Animal Behavior

Posted by Regina Brand on August 28th, 2018

To carry out this experiment we will need two blackcap sparrows; one will have its parents while the other will not have its parents. Both should be in their natural habitats. The one with its parents will serve as a control element for the experiment. These birds need to be observed throughout the year to take note of their behavior in different seasons. They also should be observed from the moment of their birth. That is, the birds for the experiment should be young blackcap sparrows. It is needed to observe whether all birds will migrate or only one of them will and which one.

        It is expected that both blackcap sparrows under experiment will migrate when the time comes. This will show that blackcap sparrows learn to migrate to Britain or Africa during winter naturally but not through being taught by their parents. This will affirm that animals behave the way they do because of their nature, not because of the physical factors. Most of the animals’ behavior results from adaptation to their environment but not from reason.

       Animal behavior is not only dictated by genes, but also by environmental progress and evolution. Animals adapt to environmental changes, which enables them to survive in the changing environment. Such behavior is scientifically known as evolution. Animals end up changing their structural features in order to fit in the new environment after environmental changes. Such a mutation can be either helpful or very damaging. The mutation is valuable in circumstances, which occur as a result of changes in the environment. For example, there is an increase in bullfrogs and a reduction in banana slugs. Under such conditions, the garter snakes will have an added advantage since they will easily get enough food. Eventually, due to the environmental changes, the garter snakes will tend to evolve going through phases of mutation, which will enable them to feed properly in the new environment. On the other hand, such a mutation would be dangerous leading to an extinction of garter snakes because there can also be a mutation of the banana slug that can turn out to be poisonous for the garter snakes. If as a result of climatic changes there was an increase in banana slugs, yet they were poisonous to the garter snakes, this mutation would turn out to be very dangerous. This would lead to the death of all garter snakes with mutant gene of scent receptors. Through evolution, the garter snakes would adapt against this gene to enhance their survival. This would lead to the loss of the mutant gene forever.

The two scenarios above prove that animals’ behavior is natural since it can be rather explained by innate instincts but not by reason. Consequently, animals adapt to the environment, and this adaptation leads to certain behavior. Such behavior may be common for a particular kind of animal from its early days or may develop with the changing environmental factors. Therefore, animals behave through natural instincts and in response to changes in their environment to enhance their survival. They do not need to learn to behave in certain ways; they naturally create specific ways of behavior in order to fit in the environment.

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