Week 5 Post 3

Looking further into the development process of animals and animal behavior has really opened my eyes to how similar we are to other animals, especially as children. But also, how inferior we are tot other species. Human babies have no capability of walking or communicating or even moving to hold things for quite a fwe weeks, while many animals can run and eat within a few hours if not less. \

Is there an environmental factor to why human babies are as fragile as they are?  Were they different in the far past?? When everything wasn't as easily available and humans weren't as safe?

Week 5 Post 2

Animal Behavioral Development


Behavioral development is a result of many factors that affect individuals at different life stages, an interlacing of multiple factors is usually most important. Some behavioral developments show hereditary traits, being similar among generations, but generally, animal behavior is a result of nature and nurture; the environment in which the individual was raised as well as its genes.  Gene-environment effects are an individual's genotypes developing under certain conditions. Determining these genetic effects can be very difficult.  Similar genotypes can, and commonly do, grow in similar environmental conditions.  In twins and siblings, their closely related genetics and common early environment means either could be the source of their similarities.
When an individual performs complex actions without any apparent direct benefit or playing, it actually is a form of learning. There is different forms of play: object play, locomotor play, and social play.  Object play, playing with objects, allows animals to practice foraging, catching, and holding. Locomotor play helps develop motor skills by moving and running in a playful manner. And social play develops social skills, usually through play fighting.


Human children do the same as they grow up; playing with toys and people, as well as beginning to move and walk. The way we learn and develop can be studied more through the way other mammals learn and grow in different environments, and maybe even give us insight into how we are doing better or worse.

Week 5 Post 1

Behavioural Development

• Many factors that affect individuals at different life stages
• Multiple factors can layer together
• Some behaviors show hereditary traits
• Generally, animal behavior is a result of nature and nurture
• Combination of the environment and genetics
• Gene-environment effects: 
• An individual's genotypes developing under certain conditions
• Determining genetic effects => difficult
• Similar genotypes grow in similar environmental conditions
• Twins/Siblings
• they are genetically closely related, but they also share their early environment, and either could be the source of their similarities
• When an individual performs complex actions without any apparent direct benefit
• There is different forms of play: object play, locomotor play, and social play
• Object play: allows animals to practice foraging, catching, holding
• Locomotor play: develop motor skills
• Social play: develop social skills

Week 4 Post 3

I was not as surprised about the use of animal behavior in human research topics as I was about the role of evolution in animal behavior studying, but I do believe it is not well known enough the role animal behavior takes in human life. Animal behavior is used in so many topics of human life, I feel that everyone can relate to it in some way or another, direct or indirect.

How does animal behavior relate or take a part in more technology based subjects? Like computer science or engineering?

Week 4 Post 2

Applications of Animal Behavior

Animals are considered a fundamental part of the world. Their behavior explains why and how animals act in response to their environment. Humans are animals so research on behavior has broad application to our lives, especially because we interact with other species the same way animals do. There are multiple reasons to study behavior. Animal behavior is its use in biology; it is integrated into biology as a whole.  In biology behavioral research is used to ask both broad and scientific questions about diverse animal groups. It is also relevant to other fields on vastly different scales, from ecology and evolutionary biology to immunology, physiology, and neuroscience.

We are animals, so we can often use animal behavior to understand ourselves, not only animals. Fields such as psychology, sociology, economics, and anthropology all use animal behavior research in some way. Some obvious applications for animal behavior relate to production animals, animals used for food or resources (ex. a cow for milk and meat).  Understanding how these production species behave allows us to get the most out of them while keeping their welfare good.  

Caught fish account for around 17% of global animal protein intake. Understanding how fish behave is crucial to ensuring these important food sources remain stable (so overfishing does not occur). Understanding the behavior of animals that carry diseases can help us predict how the disease will spread and develop strategies to contain it, thus relating back to us as humans who could potentially get that disease.  More commonly, understanding companion animal behavior (dogs, cats, birds, etc.) can help them interact safely with other species and other humans.

Throughout this topic, it was made very evident that animal behavior research and studies are used profoundly in the study of many human topics.  There is a direct relation between human behavior and animal behavior.

Week 4 Post 1

Applications of Animal Behavior

• Animals are a fundamental part of the world
• Behavior explains why and how animals act in response to their environment
• Humans are animals so research on behavior has broad application to our lives
• Reasons to study behavior:
• Integrated into biology as a whole
• Relevant to fields on vastly different scales, from ecology and evolutionary biology, to immunology, physiology, and neuroscience
• We are animals, we can often use animal behavior to understand ourselves
• Fields such as psychology, sociology, economics, and anthropology
• Some obvious applications for animal behavior relate to production animals
• Understanding how these species behave allows us to get the most out of them while keeping their welfare as good as possible
• Caught fish account for around 17% of global animal protein intake
• Understanding how fish behave is crucial to ensuring these important food sources remain stable
• Understanding the behavior of animals that carry diseases 
• We can predict how the disease will spread and develop strategies to contain it
• Understanding companion animal behavior
• Help them interact safely

Week 3 Post 3

I never read anything about evolution relating to animal behavior during my preliminary research, and it actually makes a lot of sense. I was surprised to learn that the traits that an animal acquires over time due to different forms of evolution, random or not, affects the way they interact with each other as well as their environment.

I am curious to know whether evolution can affect cognition or communication?

Week 3 Post 2

Evolution and Natural Selection

There are over 67,000 vertebrate species and 1.3 million invertebrate species.

Evolution is the central concept that unifies all of biology.  It is crucial to understanding animal behavior. Biological Evolution is the idea that all life on Earth shares one common ancestor. Descent with modification is the way individuals pass on their traits to their offspring and those traits change over time. It can be monitored from generation to generation by changes in gene frequency (Genes are the main way traits are passed along) to help us better understand the evolutions. Phylogeny is the evolutionary relationships across species, for example, how dogs and cats are evolutionarily related.

Three main processes by which descent with modification occurs are a mutation, genetic drift, and natural selection. Mutation is random and occurs when genetic material is improperly copied or damaged. Some mutations are beneficial (creates new traits or modifies them). Genetic drift is also random. Populations get unlucky or lucky with the traits a specific individual's traits, especially in smaller populations. The individual is usually the most active male or female. Lastly, Natural Selection is one process by which evolution occurs, and is not random. It is basically adaptation. Populations slowly change to better suit their environment through the less effective traits dying off.

Understanding the behavior of animals requires an understanding of how they interact with their animals. And the way they interact with their environment is dependent on their traits and evolution as a species.

Week 3 Post 1

The Start of The Course; Kick-Off Assignment, and Formatting

This week I started the Animal Behavior Course with edX, and I am enjoying the topics and format of the class very much. The class is self-paced which is great, and there are lots of videos along with interactive assignments.

The first assignment given by the course was to go for a walk and observe all animal life, including humans. The responses are written in a discussion forum.
My response:

After every video, there are one or two multiple choice questions.

Some facts from the first video/topic:

• Evolution unifies all biology
• Helps understand animal behavior
• Biological evolution - descent with modification
• Assumes all living things have a common ancestor
• More than 67,000 vertebrate species, and over 1.3 million invertebrate species have been discovered since humans started recording them
• Phylogeny - evolutionary relationships
• Three main processes of modification: mutation, genetic drift, and natural selection.
• Mutation - randomly occurs
• Genetic Drift - random
• Natural selection - not random

Week 2 Post 3

The research I did on animal migration was very interesting in my opinion.  I had no idea migration had anything to do with animal behavior and no idea how many different kinds of animals actually migrate.  This research changed my view of migration as a whole, as well as animal behavior. I'm starting to realize how diverse animal behavior truly is, and how many topics fall under it. i may need to consider this as I choose my main theme or idea, so that I can focus more closely on one topic.

If we were to introduce a domesticated animal, like a small bird from a pet store, to it's wild species who migrates, would it be able to migrate along with them even though it had been produced commercially and had no access to wild animals at all?  Simply, could a domesticated version of a species still carry the natural instinct of migration?

Week 2 Post 2

Animal Behavior: Migrations

An animal migration is simply the movement of large groups of members of a single species from one place to another; not necessarily during a certain season.  Many kinds of animals migrate; birds, insects, ocean dwellers, amphibians, mammals, etc.  In her article "Animal Migration", Silke Nebel mentions that animals migrate because of instinct evolved from changes in resource availability due to the current season and/or location over many years. When animals prepare for migration, they either eat a lot beforehand or eat and forage during the journey. The animals’ body weight and organ size may also differ before and after the migration.  During the migration itself, animals may use landmarks, the sky, or even magnetic cues to navigate. Migration is triggered most commonly by the length of days (how many hours the sun lights the sky) and the reproductive cycle.  Animal migrations are commonly studied using banding, radar, and tracking devices.  Bird banding involves placing aluminum bands on the legs of migratory birds and having people who encounter the birds on their way and at their destination send back data. Today’s radars are powerful and advanced enough to plot the location, speed, and wing beat rate of birds and bats. Sonar radars can detect groups of fish migrating as well.  Tracking devices work the same way as banding, except they are more technology based and send migratory data back automatically.

The article "Animal Migration" showed a relationship between evolutionary animal behavior and the timing of migrations. The article also displayed a connection between an animal's behavior and whether it eats before a migration or not, which is important because it affects the health of the animal overall; if it does eat before it will store a lot of fat, if it doesn't its organs will change accordingly.

Week 2 post 1

An Introduction to Animal Migration

For this week's preliminary research, I decided to focus on the migration of animals.  Right away, I learned that not only mammals and birds migrate, which was what I previously thought. 

Table 1. Guinness records held by animal migrants
Smallest migrant	1–2 mm long	Zooplankton (crab larvae, copepods, etc.)
Largest migrant	24–27 m long	Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
Longest mammal migration	Up to 8,500 km each way	Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Longest insect migration	Up to 4,750 km in the autumn	Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Longest recorded round-trip	80,000 km	Artic tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Highest migration altitude	9,000 asl	Bar-headed goose (Anser indicus)
Source: Hoare 2009, Egevang et al. 2010

Some facts I learned about animal migration are:

• The longest insect migration is performed by the monarch butterfly
• Animals migrate for more food or breeding
• Some salmon go to the ocean for food then come back upstream for breeding
• Migrants either eat before or after the migration
• Animals' bodies change accordingly
• Humans have known of animal migration from the Stone Age