Animal Behavior

Background             Betta splendens are apart of the kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, and class Ctinopterygii. They are a member of the gourami family and are known to be highly territorial. Bettas can be found in standing waters of canals, rice paddies, and …

Kitten Care Kittens are cute and fun to play with, but there’s a lot to learn about them. They are very alert and love to explore in adventures. Because of this, they tend to step out of line and get themselves into trouble. However, resorting …

Co-authors: Heather Schofield and Malisa Rai  Background:             Communication between animals occurs in a variety of forms, such as auditory, electrical, or visual signals. The use of signals allows animals to send information to one another and modify behaviors based upon …

Outline Introduction to Communication • Sensory exploitation and the evolutionary history of signaling • Honesty in Signaling • Signal Deception • Eavesdropping What is communication? Behavioural interactions between animals involve communication such as visual, auditory, chemical, electrosensory and mechanosensory. + It can take place between members …

Isopods Lab   Goals To recognize the diversity of experimental designs that can be used to test a single hypothesis  To understand the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics  To understand the difference between common statistical tests  To practice designing experiments with consideration of the specific …

Types of Social Behavior Cooperation –an interaction between A and B that gives both increases in direct fitness Postponed cooperation – A will eventually gain access to a resource controlled by B because of its prior help (By helping the dominant female now, the subordinate has a …

Observations Materials: Xenopus Laevis Water food peachtree dish The tadpole was placed in a peachtree dish with water. The room ranged from 21-23 degree and was fairly dark. The tadpole was very active when the lights were off and remain still or with minimal movement when …

Focal animal, or continuous sampling • Watch 1 animal (or subgroup), and record all of its activities for a pre-determined period of time • Must be able to identify individuals • Useful for observing both states and events • Best way to observe interactions • …

Topics • Physiological Mechanisms • Genetics • Development • Evolution ECOLOGY – the scientific study of the interactions among organisms and their environments Phenotypic variation in a population is due to both genotype & environment  Phenotype = Genotype + Environment Sometimes Genetic differences among individuals …

Altruism – is “self-sacrificing” behavior Altruism lower’s the helper’s reproductive success while increasing the reproductive success of the individual being helped. Many insects like ants, termites and bees are sterile and do not reproduce So, how can individuals pass on genes if they can’t reproduce?  …