Animal Communication Midterm Exam – Animal Behavior Study Guide, Key Concepts and
Practice Review
Tinbergen's 4 Questions - ✔✔Mechanism:
Function: what's the goal of the communication
Ontogeny: how the communication develops within the individual
Phylogeny: how the communication develops across generations
proximate causes - ✔✔mechanism-->NEED MORE INFO
ultimate causes - ✔✔function-->NEED MORE INFO
syrinx - ✔✔songbirds' unique mechanism for producing sound-->NEED MORE INFO ON HOW
THE SYRINX WORKS
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔amount of the signal
relative to the amount of the noise-->WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS
redundancy-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔anything in the communication signal
that gives the receiver another chance to hear it
ethology - ✔✔study of animal behavior; started in Europe
convergent evolution - ✔✔Process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve
similarities when adapting to similar environments
ex) bats and birds both have wings but they are from different ancestories
, convergent evolution-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔when two species share
similar traits but do not have a common ancestor
ex) birds and butterflies
sign stimulus-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔the component of an action or
object that triggers a fixed response in an animal ex) herring gull chick's begging response (red
dot on mother's beak that chicks peck at when hungy)
releaser-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔a sign stimulus given by one animal to
another as a social signal
ex) yawning
ex) white-tailed deer running away from people, tails go up and are distinctly white, signaling
other deer that danger is present
imprinting-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔form of learning in which individuals
exposed to a certain key stimuli usually during an early stage of development, form an
association with the object ex) newborn geese will immediately go toward the first animate
object they see and form an attachment to them
fixed action pattern-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔innate stereotyped response
triggered by a well-defined simple stimulus. Once activated, the response is always performed
to completion (in a series of steps)
ex) three spine stickleback fish: if a male comes into their nesting territory they will attack (they
know its a male because it has a red belly)
stimulus: the red belly
action pattern: the attack
egg rolling in geese - ✔✔mother goose sits on her eggs, sometimes an egg will roll out of the
nest; she'll put her bill behind the egg and walk backwards to secure the egg back into the nest--
>this is an example of a fixed action pattern
Practice Review
Tinbergen's 4 Questions - ✔✔Mechanism:
Function: what's the goal of the communication
Ontogeny: how the communication develops within the individual
Phylogeny: how the communication develops across generations
proximate causes - ✔✔mechanism-->NEED MORE INFO
ultimate causes - ✔✔function-->NEED MORE INFO
syrinx - ✔✔songbirds' unique mechanism for producing sound-->NEED MORE INFO ON HOW
THE SYRINX WORKS
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔amount of the signal
relative to the amount of the noise-->WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS
redundancy-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔anything in the communication signal
that gives the receiver another chance to hear it
ethology - ✔✔study of animal behavior; started in Europe
convergent evolution - ✔✔Process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve
similarities when adapting to similar environments
ex) bats and birds both have wings but they are from different ancestories
, convergent evolution-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔when two species share
similar traits but do not have a common ancestor
ex) birds and butterflies
sign stimulus-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔the component of an action or
object that triggers a fixed response in an animal ex) herring gull chick's begging response (red
dot on mother's beak that chicks peck at when hungy)
releaser-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔a sign stimulus given by one animal to
another as a social signal
ex) yawning
ex) white-tailed deer running away from people, tails go up and are distinctly white, signaling
other deer that danger is present
imprinting-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔form of learning in which individuals
exposed to a certain key stimuli usually during an early stage of development, form an
association with the object ex) newborn geese will immediately go toward the first animate
object they see and form an attachment to them
fixed action pattern-know entire definition and an example - ✔✔innate stereotyped response
triggered by a well-defined simple stimulus. Once activated, the response is always performed
to completion (in a series of steps)
ex) three spine stickleback fish: if a male comes into their nesting territory they will attack (they
know its a male because it has a red belly)
stimulus: the red belly
action pattern: the attack
egg rolling in geese - ✔✔mother goose sits on her eggs, sometimes an egg will roll out of the
nest; she'll put her bill behind the egg and walk backwards to secure the egg back into the nest--
>this is an example of a fixed action pattern
