A handbook for a nature lover. Ethology is a science that studies the genetically determined behavior (instincts) of animals, including humans. Famous ethologists Science of animal behavior
PART 3
Naturalist with experience
Overcoming difficulties gives a person deep satisfaction. A similar feeling is experienced by a climber who, at the cost of enormous effort, has achieved his goal and climbed to the top. This quality - setting a goal and going towards it through all obstacles - sets man apart from the rest of the animal world. This quality - an alloy of intelligence, determination and perseverance - determines the superiority of a person over other mammals, making him stronger than a grizzly bear, a tiger, an elephant.
Mastering the second half of the book will require great effort from you, because the time has come to set goals for yourself and, mobilizing your strength, to achieve these goals. One of the tasks - and the most important one - is to acquire a solid foundation of knowledge. You can set other goals for yourself, but achieving the first one is a big and difficult task. You have already started it.
The process of knowledge, as the naturalist sees it, is endless. The reward for your desire for the unattainable will be that your life will become interesting for many years to come. CHAPTER 21
As already noted, ethology is a part of ecology. It is important for the amateur naturalist to understand the basic principles of ethology; Moreover, it is one of the most fascinating natural sciences. Being a relatively young science, ethology provides a vast field of activity for the novice naturalist.
Today, more and more scientists are beginning to study ethology, sometimes coming into conflict with that main group of ecologists who, according to the very subject of ecology, also study animal behavior. Another group of scientists, physiologists, are interested in animal behavior in a different aspect - by studying the reactions of animals, such as rats, in laboratory conditions. The extraordinary complexity of the problem of animal behavior gives rise to debate between these three groups of scientists. These discussions will be more fruitful the deeper our knowledge. But regardless of any disagreement, there is only one path for everyone - amateurs and professionals: the path of searching for truth through constant and diligent comparison of different points of view. Given human nature, this is not easy to achieve. Strict ecologists believe that ethologists, being carried away by the study of animal behavior as such, downplay the influence of the environment. Ethologists also criticize scientists who study animal psychology for studying experimental animals (rats, guinea pigs, mice and monkeys) in laboratories and not paying due attention to the behavior of wild animals and their instincts in their natural habitat. The adherents of these different groups have had heated battles in the past, but attempts are now being made to reconcile these different points of view. When starting to study animal behavior, an amateur naturalist must take into account that this subject is extremely complex and sometimes requires expensive equipment, extensive knowledge, and mastery of sophisticated technology. Therefore, it is better if he becomes a member of a group led by a professional.
But in the field, excellent opportunities open up for the amateur naturalist to study the behavior of individual animal species in their natural habitat. Careful day and night (with red or infrared illumination) observations can yield very important results. In this case, constant observation is necessary, over every step of the animal, over the entire complex of its reactions to the environment; Observations must be accompanied by accurate and objective records. By objectivity we mean the absence of a preconceived emotional attitude towards the observed animal. Emotions must be kept under control, otherwise they interfere with work.
Ethology has received widespread development today. It is convenient to begin a preliminary acquaintance with it with the material collected in the dictionary of ethological concepts; some of them are illustrated. Read each definition carefully and relate them to your observations in the forest and field.
Activity (replacement). It appears in cases where accumulated energy requires release, although this is not stimulated in any way by the environment. A bear searching for a female and not finding her gives vent to its feelings by leaving its scent and claw marks on the bark of a tree to warn its rival that the territory is occupied and to attract a female.
Ambivalent behavior- contradictory behavior of an animal when it cannot make a choice between two instincts fighting within it and chooses a third path. For example, an opossum, pursued by dogs, not knowing whether to counterattack its pursuers or flee, simply remains in place and dies (see also: Activity, displacement).
The biological clock- rhythms in nature that control animal behavior; they can be compared to the rhythm of the ocean tides, which affects the lives of the inhabitants of coastal waters and the coast. There are daily and seasonal rhythms.
Biotelemetry- the use of miniature radio transmitters attached to the body of an animal or implanted under its skin to monitor the daily movements of a specific animal or bird.
Mutual feeding- usually common among socially organized insects (as well as some species of birds), in which workers bring food to larvae and adult insects, and also produce special hormones that are distributed among members of their family.
Internal mechanisms for reflecting reality. During the long process of evolution, nature has endowed species with those internal drives or reactions that best helped them to survive. The same internal mechanism of reflecting reality prompts the beaver to instinctively beat its tail on the water to warn its relatives about the approach of a lynx.
Whole and partial perception. Small animals begin life by perceiving the simplest parts of a whole. Thus, a seagull chick initially sees only the red beak of its mother, which means food for it. Soon he begins to see the whole bird, and then perceives his surroundings as a whole.
Development of a conditioned reflex occurs when there is a systematic coincidence in time of two stimuli - an indifferent one (which does not cause any other reaction other than an indicative reflex) and an unconditional one, capable of causing any innate reflex.
Release- manifestation of instinctive behavior in response to an inciting event. Thus, a male five-spined stickleback, seeing an approaching female with a large belly full of eggs, leads the female to the nest, where he will fertilize the eggs.
Geographical distribution. Each species of animal occupies its own specific geographic area, the boundaries of which can expand if the animals adapt to environmental changes (for example, starlings), or shrink if the animals are too conservative (for example, great crested woodpeckers, whose range narrows as humans step on them habitual habitats).
Homology and analogy. Homology- descent from a common ancestor. Thus, colonies of Canadian sea gulls living on steep cliffs descended from the common Canada gull: fleeing from predators, they found a narrow ecological niche on coastal cliffs. Analogy- similarity of behavior in two different species; Termites and leafcutter ants feed on mushrooms, which they grow themselves, although they have different ancestors.
Group protection. Animals gather together for protection from the cold, huddling together, as bison or penguins do; they unite to protect themselves from enemies, as do horses that maintain a circular defense, placing their heads inside the circle and fighting off the enemy with their hind hooves; to frighten the enemy, as flocks of birds do, attacking an owl or lynx all together and shouting at it.
Action of specific energy- energy created by the central nervous system of an animal under the influence of “motivating” stimuli; any reaction can remain inhibited until some environmental factor - the so-called “permissive” stimulus - causes its implementation. Thus, a flock of ducks in the Arctic remains in place, although due to the approach of winter the temperature decreases day by day (the “motivating” stimulus), and suddenly on one of the frostiest days (the “permissive” stimulus) begins its migration to the south.
Demonstrations- ritual forms of courtship behavior in which the male (and sometimes the female) displays brightly colored feathers (birds) or abdomen (lizards) to attract a mate.
Domination- an animal or bird dominates others in a herd or flock.
Final stimuli- stimuli that have an inhibitory effect on behavior. The trichogramma wasp does not lay its eggs on already infected eggs of the “host”, since the smell of another female that has been here inhibits this reaction.
Emitted energy for orientation. Bats use their echolocators to locate the flying insects on which they feed, emitting ultrashort sound pulses (signals). Electric fish locate their environment through electrical discharges and waves; in this way they not only determine the location of other living organisms, but even their species.
Isolating mechanisms (ecological). Animals of similar species living in the same territory do not compete with each other due to ecological isolating mechanisms. An example is the different types of beaks of birds living in the same territory: some species catch insects in the crevices of tree bark; and the beak of others is adapted for catching insects on the surface of leaves. Some birds live on the tops of trees, others prefer the middle of the tree, as is the case among vireos (see also: Sympatria).
Instinctive need And carried out behavior. An example of an instinctive need: a cat rushes to grab a mouse that happens to be nearby - even the youngest cats react this way to the appearance of a mouse; is supplemented by acquired forms of behavior, when a young cat learns, adopting the experience of its mother, how to hunt a mouse, what is the correct position to take near a mink.
Intensity of individual forms of behavioral acts- determined by the accumulation of action energy over some previous period of time (for example, a male deer is looking for a female and suddenly sees another male approaching the female; this accumulated energy causes the first male to attack his rival with such fury that he drives him away).
Behavior control. An animal's behavior is controlled by an extremely complex nervous system and various associated body organs and glands. To understand how this happens, researchers use special equipment and a system of tests, with the help of which they study the elements of interaction of animals with each other and with the environment.
Navigation, flight orientation- closely related to migration. Birds orient themselves in flight using terrain features if the flight is short; by celestial bodies, such as the Sun or stars, if the flight is long-distance; Finally, there is a hypothesis that they orient themselves using the Earth's magnetic field.
Behavior patterns (patterns). Each basic instinct or drive, such as hunting or reproduction, manifests itself in specific forms of behavior associated with that instinct; some of them are characteristic only of higher animals. This is the behavior of a wolf trying to join someone else's pack and going through several behavioral stages before he succeeds in winning the favor of the pack.
Identification signals used by animals to recognize members of their species, distinguish males from females, and not confuse them with potential enemies. So, in the spring, when a female bunting approaches, a male bunting turns his back to her, showing the black elements of his plumage - the distinctive features of a male, and a firebowl, caught by an enemy, will arch in a special way, showing off its brightly colored abdomen, warning the attacker that it is poisonous.
Selection, its types. 1 - straight: in the forest, light-colored animals easily become victims of predators, while dark-colored animals survive better because they are less noticeable. 2 - group: active animals cooperate to defend themselves from predators, while less energetic animals die. 3 - sexual: Brightly colored males die, while less visible ones survive. 4 - stabilizing: the fittest representatives of the species survive - not too cowardly and not too brave. 5 - territorial: refers to species with a low social organization, but requiring a large territory for breeding and obtaining food. Animals that prove to be more competitive secure territories and successfully raise offspring.
Period- part of the biological clock cycle (for example, a 24-hour period is the daily cycle, an 11-hour cycle is the period between tides). One way or another, the way of life of all animals is connected with these periods.
Inducement. The term “drive” refers to such animal states as “hunger”, “thirst”, “sexual desire”. Drive is the basis for the occurrence of motor reactions in living organisms leading to a specific goal - the search for a mate, prey, shelter.
A semblance of altruism. A special form of behavior when one animal sacrifices itself to protect members of its family or pack. Altruistic behavior is more common in social insects; but is also found in mammals and birds.
Multifactorial control of behavior. Various types of behavior controlled (that is, dependent) on two or more factors in the external and internal environment of the organism.
Sexual behavior- the behavior of most animals at certain times of the year and in suitable climatic conditions during the mating season. Each species has specific ways to express this behavior, which prevents interbreeding between members of different species. In some classes of animals, such as birds, sexual behavior is divided into several stages: first, the male finds (occupies) a territory, then attracts a female, then they build a nest together, after which they lay eggs and breed offspring. In lower animals, compared to mammals and birds, the role of the female is limited to the fact that after fertilization she lays eggs, and the further development of the offspring occurs without parental care. However, there are exceptions: the male stickleback, for example, takes care of the eggs, creating water movement in the nest, which ensures the supply of oxygen, and even monitors the fry, protecting them from predators.
The principle of competitive repression- replacement of one ecologically similar species by another as a result of the emergence of conditions favorable to the expansion of one of the species. It can even lead to the extinction of the displaced species.
Scattering- distribution of animal species over a large area to avoid overpopulation. For example, small spiders travel long distances on the wind using strands of their webs like balloons.
Ritual wrestling (tournament or ceremonial wrestling)- stereotypical conflicts between males fighting for a female, programmed so that the combatants bring each other as little harm as possible; contributes to the conservation of the species. Some birds, such as blackbirds, resolve conflict by simply adopting threatening postures without making physical contact, which is enough to make the weaker opponent retreat. Some mammals, such as antelopes, resolve the issue differently - by engaging in physical contact; however, the matter is limited to the fact that they simply push each other until one male gives way to the other.
Parental care- developed in mammals and birds, as well as among insects, some reptiles and fish. An important step on the path of evolution was the protection of young animals and their parents teaching them how to behave in various situations. This is much more conducive to the survival of the species than when species produce large numbers of offspring but leave them to fend for themselves immediately after the eggs are laid.
Vestigial behavior- the animal behaves as its ancestors did, carrying out some actions that no longer make any sense for this species; thus, microbembix wasps, feeding on carrion, sting their dead prey, as their ancestors did, hunting living insects.
Semiotics- the science of sign systems, dealing in particular with complex problems of animal behavior.
Touch coding shows how various sensory cells, such as light-sensitive cells, connect to cells in the deep layers of the brain to encode, transmit visual information and stimulate the responses of animals. Using electrophysiological equipment, scientists decipher sensory coding, explaining the processes that occur.
Alarms. There are many different alarm calls in the animal kingdom; for example, a jay screams loudly, warning forest inhabitants that a person is approaching. Alarm signals within a group of animals of the same species deserve special attention; let's say a beaver beats its tail on the water to warn other beavers of approaching danger.
Sympatria- habitation of systematically close species of animals in one small area (for example, vireos live on the same tree, but at different levels).
Displaced activity- a form of behavior when an animal cannot choose between two impulses, such as the desire to attack or to flee. A seagull, challenged to a fight by another seagull, begins to lift twigs, as if building a nest, or perform some other actions unrelated to the conflict that can defuse the tension and prevent a fight.
Social ethology- a branch of ethology that studies the social behavior of animals, taking into account environmental conditions, instinctive reactions of skills acquired during life, etc., in order to present in its entirety a complex picture of the activities of social species of animals.
Ability to learn. Mammals and birds, which raise their own offspring, learn new skills faster and more efficiently than other animals. For example, geese teach their offspring where and how to find the best feeding area.
Comparative study- observation (usually covert) of the behavior of two or more similar species of animals in order to compare their behavior.
Taxis. Many types of motor reactions are carried out regardless of the orientation of the animal in relation to the stimulus that caused them. Taxis refers to such movements when the animal’s body takes a certain position in relation to the source of irritation. For example, a fish louse always swims with its back up - with its back to the light. If you light an animal from below, it will turn over and swim with its back down. Taxis can be combined with locomotion - the animal will move towards the source of stimulation, away from it, or at a constant angle to it. The hermit crab, for example, has positive phototaxis - it will move directly towards the light source.
Territorial behavior- behavior determined by the territory occupied (and it can be very different - from vast areas of settlement of predators, say, pumas, to tiny areas of insectivorous birds or bird colonies on rocks).
Territorial relations. Some animals mark (mark) their territory with smell, sounds and visual cues, which prevents representatives of the same species from invading the occupied territory. Some territories are marked only during mating and nesting, others - permanently (as, for example, this is done with prairie dogs).
Braking- the ability of the central nervous system to interrupt or prevent any behavioral act resulting from such natural impulses as hunting, aggressiveness, sexual behavior. Thus, a short-eared owl, sitting in a nest, puffs out its feathers and looks menacing and large in order to deter a wild cat from attacking with its appearance.
Levels of communication (communication). 1 - unintentional signals Let's say one seagull, seeing another feeding seagull nearby, flies towards it in the hope of also getting food. 2 - signals inviting joint action, which animals in a herd or birds in a flock give to each other. 3 - special alarms messages sent by one or more animals to another to warn of danger. 
Thus, a guard crow warns its flock about the appearance of an eagle. 4 - Complex signals highly developed animals such as elephants, dolphins and primates, which call for joint action in difficult situations. For example, dolphins that are attacked by sharks transmit a signal to each other calling for joint defense. By their nature, communication signals are divided into: 1 - acoustic(sound); 2 - chemical(for example, see: Pheromone); 3 - electric(for example, a stingray); 4 - visual;
5 - social(with direct contact in groups of animals).
Habitat- the area on which one animal or pair obtains food while feeding its offspring; does not always coincide with the concept of "territory", which usually represents a smaller area, actively protected and protected from outsiders.
Pheromones- these are chemical substances produced by animals, with the help of which information is exchanged between individuals of the same species (intraspecific communication). Pheromones are used to transmit information about the belonging of a given animal to a particular species, race and sex, about the phase of the sexual cycle, to identify individuals, their age, mood, to mark territory, roads leading to a food source, and enemies.
Fixed (stereotypical) behavior- such, for example, is the purposeful behavior of a praying mantis, grabbing insects with its front paws. Stereotypical behavior is always the same (repeated) in the same situations.
Homing (home instinct)- the ability of some creatures to return home from afar. Trained pigeons return home from very long distances. Some seabirds even fly across oceans during migration.
Central filters. The nervous system filters (selects) environmental signals, responding only to important signals. Thus, the bird does not pay attention to the noise of the wind or to flying birds, remaining calm, but immediately hides when a predator appears.
Ethogram- a complete description of the behavior of an individual animal or species and a complete list of motor acts observed in a given species
Photoperiodism effect. Plants and animals respond to the length of light and dark time of day. For example, a reduction in the length of daylight in the fall can serve as a signal for a flock of ducks or geese to begin migrating south.
Nowadays, people pay great attention to the world around them. Animal behavior has interested people at different times. Even ancient people monitored the habits of animals so that the hunt would be successful, rock paintings tell us about this.
Traditionally, animal behavior has been studied by psychologists using laboratory animals, such as rats, under conditions that allow them to fully control the information they receive and their ability to learn. The psychological approach underestimated innate reactions independent of experience. In addition, those types of behavior that serve as an adaptation of the species to its typical natural environment and are not always manifested in a laboratory setting were usually not taken into account. These two shortcomings were overcome by zoologists of the post-Darwinian era, who began to study animal behavior from an evolutionary point of view.
The term “ethology” was introduced into biology in 1859 by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, one of Charles Darwin’s predecessors. In the 30s of the 20th century, thanks to the work of the Austrian scientist I. Timbergen, the science of ethology (from the Greek ethos - morals, character) was formed - a biological science that studies the behavior of animals in natural conditions; pays primary attention to the analysis of genetically determined (hereditary, instinctive) components of behavior, as well as problems of the evolution of behavior.
Behavior is the ability of animals to change their actions and respond to the influence of internal and external factors. Behavior includes questions by which the animal senses and responds to the external world and the state of its body. Behavior is considered in various interrelated aspects, the most important of which are environmental, evolutionary, physiological and psychological.
The behavior of animals began to be considered as one of the characteristics formed in the process of natural selection, along with the anatomical and other hereditary characteristics of a particular species. Animal evolutionary psychologists have put forward the idea that instinctive behavior is determined by a special type of innate programs, more complex than reflexes, i.e. simple reactions to stimuli. They found out what receptor mechanisms associated with tactile, gustatory, olfactory, visual, etc. structures that are usually involved in the perception of stimuli that trigger one or another type of instinctive action, and what complex motor coordination is necessary to perform the latter. It has been found that environmental stimuli that cause an instinctive response are usually more complex than those that cause a reflex response, and are usually represented by a combination of optical, sound and chemical stimuli.
Gradually, the idea was formed that it consists of two main components - instinct and learning. A number of biologists, starting with Charles Darwin, also identify a third factor - elementary rational activity. It determines the animal’s behavior in new, suddenly emerging conditions, the reaction to which is not provided for either by instinct or by the results of previous learning. The main subject of ethology research is instincts. The learning and rational activity of animals is studied by zoopsychology and the physiology of higher nervous activity.
In their work, ethologists rely primarily on observations and careful descriptions of animal behavior in natural conditions. Using filming, tape recordings, and chronometers, ethologists compile lists of behavioral acts characteristic of the species - ethograms. Comparative analysis of ethograms of different species underlies the study of the evolution of animal behavior.
Observing the behavior of animals in natural conditions or in captivity, ethological scientists found out the main features of instincts as complex innate motor reactions, described the innate recognition of key stimuli and their role in triggering instinctive reactions. Scientists explored those internal mechanisms that control instincts, and thereby laid the foundation for the contact of ethology with physiology.
Animal behavior is important in their adaptation to their environment. This is one of the central problems that ethologists deal with.
Much attention is paid to the study of the individual development of animal behavior. What is the role of innate and acquired in their behavior?
Like any characteristic of an organism, behavioral characteristics are determined by a genetic program with greater or lesser influence of external factors. Experimental animals were raised in isolation from the influence of certain environmental factors, for example, without contact with relatives or without access to some type of food. It turned out that some signs of behavior - instinctive actions - develop in an animal regardless of individual experience or require environmental influence only during a certain sensitive period of development of other signs.
Studying the social behavior of animals, ethologists have established that diverse and complex instincts ensure their dispersal in space and maintain a certain harmony when living in a community.
The behavior of animals in the process of evolutionary development does not remain unchanged. The evolution of behavior is studied by comparing instinctive actions in different species. Sometimes it turns out that behavioral characters cover a wider group of animals and are phylogenetically broader than some of the morphological characters on which taxonomy is based.
Currently, ethological observations are becoming an integral part of any full-fledged zoological study on the biology of the species. The most important role in clarifying the adaptive significance of certain forms of behavior belongs to field research. Research into animal behavior in nature is carried out in different directions. In some cases, any part of the behavioral complex is studied, for example, aggressive behavior, migration, nest-building or tool activity. Such studies may concern only one species or be comparative in nature and affect different taxonomic groups. Many works devoted to behavior are associated with a comprehensive study of populations and the processes occurring in them. A broad class of research concerns the study of the behavior of a single species or a group of closely related species. This work is being carried out in several directions.
Firstly, these are the works of zoologists who work in nature reserves, game reserves and simply on scientific expeditions and have accumulated a huge stock of observations of the behavior of wild animals in nature.
Secondly, this is special work, when the observer settles in close proximity to the habitat of the object being studied, gradually accustoms the animals to himself and carefully examines their behavior.
Thirdly, these are special observations of tamed animals returned to their natural habitat.
Fourthly, these are observations of animals in conditions close to natural: large enclosures, artificially created populations, etc. In many cases, researchers conducted parallel observations of animals in natural conditions and in enclosures, which made it possible to clarify many behavioral details that were inaccessible during observations only in nature, including those related to the organization of communities and communications in a number of species.
Yellow-gray, sun-scorched hills of southern Uzbekistan, overgrown with sparse dry grass and ash-green wormwood bushes. The day is unusual for the semi-desert: cold rain is drizzling, and the area looks lifeless. Suddenly, it’s as if the soil itself begins to move. Here and there strange insects swarm on the ground - large, the size of a red cockroach, large-headed, with long transparent wings folded flat over a soft light yellow abdomen. This is a rather rare phenomenon - a mass emergence of termites, which spend most of their lives deep underground. Only once a year, sexually mature males and females, fed underground by blind and wingless workers under the protection of “soldiers,” come to the surface to scatter in different directions, find a marriage partner and, together with him, establish new underground colonies. But now few are destined to accomplish this - the timing of the flight of insects unfortunately coincided with the cold drizzling rain. Wet wings cannot lift a cooled body into the air. The insects helplessly jump a centimeter or two up and fall awkwardly onto their backs.
Large phaeton ants are already scurrying among the termites swarming on the sand, on high legs, with powerful jaws, with their bellies raised militantly upward. The behavior of ants indicates that they are not able to detect prey from a distance of several centimeters using sight or smell. But the speed of the random movement of predators in itself guarantees a successful hunt. Here one of the ants came across a termite. The prey is four times larger than the hunter, but this will not save it. The ant grabs the termite by the soft wings, as if by the train of a dress, and, gradually moving its jaws, gets to its head. The second chaise arrives, and both ants drag their prey in different directions, almost tearing it apart.
One of the termites manages to avoid encounters with ants, and somehow, sometimes crawling, sometimes awkwardly jumping, gets to the wormwood bush. Suddenly the tip of the stem comes to life: a small gray spider, previously completely invisible, falls from above onto the termite and kills it with one injection of its jaws into the head. Another predator is provided with food for a long time.
Studying the behavior of American blackbirds, scientists discovered that the wood thrush (2) and the hermit thrush (3), which are most similar in size and color, are not at all close relatives. The wood thrush is much closer to the wandering thrush (1), and the hermit thrush is much closer to the brown thrush (4). This is evidenced by the poses of males that they take when meeting rivals.
This episode, snatched from the everyday life of far from the most complex creatures, shows how diverse and sometimes contradictory the behavior of animals is. Their actions sometimes seem quite reasonable to us, for example, the instant reaction of a spider to the appearance of a defenseless termite, sometimes they seem completely ridiculous. Indeed, what made the termites crawl out of their burrows at the most unfavorable moment for this? After all, after a few hours the sun was shining, and the insects only needed to wait a little longer before reaching the surface.
Such observations raise many questions. Why do termites and ants live in communities divided into castes, while spiders live alone? How does an ant, unable to detect a termite from a distance, know that its prey is somewhere nearby and search for it with the tenacity of a hunting dog? How does a predator navigate the body structure of its prey and why does it strive to get to its head - the most vulnerable place? Why do two phaetons, instead of immediately jointly delivering the killed termite to the anthill, pull it in different directions, thereby interfering with their common goal?
Special science seeks and finds answers to these and many other questions - ethology. It was born in the 30s of our century, when the Austrian scientist K. Lorenz published his first articles in Germany on animal instinct and its study. The Dutch researcher N. Tikbergen outlined the foundations of ethology in the book “The Study of Instinct.” Similar views were expressed at the beginning of the century by the Russian scientist V. A. Wagner.
What does the name “ethology” mean? It comes from two Greek words: “ethos” - character and “logos” - science. Studying the behavior of animals, etologists concentrate their attention on its genetic, hereditary characteristics. These features are characteristic of a particular species and thus serve as distinctive features of the species. Hence the name of science.
In birds, parents do not teach their offspring to build nests. However, young birds of different species, when starting to build a nest, do it in different ways. The shore swallow makes nests in burrows, in clay cliffs, and the barn swallow nests under the roofs of buildings. We can say that the behavior of birds is determined by instinct. But instinct is only the most general plan of behavior, genetically embedded in the body from birth. The implementation of this plan is possible only in real environmental conditions and under its influence. When starting to build a nest, the shore swallow does not choose any hole it comes across, but the deepest one possible. If there is none, the bird itself deepens the hole. Gradually, learning occurs, and the old swallow is more experienced in choosing a place and in the art of nesting than its young relatives. However, if there are no cliffs with holes in them, the shore swallow will not nest under the roof, as its related species do. She either will not build a nest at all, or will fly to another place.
Evolution of nest-building behavior in weavers: 1 - primitive open nest of the distant ancestors of weavers; 2 - a nest with a half-roof, which better protects the eggs and the brooding female from rain and predators; 3 - the nest of our house sparrow: a spherical building with a roof and one entrance; 4 - closed nest of the brown-headed weaver with two entrances; 5 - hanging nest of a black-headed social weaver with two entrances, the second entrance provides greater security for the brooding female; 6,7, 8 - the nests of thick-billed, spotted and Cassin weavers are the most reliable and durable, since the blades of grass from which they are made are not just intertwined, but tied in knots. On the right is a huge joint “nest” of public weavers, this is already a whole “city”. Up to 300 pairs live in such a colony, each of which has its own nesting chamber under a common vault.
What does modern ethology do? First, ethology seeks to decompose complex forms of animal behavior into innate (genetic) and acquired elements. Secondly, ethologists are interested in how an organism, whose behavior is to one degree or another programmed from birth, interacts with the real external environment. Thirdly, they explore the variety of ways of communication and interaction between animals of the same or different species. Fourth, they deal with the evolution of behavior. Studying the behavior of living beings in all its diversity, ethologists go hand in hand with geneticists, ecologists, physiologists and representatives of other sciences.
For a long time it was believed that every action of an animal is a simple and unambiguous response to an external stimulus, or stimulus, be it food, a rival or a mating partner. It turned out that the situation is much more complicated. Based on a very large amount of factual material collected through observations of wild animals in natural settings and experimental studies of them in laboratories, ethologists have developed new views on the interaction of animals with the external environment.
From an almost endless spectrum of signals coming from the external environment, the animal’s sense organs and nervous system select only a few. The behavior of an animal is a complex set of reactions to these selected stimuli. Both the set of filtered, “key” stimuli that are significant for the animal, and the behavior that is built in interaction with them are not the same at different times.
Let's take a recently hatched warbler chick and place it on the ground a meter or two from the nest. The vision of an adult warbler is such that it notices a fly from a distance of 20-30 m. The bird may not see its chick, which, moreover, soon begins to squeak from hunger and open its bright yellow throat. And yet the mother will not feed it . During this period, the chicks exist for the warbler only in conjunction with the nest. The yellow open throat is a stimulus that is extremely important for the bird, but only when this throat, like a flower, grows above the edge of the nest. A chick outside the nest is, strictly speaking, it is not a stimulus at all, it will not arouse any interest in the bird, no response. But we will repeat the same experiment ten days later, when the chicks are already well fledged. Now the warbler will feed with equal eagerness not only the chicks that we leave in the nest, but also those that we take out and plant in thick grass. The bird will easily find them by their voice. The answer is that the time for the chicks to fly out is approaching and now the chick is perceived by the mother no longer in connection with the nest. The nest itself will completely lose its meaning in a few days significant incentive.
Here's another example. In wheatears, like some other birds, after building a nest, it takes up to a week and a half before the female begins to lay eggs. At the end of this intermediate period, the male is extremely excited and often performs complex mating dances in front of the female, striking in its beauty. When the female begins to incubate the clutch, the male strives for her company for several more days. At this time, you can sometimes see him performing his dance in front of birds of other species (it makes no difference whether they are males or females), or even just in front of a piece of yellow-gray clay.
Evolutionary origin of complex rituals from simple body movements. Here are elements of the behavior of drakes of four species of ducks courting their females (from top to bottom): in the white-eyed duck this movement is very simple - the male only slightly moves his head back, as all ducks do when they swim; the sea duck drake, moving its head back, throws it up; this movement becomes even more expressive in the tufted duck; finally, the red-headed duck not only throws its head back, but then lowers its head on its outstretched neck to the surface of the water.
Such facts (and there are many of them known) have prompted ethologists to think that an animal’s reaction to an external stimulus depends to a great extent on the animal’s internal mood, on its internal motivations. The simplest example of a motivational state is a feeling of hunger. If the animal is full, it will not be interested in even the most delicious food. When hungry, it begins to search for prey and does this the more persistently, the stronger its “appetite.” This is the stage of search, or appetitive, behavior, which is aimed at finding a stimulus that corresponds to a given motivational state. As soon as the desired stimulus appears, it seems to open a floodgate that was holding back the manifestation of an instinctive action (in this case, an attack on prey).
But if the necessary stimulus does not appear for a long enough time, internal motivation continues to continuously increase, and then the final act can occur in the absence of the stimulus, when some surrogate (substitute) appears. A piece of gray clay is such a surrogate for a male wheatear. Sometimes, at the highest level of motivation, the final instinctive act “splashes out into the void,” that is, it is performed without any external stimulus at all. For example, you can see how a male wheatear, left without a mate for one reason or another, runs alone along a rock and suddenly performs a full mating dance with its typical sound accompaniment.
An instinctive act is often machine-like and is carried out “to the end.” Therefore, termites, which the instinct of settlement pushes to fly out, cannot return back to the safety of the underground, even if they are doomed to death from the cold and predators. External manifestations of instinctive activity are not only machine-like, but also cyclical. So, after the next dance, the male wheatear needs some time so that the new dance can take place.
We have already said that each species of animal is characterized by strictly defined forms of instinctive actions. For example, different species of solitary wasps prepare various insects as food for their larvae. They paralyze them with a sting injection into the nerve centers and deliver them to the holes dug earlier. The Cerceris wasp preys exclusively on borer beetles, Philanthus on bees, Sphex on crickets and fillies, Ammophila on butterfly caterpillars, and Pompilus on spiders. The hunter wasp must paralyze the prey, but not kill it, otherwise the food supply will spoil before the wasp larva begins its meal. Since the anatomy of a caterpillar and a spider, a beetle and a bee is completely different, the methods of paralyzing the victim should not be the same for different species of wasps. Consequently, the instincts that underlie such complex behavior of these animals are not the same.
Particularly strict and constant are interspecies differences in the methods of signaling, with the help of which individuals of the same species communicate with each other and achieve mutual understanding. This purpose is served by sound signaling and ritual demonstrative behavior, that is, a strict sequence of certain body movements. Rituals, Ethologists call such forms of behavior that play the role of “language” and help animals of the same species communicate and understand each other. In the process of evolution, rituals develop from everyday, simple body movements.
The first task of ethologists was to describe the instinctive behavior of as many animal species as possible. Less than two decades have passed since the rapidly growing camp of adherents of the young science has collected enormous material, amazing in its diversity and amazing in content. A bright, fantastic world appeared before man, or rather hundreds and thousands of independent worlds, each of which corresponds to a specific type of animal, with its own laws of life and communication, incomprehensible to representatives of other worlds existing right there, side by side. Ethology was faced with the task of systematizing this sea of disparate and sometimes contradictory facts, establishing continuity and relationships between individual “species worlds.” So, on the basis of Darwin’s theory of evolution, arose comparative ethology, the purpose of which is to understand the evolutionary origin and development of instinctive behavior.
The territories of four pairs of robins living in the garden side by side with humans. Each male knows perfectly well the boundaries of his territory (indicated by a dotted line) and protects them with all his might from the invasion of neighbors.
If you compare the bones of the skeleton of the wing of a bird and a bat, the front leg of a frog, lizard and dog, and the fin of a whale, you can find common features in their structure and trace their evolution. It turned out that it is also possible to compare the behavior of animals of different species, if it is described carefully enough. In the rituals of related species, comparable elements can be found, such as the humerus or ulna in the skeletons of the forelimbs of the newt, hawk, and mouse. And these elements only partially change from species to species, which makes it possible, when comparing them, to restore an approximate picture of the paths of evolution of behavior. It also turned out that some forms of behavior are often much more persistently preserved during evolution than certain features of the external structure - coloring, body proportions, etc. Therefore, it is possible to use behavioral signs to clarify the relationships between species.
So, each animal species has its own, more or less complex, genetically fixed signal code. With the help of this code, mutual understanding and consistency in the behavior of individual individuals is maintained. As a result, animals of a given species, living side by side in their natural environment, are united by complex and diverse connections not only with the external environment, but also with each other. Each such natural grouping of animals represents a certain organized, self-regulating system. The methods of organization may not be the same in species that are relatively close in origin, but at the same time we often find great similarities in organization in species that are very distant. Differences in organization relate primarily to the ways in which living space is used and the forms of family relationships.
Organization of rookery for elephant seals (eared seals). The oldest and strongest males, occupying the highest levels of the hierarchical ladder, settled in the center of the rookery, where all the females and their cubs are kept. Younger and weaker, “subordinate” males and one-year-old animals lie along the edges of the rookery.
In some insects (crickets, dragonflies), in most species of birds and in a few mammals (squirrel, fox, etc.), each individual lives for a long time in a certain area, the boundaries of which he protects with all his might from other individuals of his own species. Such a protected individual area is usually called territory, and the animals that protect her - territorial. Representatives of many species of amphibians, reptiles (for example, many lizards) and mammals also adhere to their own territories, but do not defend their boundaries. In places where these unprotected habitats of individual individuals overlap each other, their owners usually passively avoid mutual encounters. Both of these methods of using living space, on the one hand, serve to reduce competition between animals of the same species for food, shelter, and mating partners. On the other hand, they favor the survival of the fittest animals. The less adapted ones are unable to retain their individual plot, they do not reproduce, and thus overpopulation is prevented.
Some species of insects (termites, social wasps and bees, ants), birds (wild chickens) and many species of mammals (seals, ungulates, monkeys) live in organized communities. Each community occupies either its own territory or habitat. In the latter case, two communities whose areas overlap each other try to avoid meeting each other during migrations.
The relationships of individuals within a community are regulated on the basis of the division of labor (for example, between castes in social insects) and a hierarchy system. The essence of the latter is that each animal knows from experience its place in the community and tries not to contradict the more “high-ranking” members of the association.
Different ways of using living space correspond to different forms of family relationships. Territorial species are usually monogamous, or monogamy(for one breeding season or for several consecutive seasons). Living in communities usually leads to polygamy. For example, most ungulates - wild goats, sheep, pigs, deer and antelope - usually form temporary harems during the breeding season, each of which is dominated by a strong male. It keeps from 2 to 20 females. After the breeding season, the harems disintegrate, all females unite into female herds, and almost all males join into male herds. Only some of the strongest males switch to a solitary lifestyle.
Now ethology is intensively developing in many countries. Soviet scientists study from an ethological perspective the behavior of cetaceans and other mammals (ungulates, rodents), as well as birds. Much attention is paid to the study of sound signaling in birds, bats, dolphins, etc. Ethology has already achieved great success in the knowledge of living nature, but there are still many secrets ahead.
KAZAKH NATIONAL
AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
ABSTRACT ON THE TOPIC:
"Ethology"
COMPLETED:
CHECKED:
Ethology - the science of animal behavior
Taxis
Instinct
Reflex
Education
Imprint
Conditioned reflex
Instrumental conditioned reflex
Trial and error method
Imitation
Insight
Thinking
Formation of animal behavior
Passive defensive reaction
Types of higher nervous activity and animal behavior
Application of the teachings of I. P. Pavlov and ethology in animal husbandry
ETOLOGY - SCIENCE
ABOUT ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
The term "ethology" comes from the Greek word "ethos" and means behavior, character. Behavior is a set of manifestations of external, mainly motor activity of an animal, necessary for the connection of the organism with the environment. Ethology as the science of biological patterns of behavior received significant development only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, but observation of animal behavior has been carried out for a long time.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is considered one of the founders of ethology, who published the work “The Expression of Emotions in Animals and Man” (1882), in which he argued that humans and animals have very similar feelings, instincts and emotions.
A significant stage in the science of behavior was the emergence at the end of the last century of a new direction - behaviorism (from the English word “behavior” - behavior). The founder of behaviorism, American psychologist E. Thorndike (1874-1949), studied the behavior of chickens, cats, dogs, and monkeys using an objective method. The animal was placed in a box, and it could emerge from it to food or to freedom by learning to open the door. Thorndike drew attention to the connection between stimulus and response as the basis of animal behavior. His followers complicated these experiments by using labyrinthine techniques. A large and interesting material has been accumulated regarding the speed of learning of various animals, the duration of retention of skills, etc. However, behaviorists, when conducting experiments, did not pay attention to the most important thing - the brain processes that arise as a result of the action of a stimulus, as a result of which the response develops. body activity.
A different approach to the study of mental phenomena is associated with a direction called Gestalt psychology. One of its founders, R. Keller (1887-1967), studied the behavior of chimpanzees under conditions in which they could learn to use “tools” (sticks, etc.) to get food that was in a cage or suspended from the ceiling. Analyzing the experiments, he came to the conclusion that chimpanzees have intelligent activity similar to that of humans. From the point of view of Gestaltists, the psyche initially has the property of forming images (Gestalts). But although they criticized the behaviorists for their mechanism, they themselves also did not try to connect their ideas with specific mechanisms of brain activity, as I. P. Pavlov did.
I.P. Pavlov and his followers studied the physiological mechanisms underlying higher nervous activity - conditioned reflexes. But at the same time, they recognized the enormous importance of a complete study of all the nervous reactions of the body that underlie the adaptive behavior of animals. Our knowledge about innate, genetic, unconditioned reflexes (instincts) is very small. Pavlov believed that instincts underlie the formation of individual acquired behavior. But any act of behavior is also a reaction to external stimuli. Consequently, all behavioral reactions are formed with the participation of genetic factors and under the influence of the external environment.
Since the end of the 19th century. scientists began to study the general behavior of animals, both innate and acquired. The first work was carried out and published in 1894 by L. Morgan, who observed the behavior of his dog. He published the generalized results of his research in the book “Habit and Instinct,” published in Russian translation in 1899.
In the 20-30s of the XX century. The so-called objectivist school developed, which focused on observation in natural conditions, outside the walls of the laboratory. Its outstanding representatives - K. Lorenz, N. Tinbergen, K. Frisch studied the instinctive behavior of animals and its development in onto- and phylogenesis. They are considered the founders of ethology.
Soviet scientists make a significant contribution to the science of animal behavior. The works of L. V. Krushinsky are devoted to the elementary rational activity of animals, the behavior of birds is devoted to A. N. Promptov; features of the behavior of mammals caused by odor signals (pheromones) are studied under the leadership of V. E. Sokolov; the works of A.D. Slonim, who studied the behavioral reactions of animals in various conditions of existence, are widely known; L. M. Baskin studies issues of behavior of ungulates; many other studies are being conducted.
In ethology, behavior is considered as the diverse interaction of an animal with its environment. As a result of observing the body, the external manifestation of its reactions is mainly established. Physiology studies the neural mechanisms of brain activity that ensure animal behavior. Ethologists, mainly zoologists, have collected numerous materials characterizing the behavior of many species of the animal world.
Application of the results of scientific research into the behavior of farm animals in animal husbandry practice can significantly increase their productivity
as a result of more appropriate, economical maintenance, feeding and breeding.
Forms of behavior. Behavior includes any type of activity exhibited by an individual. To characterize behavior, L. V. Krushinsky (1960) proposed two concepts: “unitary reaction” and “biological form of behavior.” A unitary reaction is a holistic act of behavior formed as a result of the combination (integration) of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes, the ratio of which may have some variations. This act is aimed at performing a single adaptive action, which, in different ways of its implementation, has a certain pattern. A unitary reaction is an elementary particle of behavior. Based on the integration of these behaviors, “biological forms of behavior” of animals are formed. These multi-act behaviors provide the body's basic biological needs. For example, it is common for a dog to lap up water and liquid food while standing, with its tail down. She bites hard food and chews it lying down<а, придерживая кусок передними лапами и отрывая зубами от него небольшие части.
Types of behavior are classified according to their adaptive effect. Behaviors are distinguished: sexual, parental, feeding, defensive, exploratory, dominance, etc.
At various stages of evolution, the following innate adaptive reactions can be distinguished: taxis, reflexes and instincts. Acquired forms, which are more changeable, include learning and thinking.
Taxis - the simplest form of behavior that determines the interaction of the organism with the environment in protozoa and multicellular organisms. At subsequent stages of evolution, the role of taxis sharply decreases and they are replaced by other, more advanced adaptation mechanisms. Taxis represent an orientation in relation to certain environmental factors. In the simplest case, taxis is orientation or movement, in which the organism's adaptation is a simple innate automatic response to a stimulus. In other cases, taxis may be only an element of complex behavior.
Reflex - also a type of adaptive behavior. Here it is considered as an unconditioned reflex reaction, which serves as one of the main types of adaptation in the animal world
Instinct - a higher form of innate behavior, formed throughout the history of the species. These are hereditary complexes of reactions to certain influences. Instinctive behavior, like all other forms of behavior, has a certain orientation - to always serve the goals of preserving and developing the organism under the conditions characteristic of the life of this species of animal. In higher animals it is difficult to identify innate elements in behavior and to be sure that training has not influenced behavior. For example, among cats, catching mice is considered an instinctive reaction, but often kittens must see how it is done by adult cats before they learn to catch mice. A purely unconditional reflex behavioral act can only be in the first phase; in life, and then a lot of conditioned reflexes are layered on top of it
Education - the process through which life experience influences the behavior of each individual - which allows the animal to: - develop new adaptive reactions taking into account past experience, i also modify those reactions that turned out to be maladaptive.;
There are many types of learning, ranging from the simplest modifications of innate behavior to the most complex processes inherent in human mental activity. Here are some of them.
Imprint - imprinting. The concept of imprinting was first given by K. Lorenz (1937). This phenomenon was first described in birds; it was later discovered in sheep, goats, deer, horses and other animals whose young are able to move immediately after birth (mature births). Chicks or young develop a special "attachment" to the first moving object they see and react to it as if it were their mother.
Imprinting consists of establishing a characteristic connection between an animal and an object in the external environment at a certain period of its life. This connection can manifest itself in following any moving object, approaching this object, coming into contact with it, touching, licking, making low-pitched sounds (sounds of contentment), high-pitched sounds (distress reactions). An example of this is the behavior of a newly born lamb. If at this moment you remove it from its mother and stand in front of it, and then walk, the lamb will move behind the person.
The object of imprinting during subsequent life can be other objects and phenomena, such as: especially dangerous objects, alarming sounds, etc. Imprinting is fundamentally different from a conditioned reflex, since it is remembered very quickly and the reaction to the imprinted object is preserved for a long time, it is formed at a certain “critical” period in the development of life and does not fade away (K. Lorenz, 1971). However, these differences are not absolute. Imprinting is of great importance in shaping the behavior of an animal, with important objects and
phenomena. There is no consensus in the interpretation of the mechanism of the imprinting phenomenon. Some researchers classify imprinting as one of the forms of early memory (A. G. Ponugaeva, 1973), others classify imprinting as summation reflexes - the simplest form of learning based on sensitization processes (L. G. Voronin, 1969).
One of the most studied forms of behavior is conditioned reflex , discovered and developed by I. P. Pavlov. The method of conditioned reflexes in studying animal behavior is the most fruitful and objective.
A conditioned reaction is a complex adaptive response of an animal to a specific conditioned stimulus. It occurs when, after a conditioned stimulus, an unconditioned stimulus is given. Conditioned reflex is the main form of learning*
Some foreign researchers of the school of behaviorists interpret the reflex theory of I. P. Pavlov according to the “stimulus-response” scheme, which, in essence, can be extended in a very limited way to reflex activity of the lower level. The “stimulus-response” diagram does not reflect the full complexity of the structure of even an unconditioned reflex, not to mention the arcs of a conditioned reflex, where the connection between stimulus and reaction is not constant.
Difference instrumental conditioned reflex from the so-called classical conditioned reflex is that an indifferent stimulus, for example a bell, is not reinforced with food every time, but only if the animal presses the lever. But if one day this response is executed when the bell is turned on, and it is immediately followed by food reinforcement, then the likelihood that the animal will press the lever again will increase. An example of an instrumental conditioned reflex is the process of drinking water from a drinking bowl. The animal presses the valve with its muzzle, water flows into the drinking bowl reservoir, and the cow drinks. In this reflex, cause-and-effect relationships are revealed, and the fact of unconditional reinforcement depends on the action of the animal itself.
Trial and error method - a complicated instrumental reflex, in which the problem is solved as a result of a blind search.
Imitation - one of the forms of training. Cases of imitation in animals are observed very often. Sometimes imitation occurs in the form of automatic reactions close to imprinting - the reflex of following. When loading horses into carriages, some of them resist and do not enter the carriage. But just before the eyes of such a horse, another horse is introduced, calmly entering the carriage, and after it the obstinate horse enters much more calmly. In addition to mastering useful reflexes, animals can develop various bad habits through imitation.
Types of training include insight - sudden implementation of a new reaction without preliminary trial and error. An example of insight is the use of tools by animals.
For example, chimpanzees stack boxes on top of each other or connect two sticks to reach a high-hanging banana, and use these techniques without prior training. Insight can be seen as an expression of the ability to think creatively.
Thinking - the highest form of behavior that dominates in humans. The presence of elementary rational activity has been proven in higher animals. An example would be insight. Sometimes, after a series of unsuccessful attempts and then a pause, the animal suddenly changes its tactics of behavior and solves the problem. Consequently, the animal’s brain assessed the previous attempts and made adjustments to the plan for further actions.
In higher animals, elements of rational activity exist and develop in evolutionary terms. This is proven by animals solving complex problems.
The considered forms of acquired behavior - learning and thinking - arise at the highest stages of evolution. Learning becomes dominant in mammals. Their behavior is determined by reactions that are innate and acquired as a result of learning.
Formation of animal behavior.
In horses, large and small ruminants and pigs, young animals are born so mature that they can sometimes follow the nursing female for quite long distances. Its development in natural conditions occurs in herds and herds that make significant trips across pastures every day.
Embryonic development in these animals proceeds in such a way that the newborn is provided with the opportunity to survive under appropriate living conditions. In ungulates, care for the survival of newborns is largely left to the animals themselves. However, the fact that a newborn can walk independently does not eliminate the need to monitor him and create conditions adequate for his normal development.
To organize the correct development of young animals, it is necessary to know all the needs of newborns, take into account the peculiarities of the formation of their behavior, training and acquisition of skills necessary for life. The behavior of an adult animal at any given moment, its reactions to certain stimuli, largely depend on the history of the formation of its behavior at a young age.
In females, even before birth, the hormone prolactin secreted by the pituitary gland causes maternal dominance - a manifestation of the instinct of motherhood, ensuring the rearing and protection of the offspring. Females who are outside (in a herd, flock, herd), before giving birth, move away from the herd and choose a secluded place where childbirth occurs. If the den is not prepared or the environment is very noisy, the birth may be delayed. They usually take place at night, when the room is quiet and calm. Immediately after giving birth, females become restless, often scream, sniff the newborns and begin to lick them. Licking, which lasts for a long time, sometimes for hours, massages the skin, which promotes normal blood circulation. It is believed that in the first hours after giving birth, females remember the smell and appearance of their cubs. From the very first hours after giving birth, females become aggressive towards other animals and people. The main role in protecting the cubs belongs to the mother, and when protecting the offspring, parents often show selflessness.
In the behavior of newborns, already in the first hours or even minutes after birth, a number of innate reflexes can be traced. The feeding reflex in mammals manifests itself in the form of sucking. Newborns are drawn to their mother's nipples and actively suck colostrum. At the same time, they vigorously push the udder, promoting the release of milk.
The stimulus for the appearance of the sucking reflex in calves, foals and especially in lambs is darkness when the mother stands over the calf. This darkening causes the lamb to react by lifting its muzzle upward, touching the belly fur and finding the teats.
Within a few minutes after birth, newborns begin to show wariness and fearfulness. I.P. Pavlov called this fear a primary, temporary reflex of biological caution. Fearfulness and caution usually persist longer in newborns kept in isolation than in those kept together and learning from the experience of other animals. Fear can also arise in subsequent stages of an animal’s development when the situation changes, new clothes appear on shepherds, milkmaids, etc. I. P. Pavlov wrote that when first acquainted with a new environment, it is inevitable to expect the consequences of any new irritation. Defensive behavior is formed, which is expressed by passive and active defensive reactions that protect the animal from harmful factors.
Passive defensive reaction In many animals, at the first moment it is expressed by numbness and immobility. Animals of some species quickly run away, hide and hide when there is a danger signal. Numbness and concealment are associated with complete external inhibition with the dominance of passive defensive reactions (L. Krushinsky, 1943).
With an active defensive reaction, animals change their posture. For example, bulls dig the ground with their feet, roar, put their horns forward and rush at a person or animal approaching them. Horses press their ears to their heads, bare their faces, snore, yelp, try to bite, kick with their hind legs, and sometimes hit and trample with their forelimbs.
Indicative reactions are of great importance in animal behavior. When entering a new room, the appearance of unfamiliar people, the animals establish the nature of the stimuli that can lead to the manifestation of one or another activity: defensive, food, sexual, etc. They look around, listen to the voices of other animals, people, sniff the ground, objects, sniff the odors, and in accordance with the orientation data, one or another behavior is determined. Orienting reactions occupy a special place in the behavior of young animals, in which, more often than in adults, orientation is accompanied by “curiosity” and the “what is it?” reflex. The research activity of young animals often leads to the development of new skills, which are then mastered by adults. Consequently, elements of research activity are progressive and can lead to improvements in the behavior of a given animal population.
All animals, especially at a young age, are characterized by games - a manifestation of the play instinct. The manifestation of this instinct is important for animals: by providing an outlet for excess energy, games serve as training for the body and the development of those forms of behavior that the animal does not yet possess. During the game, you can also observe young animals jumping on each other. This is also training for future mounting - the male jumping onto the female during mating. The body structure of ungulates and their “rigidity” of design limit the variety of movements.
In this regard, in horses, cows, sheep, pigs and other ungulates, it is impossible to grasp the female’s body (hug reflex) and immediately jump up (mounting).
The imitation of one animal by another plays a special role in the formation of behavior. By imitating the movements of the mother and other animals, the young animal learns to feed, move, look around, etc. As they grow up, animals improve their techniques for obtaining food and other actions necessary for life.
Ungulates, including farm animals, live in certain groups in natural conditions. The behavior of animals in large groups is determined by the law of herd hierarchy, according to which each of them occupies its own ranking place in the group. Such an organization helped the wild ancestors of animals survive in the struggle for existence. Although the conditions of modern domestic animals have changed significantly, all behavior of cattle, horses, pigs and sheep when kept in groups is also determined by the laws of the herd; A hierarchy is always established - the order of subordination of lower-level individuals to higher-level ones according to strictly defined steps (hierarchical ladder).
When forming herds and herds, at first there may be several leading animals, but then a leader emerges from them, and the establishment of subordination occurs in ranked battles. The rank of an animal depends on its strength, size, and age.
But in many cases, especially among wild animals, an individual with extensive life experience becomes the leader (leader). Knowledge of the law of herd hierarchy allows us to most rationally form herds of animals and make regroupings.
Types of higher nervous activity and animal behavior.
IP Pavlov considered the type of nervous activity as the hereditary basis of nervous activity - the genotype, a set of features of the type and changes caused by the external environment - the phenotype. Animals of each type of nervous activity are characterized by different behavioral traits, determined by upbringing in ontogenesis, the conditions in which the activity of the organism is formed.
Experiments on raising puppies in isolation have shown that passive and active defensive reactions, motor activity, anger and other indicators of behavior can be combined with various types of nervous activity.
Different upbringings do not affect the basic properties of nervous processes: strength, balance and mobility, but with isolated upbringing, passive defensive behavior manifests itself more often and more intensely, and active defensive behavior less often.
Passive defensive behavior occurs in animals with strong and weak nervous processes, but the weakness of the nervous system serves as a background more favorable for the formation of passive defensive behavior, which is enhanced by isolated upbringing.
The properties of the nervous system do not predetermine any forms of behavior, but they constitute the basis on which some forms of behavior develop more easily, others more difficult.
But in a conflict situation and in extreme conditions, animals of different types react differently to the situation, responding with a reaction characteristic of the qualities of their nervous system.
Application of the teachings of I.P. Pavlov and ethology in animal husbandry. Conditioned reflexes in animals acquire practical significance from the first day of life. For example, piglets develop conditioned reflexes to suck on one particular sow's nipple. This is due to the fact that the milk production of different teats in a pig is not the same, therefore, for successful rearing, it is advisable to place weak piglets on the milkier front teats, and stronger piglets on the rear teats; In this way, a conditioned reflex is developed to suck a specific nipple. This reflex forms very quickly.
With the help of conditioned reflexes, you can facilitate the process of raising suckling and weaned piglets. For example, piglets develop a food reflex to a conditioned stimulus - the sound of a fan. One day is enough to develop and consolidate this conditioned reflex. At the sound of the fan, the piglets get up, run up to the pen door, squeal, trying to get out and run to the sow. Feeding on a signal is quick and organized. Experienced shepherds, taking into account the ability of goats to quickly develop various conditioned reflexes, keep them in flocks of sheep as leaders. Goats develop conditioned reflexes to special verbal (sound) commands, in accordance with which the leader goats change the direction of their movement when grazing, and the sheep, which have myopia and reduced hearing, but a well-expressed herd instinct, follow them. As a result, the entire flock moves in the right direction. Shepherds also use another behavioral feature of sheep, which is that the sheep do not leave the tracked territory at night. To prevent the sheep from scattering and leaving at night, in the evening the flock is driven several times around the perimeter of the pasture area. As a result, a tracked territory is formed, beyond the boundaries of which the sheep do not enter during night grazing.
In horse breeding, all production processes: caring for horses, training and using them in work - are built on the development of numerous and varied conditioned reflexes. For example, given the ease of formation of motor conditioned reflexes in horses to sound stimuli, herd keepers use verbal orders and whistles to control the herd in the pasture. Driving horses out to pasture and driving them back is accompanied by a whistle. The rush of horses leaving the herd is associated with another signal. Conditioned reflexes to various sound signals are developed very quickly and make the herder’s work easier.
Ethology(from the Greek words ethos - character, disposition and logos - teaching) - a science that studies the biological basis of animal behavior, as well as its significance in the process of ontogenesis and phylogenesis for adaptation to the environment.
Subject Ethologies are direct acts of external activity - completed, coordinated actions of animals, connected by a certain expediency. Ethologists are interested in the embodied forms of animal behavior; unlike animal psychologists, they avoid turning to the psyche.
Ethological research is based primarily on observation of the behavior of animals in natural environmental conditions (i.e., in the so-called “wild nature”), as well as during various experiments and experiments in laboratory conditions. The results of such observations allow us to draw up the so-called "ethograms". Comparison of ethograms of animals belonging to different species allows us to get closer to understanding the evolution of their behavior. Another important problem is identifying the significance of animal behavior for the process of its adaptation to living conditions.
The first works on the study of animal behavioral reactions date back to the 18th century, when D. White And Sh.Zh. Leroy pioneered the use of a scientific approach to the study of animal behavior. The founder of the study of animal behavior is C. Darwin. With his theory of natural selection, he laid the foundation for an evolutionary view of animal behavior. In addition, Darwin made numerous observations of animal behavior, proving the evolutionary unity of humans as a biological species with other animals. He first formulated the idea of instinct, which was successfully used in classical ethology. Darwin's work in studying animal behavior was continued by his follower G. Romanee. His work “The Mental Faculties of Animals” (1882) was the first attempt to summarize the data in comparative psychology. Romanee, however, did not always critically evaluate the facts; in particular, he attributed intelligence and feelings such as jealousy to animals. His results were refuted by the work K. Morgana“Introduction to Comparative Psychology,” which later led to more careful control over the conduct of experiments and strict evaluation of the results.
The emergence of ethology as an independent science dates back to the 1930s. XX century Its origin is associated with the work of the Austrian scientist K. Lorenza and Dutch scientist N. Tinbergen. Together with your teacher O. Heinroth they founded the "Objectivist" school. Their research was based on observations in natural conditions. Mainly higher vertebrates and, to a lesser extent, invertebrates were studied. Scientists of this school formulated an idea about releasers (see 2.3, p. 34), about their significance in behavioral acts. Based on these ideas, a theory of behavior was developed. Lorenz and Tinbergen paid special attention to the study of the internal mechanisms of behavioral acts, thereby establishing a connection between ethology and physiology. The studies of Lorenz and Tinbergen were prepared by the work of American scientists Whitman And Craig and a German scientist O. Heinroth.
Lorenz and Tinbergen emphasized the special importance of studying animal behavior in natural conditions. They tried to combine functional (evolutionary) and mechanistic (causal) understandings of behavior. At the same time, Lorenz's scientific approach was distinguished by its philosophical orientation.
Along with Lorenz and Tinbergen, the German scientist is considered one of the founders of ethology as an independent science K. Frisch. His research is based on careful observations of animal behavior and is distinguished by a keen understanding of the biological functions of living organisms. The main question of Frisch's scientific research was to determine how animals obtain information about the environment. His research interests were related to the study of the behavior of honey bees and fish. Frisch's most significant contribution to the development of ethology was his work on the communication of honey bees.
In 1973, K. Lorenz, N. Tinbergen and K. Frisch were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Modern ethologists, when studying animal behavior, are guided by four questions that N. Tinbergen formulated in the article “Tasks and Methods of Ethology” (1963).
1. What are the reasons for an animal to perform a particular behavioral act?
2. How does the formation of a behavioral act occur in the process of individual development of an individual?
3. What is the significance of this behavioral act for the survival of the individual?
4. How did the evolutionary formation of this behavioral act take place?
In general, it can be noted that ethology as the science of animal behavior involves a certain range of problems that must be solved when studying each specific behavioral act. The goal of such research should not be simply recording behavioral forms, but identifying the relationships between them and events in the body and outside it. These events precede, accompany, or follow a given behavioral act.
First of all, when studying animal behavior, it is extremely important to carry out the so-called "causal analysis". The essence of such an analysis comes down to clarifying the relationships between the behavioral reactions being studied and the events that preceded them in time. Moreover, the temporal connections between these two successive events can be complex and diverse, only sometimes limited to the “cause-effect” scheme.
Causal analysis of behavior is complex and always consists of several stages. Preliminary stage is determining the place of a behavioral act in the ethological classification. Once this place has been determined, it is necessary to establish the actual connections between the conditions that preceded the behavioral act and the act itself. In the course of such an analysis, certain causal factors. Such factors can be real environmental factors, variables that connect these factors with a specific behavioral act, or the interdependence of the behavioral acts themselves. An example is the study of display postures in birds. If these postures are combined with hitting and attacking another individual of the same species, then these behavioral acts should be classified as aggressive behavior. If a similar reaction occurs in a bird when examining its reflection in the mirror, it becomes clear that the cause of behavioral acts are certain visual stimuli that need to be identified in further research. The dependence of this behavioral reaction on a certain time of year or time of day can also be established. In this case, attention should be paid to establishing internal factors of behavior. However, at the present stage of development of science, and ethology in particular, such a descriptive study of behavioral acts is not always sufficient. The optimal analysis would be carried out at all structural levels of the body. It is necessary not only to observe behavior, but also to note the functioning of receptors, effectors and the nervous system itself at a given moment. Such opportunities are provided by the physiology of higher nervous activity, comparative psychology and other sciences that are in close contact with ethology.
Another range of ethological problems is associated with analysis of the reasons for behavior. At the same time, attention is drawn to the ontogenetic aspect of the formation of a behavioral act, and the influence exerted on its formation by environmental changes is noted. From these questions arises the third circle of problems of ethology - identifying the consequences of behavioral acts. Such consequences can manifest themselves both after a short period of time and after a long period of time. Thus, immediate consequences can manifest themselves through changes in the body itself. In this case, this behavioral reaction may be repeated at a later time. In addition, the effect of a behavioral act may be remote. For example, the formation of a certain behavioral reaction in a young animal can have a significant impact on its participation in the reproduction process in the distant future. Thus, individuals with “incorrect” sexual imprinting often cannot find a sexual partner and, therefore, “drop out” from the reproduction process. Individual differences in behavioral reactions open up wide opportunities for natural selection.
8.2. Ethology at the present stage of development
In the modern understanding, ethology is the science of animal behavior. All ethologists are unanimous in their views on what range of problems this science should cover. It is believed that the whole variety of ethological problems can be reduced to four main questions, which were identified by N. Tinbergen. However, if there is unity among ethologists on the questions themselves, lively discussions flare up about specific ways to find answers to these questions.
So, according to a number of ethologists, to the subject Ethology can only include those observations of animal behavior that were made in their natural environment, that is, in the wild. Other scientists recognize the right to exist as a special branch of ethology - anthropogenic ethology. This area includes observations of animals that are not carried out in natural conditions, but in places where human activity occurs.
The next point of view on the subject of ethology and methods of obtaining knowledge within the framework of this science is experimental zoopsychology. Its arsenal includes methods such as modeling of various behavioral situations that do not occur in the natural habitat of a given animal, laboratory research and experiments. Monitoring the results obtained and their statistical processing are very important. Adherents of the classical direction of ethology do not recognize experimental zoopsychology as part of ethology.
According to the fourth point of view, animal psychology is a holistic science that includes ethology (observation of animals in natural conditions), experimental psychology (experiments on modeling various behavioral situations), as well as physiology (morphological and functional studies of the brain). At the same time, in no case should all these branches of zoopsychology be considered as separate parts, much less opposed to each other. They complement information provided by another industry. For example, it is very important to consider ethological data in conjunction with observations obtained from physiology. This will help to trace not only the behavioral act itself, but also to identify its causes, the mechanisms that underlie it, organize and systematize the facts, and make the results of observations more visual.
Ethology at the present stage of development includes many hypotheses and theories. Recently, they have been intensively developing communicative And sociobiological concepts in ethology. Sociobiology how science is often opposed to ethology itself. Supporters of such ideas believe that the range of problems of ethology includes the study of only the biological aspects of the behavioral reactions of animals, while sociobiology studies the problems of social connections of animals and behavioral ethology. In this case, ethology is exclusively theoretical, “contemplative”, it is a unique system of philosophical concepts that is explanatory in nature. Sociobiology is considered as a “computational” direction associated with the analysis of behavioral reactions at the level of mechanisms; it is a more exact science than ethology. However, sociobiology cannot be opposed to ethology, because when studying a number of behavioral forms it is difficult to divide behavior into “ethological” and “sociobiological” aspects.
In this regard, some authors highlight the so-called “non-linguistic” hypothesis of behavior. This hypothesis is based on the idea of the equivalence of the ways animals respond to various stimuli. In this case, the same nature of the reaction will serve as a way to establish social connections. At the same time, the concept of forming an equivalent class is introduced - responding to different stimuli in the same way (it is assumed that these stimuli belong to the same class. In this case, a kind of unification of sensory keys occurs, which serve for individual recognition of individuals and situations. Such equivalence of stimuli will help describe the formation of abstract ideas in animals, such as sameness, symmetry, transitivity or equivalence. Abstract representations can be used by animals in a variety of social and communicative relationships, for example, in danger signals, competition for territory, hierarchical relationships in groups, kinship or friendly interactions. Experience accumulated by ethology in at the present stage of development, suggests the possibility of forming abstract images in animals based on generalization of the properties of different objects.However, reliable data on this issue is still insufficient.
Widespread in modern ethology comparative approach to the study of animal behavioral reactions. Most often, interspecific differences in forms of behavior are considered. The extensive material accumulated to date on the behavior of animals belonging to various systematic groups is being clarified and processed statistically. The comparative approach allows us to identify types and forms of behavior that are common to representatives of different systematic groups, to determine differences in their behavior, i.e. to highlight independent behavioral variables. In addition, on the basis of comparative analysis, hypotheses of the evolutionary formation of behavioral forms can be put forward, clarified and tested.
The comparative approach also has its own characteristics that must be taken into account when applying it. First of all, it is very difficult to isolate data on the behavior of animals at different levels of historical development. Some abilities of animals at a high level of evolutionary development may look simple in comparison with similar properties of more primitive animals. In addition, it is extremely important to pay special attention to intraspecific variability in the behavior of animals of the same species. The level of development of any form of behavior in an individual of one evolutionary level may exceed the development of the same ability in a specific individual of a higher level.
It should also be taken into account that the similarity in the behavior of animals belonging to different species may be associated with the emergence of parallel evolutionary adaptation and be based on completely different reasons. That is why, in order to conduct a deep analysis of the similarities and differences in behavioral forms, one must begin with the study of the behavioral acts of closely related species, and then move on to more distant species. In this case, the main methods will be generalization And comparison.
As an example of the problems of comparative ethology, we can consider the problem of establishing the hierarchical status of animals according to the degree of development of their intellectual abilities. In this case, the difficulty lies primarily in finding ways to adequately assessing the animal's intelligence capabilities. Classifications based on approximate assessments, without the development of special assessment methods, can be erroneous and subjective. However, a number of experimental methods have been developed for assessing the mental abilities of animals, for example, determining the level of intelligence development when solving experimentally posed learning tasks. The animal is asked to solve a learning task, and scientists determine differences in the mental activity of animals and in decision-making strategies. It is important to take into account both the characteristics of an animal’s habitat in natural conditions and the behavioral skills that an individual possesses. At the same time, by solving additional problems of choosing a general rule from a set of various stimuli, the accuracy of experimental conclusions can be increased by an order of magnitude. As an example of the application of this approach to assessing the intellectual abilities of animals of different species, we can cite the results of experiments on birds - crows and pigeons. As a result of experiments, it was revealed that if pigeons remember the solution when solving problems, then crows are able to learn the general rule for solving. Thus, according to this assessment approach, crows are superior to pigeons in mental abilities.
Another problem of comparative ethology is the selection of tasks for animals that would be adequate for many species, and, in addition, would be comparable with each other.
Modern theoretical ethology pays great attention to the problem of studying the cognitive abilities of animals. Cognitive approach allows you to interpret specific behavioral acts and contributes to the creation of new theories of behavior. Within the framework of this approach, the results of sociological, psychological, cybernetic, linguistic and philosophical studies of thinking are integrated. In general, the cognitive approach is completely developed within the framework of human psychology, but it can also be used to study animal behavior, i.e. in ethology. However, in this case a number of problems arise.
Analyzing animal behavior from the perspective of any model of the cognitive process is very complex. Thus, it is extremely difficult to correctly prove the use of deduction or induction by animals as methods of reasoning in solving a problem. The proof of a similar method of reasoning is simpler, but the model of the cognitive process inevitably simplifies. The use of semantic and syntactic models is even more unrealistic because they are very far from the forms of animal contact. The concept of thinking as the manipulation of models of the external environment can be used as the basis of the cognitive approach in ethology.
The cognitive approach involves studying the ontogenetic aspect of learning in animals. Introduction of mechanism of cognitive development. These are various mental processes that improve the developing organism’s ability to process information. Several types of such mechanisms of cognitive development have been identified. All of them are manifested in the cognitive activity of both animals and humans. According to psychologists, cognitive development is based on neural mechanisms such as associative competition, coding, analogies, and choice of behavioral strategy. However, for animals the existence of such mechanisms has not been conclusively proven.
For ethology, the theory is of great importance, according to which a constant characteristic of any neural mechanism is the competitive interaction between psychological and physiological processes that occur in the animal’s body. This interaction allows behavior to be changeable, capable of adapting to changing environmental conditions. In addition, due to the competition of these processes in the body, there is a constant selection of the most effective mechanisms of cognitive learning in a given environment.
In modern ethology there are three main concepts, each of which has its supporters. The most popular of them is behaviorism concept. The theoretical basis of behaviorism is scientific positivism, while the behavior of animals within the framework of the behaviorist concept is studied using objective methods. Scientific experiments are built on the basis of scientific positivism, and explanations of behavioral acts are also built accordingly. Internal variables are introduced into the explanations, with the help of which a connection is established between the reaction and the stimulus that causes it.
The second trend common in modern ethology is functionalism. Functionalism involves the study of the activity and structure of an organism from a biological as well as phylogenetic point of view. At the same time, it is believed that knowledge about its structure is quite sufficient to predict the behavior of an animal. Behavior is viewed as adaptive in nature; structures and functions may change throughout the individual's life.
The third concept, which is the opposite of the first two, is cognitive psychology. It studies the diverse processes of information processing, while internal processing of external information is allowed. Methods of demonstrating the structures of consciousness that cognitive psychology uses are often not accepted by ethologists, since these methods are more applicable to research and description of human behavior.
All these trends complement each other; they have no fundamental differences, but affect only methodological methods of description.
The material substrate of ethology is data from functional anatomy, physiology, endocrinology and other branches of the natural sciences. All this data is extremely important for the analysis and prediction of many forms of animal and human behavior. Ethology at the present stage of development has neurobiological basis. The study of the nervous system is extremely important for explaining the results of observations of animals under natural or experimental conditions. There is a direct relationship between the behavior of an animal and the development of its nervous system. The higher the animal’s level of development, the more complex the ways in which it interacts with the outside world and the more complex its nervous system is.
Neurobiology includes many biological disciplines: physiology and psychology of humans and animals, embryology, anatomy, genetics, molecular biology, cytology, biophysics and biochemistry. Neurobiology examines the issue of control by the nervous system of all life processes of an animal. It includes molecular neurobiology, neurochemistry, neurogenetics and neuroembryology. All these branches of neurobiology collect information about the mechanisms and location of information storage in the nervous system, its origin and properties.
Modern ethology works closely with such biological branches as the physiology of higher nervous activity, biochemistry and biophysics. These sciences supplement ethology with knowledge about what laws the nervous system operates during the performance of behavioral acts, what patterns underlie them. Often in close collaboration with ethology and neurobiology are evolutionary morphology and anthropology. Anthropology allows us to consider the evolutionary development of the human brain, and evolutionary morphology involves the study of the evolutionary development and formation of the nervous system of animals, from protozoa to humans.
The boundaries of neurobiology are unclear, but it is possible to accurately determine the common material substrate of all branches of knowledge that are part of it. This substrate is the functional morphology of the nervous system. When studying any processes at the molecular, biochemical or physiological level, it is important, as a structural basis, to pay attention to the organization of the central and peripheral nervous system at all levels of its organization: anatomical, histological and cytological. However, we should not forget that if, when studying the behavioral acts of animals, we do not consider the structure of the nervous system in general, then the reasons for these behavioral forms will remain unexplained. Thus, neurobiology is not only the basis of modern ethology, but also an independent subject.