animalbehaviour

Animal behaviour refers to the range of actions and responses by animals to internal states and external stimuli. It includes how animals search for food, avoid danger, reproduce, communicate, care for offspring, and interact with conspecifics and other species. Behaviour emerges from genetic predispositions shaped by development, environment, and learning.

Behavioural causes are often described in two broad categories: proximate causes, which involve neural, hormonal, sensory, and developmental mechanisms; and ultimate causes, which address evolutionary origins and the adaptive function of a behaviour. Studying both helps explain how and why behaviour occurs across contexts.

Major domains include foraging, mating and parental care, social behaviour, communication, navigation and migration, and learning and cognition. Examples: the honeybee waggle dance conveys distance and direction to food; imprinting in birds establishes species and location preferences; crows use tools and solve problems; social species may show cooperation or competition within groups.

Methods combine naturalistic observation, controlled experiments, and comparative analyses across species. Disciplines such as ethology, behavioural ecology, and neuroscience contribute to understanding mechanisms, evolution, and fitness consequences. Knowledge of animal behaviour informs conservation, wildlife management, and animal welfare, and situates behaviour within broader ecological and evolutionary contexts.