Animal Behavioural Adaptations

Learning Intention•I can explain the survival value of behaviour adaptations in animals.

Success Criteria •Carry out a practical to explain why penguins huddle together as an example of behavioural adaptation.

• Animals have certain adaptations to allow them to survive in the wild.

• You don’t wear shorts and bathing suits if its snowing outside! What would you wear?

• If you were having a snowball fight what would you do?

• What you wear and the way you behave are all adaptations.

• There are 2 types of adaptations.

Behavioural Adaptations

• These allow animals to respond to life needs.

• Behavioural adaptations can be INNATE (Instinctive, inborn).• These happen naturally and don’t

have to be learned. • They can also be LEARNED and these

must be taught.

Innate Behaviour - definition

When a behaviour is essentially the same in all members of a species, the behaviour is call innate or inborn behaviour.

It is genetically controlled.

Here is a few examples of innate animal behaviours

BehaviourActivity performed in response to stimulus

Innate BehavioursBehaviours that are essentially the same in all members of a species

Rhythmic behavioursEg. Eating, sleeping, seasonal migration

Communication behaviours

Reproductive behaviours

Competitive behavioursDominance behaviours

Territoriality Social interactions

What adaptations can you observe in this clip?Which are similar to human behaviour?

How is it that the penguins know exactly where to go to breed and when to meet up?

You can identify behaviour and anatomical adaptations.http://www.flickclip.com/flicks/marchofthepenguins.htm

Temperature at start 0C

Temperature at end 0C

Total temperatureChange 0C

Single penguin

Huddled penguin

Controlling body temperature

Volume : Surface area ratio = 1:6

Volume : Surface area ratio = 1:24

The bigger the Volume : Surface Area

ratio is, the faster heat will be

lost.

Why don’t penguins feet freeze?

Penguins keep their eggs on their feet to stop the egg from freezing but why don’t their feet freeze?

Here’s the simple part…They avoid their feet getting too cold by hunching down so that their belly feathers cover their feet.

They also rock back onto their heels and tail to lift their feet off the ice.

Really interestingly they have a kind of heat exchanger to regulate their foot temperature; blood vessels which flow away from the feet are close to vessels running towards the feet, so just the right amount of heat can be transferred between them to keep the feet from freezing.

If their feet were too warm, they would waste lots of energy. If they get too cold, the amount of warm blood flowing to the feet can also be increased by widening the diameter of the arteries running to the feet. This is called vaso-dilation.