Animal Behavior Essay Example For Students

Animal Behavior Essay Biology lbAbstractAnimal behavior is predictable. Their behavioral tendencies are influenced by the relationship of its anatomy to their environment. By observing various forms of life, and associating the mechanism of their abilities to perform a behavioral action, evolutionary influence thereafter, can be analyzed and deduced from that point. IntroductionThe science and study of animal behavior involve an enormous array of complicated factors. For instance, stereotyped responses are unlearned behavioral reactions to some environmental stimulus predicated upon an organism relationship to its physical environment and anatomy. This obviously begs the question; is the observable behavior such as, the vertical movements demonstrated by brine shrimp (marine plankton experiment) or peristaltic movements showed by earthworms (animal behavioral lab experiment) a form of deliberate taxis or random kinesis? However, to properly be able to address those questions, its far more important to examine the intricate factors involving the complex interactions between the effects of environmental stimuli,(dry air for the earthworm and directional light for the brine shrimp) towards the affected anatomical structure and physiological function of a specific organ system of those particular animal species. Therefore, I hypothesize, that an !ea rthworm will exert random kinetic behavior through peristaltic movement in an arid clinical environment because, its sensory apparatus (respiratory system) will detect a potential life/death situation precipitated by the threat of desiccation; whereas, the brine shrimp will demonstrate deliberate vertical movements of behavioral taxis because, the environmental stimuliof light will be effecting an entirely different sensory apparatus (ocular nervous ) ofwhich, doesnt afford thepotential possibility of impending doom. By that, affording the luxury of stereotypical behavior that can be later linked to environmental fitness. In short, an animals behavior about a particular type of movement ispredicated upon the environmental clues, which directly influence the innate survival mechanisms of a species or itsanatomical configuration with evolutionary fitness. However, inasmuch as some forms of animal behavior can be easily be analyzed by a simple stimulus and response scenario, such as with earthworms and brine shrimp. Others such as the rheotactic behavior of trout (aquarium field trip) and penguin mating habits (zoo field trip) are far more complicated. These particular types of animal behavior involve a wider spectrum of coordinated organ systems. For instance, trouts are migratory fish and posses the additional physical characteristics of using chemorecptors (smell) too located their initial spawning grounds. Because of this evolutionary/genetic characteristic, they must swim against currents to be able to maximize their olfactory senses. Although the sense of smell is apart of the nervous system, the mechanism that coordinates rheotactic behavior is an entirely different nervous component. Trout like other fish use their mechanoreceptors located in their lateral line system to detect the movement and direction of water.!Which solicit s the question, if trouts are rheotactic, then why do they need to intermediately break from the current and swim in a particular pattern? Therefore I hypothesize, which a trouts general rheotactic behavior is predicating upon the coordinated environmental stimulus of an aqueous solute concentration, ofwhich will confirm olfactory distance, and the lateral line thereafter functions to facilitate in the correct direction. Consequentially, rheotactic behavior controlled by the lateral line is dependent upon the chemoreptors of the olfactory senses of a trout. Thus, a trouts intermittent behavior during rheotactic movement is more or less a pause for the benefit of olfactory orientation. Penguins unlike trout, brine shrimp and earthworms are flightless birds. Because of their physical size, they inherently have a larger cerebral capacity. This anatomical characteristic complicates the qualitative analysis of penguin mating behavior tremendously. Largely because, penguins have the physi cal capacity of conscious thought, interactive communication immersed in a sheath of innate unlearned behavior. However, penguins are similar to trout in that, they to are migratory creatures. Thus, penguins like trout integrate a number of different physiological systems for mating behavior. One of which involves the coordinated interaction between their endocrine system and nervous system. Therefore I hypothesize, that male penguins during the mating season are territorially aggressive due to the imbalance of testosterone within their system, and female penguins are passive and somewhat behaviorally more submissive due to the higher amounts of estrogen within their sys!tems. Furthermore, because the endocrine system is such an incredible catalyst for a volatile explosion of metabolic energy, I anticipate that male penguin behavior during mating season will only be overtly exhibited for the purposes of reproductive behavior and territorial defense. To conclude, animals regardless of species are physiologically dependent upon their specific anatomical construction. Certain simple behavioral responses are involuntary due to survival necessity, while others can be influence by environmental stimuli. But no matter, what the stimulus might have been that initiated a particular animals behavior, the overall motor behavioral reaction will be dictated by the specific animals evolutionary genetic configuration. This is the premise for ultimate cause and evolutionary fitness. The purpose of this paper is to substantiate proximate causes (physical mechanisms) that invoke observable and physical behavior in animals, which can be reproduced under isolated clinical condictions. MethodsOn March 5, during the afternoon between 1:00 p.m. thru 2:00 p.m., plankton samples where drawn from the Oakland Estuary. Samples were procured from a dark area and a well-lighted area at the surface level, 2 feet and at 4 feet depth levels with a sweeping motion from left to right. With the use of a lowering line and thermometer equilibrated by keeping it in water for over one minute, temperatures were drawn at the various levels and at the different areas. Also a secci disc ofwhich was attached to a lowering line was used to calculate the various light levels of penetration at both lighted and dark areas. By lowering the secci disc until it was no longer visible, then raising it until it was again visible was the method used to calculate the light penetration. This was done twice. Furthermore, salinity was measured with a refractometer. In addition, brine shrimp was observed at both the San Francisco Exploratorium and Steinhart Aquarium. At the San Francisco Explor!atorium, a light switch changed the direction of the light from superior to inferior lighting. Which displayed the behavioral patterns of brine shrimp. On March 10, a series of animal lab observations was conducted by students to observe the various behavioral patterns of different life organisms. On this particular date, four pairs of animals were tested for their olfactory reactions to acetic acid and vanilla, tactile response to sandpaper, glass and loose soil inside a rectangular pan, light generated by a lighter, and in a dark environment. The pairs of animals chosen for observation were two guinea pigs, two mud shrimps, two earthworms and two garden snails. In addition, a supplemental experiment was conducted later to observe the kinetic behavior of an earthworm by using a rectangular pan with dry sand and damp loose soil at polar extremes overheaded by an intensive heat lamp to generate a thermal atmosphere. On March 3l, a field trip was taken to San Franciscos Steinharts Aquarium. The purpose of the field trip was to make timed and observational recordings of four various animals. Three to be recorded for only 15 minutes, and one at one hour. Ten types of behavioral categories were used to document behavior. They were ingestive, shelter seeking, agonistic, sexual, care giving, care soliciting, eliminative, investigative, allominetic, resting and other. The animals selected for observations were the moral eel, hooker shark, golden trout and Black footed penguins. The animal chosen for an hour observation was the Golden trout On April 4, another field trip was taken for the San Francisco Zoo. The conditions of observation were identical to the San Francisco Steinhart Aquarium field trip. However, the animals chosen for observation were the Magellanic penguins, grizzly bear, Bengal tigers, and Flamingos. Results (brine shrimp/marine plankton experiment)Inasmuch as my hypothesis was based u pon a particular type of plankton, the prejudice of my thought was because, I only associated plankton too crustacean like organisms, such as krill and brine shrimp. However, after the use of a microscope and various slides of different samples from both lighted and dark areas. As well as the three depth levels, numerous diatoms were observed. These are known as phytoplankton or the grass of the sea. The other types of animate plankton are known as zooplankton. The vertical variation of various plankton can be contributed to certain physical factors such as, light and temperature (recorded at Fahrenheit). Apparently, more organisms of various kinds of plankton were recorded in the lighted area. At surface level, the temperature was 52 degrees, four roifers (wheel animals), five barnacle nauplius and a mollusk larva were observed by seven slides. At 2 feet, eight diatoms, a barnacle larva and a polchacte worm was recorded. The t!emperature at the 2-foot level was at 51.9 degrees, and observations were based upon seven slides.At 4 feet, the temperature was at 52 degrees, three rotifers, 11 diatoms, a barnacle nauplius and other not named organisms were in this level. Five slides accumulated for the total amount of creatures at this depth.The light penetration for the lighted area was at 3 feet and 4 inches and the salinity was at 15%. My Memorable High School Years EssayDiscussion (animal behavior lab) From clinical observations, several noticeable behavior seemed reasonable clearly. For instance, when the guinea pigs tasted the acetic acid, I speculate this behavioral reaction is associated to the remote fact that guinea pigs eat roots and various forms of vegetation. Many of which, resemble a more sour taste than sweet, and since acetic acid may smell like vinegar, it characteristically is sour. Thus, is familiar to rodent type creatures. However, other animals such as the earthworm and snail were diametrically reactive to the acetic acid. I speculate that, this behavioral reaction is associated to the fact that acetic acid is an acid. Thus, it posses the characteristic to damage tissue. Therefore, because both the earthworm and snail have such delicate outer surfaces, they must physiologically repel from anything that can damage its exterior tissue. As far as behavioral tendencies toward tactile surfaces, wha t was interesting was that guinea pigs have claws, an!d the earthworms exterior surface is also its respiratory surface. Thus, I speculate that these animals didnt move because, their sensory receptors located at their tactile surfaces communicated to their brains the potential danger of the situation to their surface anatomy. Thus, the proximate cause of the behavior was not to move. However, the most dramatic behavioral observation was with the earthworm. When the earthworm was placed into an arid environment, it would move toward a direction that provided a damp and moist environment. Yet, the proximate cause of this behavior was because, the exterior skin of an earthworm is also its respiratory surface. This is a main component of its breathing apparatus, and although, the earthworm may be accustomed to a moist and damp environment like the underground surface of the earth, it doesnt cognitively prefer the dark protection and security of the soil from the open and exposed surfac e of the lab pan, but instead, its se!nsory receptors are sensing a reduction of cellular respiration due to desiccation, and the immediate motor response is to peristaltically move to a moist and damp environment to resusicate the respiratory surface to a proper medium for adequate breathing and continued survival. In addition, it was speculating that, an earthworm could feel moisture in the air. So to test the kinetic behavioral characteristics of the earthworm, the environmental conditions prohibited this feature by artificially heating up the experimental atmosphere with a heating lamp. Then by initially pointing its head toward the dry hot sand, and finally, by placing a glass barrier in front of the moist soil. From these experiments, I concluded that, an earthworm will move in a random kinetic fashion to find a suitable moist and damp environment for simplicity of survival. Discussion (San Francisco Aquarium field trip)The compounded rheotactic behavior tendency of the Golden trout camouflages to a large extent the paramount purposes of this observable trait. Since swimming against a current requires a substantial amount of greater energy than swimming with the current, there must be some innate purpose for this enormous expenditure of additional energy. Initially, the behavioral action of rheotactic swimming is an independent genetic characteristic. However, ultimate cause is predicated upon two major words. The first word begins innate, and second word is genetic. These two words contribute to the concept of evolutionary fitness. Hence, analytical reasoning had to be applied with this particular behavior. First, given the proposition that, the behavior of swimming against a current was not within itself an enclosed action, then it must be a precipitory action leading to an ultimate purpose. Second, upon close observation, it was noticed that, the trou ts operculum was engaged in !what appeared to be exaggerated ventilation. So I concluded that, the mechanical uptake of water was not exclusively for aquatic respiration, which the action within itself, provided the inflow of greater amounts of water. Now for the third and most speculative point, if the necessity for water uptake was not for the sole benefits of breathing or osmoregulation, then the sublime purpose must be for the benefit of the ingesting whatever must be in the water. By that combining these three points, and through the knowledge that, trouts use their chemoreceptors for the migratory purpose of reproduction, I deductively concluded that the behavioral purpose of swimming upstream against a current was a mechanism for directional navigation using the lateral line system, and the purpose of intermittent pauses with exaggerated respiratory behavior was for the benefit of olfactory orientation. Therefore, the proximate cause of rheotactic behavior involves the coordi nated use of the la!teral line system, respiratory systems and nervous system of smell and cognitive memory. Discussion (San Francisco Zoo field trip)The mating behavior of penguins posses some really interesting socio-behavior facets. For instance, although no eggs were exposing too plain view, it was apparently clear, which penguins share in the responsibilities of incubating their eggs within the nest of their rookery. Another fascinating feature about penguin behavior was that the smaller penguins/young were totally void from anything that resembled the more mature penguin mating behavior. This facet of youth behavior signifies that, these young offspring dont mature into physically reproductive penguins unlike other birds into in a short period of time. In addition, since the behavior of playing is a form of learning, two things immediately standout: (1) That these young penguins lack the immediate ability to fully integrate into an adult penguin society, because the behavior of playing is a characteristic of slower maturing animals. (2) Given that penguins have the ability to use voca l noises to communicate, i!t also means, that they are a more developed species of social animal. As such, requires a greater amount of time to physically and socially mature into the complex matrix of mature penguin life. However, these physiological characteristics signifies that, evolutionary fitness has forced them to physically mature at a slower rate. These physiological phenomena associated to a slower anatomical development are why, I speculate that penguins go through a far more systematically complex development process to prepare for mating than other animals. Therefore, this partially accounts for the ability too fast during mating season, gains a credible amount of body weight, learns how use their ability to communicate and mature as far as, they innately perform behaviorally observable tendencies such as agonistical and territorial behavior. Conclusion For the most part, animal behavior is not a randomly exercised action. Creatures despite size, order in the food chain, anatomical complexity or cognitive capacity all are dependent upon the relationship of their physical structure and how it integrates with their environment. Phytoplankton is mutually dependent upon the environmental conditions of sunlight, and zooplankton are bio-taxis responsively too light based upon the level of their maturity. An earthworms kinetic behavior under environmentally hostile conditions is predictable, because of its physiological survival mechanism.