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International Journal of Universal Pharmacy and Bio Sciences 5(1): January-February 2016
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL
PHARMACY AND BIO SCIENCES
Pharmaceutical
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REVIEW ARTICLE …………!!!
“ETHOLOGY: THE STUDY OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR”
Thorat Rinku D, Joshi Yadhunath M*, Garge Vaibhavi N, Kadam Vilasrao J.
Bharati Vidyapeeth‟s College of Pharmacy, Sector-8, C.B.D, Belapur, Navi Mumbai.
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS:
Ethology is a branch of zoology involves the study of different kinds
Ethology, Cognitive,
of behavior in animals such as responsibility, mechanisms,
Fixed action pattern, Sign
stimulus, Alustratic,
Ecology.
For Correspondence:
developmental process and evolution. The intended mechanism of
ethology is releasing mechanism based on neural process and
cognitive mechanism based on senses and memory derives various
Joshi Yadhunath M*
Address:
Bharati Vidyapeeth‟s
College of Pharmacy,
kind of behavior in animals. These studies involve basic knowledge
and understanding in biology field. Animal behavior studies involve
examination of various processes such as animal communication,
Sector-8, C.B.D, Belapur,
Navi Mumbai.
mating habits, and defensive behavior, etc. Fixed action pattern are
originated by neural network known as innate releasing mechanism in
response to external stimulus known as sign stimulus. Many behaviors
of animals are excited by people like communication of dancing
honeybees or alustratic behavior of monkeys or dolphins, etc. Today
in this developing field of ethology, it has been largely replaced by
ecology and evolutionary psychology.
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INTRODUCTION:
Ethology can be defined as the study of animal behavior in science and biology, in terms of the
concept of natural alternative, the expansion and understanding of behavior have been concerned by
ethologist because ethology is consider as a field of biology
[1]
. The first modern ethologist
was Charles Darwin, Darwin's book influenced many ethologist [2].
Ethology, derives from the Greek word ethos and logy which signifies „character‟. This term was
generalized first by William Morton Wheeler the American myrmecologist in 1902 [3]. The aim and
scope of animal behavior is to discover individual and social behavior in animals. For this
discovery the Dutch ethologist Niko Tinbergen shared Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with
Konard and Karl von Fischer. The study of animal behavior has led to the establishment of general
principles of behaviors, which is often arguable, to humans. During explaining instance of behavior
Niko Tinbergen argued that when attempting to formulate a hypothesis ethologist should consider
the four questions.
TINBERGEN’S FOUR QUESTIONS OF ETHOLOGY
Animal behavior, studied with the help of four questions that led to a better understanding of the
subject. Niko Tinbergen was one of the establishing fathers of biology to identify these four
questions [4].
These four questions are mean to be equivalent, revealing various facts of behavior:The first of Tinbergen‟s question is field with the function of the behavior under inspection, and the
behavior significant to the life of the animal.
The second of Tinbergen‟s questions intent to be aware of the mechanisms which underlie the
behavior.
Tinbergen‟s third question takes into consideration development, the behavioral, physiological and
morphological traits which are generated through the developmental processes. Tinbergen‟s fourth
question is interest with evolution of behavior [4].
MECHANISMS OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
Releasing mechanisms
Relevant stimuli can be defined as releasers or sign stimuli. The releasing mechanism is a Neural
process which activates a behavior from recognition circuits by receiving input and by
communicating with motor control circuits. In the central nervous system it acts upon specific
functional units can also be defined as sign stimuli. It can be known as innate releasing mechanism
by genetically or can be determined through learning. The IRM helps to recognizing animals and
respond a behaviorally with relevant object that the animal had never encountered before [5].
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Example: A male robin bird will attack a bunch of red feathers, but not a model male that doesn‟t
have the red breast characteristic.
The sign stimuli filter out with the help of these innate releasing mechanisms by triggering off
specific behavior patterns.
Figure no.1 (Fixed action pattern of lizard)
It produced fixed action pattern when the multiple series of the tongue movements this chameleon
uses to capture an insect.
Cognitive mechanisms
The mechanisms of animal behavior can also be studied by Cognitive psychology. Animals take
information through the senses, course of action, memory and decide to act on it can be defined as
cognition. Studying animal cognition does not imply animal consciousness neither does it entail
rejecting behaviorism it is used to formulate clear behavioral criteria for collecting specific
intellectual processes. The objective of cognitive psychology in conditions of its mental
organization for information processing is to study and explain an animal‟s behavior.
We can also study how the animal perceives, learns, memorize, mate choice, foraging, makes
decisions and many other behaviors by studying intellective mechanisms of an animal [6].
For example: crows that crack walnuts onto rocks, roads, or sidewalks open by dropping them
from heights of five to ten meters or more. The birds generally avoid dropping the nuts in contact
with soil or water, where they would be unlikely to break open. Crows crumb the harder black
walnuts from greater heights, thus can discriminate between black and English walnuts.
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Figure no.2 (Cognitive mechanism of chimpanzee)
This chimpanzee is taking off the leaves from a twig, for further use to probe an insect nest. This
behavior strongly advice that the chimpanzee is consciously planning ahead, with full knowledge of
what it attempts to do.
TYPES OF LEARNING BEHAVIOUR
Habituation
Habituation is a simple form of learning. Often, the response is a natural behavior
[7].
Essentially,
the animal learns not to respond to insignificant stimuli, it can be regarded as non-associative or
single impulse learning. Severally habituation and sensitization need stimulus specificity are
learned non-associative responses [8].
Figure no.3 (Prairie dogs Habituation)
For example, prairie dogs have a complex alarm communication system give when predators
approach, causing all creatures in the group to quickly scramble down burrows [9].
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Associative learning
Associative learning, is a complex process in animal behavior and learning process in which a new
response becomes associated with a particular stimulus. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov made
first study of associative learning
[8]
. Examples of associative learning include when a goldfish
swims to the water surface when a human is going to feed.
Figure no.4 (Associative learning of dog)
Each time Pavlov the Russian Physiologist gives food to the dog after bell ring seems here the bell
remains a neutral stimulus. Once the physiologist does not give the food after ringing bell and the
dogs drools, hence it inclines that the bell can be called as conditioned stimulus (CS) and the
salivation as conditioned response (CR).
Observational learning
Imitation
Imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an animal observes and exactly replicates or matching
one‟s own behavior with that of others allows individuals
[10].
Direct matching is the cause of
proximate imitation, the activation of neuronal correlates of observed action patterns in their current
repertoire
[11].
When provided with the option of performing the same task with a non-imitator and
imitator, monkeys not only spent more time with their imitators but also preferred to engage in a
simple task.
[12]
. Infant imitation in rhesus macaques occurs with a timing that considered the
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species-specific patterns of development of motor and cognitive skill that is comparable with those
reported for humans and chimpanzees.
Figure no.5 (Imitation of macaques)
Infant macaques imitate those associative facial gestures as a result of, they obtain the most
appropriate responses for tuning their behaviors to whom they show affiliative behaviors toward
them [10].
Imprinting
Newborn precocial birds like geese, ducks, and chickens can memorize or recall the shapes and
considered them as parents, and follow them. Accordingly they can behave same against a nonparental object along with non-living objects if they are conveniently displayed. This unusual
behavior, called “imprinting” is an important form of childhood learning. Sensitive period is when
the imprinting memory of nestlings can only be acquired within a limited period after hatching can
also be called as the “critical period” [13].
Imprinting describes any kind of phase-perceptive learning which means learning that appear at a
particular age or life stage during which an animal learns the characteristics of some stimulus which
can be known as "imprinted" towards the subject.
The best accepted form of imprinting is filial imprinting in which a young animal learns and receive
the characteristics of its parent.
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Figure no.6 (Imprinting of geese)
It is observed that the juvenile of waterfowl like geese impulsively followed their mothers from the
very first day after they were hatched.
Altruism behavior of animals
Altruism or selflessness is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others. When
animal‟s behavior benefit‟s other organisms, at a cost to itself in evolutionary biology it is said to
be altruistically
[14].
This behavior is common throughout the animal kingdom, particularly in a
species with social structures, which can be complex.
For example, Vervet monkeys give alarm calls to warn other monkeys of the presence of predators
by doing this the predators get attracted towards them hence increasing their personal chance of
being attacked [15].
Figure no.7 (Altruism behavior of vampire)
Vampire bats regularly spit up blood and provide it to other members of their groups who have
failed to feed that night by making sure they do not avoid.
Defensive behavior of animals
Most of the animal species live in aggregation. Commonly benefits indicated to community include
decreased predation risk by better detection of predators and increased exploring efficiency with the
help of better addition and defense of food funds
[16].
A variety of primary inactive modification
exhibited by prey animals to avoid capture sometimes it may fail to detect and respond to such
dangers may bring about unavoidable death results. Predation is a strong selective force, which can
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be modified and investigated at different levels in prey species that minimize the risk of their being
preyed upon [17]. The commonest defensive strategy of mobile animals is to remain motionless or to
run away from hidden predators. However, there is a wide array of defensive strategies that are
alternatively used to cope with the risk posed by a predator. Anurans shows a wide range of
behaviors between remaining motionless and fleeing extremes. The evolution of defensive
strategies, which is directly related to the senses predator, does employ to locate and handle their
prey [18].
Figure no. 8 (Anuran defensive behaviors)
(A) Crouching down by Amietophrynus garmani (Bufonidae) (B) Thanatosis (act of death) and
tongue protrusionin Acanthixalus spinosus (Hyperoliidae).
CONCLUSION:
In simple terms ethology can be derived as animal behavior. Ethological study is represented by the
observation of behavior in terms of their different mechanism. It will be further helpful for
conducting experiments by knowing their characterization of behavior. Imprinting is important
form of learning in which the stimuli induce structural and functional changes of neural networks.
The study will be successful only if the four questions either be able to determine specifically.
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4. Tinbergen, N. “On Aims and Methods of Ethology”. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. (1963)
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