Animal Behaviour

Behaviour is how an organism responds to things going on in its environment- helping it to survive

Behaviour can either be inherited or learned, but most behaviour relies on a combination of the two

Both your genes and your environment play a part in influencing your behaviour and it's sometimes hard to decide what is inherited and what is learned.

Inherited behaviour is known as innate behaviour. Animals can respond in the right way to a stimulus straight away, even though they've never done it before eg-newborn mammals have an instinct to suckle from their mothers. Innate behaviour caan be simple reflex, or a complicated behaviouor, like a courtship ritual.

Reflex actions are simple inherited behaviours, where a stimulus prodces a fairly simple respnse, like sneezing, salivation, and blinking. They often protect us from dangerous stimuli. Reflex…