BiologyAdvanced15 min read

Behaviour

Innate and learned behaviour, and why behaviour aids survival

This topic appears in:

2nd Year Biology · ch.16

Practise the full question bank:

2nd Year Biology — MCQs & exam Qs
01

What behaviour is for

Behaviour is how an animal responds to stimuli from inside or outside its body. Well-adapted behaviour helps an animal survive and reproduce — finding food, avoiding danger, attracting a mate, caring for young. Behaviour falls into two broad kinds: innate (inborn) and learned (developed through experience).

02

Innate behaviour

Innate behaviour is inherited and present from birth, needing no learning — it is performed the same way by all members of a species. Simple examples are reflexes (an automatic response, like a newborn gripping) and instincts — more complex inborn behaviours such as a spider spinning its web or birds migrating. Innate behaviour is reliable and immediate, which is vital for animals with short lives or little parental care.

03

Learned behaviour

Learned behaviour develops and changes through experience, letting an animal adapt to its own surroundings. Types include habituation (learning to ignore a harmless, repeated stimulus), conditioning (linking a response to a new stimulus, as in Pavlov's dogs), imprinting (a young animal bonding to the first moving thing it sees), and trial-and-error learning.

InnateLearned
Origininherited, present from birthdevelops from experience
Varies between individuals?no — same in allyes
Examplesreflexes, instinctsconditioning, imprinting, trial-and-error
04

A worked example

Worked example

A newborn baby grips a finger placed in its palm; a dog learns to sit when told. Classify each behaviour and justify it.

  1. The baby's grip is present from birth and automatic.No learning is involved.
  2. So it is an innate reflex.Innate behaviour is inborn and the same in all individuals.
  3. The dog only sits on command after training.The behaviour developed through experience.
  4. So it is learned behaviour (conditioning).Learned behaviour changes with experience.

The baby's grip is innate (an inborn reflex); the dog sitting on command is learned behaviour (conditioning).

05

Social behaviour and communication

Many animals live and work in groups — herds, flocks, shoals, colonies — because there is safety in numbers, better defence, cooperative hunting and easier mate-finding. Group living depends on communication: signals passed by sound (bird song, alarm calls), sight (displays, colours), chemicals (scent, the 'dances' and pheromones of bees and ants) and touch. Social insects like bees and ants show this at its most organised, with different members doing different jobs for the colony.

06

Rhythms and survival behaviour

Much behaviour is timed to the environment. Daily (circadian) rhythms set sleeping and feeding to the day–night cycle, and seasonal rhythms drive behaviours that aid survival through hard times: migration (travelling to a better climate or feeding ground), hibernation (a deep winter dormancy that saves energy when food is scarce), and seasonal breeding timed so young are born when food is plentiful. These behaviours have clear survival value, which is why they evolved.

Behaviour has survival value

Whether innate or learned, behaviour persists because it helps animals survive and reproduce — grouping for safety, communicating to coordinate, migrating or hibernating to escape hard seasons.

Practice questions

4 questions · 15 marks · full working on every one

Try each one on paper first, then open the working. The marks are shown where they are actually awarded, because that is where they are actually lost.

Short questions

2 · 4 marks

Two marks each, in the style of the short-question section of the paper. Answer in two or three lines.

SQ1[2 marks]
State two differences between innate and learned behaviour.
Model answer

Innate behaviour is inherited and present from birth and is the same in all members of the species; learned behaviour develops through experience and varies between individuals.

Examiner tip. Compare their origin and whether they vary between individuals.

SQ2[2 marks]
Explain why many animals communicate, giving one example of a communication method.
Model answer

Communication lets animals coordinate behaviour — warning of danger, attracting a mate, or organising a group. For example, birds use alarm calls (sound) to warn others of a predator (or bees 'dance' to show where food is).

Examiner tip. Give a reason plus a concrete signal example.

Long questions

2 · 11 marks

Theory and numerical together, as they appear in the long-question section.

LQ1[6 marks]
Animal behaviour can be innate or learned.
  1. Define innate behaviour and give an example. [2]
  2. Describe two types of learned behaviour, with an example of each. [4]
Mark scheme
  1. Innate behaviour is inherited and present from birth, needing no learning[1]
  2. e.g. a reflex or an instinct such as web-spinning[1]
  3. Conditioning — linking a response to a new stimulus[1]
  4. e.g. Pavlov's dogs salivating at a bell[1]
  5. Imprinting — a young animal bonding to the first moving object it sees[1]
  6. e.g. a duckling following its mother (or habituation / trial-and-error with an example)[1]

Innate = inborn, no learning (e.g. reflex/instinct); learned examples: conditioning (Pavlov's dogs) and imprinting (ducklings).

Examiner tip. Give the type AND a named example for each learned behaviour.

LQ2[5 marks]
Animal behaviour has survival value.
  1. State two advantages of group living. [2]
  2. Explain how migration and hibernation each help an animal survive difficult conditions. [3]
Mark scheme
  1. Safety in numbers / better defence against predators[1]
  2. cooperative hunting or easier mate-finding[1]
  3. Migration takes the animal to a better climate or feeding ground[1]
  4. so it avoids the harsh season and finds food[1]
  5. Hibernation lowers metabolism to save energy when food is scarce in winter[1]

Group living: safety and cooperation; migration escapes to food/better climate; hibernation saves energy through scarce winters.

Examiner tip. Always tie a behaviour back to survival or reproduction.