that loses a fight may simply run away. In some cases, it signals defeat by a subordination ritual. A wolf or dog signals submissions by presenting its neck to the winner. This display stops further agression by the victor. Its position of superiority has been established. The animal wins a fight achieves dominance, or better access to contested resources, such as food, water,space and mates

Frilled lizard exhibiting defensive behavior

Shingleback, Tiliqua rugosa, from Fitzgerald N. P. displaying defensive behavior designed to startle and intimidate a predator.

African bullfrog is quite aggressive, and has been known to jump at things that it views to be a threat. Because of its sharp teeth, its bite can be quite serious. The male bullfrog will also aggressively defend his eggs if an animal or a human should approach.

Male Giraffe engage in a form of combat known as necking. The animals stand side by side and swing their heads in order to land hefty blows on each other’s neck and upper chest. This behaviour will eventually determine the hierarchy of dominance amongst the adults.

Establishing Dominance

CONFLICT AND DOMINANCE HIERARCHIES

• In some animals that live in organized groups of societies, fighting establishes a dominance hierarcies, or ranking, within the group.

• Individuals with a high rank have first choice of necessities.

• In duck and chicken societes, a pecking order is established by pecking action.

PECKING ORDER

PECKING ORDER

• Those birds with the highest standing have uncontested access to food, water, and the roost.

• Pecking order reduces tension in the group because there is less fighting over who gets what first.

• Due to their lower position in the group, subordinates must wait their turn to drink or eat.

• If no food is left, the subordinates go without nourishment.

• For members of the lowest rank, survival is most difficult.

TROOP

TROOP• In baboons, dominance hierarchy is more

complicated than a sequence of individuals with decreasing dominance

• A group of baboons, called a troop, is governed by a clique of dominant males.

• Any member of the ruling clique that is challenged by an outsider is supported by the other membersof the governing group.

• This helps keep the troop stable by preventing frequent changes in the hierarchy.

• The clique of dominant males protects the troop against attack by predators.

COMMUNICATION

• Communication plays an important role in both helpful and hostile social behavior.

• The male and female of many animal species are brought together by signals

• The signals sent out by both sexes include visual signals, sound signals, and chemical secretions.

• Visual signals are common among fish and birds. These signals include movement and posture as well as displays of certain body parts

The zigzag dance of the male stickle back causes the female to approach him and led to the nest

Male Mallard duck

The male Aedes mosquito is attracted to the sounds produced by the wing of the while in flight

Male crickets attracts female with sound signals made by rubbing their wings together

Male toads have a large vocal pouch and its breeding call is a long uninterrupted 15-20 second trill that can be heard over some distance.   

Wood Thrush

Meadowlark Robin

White-Eyed Vireo

They produce distinctive high- pitched songs as a signal to the female

Humpback whales can communicate across distances greater than 10 kilometers by using underwater songs.

http://www.whalecenter.org/av.htm

silkworm mothgypsy moths

The female silkworm moth releases a pheromone so strong that it attracts a male from distance as great a 3 kilometers.

cockroaches

TERRITORIALITY

• A territory is an area defended by an individual against intrusion by other members of the same species.

• Claiming or defending a territory is another aspect of social behavior.

• Territorial behavior usually takes place during the breeding season and is often limited to males

• Maintaining a territory gives an animal the space needed to acquire food, court a mate, and raise a family

In some birds, such as thrushes, a male will choose an occupied area and then sing loudly and vigorously to stake his claim. The loud singing warn away other males but attracts female. A singing duel between competing males often can resolve a boundary dispute. Usually, the loudest-singing male gains the largest territory.

Some mammals use pheromones to mark territory. Deer have pheromone secreting glands in their hooves. Male antelopes have similar glands close to their eyes

The civet, a cat, has pheromone-secreting glands around its anus

Dogs and wolves mark their “turf” with urine

The tree-living howler monkey of Central America displays strong group territoriality. A troop consists of several dozen of monkeys. They defend the boundaries of their territory by sessions of howling, which discourages intrusions by other troops

The rhesus, a monkey found in southern Asia, is also territorial and will drive off intruders with active threat displays and, if necessary, ferocious attacks

HONEYBEE SOCIETIES

• Insect societies are found among termites, ants, and bees in addition to other insects

• In an insect society, every effort is directed toward the survival of the entire group.

• The activities of most insect societies are centered around one female, the queen.

• The queen may live for five years or more.• During that time, her only responsibility is to

reproduce.• All members of the group are offspring of the

queen

Relationship between the angle of the dance on the vertical comb and the bearing of the sun with respect to the location of food. When the food and sun are in the same direction, the straight portion of the waggle dance is directed upward. When the food is at some angle to the right (blue) or left (red) of the sun, the bee orients the straight portion of her dance at the same angle to the right or left of the vertical

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ROUND DANCE