ISS 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Kanzi, Canine Tooth, Sexual Selection
19 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Behavior: any action in response to internal or external stimuli. Behavioral ecology: relationships between behavior, natural environment, and biological traits of the species. Behaviors have evolved via natural selection, or are influenced by genes subject to natural selection in the same way that physical characteristics are. Social structure: composition, size, and sex ration of a population of animals. Body size: larger animals require fewer calories per unit of weight, and can retain heat much easier than smaller animals. Basal metabolic rate (bmr): smaller animals have higher bmr so they need to consume more high quality foods opposite is true for larger animals. Distribution of resources: distribution of leaves, insects, fruits for nutrition. Predation: where predation pressure is high, large communities are advantageous. Dispersal: mating outside of the natal group/interbreeding. Many primate social groups consists of dominance hierarchies that establish the parameters of individual behavior (learned) many factors influence the status of dominance.
