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Bird's nest in grass. Nesting behavior is an instinct in animals during reproduction where they prepare a place with optimal conditions to nurture their offspring. [1] The nesting place provides protection against predators and competitors that mean to exploit or kill offspring. [2] It also provides protection against the physical environment. [1]
Another example of a behavior that has been described as a fixed action pattern is the egg-retrieval behavior of the greylag goose, reported in classic studies by Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz. [5] Like many ground-nesting birds, if an egg becomes displaced from the nest, the greylag rolls it back to the nest with its beak.
Nest architecture may be as useful for distinguishing species as the animals' physical appearance. Species identified through such means are called ethospecies. This is especially common in wasps and termites, but also can apply to birds. In most animals, there is some variation in nest construction between individuals.
Nest building is habitual behaviour, [14] and nest-counts and faecal analysis at each nest site can be used to estimate hominid ape population counts and composition. [15] In the case of orangutans and chimpanzees, social influences are probably essential for the animals to develop successful nesting-behaviour.
[1] [2] For example, infanticide may be a normal behaviour and regularly observed in one species, however, in another species it might be normal but becomes 'abnormal' if it reaches a high frequency, or in another species it is rarely observed, and any incidence is considered 'abnormal'.
The division of labor has to adjust itself to the resources available from foraging. While the division of labor in a bee colony is quite complex, the work can be roughly seen as work inside the hive and outside the hive. Younger bees play a role inside the hive while older bees play a role outside the hive mostly as foragers.
In animal behavior, the term "imprinting" refers to a special type of learning. Exact definitions of imprinting vary, but important aspects of the process include the following: (1) the learning occurs during a particular, critical period, usually early in the life of the animal; (2) the effects last a long time; and (3) the effects cannot be ...
Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. [1] For example, when a mother wasp stays near her larvae in the nest, parasites are less likely to eat the larvae. [2]