| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Agonistic Behavior | A type of behavior involving a contest of some kind that determines which competitor gains access to some resource, such as food or mates |
| Altruism | Behavior that reduces an individuals fitness while increasing the fitness of another individual |
| Associative Learning | The acquired ability to associate one stimulus with another; also called classical conditioning |
| Behavior | What an animal does and how it does it |
| Behavioral Ecology | A heutistic approach based on the expectation that Darwinian fitness (reproductive success) is improved by optimal behavior |
| Classical Conditioning | A type of associative learning; the association of a normally irrelevant stimulus with a fixed behavioral response |
| Cognition | The ability of an animal's nervous system to perceive, store, process, and use information obtained by its sensory receptors |
| Cognitive Ethology | The scientific study of cognition; the study of the connection between data processing by nervous systems and animal behavior |
| Courtship | Behavior patterns that lead up to copulation or gamete release |
| Dominance Hierarchy | A linear "pecking order" of animals, where position dictates characteristic social behaviors |
| Ethology | The study of animal behavior in natural conditions |
| Fixed Action Pattern (FAP) | A protein hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary that stimulates the production of eggs by the ovaries and sperm by the testes |
| Foraging | Behavior necessary to recognize, search for, capture, and consume food |
| Habituation | a very simple type of learning that involves a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information |
| Imprinting | A type of learned behavior with a significant innate component, acquired during a limited critical period |
| Kin Selection | A phenomenon of inclusive fitness, used to explain altruistic behavior between related individuals |
| Kinesis | A change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus |
| Learning | A behavioral change resulting from experience |
| Monogamous | A type of relationship in which one male mates with just one female |
| Operant Conditioning | A type of associative learning in which an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or punishment and then tends to repeat or aviod that behavior. Also called trial-and-error learning |
| Parental Investment | The time and resources an individual must spend to produce and nurture offspring |
| Pheromone | A small, volatile chemical signal that functions in communication between animals and acts much like a hormone in influencing physiology and behavior |
| Play | Behavior with no apparent external goal but involves movements closely associated with goal directed behaviors |
| Polyandry | A polygamous mating system involving one female and many males |
| Polygamous | A type of relationship in which an individual of one sex mates with several of the other |
| Polygyny | A polygamous mating system involving one male and many females |
| Promiscuous | A type of relationship in which mating occurs with no strong pair-bonds or lasting relationships |
| Reciprocal Altruism | Altruistic behavior between unrelated individuals, whereby the current altruistic individual benefits in the future when the current beneficiary reciprocates |
| Reconciliation Behavior | Post-conflict behavior that renews friendly relations |
| Ritual | A type of symbolic activity |
| Sensitive Period | A limited phase in an individual animal's development when learning of particular behaviors can take place |
| Sign Stimulus | An external sensory stimulus that triggers a fixed action pattern |
| Signal | A behavior that causes a change in behavior in another animal |
| Social Behavior | Any kind of interaction between two or more animals, usually of the same species |
| Sociobiology | The study of social behavior based on evolutionary theory |
| Taxis | Movement toward or away from a stimulus |
| Territory | An area that an individual or individuals defend and from which other members of the same species are usually excluded |
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